# Fake urgency and fake "was" prices > Where persuasion becomes a dark pattern: reductions measured from a price nobody paid, countdowns that restart, invented scarcity, and Dana's honest price post. - Course: [Pricing: Set, Package and Raise Your Prices](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing.md) - Module: How do we show the price honestly? - Lesson 19/32, ~23 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/fake-urgency-and-was-prices ## A five-day price **Alex Tutor:** You're still on Klasna's growth team, and Leo has an idea for the maths 8-pack before the exam season. **Leo:** Simple. The 8-pack is 700 a lesson. We put it at 760 for five days, then announce "−10%": 684. Families see a discount, and we still sell below 700! **Alex Tutor:** Before checking Leo's numbers: what is a reduction measured from? > **Exercise:** Under the rule Klasna applies to all its prices, an announced reduction (“−10%”) must be measured from which price? **Alex Tutor:** Then the "10%" is measured from a price almost nobody paid. In the EU, since May 2022, an announced reduction must be measured from the **lowest price of the previous 30 days**. That rule exists precisely to stop a brief rise before a "sale". **Alex Tutor:** The rule is written for goods; for services like lessons, in our reading, a made-up reference price is caught by the general ban on misleading prices. So Klasna uses the 30-day test for everything. **Sofia:** And in Ukraine? **Alex Tutor:** As of October 2026, misleading price information is banned, and the state consumer service says a sale announcement should give its start and end dates and the reduction against the previous price. A new consumer law with stricter discount rules is adopted but starts only after martial law ends. > **Exercise:** Leo's plan: the maths 8-pack is 700 UAH a lesson for months, 760 for five days, then "−10%" to 684. Measured from the lowest price of the previous 30 days, what is the real reduction? In %, to two decimals. **Alex Tutor:** Now the same question for families in Ukraine. > **Exercise:** Klasna plans a real sale for families in Ukraine. As of October 2026, what does the state consumer service say the announcement should include? ## Clocks that restart **Leo:** Fine, no fake discount. But a countdown on the page, "offer ends in 23:59:59", really works. **Alex Tutor:** Works on whom? If the clock restarts for every visitor and the price stays the same afterwards, it is **false urgency**. Falsely saying an offer is available only for a very limited time is on the EU list of practices that are always unfair. **Sofia:** What if there really is a deadline? **Alex Tutor:** Then say it plainly: "NMT Sprint sales close on 28 February." Real scarcity is fine too: the Sprint has 120 places because tutors' spring hours are limited. "79 places left", updated live, is information. "Only 3 left" when 79 are left is a lie. > **Exercise:** Which urgency or scarcity messages are honest? Select all that apply. ## Dana's post **Alex Tutor:** Today a different business too: Dana's own practice. She teaches adults in the evenings, found through her social-media account and messenger channel, and she has a draft. **Dana:** It's January, and I have two free evening slots a week from February. My draft: "NEW YEAR SALE! ~~750~~ 600 UAH a lesson, −20%! Only 1 place left! Ends Sunday!" **Sofia:** Have you ever charged 750? **Dana:** No, 600 since I started in September. And after Sunday it will still be 600. **Alex Tutor:** Then the post makes three claims, and none is true: a previous price of 750, a deadline on Sunday, one place left, when two slots a week are free. Your followers may not check, but some of them are people who will recommend you, or not. > **Exercise:** Dana has charged 600 UAH a lesson since she started her practice in September, and after Sunday it will still be 600. Her January draft says: "NEW YEAR SALE! ~~750~~ 600 UAH a lesson, −20%! Ends Sunday!" What reduction can Dana honestly announce in her post? ## What she can say instead **Dana:** But a post without a sale sounds boring. Nobody will notice it. **Alex Tutor:** Specific beats loud. Who it's for, what a lesson includes, the price, the real free slots, how to book. "Two evening slots a week from February" is true urgency: when they're gone, they're gone. **Alex Tutor:** And she can say the price is final. As a single-tax FOP without VAT, Dana adds nothing on top: 600 is what a learner pays. **Alex Tutor:** Check that line about the final price. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** Dana's post can say that 600 UAH is the full price a learner pays, because as a single-tax FOP who isn't a VAT payer she adds nothing on top. **Dana:** And it goes only to my own channel and account. Klasna families are not my audience. **Alex Tutor:** Right, that line stays where it is. > **Exercise:** Dana has charged 600 a lesson since September. **True or false:** if Dana really raises her price to 750 after Sunday, her post "~~750~~ 600, −20%, ends Sunday" becomes honest. ## Other dark patterns **Alex Tutor:** Back at Klasna, Nazar has collected the checkout ideas he has seen elsewhere. They share one trait: the buyer does something they didn't choose. **Nazar:** A box "add 3 months of Club" already ticked. A "No thanks, I don't care about my child's exam" button. A "free" trial that quietly starts charging. **Alex Tutor:** In the EU, consent to a paid extra can't come from a pre-ticked box, and calling something "free" when the buyer must pay is always unfair. Guilt-tripping buttons, called confirm-shaming, are a classic **dark pattern** too. **Sofia:** So each has an honest twin: an unticked box, a neutral "No thanks", a trial that asks before it charges. > **Exercise:** Match each dark pattern with its honest twin. ## Your turn: rewrite the post **Dana:** Help me rewrite my post so it still makes people want to write to me. **Alex Tutor:** Keep it short. Who it's for, what they get, the price, the real slots, how to book. **Sofia:** No "was", no clock, no fake places. **Dana:** And it should still sound like me, not like a bank. > **Exercise:** Rewrite Dana's post for her messenger channel (3–5 sentences): who the lessons are for, what a lesson includes, the price, her real availability and how to book. No invented reductions, deadlines or scarcity. The facts: Dana teaches English to adults who need it for work, in the evenings; a lesson costs 600 UAH, and as a single-tax FOP without VAT she adds nothing on top; from February she has two free evening slots a week; people book by writing to her channel. > **Key ideas** > > - An announced reduction is measured from the **lowest price of the previous 30 days** (EU rule since May 2022; Klasna applies it to lessons too). A five-day rise from 700 to 760 turns "−10%" into a real 2.29%. > - In Ukraine, as of October 2026, misleading price information is banned and sale announcements should state their dates and the reduction from the previous price; a stricter law is adopted and starts after martial law ends. > - **False urgency** (clocks that restart, "only 3 left" that isn't, a rise that never comes) is a dark pattern. A real closing date and a live count of real places are information. > - Pre-ticked paid extras, confirm-shaming and "free" that isn't free take the decision away from the buyer. Each has an honest twin. > - A solo seller's honest post is specific: who, what, the full price, real slots, how to book. **Alex Tutor:** Next: the case. Nazar's exam-season page for NMT Sprint is ready to go live, and it has every problem from this module. - Previous lesson: [The total price up front](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/the-total-price-up-front.md) - Next lesson: [Case: fix Klasna's exam-season price page](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/exam-season-page-case.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.