Italy Cracks Down on Misleading Online Sales with €2.5 Million in Fines

Key Takeaways

• €2.5 Million in Total Fines: Italy’s competition regulator penalized Talea Group (€2 Million) and Prenotazioni24 (€500,000) for unfair commercial practices.
• Misleading Online Promises: Talea misrepresented product availability and delivery times, while also delaying refunds and failing to provide adequate support.
• Opaque Ticket Sales: Prenotazioni24 used websites resembling official ferry pages and did not clearly disclose its intermediary role or service fees.
• Consumer Code Breaches: The Authority found violations of Articles 20, 21, and 22 related to misleading information and omission of key details.

Deep Dive

Italian consumers have been hearing a familiar story lately of ordering one thing online, receiving another or receive nothing at all. This week, Italy’s competition regulator decided enough was enough.

The Italian Competition Authority has issued two separate penalties against e-commerce operators, hitting them with a combined €2.5 million over practices that misled customers and obscured the real terms of their purchases.

The largest fine (€2 million) went to Talea Group, the company behind popular online health stores farmae.it and amicafarmacia.com. Regulators say that at least since November 2023, the sites have been telling consumers products were in stock and ready to ship, when delivery times were anything but guaranteed.

Investigators found a pattern of partial shipments, late deliveries, and refunds that didn’t arrive promptly when customers backed out of an order. On top of that, the company didn’t provide the level of after-sales support shoppers should expect when something goes wrong.

The Authority acknowledged that Talea has begun taking steps to fix the issues but has now given the company 60 days to prove that the misleading practices have fully stopped. The decision was finalized in Rome on 1 December 2025.

A Ferry Ticket That Wasn’t What It Seemed

In a separate case, Prenotazioni24, known for selling ferry tickets across the Mediterranean, was fined €500,000 for tactics that blurred the line between reseller and ferry operator.

The Authority found that the company’s websites, including www.traghetti.it, look a lot like official ferry company pages, giving users the impression they’re booking directly with carriers. The platform was even framed as a comparison service, while quietly tied to Prenotazioni24 itself — a detail that only became clear once service fees appeared.

A second site, www.traghettilines.it, also drew scrutiny for failing to clearly show how prices were built up and what travelers were actually paying for.

Those omissions and misleading presentations, the regulator said, violate Articles 20, 21, and 22 of the Italian Consumer Code, the provisions that protect customers from deceptive business conduct.

While the two companies operate in very different markets, the Authority’s point is that the online shoppers deserve the truth upfront—real delivery estimates, clear pricing, and no surprises buried in fine print.

As e-commerce continues to accelerate in Italy, regulators are signaling they’re ready to take firmer action when the digital marketplace crosses the line from clever marketing into unfairness.

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