Overview
- The Verbraucherreport 2025 by the consumer federation vzbv, based on a representative Forsa survey, finds most Germans see sizable gaps in digital consumer protection.
- Nearly two thirds feel poorly shielded from misleading advertising or hidden costs (65%), data misuse (64%) and fraud risks (60%), while 71% feel secure only on withdrawal and returns.
- Seventy‑eight percent of online shoppers encountered problems over the past two years, most often long delivery times, hard‑to‑reach customer service and poor product quality.
- Consumer advice centers logged more than 165,000 complaints in the first half of 2025, up 14% year on year, with 57% of cases tied to digital offers.
- vzbv leader Ramona Pop urged Berlin and Brussels to tighten rules, calling for a formal blacklist of manipulative design patterns under the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act and noting that only 22% trust the government to protect consumers.