A lot of recent online purchases made me feel like a transaction generating unit who can be deceived into buying with as many dark patterns as possible. I was using a quick commerce app named after a SI unit prefix, it had asked me to buy their membership for a month for the promise of free delivery. Upon adding an item to cart, I was taken to the checkout where the price was not visible and I prompted with the pay button. I had to navigate out deliberately and figured out that the app had added 500gm variant instead of my intended 200gm, it added the delivery charge, platform fee, handling charge, gst. I was surprised as I had bought membership which promised free delivery just to be annoyed that free delivery was a coupon code which is not automatic.

I felt very cheated and stopped using that app altogether. This has been designed and developed by well educated individuals guided by industry veterans, yet such dark patterns have become mainstay. Customers deserve honesty and trust, not manipulation. There is only a small line between outright scammers and borderline scammers. The designers and developers behind these kind of apps, view people as mere transactions. The more transactions happen, the richer they get. I wish that more people step out of their optimism bias and start noticing dark patterns, vote with the wallet and kick parasites like these away from the market.