Reviews (742)
Feature request — allow merchants to set which purchase option is
pre-selected (EU/French consumer law issue)
Hello,
I run a Shopify store in France and I use Shopify Subscriptions.
On the product page, the subscription option is pre-selected by default, and
the one-time purchase option requires an active click to be chosen. As far as
I can tell from the app block settings, there is no way for a merchant to
change this — the settings only expose widget style, colours, borders and the
policy URL.
This is a problem under EU law. Article 22 of Directive 2011/83/EU requires
the trader to obtain the consumer's *express consent* to any payment, and
states that consent cannot be inferred from default options the consumer must
reject. A recurring payment commitment that is selected by default, and which
the customer must actively deselect, falls squarely within that concern.
In France, the DGCCRF enforces this strictly, and pre-ticked options are a
recognised dark pattern.
The consequence is that French and EU merchants currently cannot use the
default behaviour of the app without taking on legal risk — and disabling the
subscription widget entirely is the only workaround.
My request is simple: add a merchant-level setting to choose which option is
pre-selected, with "one-time purchase" available as the default. Ideally, also
allow "no option pre-selected", which is the safest configuration under EU law.
This would be a small setting on your side and would remove a real compliance
obstacle for every merchant selling into the European Union.
Thank you,
Julien Salut —
