Countdown timer pressure
Short answer: A ticking countdown pushes visitors to decide fast. We flag it so you can confirm the deadline is real.
Are countdown timers on product pages a dark pattern?
Falsely claiming an offer ends soon is banned outright in the EU and is an FTC enforcement favourite. Timers that reset on reload are easy to catch.
How to fix it
- Only show timers for real deadlines that are the same for every visitor.
- Make sure the offer actually ends when the timer does.
- Remove evergreen or session-based timers.
How untick detects it
untick loads your pages in a fresh browser with no cookies and an EU locale, records network requests and cookies, inspects the consent banner and forms, and interacts with them the way a visitor would. When this issue is found, the report includes screenshots with the element highlighted, the evidence, and a fix tailored to your setup.