Ecommerce in Poland

When it comes to the constant growth in e-commerce in the retail trade, Poland is no exception, positioning itself as a significant e-commerce hub in Europe.

According to Euromonitor’s data, the size of the Polish market for electronic transactions was estimated at only EUR 0.3 billion in 2004. By 2018, the market had grown to EUR 6.8 billion, whereas currently the Polish Chamber of Commerce estimates that it could be worth over EUR 20 billion this year. It means that the last few years brought an almost 200% increase in market value.

Polish internet users are more willing to purchase goods/services not only in local e-stores (75% of Polish internet users covered by the Gemius e-commerce report for 2024 declared that they were customers of local e-stores, compared to 60% in 2019), but also in e-stores outside Poland (36% in 2024 vs. 26% in 2019).

At the same time, the largest percentage share in various product categories invariably includes:

• textiles, clothing, and footwear: 16%
• furniture, electronics, household appliances (RTV, AGD): 14.1%
• press, books: 10.2%.

The growing role of the e-commerce market has also led to actions by certain authorities aimed at adapting to this changing retail landscape. For example, the Polish Consumer Authority is implementing the “Detecting and combating dark patterns using AI” project aimed to help develop a tool that will automatically detect prohibited practices used on e-commerce sites. This is another innovative project of the authority, following the use of an AI-powered tool to detect abusive clauses in e-commerce T&Cs.

Under Polish law, companies with their registered seat in an EU Member state may “temporarily” provide services / sales to Poland without local registration. There is no clear-cut rule on defining the “temporality”; however, directing activities to Polish consumers (e.g. by offering a Polish language version of a website or targeting marketing to Poland) may be considered as permanent operations (rather than temporary) operations. This would trigger the requirement to establish a subsidiary or local branch. Determining whether the operations are permanent rather than temporary requires a case-by-case assessment.

If the company has its registered seat outside the EU, the rules of providing online sales or services to Poland will depend on the principle of reciprocity and international contracts.

In any event, selling from abroad may require tax registration even without an established local presence.

What is also important is that where commercial activity specifically targets Polish consumers, e.g. the website offers a Polish language version, or advertising or marketing is directed at consumers in Poland, the activity must comply with Polish consumer regulations, even if the business entity does not have an established presence in Poland.

As a rule, Polish law allows business entities to freely participate in e-commerce business. Starting such activity does not involve any additional obligations in terms of licensing requirements compared to traditional retail activity. In practice, there is no need to obtain a license or permit to run an online store.

Of course, specific rules may apply in the case of certain product categories, including an obligation to obtain a relevant authorization (e.g. in the case of foodstuffs) or license. These product-specific requirements apply uniformly across all sales channels.

Even if e-commerce is only an extension of brick-and-mortar activity and the business already has various supply and logistic contracts in place, some specifics for setting up an e-commerce platform must be addressed.

• Domain name: A domain name serves as an address for the e-commerce business. A wide choice of domain extensions is available, both national (.pl), and international, which is more suitable for cross-border activity (such as .eu or .com). It is also possible to offer goods via marketplaces.
• Hosting services: Sourcing hosting services is a more complex process as there are various options. Hosting services can be acquired in particular as cloud servers, shared webhosting, virtual private servers and dedicated servers.
• IT-related services: A smooth ordering process is one of the key elements of creating a good customer experience. To achieve this, an e-commerce business must have an appropriate level of IT services in place.
• Creative services Sourcing creative services is required to set up a website, including both the design and technical aspects of various applications and functionalities (such as invoicing, accounting, marketing tools and customer relationship management).
• Logistics   Logistics is the backbone of a successful e-commerce business. The logistics processes include in particular product sourcing, stock (inventory) management, order management, packaging and delivery, as well as management of (and sometimes collecting) product returns.
• E-commerce logistics can also be outsourced to a third-party logistics provider. An alternative to the traditional logistics chain is drop shipping. In this model, the e-commerce entity forwards the customer’s orders to another company, which fulfils the orders by shipping the items directly to the customer on behalf of the e-commerce entity.
• Payments Cash-on-delivery remains a popular payment method; however, a wide array of electronic and non-cash payments are also available to e-commerce businesses. These include payments by various types of credit and debit cards, quick online transfers, electronic wallets, mobile money, and alternative currency payment processors.

Product selection is an important part of an e-commerce business that needs to encompass specific Polish (local) and EU restrictions.

These include product-specific restrictions that apply across all sales channels, such as the obligation to obtain a relevant authorization when distributing foodstuffs. In Poland, however, there are additional restrictions that apply specifically to an online sales channel, such as a prohibition on distance sales of tobacco, e-cigarettes and certain medicines.

Thus, it is crucial to properly check all the requirements in place concerning the online sale of the relevant products, as complying only with those which apply to brick-and-mortar stores could be insufficient.

The business should decide in advance whether the e-commerce site is intended for consumers and/or professionals. This is crucial because different rules apply depending on the target audience, with more restrictive rules for B2C than for B2B transactions.

If the e-commerce website is directed to consumers, the key is to ensure that all consumer rights are observed. This translates into significant differences compared to B2B relations, in particular related to: (i) T&Cs - which must not contain abusive clauses;  (ii) the customer journey – which must ensure that all mandatory information is presented at the right moment and is not misleading; and (iii) after-sales rules –  ensuring that all consumer rights be observed after concluding a contract, e.g. regarding product returns, liability for defective goods, etc.

On the other hand, if a website is dedicated to businesses only, e.g. sales of equipment to professionals only, consumer regulations will not apply. However, in such case, it should be ensured that the online store is accessible to professionals only.

In addition, Polish law provides certain quasi-consumer protection to sole traders in the case of contracts of a non-professional nature. This should be reflected in the respective policies, help pages, T&Cs, etc., even if the website is dedicated to businesses only.

There is a significant level of freedom regarding the content and layout of a website. It largely depends on the creativity of the author. However, the law imposes certain obligations that translate into mandatory elements of an e-commerce website. To a certain extent, such mandatory elements would differ, depending on whether a website is directed to consumers or to businesses only.

Product information: The law provides for certain requirements regarding what information must be provided (displayed) before the customer makes the purchase. The scope of information may vary, depending on the product category. The product page should be construed in a way that reflects the legal requirements applicable to a specific category. For example, for food products it would be required to display (among others) a list of the ingredients, whereas for electronics it is required to display (among others) the energy efficiency class.

In Poland, as a rule, Polish must be used in trading with consumers. This obligation is set out in the Act on the Polish Language and applies to all mandatory documents and information. For non-mandatory information, the key requirement is that it must not be misleading. In practice, a consumer-facing website should be primarily in Polish. The aftersales service should also be available in Polish.

In B2B relations, there is no similar obligation. The website and communication may be in a foreign language.

In B2C relations, Polish law requires that businesses that make available customers’ reviews disclose:

• whether they verify the authenticity of these reviews, and if yes – how they confirm that the reviews are submitted by people who have actually purchased the product or used the service; and
• whether all reviews, including negative ones, are published.
• Polish law also blacklists certain practices related to customer reviews; the following will always be regarded as unfair commercial practices:
• unreliable reviews – implying that consumer reviews are genuine when the business has not taken reasonable and proportionate steps to verify them;
• falsified reviews – posting or ordering another person to post false reviews; or
• manipulated reviews – distorting customers’ reviews to promote products.

While Polish law does not provide for any definition of dark patterns, based on the definition provided in EU Digital Services Act (2022/2065), these are deceptive practices that significantly distort or intentionally limit users' ability to make independent and informed choices. In Poland, the use of such manipulative techniques is prohibited and may constitute a violation of consumer protection law.

In Poland we are observing an increased focus on enforcement of the use of dark patterns. The Polish Consumer Authority is currently implementing the “Detecting and combating dark patterns using AI” project aimed to help develop a tool that will automatically detect prohibited practices used on e-commerce sites.

At the same time, the issue of dark patterns was addressed in several decisions issued by the Consumer Authority, prohibiting for example the adding of unexpected mandatory charges at the last stage of the purchasing process (drip pricing), or automatically adding additional products to the shopping basket without the consumer’s consent (sneak into basket).

Other examples of practices considered as dark patterns include:

• false countdown timers or banners: display of countdown timers in online stores next to promotions to give the illusion that an offer is for a limited time, whereas timers reset when the page is refreshed or when a new day begins;
• preselection: options that are more profitable for the business, such as a more expensive subscription or a longer subscription period, are preselected by default, making it easier for consumers to select them unintentionally;
• social proof: use of terms like “X number of products sold”, “X people are viewing this right now “, or “most popular” to denote the false demand of a certain product or service by other consumers.

As a result of the implementation of the EU Omnibus Directive, starting 1 January 2023, for an announcement of a price promotion, the seller is obliged to present the lowest price applicable in the last 30 days before the price reduction, next to the currently applicable price.

The above requirement applies in Poland to both the sales of goods and provision of services.

The Polish Consumer Authority has issued detailed guidelines explaining specific requirements on how to calculate and display the lowest prior price.

For example, under the guidelines, a specific label to ensure compliance must be used – “Lowest price in 30 days prior to reduction” (PL: “Najniższa cena z 30 dni przed obniżką”). The other requirements cover issues such as how many strikethrough prices can appear in a webstore interface or how to present and calculate saving claims.

In some respects, the Polish guidelines differ from the guidelines issued by the European Commission on the same matter. For example, in Poland certain conditional or combined offers are treated more strictly than at the EU level.

Consequently, businesses running price promotions in Poland are advised to review their standard promotion schemes and displays, to adjust these to Polish-specific rules.

In Poland, providing marketing communications via electronic (e.g. emails, push notifications) and telecommunication (e.g. SMS) channels requires an opt-in consent by customers as recipients. Contrary to the opt-out model, the opt-in model means that the sender can only send marketing via the mentioned communication channels if it obtains prior and voluntary consent from a designated recipient for the given communication channel.

A marketing opt-in should meet the GDPR-consent standard. This means that such consent should be a freely given, specific, informed and an unambiguous statement or clear affirmative action. One consent must cover one purpose of processing. Moreover, each communication channel must be specified separately, inter alia with separate checkboxes for each communication channel.

A clear affirmative action means that a deliberate and specific action must be taken to opt in or to agree to the processing. This can be done, e.g. by ticking a box, choosing the relevant settings or signing a consent statement.

In an era where social media significantly influences consumer behavior, the Polish Consumer Authority directed its enforcement to combat unfair influencer promotions. It resulted in several proceedings against influencers and companies whose products were advertised, but also in detailed guidelines regarding the labelling of advertising content by influencers. These guidelines address various forms of commercial collaborations, self-promotion (own brand advertising), and the distribution of PR packages.

The Polish Consumer Authority recommended a two-tiered labelling system, encouraging influencers to utilize both the platform's built-in functionalities and additional identifiers (e.g., in post descriptions, images, videos, or within the narrative). It is recommended that labels mirror traditional advertising content, such as [Sponsored Post] #CommercialMaterial (PL: Post sponsorowany #MateriałKomercyjny), to ensure transparency for consumers.

Another area of increased enforcement is consumer reviews and their authenticity, as artificially inflated ratings can misrepresent a seller's reputation and the quality of its products or services. The Polish Consumer Authority’s oversight extends to scrutinizing promotional offers aimed at enhancing engagement metrics, including efforts to increase follower counts, likes, and views on social media platforms.

At the same time, a constant focus of the authority remains on promotional activities that are not transparent (e.g. regarding price benefits or promotion limitations) and could mislead consumers affecting their purchasing decisions.

The main difference between online sales and traditional sales is that, as a rule, consumers are entitled to withdraw from an online contract within 14 days of its conclusion, without providing a reason. Business entities must inform consumers of their right to do this, e.g. by providing them with the appropriate withdrawal form. If the business entity fails to do so, the consumer may withdraw from the contract within 12 months. If the consumer withdraws from the contract, she/he is entitled to a reimbursement of the delivery cost but not exceeding the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by the seller.

Regarding the standard “warranty” (i.e. the seller's liability for the conformity of the goods with the contract) and the producer’s “guarantee”, the same rules apply in Poland to both traditional and online sales.

Polish competition law mirrors EU legislation. The general approach is that, in principle, every distributor should be allowed to use the Internet to sell products; preventing them from effectively using the Internet to sell goods is a hardcore restriction.

In this context, it is inadmissible not only to impose on a distributor a direct ban on online sales (e.g. a strict prohibition on operating own e-store) but also to restrict the use of an entire online advertising channel (which is considered to be the equivalent of an Internet sales ban). Online advertising channels are services that do not provide a direct purchasing functionality but re-direct customers to the e-stores, such as price comparison services or search engines.

On the other hand, it may be permitted to impose requirements on the distributor related to the manner in which the goods are to be sold online. Restrictions relating to the use of particular online sales channels (e.g. marketplaces), or the imposition of quality standards for online sales (e.g. display requirements) can generally benefit from a block exemption, provided that they are not indirectly aimed at preventing the effective use of the internet to sell goods or services.

Generally, regular e-commerce stores do not fall under financial services regulations. However, the processing of customer payments constitutes a regulated activity. While there are several providers of such services operating on the Polish market, when using the same provider as one operating in other European Union jurisdictions, passporting the providers’ services is required in accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (Payment Services Directive 2).

In Poland, no authority specializes in e-commerce only. As in the case of brick-and-mortal sales, the key actor in the consumer protection system is the Polish Consumer Authority which is the most important authority responsible for the enforcement of consumer rights. The authority challenges and penalizes: (i) infringements of collective consumer interests; and (ii) the use of abusive clauses in consumer contracts and T&Cs. The authority also plays a significant role in the product safety system by carrying out general product surveillance.

The Trade Inspectorate is a body responsible for consumer protection and product safety, with a focus on retail activity. It acts mainly on day-to-day issues such as packaging, labelling, general product quality or consumer communication and information.

Regarding personal data protection issues, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office is the only authority entitled to provide expert advice and issue opinions on data protection, as well as to enforce and issue fines for non-compliance with data protection law.

In Poland, consumers can seek to enforce their rights before a civil court, either individually or by way of a class action.

In 2024, Poland implemented the Representative Actions Directive, significantly strengthening consumer rights. Under this framework, consumers can pursue two types of claims—injunctive measures and redress measures—through authorized entities, such as recognized NGOs. The Polish Consumer Authority is responsible for maintaining the register of authorized entities. To initiate a class action, at least 10 consumers must come together to file a claim. An “opt-in” form applies, meaning that consumers must actively express their desire to participate in the proceedings.

In terms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Poland, an out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes related to sales requires the consent of both parties to the dispute: the consumer and the business entity. If the seller rejects the consumer’s complaint, it must inform the consumer that it does not consent to ADR. The absence of a declaration from the trader is treated as consent to participate in such proceedings. In addition, all online traders must provide a link on their websites to the Online Dispute Resolution platform, regardless of whether they intend to use the platform or not.

A significant role in the private enforcement of consumer rights is played by consumer organizations and consumer ombudsmen which, in general terms, support consumers in asserting their rights. The most active consumer organizations in Poland are the Association of Polish Consumers, the European Consumer Centre, and the Consumer Federation. They provide consumers with free legal advice and undertake various educational and information campaigns.

Legal developments relevant to e-commerce in Poland are mainly driven by changes at EU level, which have an impact on online traders.

The European Union is actively developing legislation to support the green transition, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. As part of this broader trend, new regulations are being introduced to reduce the environmental impact of consumption in various sectors, including e-commerce.

Initiatives such as the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (2024/825), which must be transposed by Member States by 27 March 2026, and the proposed Green Claims Directive (which is still undergoing the legislative process), impose strict requirements on businesses regarding the substantiation and transparency of environmental claims. The new legislation explicitly prohibits greenwashing, where companies exaggerate or misrepresent their environmental efforts. These rules apply to all such claims, not only those related to the products themselves but also to other aspects of the value chain, such as claims about more sustainable deliveries by e-stores.

In addition, the Right to Repair Directive (2024/1799) promotes product durability and repairability, aiming to reduce the need for constant product replacement by encouraging repairs rather than replacing products with new ones. Member States have to transpose it into national rules and apply it from 31 July 2026.