What the ACCC Expects From Subscription Businesses (and How to Pass Its Test)

Picture a new HelloFresh customer.

She signs up for a meal kit. The website says she can cancel online before a cut-off. She changes her mind, goes into her account, and cancels well before the deadline.

The box arrives anyway. So does the charge.

According to the ACCC, that happened to 62,061 HelloFresh customers between January 2023 and March 2025, and to 39,408 Youfoodz customers between October 2022 and November 2024. In December 2025 the regulator took both companies to the Federal Court.

That case tells you a lot about how the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) thinks about subscriptions. It didn't wait for the new subscription law that starts on 1 July 2027. It used the law that already exists.

This guide covers what the ACCC expects as at October 2026: its priorities, its recent subscription cases, and a self-audit you can run this week. It's general information, not legal advice.

Is the ACCC targeting subscription businesses?

Yes, explicitly.

In February 2026 the ACCC announced its compliance and enforcement priorities for 2026–27. One of them is manipulative and false practices in digital markets. ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb named "subscription traps and other dark patterns that manipulate consumer behaviour" as a focus.

The ACCC also said it would expand its education and compliance work to support the government's unfair trading practices reforms. In plain terms: it's warming up for 1 July 2027.

What laws does the ACCC use against subscription traps today?

Before July 2027, the ACCC mostly relies on two parts of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Misleading or deceptive conduct, and false or misleading representations. If your sign-up page, emails or cancellation screens give people a wrong impression about price, commitment or their options, that can be a breach. Most subscription cases so far fall here.

Unfair contract terms. Since 9 November 2023, proposing or relying on an unfair term in a standard form consumer or small business contract can attract penalties. Terms that let you change the deal mid-contract, renew automatically on your terms only, or penalize customers for leaving are the classic suspects.

From 1 July 2027 it gets three more tools: specific subscription duties (disclosure, notices, an easy exit), a drip pricing rule, and a general ban on unfair trading practices. My guide to Australia's subscription trap laws covers those in detail.

What do the ACCC's subscription cases have in common?

Three recent cases, three different mistakes. All were allegations before the courts when I checked in October 2026, so read them as warnings, not findings.

The common thread is simple. In each case, the ACCC says the business took advantage of the gap between what customers thought they'd agreed to and what actually happened.

You can read the ACCC's own releases on Microsoft and Amazon. The full stories are in the Microsoft 365 Copilot case study and the HelloFresh case study.

What patterns does the ACCC call dark patterns?

The clearest signal of what regulators will look for is the new section 28B of the ACL, which starts on 1 July 2027. It lists examples of conduct that may be an unfair trading practice:

• impeding a consumer's ability to exercise legal rights or seek legal remedies;
• failing to disclose material information;
• disclosing it in a "complex, ineffective, unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous, untimely or overwhelming way";
• using design elements in digital interfaces that put people under unreasonable pressure, or obstruct them from making or carrying out their decision.

Translated into subscription design, the patterns I'd remove now are:

1. Card details to browse. Asking for payment before people can see what they're buying.
2. Pre-ticked boxes. Auto-adding a subscription, add-on or upgrade.
3. Buried renewal terms. The auto-renewal sits behind a link instead of next to the button.
4. Fake urgency. Countdown timers or "only 2 spots left" that aren't true.
5. The cancellation maze. Multiple pages, repeated offers, hidden buttons, or "call us to cancel" when people joined online.
6. Confirm-shaming. Buttons like "No, I don't want to save money."
7. Silent price rises. Increasing the price at renewal without a clear notice.

None of these are new as bad practice. They were always a short-term win and a long-term loss. What's changed is that, from July 2027, they can also be a breach of the law.

How do you audit your subscription like the ACCC would?

The ACCC builds cases from evidence: screenshots, emails, scripts, complaint volumes and billing records. So audit yourself the same way.

Step 1: Capture the customer journey

Sign up as a new customer on desktop and on mobile. Screenshot every screen. Save every email. Then do the same for a renewal and a price change, if you can trigger test versions.

Step 2: Try to cancel

Cancel using only what a customer can see. Count the clicks and screens. Time it. If you sell by phone, call your own line and ask to cancel.

Step 3: Read it like a tired customer

Would a busy person, on a phone, at night, understand:

• that this is a subscription;
• the full price, including GST and fees;
• when they'll be charged and when it renews;
• how to cancel, and what happens if they do?

Step 4: Check your complaints and chargebacks

Look at complaints that mention "didn't know," "couldn't cancel," "still charged" or "never signed up." Look at chargeback reasons. The HelloFresh investigation was reportedly prompted by a large number of consumer complaints. Your complaint log is your early warning system.

Step 5: Check your terms

Look for clauses that let you change prices, features or terms one-sidedly with no exit, or that make customers pay to leave. My guide to unfair contract terms in subscription agreements explains how to test them.

You can run a quick version of this audit with the free checker.

When should a business contact the ACCC?

As a business, you might deal with the ACCC in a few situations:

• You want to report a competitor. If a rival is trapping customers and taking business from honest operators, you can report it to the ACCC.
• You've found a problem in your own business. Fixing it, refunding affected customers and getting legal advice comes first. Your lawyer can advise whether and how to approach the regulator.
• The ACCC contacts you. Respond promptly, through a lawyer, and preserve records.

The ACCC says it doesn't investigate individual complaints or give legal advice. For a dispute with one customer, the state fair trading agency is usually the right place. For the full picture of law, tax and cash flow together, see running a subscription business in Australia.

Is the ACCC's approach bad news for subscription businesses?

Not for good ones.

I've always believed the best retention strategy is a product people want to keep. In the book I wrote that you can only have net negative churn when you have happy customers. The ACCC's focus doesn't change that. It just removes the shortcut.

If your retention depends on friction, the honest answer is that your subscription has a product problem, not a compliance problem. Use the churn risk checklist to find out where customers would leave if leaving were easy, then fix the reasons, not the exit. My guide to cancellation rules in Australia shows how to keep the save offer and lose the trap.

What to do next

1. Run the five-step audit above this month.
2. Remove the seven dark patterns from your flows.
3. Rewrite your price-rise and renewal emails to list every option.
4. Review your terms for one-sided change clauses.
5. Check what tighter cancellation might do to your churn, cash flow and pricing.

That last step is where the accounting side comes in. If fixing your flows lifts churn for a few months, you want to know the impact on cash before it happens.

Free Subscription Profit Review

Australian business owners can book a free 30-minute review with a BPAG Accountants adviser. An honest conversation about:

• whether a subscription model could work for your business
• how recurring revenue could cover your fixed costs each month
• how it could lift what your business is worth

Book my free review Call 1300 272 422

No cost, no obligation. General information only until we understand your situation.

Frequently asked questions

General information only, current as at October 2026. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice and doesn't consider your circumstances. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.

Robert Coorey, MBA

Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.