Carlos Mendez 
Trading Standards has found mercury, lead, nicotine and methanol in counterfeit make-up, skincare and perfume seized across the UK, with nearly three in four fake cosmetics bought online. Here is what was found, how to spot fakes before Black Friday and how to get your money back.
Black Friday 2026 is on Friday 27 November, but Currys, AO.com and Boots launched their sales on 28 October. It is the first Black Friday since the CMA fined Wayfair and Appliances Direct for fake time-limited offers, and here is what that means for UK shoppers.
UK Halloween spending is forecast to reach £705m in 2026 as 31 October falls on a Saturday, according to Savvy. Families are cutting costs with charity shop and resale app costumes, while chocolate prices are 3% lower than a year ago.
eBay likely converts at least one more European marketplace to zero private seller fees plus a buyer-paid fee before 30 June 2027, with Spain the base case. The companion call is that the same architecture likely does not reach ebay.com through 31 December 2027.
Indonesia’s four largest marketplaces began withholding 0.5% income tax from sellers on October 1, a month ahead of the announced schedule. Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada and Blibli now deduct at source, with an exemption for merchants under Rp 500 million a year who file a declaration.
CBP deploys CAPE Phase 3 on October 6, 2026, opening its refund system to finally liquidated entries holding roughly $11.4 billion in IEEPA duties. Only Court of International Trade plaintiffs with reliquidation orders and an importer of record number filed by July 30 can use it.
CBP’s delayed compliance period for international mail ends on October 22, 2026, removing partner government agency goods, Chapter 98 and 99 shipments and free trade agreement claims from the postal informal entry process. The cutover lands roughly six weeks before the Christmas delivery peak.
Korea Fair Trade Commission chair Ju Biung-ghi said on September 21 the agency will rewrite its investigation rules after a court stayed its Coupang inspection through September 23, and rejected US House pressure over the case. The dispute ties a supplier-cost probe to a Section 301 petition, a House report and a USD 410 million privacy fine.
A federal court has approved a revised FTC order that lifts the Amazon Prime settlement refund cap from $51 to $200 and opens automatic payments to members who used 11 to 20 benefits a year. New payments begin October 1, 2026, with no claim form required.
Amazon has raised its minimum starting wage for full-time US operations employees to $20 an hour and paired the $1.5 billion raise with a 10-20% grocery discount from October 1 and a lifetime credit union membership. The move matches Costco and lands three weeks before Prime Big Deal Days.