ecommerce-dark-patternslisted

# E-commerce dark patterns Most dark-pattern guides are about taste. This one is about the subset that is **against the law** in the markets a store actually sells into — and about the honest mechanic that replaces each one without losing the sale. A shop that ships a pre-ticked add-on has not made a design mistake; it has made a refundable one. Every finding carries three things: the pattern, the text it breaks, the replacement. --- ## Do this first Run the audit before reading anything else. It finds the patterns that can be inferred from source, each with a file, a line, the law and the fix. ```bash node skills/ecommerce-dark-patterns/scripts/audit-dark-patterns.mjs ./src ``` Zero dependencies, reads only, writes nothing. Handles React, Vue, Svelte, Liquid, HTML, Astro, PHP. `--json` for machine output, `--strict` to fail a CI job when anything at severity `illegal` is found. Then read **`references/patterns.md`** for the catalogue: twelve patterns, and for each one the jurisdiction where it is illegal, the text, and the honest version. ## If you take one rule from this file **Every honest mechanic sells at least as well as its dark twin, because the dark twin is measured on the first visit and refunded on the second.** A countdown seeded from page load converts on the first page view. The buyer who returns sees the same 4:59 and never trusts the shop again. A real end-of-offer date, printed, converts almost as well and is true the second time. The audit's job i