You know that subscription you signed up for six months ago? The one where you were going to win a Lamborghini, or at least a decent shot at a Hilux? Yeah, that one. The one you forgot to cancel after the first month, and now it's quietly taken another five payments while you weren't looking.
You're not alone. And the federal government has noticed.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released its 2026-27 compliance and enforcement priorities in February, and buried among the usual suspects (supermarkets, airlines, energy companies) was a phrase that should make every subscription-based giveaway operator sit up a bit straighter: subscription traps.
The ACCC specifically called out businesses that use "administrative or cost hurdles" to stop customers from cancelling. It flagged automatic renewals, early termination fees, and what it called "non-cancellation clauses" as areas it plans to target. Alongside that, the Commonwealth Government is drafting legislation to ban unfair trading practices outright, with subscription traps and drip pricing named as the first targets. Draft legislation is expected for public consultation sometime this year.
For anyone paying a monthly fee to enter prize draws, this is worth paying attention to.
## What counts as a subscription trap?
It's simpler than it sounds. A subscription trap is any practice that makes it harder to cancel a service than it was to sign up. Think about the last time you tried to cancel something. If signing up took 30 seconds and a credit card, but cancelling required an email, then a phone call, then a 14-day "cooling off" period, then a form you had to print and post... that's a trap.
The ACCC has flagged several specific practices it considers problematic. Automatic renewals where the business doesn't clearly remind you before charging again. Cancellation processes buried deep in account settings. Early exit fees that aren't disclosed upfront. Contracts that auto-extend for another 12 months if you miss a cancellation window by a day.
The penalties for businesses caught using unfair contract terms are significant. Since the laws were strengthened, corporations face fines of up to $50 million per contravention. That's not a typo.
## We tested cancellation on the major platforms. The results were mixed.
We signed up to several of the biggest subscription-based giveaway platforms in Australia and then tried to cancel. The whole point was to see how easy, or how painful, the process actually is when you're the one clicking the buttons.
Motor Culture Australia and LMCT+ stood out as genuinely straightforward. Both let you cancel directly from your account page. No emails, no phone calls, no live chat guilt trip. You log in, you hit cancel, it's done. That's how it should work.
The rest weren't so clean. A couple of platforms advertise "cancel anytime" on their sign-up pages, which technically is true, but when you actually try to do it yourself there's no self-service option anywhere in the account dashboard. You end up having to email support or submit a contact form and wait for someone to process it manually. One took three business days to confirm the cancellation. Another sent two "are you sure?" emails before finally letting go.
That gap between "cancel anytime" as a marketing claim and "cancel anytime" as an actual user experience is exactly the kind of thing the ACCC is talking about when it says subscription traps.
Beyond that, consider what happens after you cancel. Some platforms wipe your accumulated points or credits the instant your membership ends. Some keep marketing to you unless you separately unsubscribe from emails and SMS, which is an entirely different process. One platform removed access to the account dashboard itself after cancellation, which meant you couldn't even manage your own data preferences without contacting support again.
None of this is necessarily illegal right now. But the direction of travel from the ACCC is pretty clear.
## The three things to check on your own subscription
If you're currently paying monthly for any giveaway membership, grab your phone and try this right now.
First, check how easy it is to find the cancel button. Log into your account. Can you find the cancellation option within two clicks? If you have to Google "how to cancel [platform name]" to figure it out, that's a red flag. TikTok is full of videos from people trying to work out how to cancel various giveaway subscriptions, which tells you something about the user experience.
Second, read what happens to your stuff when you cancel. Do you lose accumulated credits, points, or bonus entries? Some platforms wipe everything the instant you cancel. Others let you keep what you've earned until the end of your billing period. There's a meaningful difference between the two, and it's worth knowing which camp your provider falls into before you decide to stay or go.
Third, check what happens to your data. Cancelling your membership doesn't always mean they stop contacting you. Some operators require you to separately opt out of marketing emails and SMS after cancellation. If you cancel but keep getting promotional messages, that's not a glitch. It's by design.
## What the new laws might actually change
The draft legislation being prepared by the Commonwealth Government would introduce a general prohibition on practices that "manipulate consumer decision making and cause harm." That's deliberately broad language, and it's meant to be.
If passed, it would give the ACCC power to go after businesses that use dark patterns, those design tricks that nudge you towards spending more or make it psychologically harder to leave. Think of the countdown timers, the "your entries will be lost forever" warnings, the five-step cancellation flows with a "special offer" at each stage.
The UK already banned subscription traps earlier this year with its Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The EU's Digital Services Act has similar provisions. Australia is catching up, and the ACCC has made it clear this is a priority, not an afterthought.
## Should you cancel?
That's not really the question. The question is whether you're getting value for what you're paying.
If you're on a $20 a month membership and you genuinely enjoy the community, the content, and the chance to win something, and you can cancel whenever you want without losing anything unfairly, then carry on. Plenty of people get genuine entertainment value from prize draw subscriptions, the same way other people pay for streaming services or fantasy sports.
But if you signed up during a "final hours" campaign, forgot about it, and have been paying quietly ever since, then the ACCC's announcement is a good excuse to log in and take stock. Check your bank statement. Work out what you've spent. Decide if you want to keep going.
And if the cancel button is hard to find, well, now you know that someone in Canberra has noticed that too.