Unethical Process: Required to spend personal money during the interview.
Forced Financial Transaction: The most concerning part of this interview was that I was explicitly required to spend my own money to buy a gift card/product within the app. I was told this was to "experience the app," but legitimate companies provide test accounts or vouchers for this purpose. Asking candidates to pay out of pocket is highly unprofessional.
Disguised User Research: The interview felt less like an assessment of my skills and more like a forced user survey. After I made the purchase, the questions focused almost exclusively on product feedback (likes, dislikes, improvements) rather than my professional qualifications.