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ASA auction site crackdown sees half a dozen ‘misleading’ ads banned

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By John Glenday, Reporter

February 22, 2017 | 2 min read

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has launched a crackdown on ‘misleading’ auction house adverts with six companies snared for promoting exaggerated claims.

One of those affected was MadBid which has stoked controversy by taking out full page advertisements in the national press claiming that new cars could be had for £500 and iPhones for less than £100 but sadly these items weren’t the only things being had.

Five other auction sites also fell foul of the law with the ASA concluding that each was guilty of ‘confusing customers and leaving them out of pocket’.

Each platform operates under a ‘pay per bid’ model, a timed auction where consumers pay for each bid they make on an item, luring in punters with low headline prices while raking in cash from multiple bids.

MadBid in particular has attained notoriety courtesy of a high-profile media campaign with TV adverts and positive advertorials on the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail. However, the ASA took a somewhat dimmer view of the business, noting that MadBid did not explain the cost of credits nor how many were needed to win.

Once ‘won’ the bidder must also cough up the item's auction price and pay for shipping, mitigating any price differential with the recommended retail price.

Similar sites to be affected by the ban were Swoggi, BidBid, LikleBid, Fastbidding and Bidwizeu.

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