eBay rapped for misleading ad

An advert for popular auction site eBay that showed a coffee machine available for under £100 has got the company into trouble.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint from a member of the public who had been unable to find the item at that price on eBay.

The advert also featured a chair, apparently being sold for under £50, and a Le Creuset set for under £80. The prices were hyperlinked to the eBay site.

eBay had argued that its intention "was to advertise examples of generic items available on the eBay site," according to the ASA. But the ASA ruled that the advert was misleading as the items were not available at those prices for the whole time the advertising campaign was running.

The ASA "considered that most consumers would not interpret the ad as a reference to generic items available at the stated price," it said in its ruling.

Instead, it judged "most consumers would click on the links in the ad and expect to be able to buy the specific product for the stated price." It therefore concluded that the advert was misleading.

eBay was told to ensure that its adverts either made clear they were referring to generic items or that the ads were withdrawn once depicted products were no longer available in the future.

http://www.asa.org.uk/

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