Online retailer OneDayOnly has been found guilty of misleading consumers with their display prices by the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB).

This really shouldn’t come as a massive surprise, because last month we wrote about how both Takealot and OneDayOnly were still promoting some dodgy discounts, despite being closely watched by the ARB.

One item for sale on OneDayOnly, a “Car Hands-Free Aux Audio Receiver”, was the real nail in the coffin. MyBroadband captured this image of the item on sale:

Sheesh, down from the regular retail price of R400 to R149 – what a score.

Well, one shopper wasn’t so sure, and complained to the ARB:

The receiver, shown below, was advertised on OneDayOnly for sale at R149. This was down from its “retail” price of R400 – and therefore constituted a 63% discount.

The complainant said that when he saw the deal he searched for the product on other websites, and found the same receiver for sale on Takealot for R112.

In response to the complaint, OneDayOnly said that the product’s retail price (R400) was established by its “buying team” after doing comparative research.

They added that the product could be found on other sites for prices ranging from R179 to R522, but that might have been an ill-advised move:

The ARB considered the evidence before it and conducted its own research into the pricing of the receiver.

It found that the item was available at the following prices online:

• Deal&Share – R72
• GearBest – R37
• Bidorbuy – R149

The body stated that the retail price of the item cannot be listed as R400 if it is not sold for this price at other outlets.

So that didn’t go to plan, then.

The ARB stated that they agreed with the complainant but, because the deal in question had expired (they last for one day, as you may have guessed), they recommended no further steps should be taken.

Ultimately, it’s the consumer who needs to be on the ball with purchasing decisions. If you can’t be bothered to Google around (it’s not hard), and you’re going to take every discount at face value, then that’s on you.

What’s that saying about a fool and their money?

[source:mybroadband]