ASA Adjudications

eBay International A.G. t/a eBay(UK) Ltd
Helvetiastrasse 15/17
3005
Bern
Switzerland
Number of complaints: 1
Date:21 February 2007
Media:Internet
Sector:Leisure

Ad
An internet banner ad, for eBay, stated "Coffee Machine Under £100 ... Retro Chair Under £50 ... Le Creuset Under £80" and showed a picture of each item. The prices were hyperlinked to the eBay website.
Issue
The complainant, who had been unable to find the depicted coffee machine on eBay and believed the chair was available at £250, challenged whether the ad was misleading, because the chair and the coffee machine had not been available at the stated prices.
The CAP Code: 3.1;7.1;15.1

Response
eBay.co.uk (eBay) said the ad had appeared on several different websites between 30 October 2006 and 15 December 2006.  They said their intention was to advertise examples of generic items available on the eBay site.  They said the hyperlinks led to an eBay search results page of products related to the depicted items, the prices of which matched or were under those quoted in the ad (whether it was a fixed price format or where bidding was under the price quoted).  They said the criteria used to carry out the search were the item titles used in the banner ad i.e. coffee machine or retro chair.  They said the item titles for the coffee machine and the chair did not include brand names or model numbers, because the intention was to show examples of generic items; for example when someone clicked on the retro chair in the ad, the search results would have shown only listings that contained retro chair in their title. They said their intention had not been to create an expectation that the exact identical items were available on the eBay site, because eBay was not a retailer and did not control the supply of the items listed on the site by its users; they believed most users of the eBay site would be aware of that.  eBay said they had used that type of advertising for many years and it was the first complaint they had received.

eBay said the Le Creuset pot was an example of a specific product in the ad and the 'Le Creuset' link had led to a search of all 'Le Creusets' available at under £80.  They provided an example of a 'Le Creuset' pot for under £80 that had been available at the time the complainant had seen the ad as well as an example of a 'Le Creuset pot that had been available for purchase at a fixed price of £71.99 from 5 November to 12 November.

They sent screen shots that showed when an example of a chair and a coffee machine that matched the pictures in the ad had been sold or had been available to purchase.  A coffee machine had been sold on 2 November for £75 and a retro chair had been available for purchase at the fixed price of £45 from 28 November until 5 December.  They also sent other examples of coffee machines and a retro chair that would have been available at the time the complainant saw the ad.

They said they made every effort to ensure that their advertising remained compliant with the CAP Code.  They said they always checked the stated prices when running this kind of advertising campaign to ensure that they reflected the market prices available on the eBay website.  

They said, because there were now over 200 million registered users and well in excess of 50 million items available on the eBay sites at any one time, it may have been that the complainant was unable to find the items at the time of searching, even though they may have been available.  They said in the coming year they intended to make it easer for buyers to find items listed on the website.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged that eBay had shown that the specific items depicted in the ad were either available for bidding or purchase on the eBay site under the stated prices, although we noted the coffee machine sold was a different colour to the one in the ad.  We also noted eBay did not control the prices or types of items listed on their sites.  

In addition we noted the ad had appeared from 30 October to 15 December but the evidence sent by eBay demonstrated that the specific coffee machine had been available only until 2 November and the chair from 28 November to 5 December, which explained why the complainant, who saw the ad on 21 November, had been unable to find the specific coffee machine and chair depicted in the ad.  We understood that 'Le Creuset' items continued to be available for under £80, and were likely to have been available at that price for the whole time the ad had appeared.

We considered that the vast majority of consumers were likely to understand the nature of the eBay website, i.e. that availability of items on eBay was limited and, in particular, that it was possible there was only one of each specific item available or that items could be second-hand.  Nevertheless, we considered that consumers were likely to understand the text and pictures in the ad to refer to specific items available to purchase on eBay at the time the ad appeared because, for example, the text stated "coffee machine" and showed a picture of a specific designer coffee machine.  We considered that most consumers would not interpret the ad as a reference to generic items available at the stated price, for example coffee machines in general, instead we considered most consumers would click on the links in the ad and expect to be able to buy the specific product for the stated price.  We considered, therefore, that all the items depicted in the ad should have been available for the whole time the ad appeared and, as soon as the items were no longer available, the ad should have been withdrawn.  

Because eBay had not demonstrated that the specific coffee machine and chair depicted were available for the whole time the ad appeared, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 15.1 (Prices).
Action
We told eBay to ensure their ads either made clear they were referring to generic items or that the ads were withdrawn once depicted products were no longer available.  We advised eBay to seek assistance from the CAP Copy Advice team for their future advertising.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)

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