Kogan fined $32k for dodgy Father’s Day ads

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newsĀ Online retailer Kogan.com has been finedĀ for “false or misleading” claims in its Father’s Day advertisements last August.

The penalties, which came toĀ $32,400, followed the issue of three infringement notices by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC foundĀ it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that Kogan had made false or misleading representations overĀ the price of theĀ monitors during a Fathers’ Day promotion on its eBay store. Those ads were in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law, the ACCC said in a statement.

Kogan told eBay consumersĀ that they would receive a 20 percent discount on the two own-brandĀ monitors and oneĀ Asus brandĀ monitor, if they were purchased fromĀ 24th-29th August. However, beforeĀ the promotion, Kogan had hikedĀ the prices of the three productsĀ on its eBay store. Although consumers did receive theĀ 20% discount off the newly increased prices, the netĀ discount received was just 9 percent.

Shortly after the promotion ended, the advertised prices of the monitors returned to their pre-promotionĀ lower prices.

ā€œIt is simply unacceptable for businesses to raise prices before applying a discount in order to give consumers the misleading impression that they are obtaining a larger percentage discount than is actually the case,” saidĀ Dr Michael Schaper, the ACCC’s Acting Chair.

ā€œTruth in advertising and consumer issues in the online market place are both current enforcement priorities,ā€ heĀ said.

The payment of a penalty specified in an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of the Australia Consumer Law, the commission pointed out. The ACCC can issue an infringement notice where it has reasonable grounds to believe a person or business has contravened consumer protection laws.

8 COMMENTS

  1. A $32k fine is far less than the ads would have cost to produce and place and they wouldn’t make the ads unless they were profitable. It’s effectively a nonsense fine, like most of our business fines, where the punishment from the government if far lower than the profit from committing the offence.

    Not even a slap on the wrist.

  2. Bad Kogan
    You were always up to no good
    Bad Kogan
    You were the outlaw
    You stole my horse
    You stole my darlin lover
    of course

    Bad Bad Kogan
    Never come back to my saloon
    You were too sharp at the table
    Your pocket aces always popped up too soon
    Card sharp Kogan
    Leave the town!
    We never want you around!

  3. I’m not really surprised, Kogan has consistently given me the impression that it’s a less than ethical retailer.

    eg comparing* their TV’s with much higher quality and priced name brands by making unwary consumers think they are getting a great quality TV. They use phrases like “uses an LG LCD Panel” to suggest quality when the electronics processing the pictures are what really counts and what differentiates the big names from the cheap chinese TV’s.

    *not sure if they still do this or not

    • The thing is….. Most people don’t care.

      I personally don’t watch enough TV to really care about whether my TV is producing the best colours, or is going to last 4 years instead of 10. At the prices Kogan/Cheap chinese makers charge for their 4K TVs, I could buy 4 of them for the price of a “brand name” TV from LG, Samsung or Sony.

      • You missed the point, I have no objection to anyone selling cheap TV’s, what I object to is the misleading of consumers by making apples to oranges comparisons in order to drive sales.

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