Asia Bizz: There is a new issue that Japan is undergoing these days and there are growing number of complaints in context to a new type of online auction called ‘Penny Auction’. Many complaints have been filed with the Consumer Affairs Center in Japan, and this has now become a huge point of worry to everyone.
One of the most common complaints that are coming forward is, that the website is asking the bidders for a non refundable fees, so that they can successfully place their bids, but they are losing it most of the time. One auctioneer states that a large TV can be bought only for 544 yen through the website.
The participants are facing trouble because even when they lose their bid, the website is not returning money. As of now the law states, the website is clearly misleading auctioneers through its bidding system. The Consumer Affairs on the other has said that it will be issuing warnings to customers and will start investigation into this matter by next month. By the end of November, there were as many 150 penny auction complaints registered with the Consumer Affairs.
Source: JapanToday