Bid TV - Skirting the edges of legality?

[Mobius1]

I have noticed that Bid TV (Freeview 23) have started doing something called a "non stop drop" whereby the price of the product allegedly falls until all that allotted stock of that item is gone.

Well, I couldn't help but notice on several occasions that it initially drops quite rapidly and then, at a given price, the rate at which it drops slows to an absolute crawl, say a penny every ten seconds or so. On screen there is a banner saying "could it go as low as a pound?".

Is this a legal practice? It's quite apparent that, as a company, Bid TV sets a defined limit on how low they'll allow the price to drop, which they control based on the number of units remaining and then by manipulating how quickly the "non stop drop" actually drops. Theoretically and allegedly, the item can drop in price as low as a pound (plus �1.50 for your phonecall and �7.99 for postage and packaging!) but in reality, it would take much longer for that to happen than they ever have the product available for.

This, and the fact that their presenters are always claiming that buyers are getting a better deal than they should because of producer or computer pricing errors makes me wonder how they get away with this style of selling. It seems dishonest and intentionally formatted to mislead. Any comments?

[weeal]

I cant stand those chanels, they talk constantly and get on my goat

[squarebear]

If it says, "Could it go as low as a pound" and the answer is no, then I see no law that has been broken.

If however, it said, "It could go as low as a pound" and there is no chance of that happening then yes, that would be misleading.

[I.Don No]

they have a pre-determined price at which the items will sell and everyone pays that price, but I think they must make their profit on the P&P....extortionate price. I would never buy from one of these channels...complete rip off.

[Mobius1]

Squarebear: I forgot to mention that, during these segments, one product in their line-up actually does go as low as �1, however, they do not say which one it will be. The presenter(s) often use the time when briefly showing the entire lineup to postulate over which item it's going to be...

Perhaps they, as presenters, don't actually know. But it's obviously set on a certain item. A pretense that suggests it could be any of the items is generated and maintained, however.

I'm not saying everyone is going to be mislead by this. I certainly am not, else I wouldn't have asked the question. I just wonder how they get away with it. It's surely a very dodgy game to play?

I suspect that the TV watchdog turns a blind eye as often as possible with these things, considering the Independent Television Commission's mandate to make as much revenue for the government as possible, hence the licensing of the airspace to so many shopping channels to begin with.