Africa-Press – South-Africa. Takealot, along with six other third-party resellers operating on its platform, landed in trouble with South Africa’s advertising regulator after claiming large savings on Bumbo foam baby seats.
The complaint was laid by Buitendag Holdings and Bumbo International Trust, which manufacture and supply the product to various merchants reselling on Takealot.
The item retails for R649 on the Bumbo website, but some of the Takealot resellers claim the usual price is up to R2 000 and customers will buy it at a large discount.
According to the complaint, the merchants in question include All Things Discount, SARADEALZ, Dele Williams, Ocean Toys, Tech Giants, and SPAGOF SA, which resell items on Takealot.
Takealot itself did not overstate the discount.
The Bumbo branding was also digitally removed from one of the ads and in another case, the chair claimed to be a Bumbo seat was not.
Despite multiple attempts to get Takealot to remove these misleading advertisements permanently, Bumbo was unsuccessful.
Takealot also did not respond to the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB).
ARB ruling
Apart from the resellers, the ad watchdog said Takealot must also be held accountable as the main reselling platform as it should have some editorial control over things advertised on its site.
Given Bumbo sold its product on Takealot and on its website for R649, any other claim of “saving” should be calculated based on Bumbo’s original price, which was clearly not the case, said the ARB.
Fake Bumbo seat on other platforms
One third-party reseller on Takealot advertised a Bumbo floor seat, but the product did not match those manufactured and supplied by Bumbo.
One floor seat, sold by All Things Discount, was a grey one priced at R1 299.
After ordering the seat, Bumbo received a yellow seat from a different manufacturer.
The product does not contain the safety harness featured on the website, and only had a barcoded piece of paper reading “Bumbo Floor Seat Mimosa” attached to the box.
After ordering a floor seat from other third-party resellers, including ARADEALZ and SMILE BABY, the complainant received a potty seat and another seat manufactured by a different group.
Since the product did not match what was advertised, the ARB ruled the adverts were misleading.
It advised its members not to accept advertising for a Bumbo product unless the delivered product is in fact a Bumbo.
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