By Angelo Lambropoulos
Bait pricing refers to an advertising strategy used to attract customers by making them think that they will have to pay less for something that costs more.
There are some cases in which the practice of bait pricing can bring about lawsuits. Depending on laws established in specific territories, it may be possible to sue businesses for false advertising, especially if the business is shown to be completely unable to provide the promised product or service.
Having defined the term ‘bait pricing’, I think there is something you should be made well aware of in Real Estate practice so you know your rights as a consumer, both Sellers and Buyers!
Please read the following as this is straight from the Real Estate Institute of NSW Licensing Manual:
“The marketing of properties for sale or lease with reference to a range of prices carries with it a substantial risk that there will be misleading or deceptive conduct. That is particularly the case when the range of prices includes amounts that are below those that the landlord or vendor is reasonably likely to consider accepting.
Price ranging is not recommended as a form of marketing as the buyer or tenant will look at the bottom of the range and the seller or landlord will be focused on the top of the range. It is inevitable that a buyer or lessee will start the negotiations below the bottom of the range and make the agent’s job very difficult when it comes to negotiation the final sale price.
The law stipulates that the agent can only advertise a price range for a property if the owner is prepared to accept either end of the range.’
Real estate agents must be aware that:
* Advertising or quoting a property at a price significantly less than the agent’s estimated sale or lease price, the reasonable market appraisal or the prices that the seller or landlord has indicated he or she is likely to accept constitutes misleading or deceptive conduct.
* Over-quoting by a real estate agent of the estimated market price of a property in order to obtain a listing from the seller or landlord amounts to misleading or deceptive conduct.”
My company, ScanMe Realty Pty Ltd has two very useful tools to help expose unethical business practice to ensure both home-sellers obtain ‘the true price’ for their home, and that home buyers ‘aren’t fed lies about a properties price point.’ I have evolved these tools to promote ‘complete transparency’ throughout the course of the negotiations, giving you black & white evidence to present to the ACCC or NSW Dept of Fair Trading if you feel you have been misled.
Please click on the below icon to assist with your current situation:
