View Full Version : False advertising!
A customer has just contacted me pointing out that I am falsely advertising a product.
The item in question is £59.25 in the Shopwindow feed, but £71.25 on the merchant's site!
What do I do now?
I have to say that in my opinion this customer is correct!
I would appreciate any advice, particularly from AW.
Thanks
It's not false advertising, that's a typical consumer over reaction. You're not selling the product, you're a price comparison/information site and aren't responsible for providing accurate data. Just put "EOE" or some other disclaimer in your footer. Take a look at what Kelkoo or another of the big sites do:
YAHOO! MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION THAT (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE WIL L BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTA INED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (V) ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.
Confuscius
11-02-08, 11:39
Nice one! But did they buy?!
Sounds to me that it would benefit all Shop Window users IF DigiWin could provide a full set of appropriate COUNTRY dependent site disclaimers that we could all use - in fact, I would go so far as to saying that they ought to have provided this already and they should have made it a condition of using the Shop Window functionality.
Could probably do with standardised 'Privacy Policy' wordings as well!
Digiwin, what say you?
Paul
That's a good idea Paul. An official TOC file for Shop Window users to display would be very welcome.
I've had to make up T&Cs for my other sites in the past and with absolutely no legal understanding I have no idea if what I hashed together from other's T&Cs makes any legal sense (aside from the fact that I myself infringed copyright putting it together in the first place!)
OK - all sorted now and everyone happy.
This did throw up another question that I'd really like to know the answer to:
When I contacted the merchant about this discrepancy they were understanding, but part of their reply was this:
"... I'm not sure how often Affiliate Window or you collect our data, but it would seem that the data which you have is rather old....If you're interested, we do offer web services which would allow you to query our site in real-time and take our real-time prices and availability. Perhaps you could combine this with what you get from Shop Window."
Now the technical side of trying to integrate the real-time prices into my Shopwindow is way beyond me, but the question has to be asked;
If the data we get is old and it is possible to use real time prices, then when doesn't Shopwindow do so? :confused:
Maybe in V2, perhaps? Or is that too much to hope for?
Cheers
Bud
Confuscius
12-02-08, 12:02
Hi Bud
Please raise a support ticket for this issue on behalf of all Shop Window users. It seems that AW are not here very often these days given the number of unanswered posts.
I am very unclear on this issue! Is the feed we are all using still out of date?
I do not have any contact emails on my sites specifically because of bad experiences in the past with being pestered through no fault of my own (bad experiences not related to Shop Window, just to make it clear!)
Paul
Will do Paul - now raised
The item in question for me is still showing the wrong price so it will be interesting to see when it catches up.
Disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers!
every site I operate disclaims that we do not make guarantees as to the accuracy of anything as it's all subject to change without notice.
I wouldn't want to be forced to implement DigiWins T+C on my web property, although recommendations of T+C would be very welcome. IE, I wouldn't want it in the feed, but it'd be nice for the DigiWin lawyers to knock up something watertight we could pick through.
Bear in mind, if I get a lawsuit, I'll just pass the buck
Disclaimers are fine and in place on my sites, but that doesn't answer the fundamental question of why these errors are there in the first place. I don't want to have to write to any customer that points these things out and say "Sorry, read our disclaimer - goodbye". It's just not good practice if it can be avoided.
Part of the response to the ticket raised:
"...we rely on some merchants to actively be checking their programs... and we're working towards different error management models to ensure we have the correct data and it's being updated regularly."
At least it looks like this is being addressed, although the question of using the merchants data feed (as suggested) was not answered. I'm sure there's a damn good technical reason for this though.
Fingers crossed for a good solution.
Quick update on age of datafeed (+2 days):
Item still showing on my site at the wrong price, but now removed from merchants site (I sold their only one).
I currently have terms of use, privacy policy, disclaimer and EULA for my sites, which I've had since I first started making websites. None of those strictly cover the shopwindows parts though, so it is actually a slight concern that customers could like in this case, find reason to complain and kick off about something which by rights we have very little control.
I seriously think an optional standard disclaimer should be issued by Affiliate Windows for us to use against this sort of issue, purely on an option basis as said though, but just so that we are covered for such things as this and more than just for those of us who have been around the net a fair while who already have most things covered, but for the newcomers who put up the shopwindows script as is pretty much and having nothing at all in the way of privacy policies and disclaimers and the likes and who are wide open for customer complaints and are none the wiser till it actually happens to them.
The thing that gripes me with this particular case though, is that if things were all being done properly and as they should be by merchants and if fail safes for such things were in place by Affiliate Windows, this particular customer should have been able to make their purchase perfectly happy and would never have come across errors and discrepencies. It makes me wonder, just how many products people have viewed on my sites, gone to buy them, found different prices and the likes and then immediately left my site without making the purchase and with no intention of ever coming back again and that applies to all of us. To me these things are fundamental and need to be right from the start and any errors like this are potential sources for huge embarassment for us, the merchants and Affiliate Windows.
As has already been said though, at least this does look like it is being looked at.
For those that may be interested, the item has now gone from Shopwindow (+3 days). I believe the feed was a lot older than this, but having raised the ticket action seems have been taken, which is good, but doesn't really tell us how old the original feed was.
Hi Guys,
Just got in from a wicked curry and watching jonathon ross and thought id run through the forum and catch up on the latest goings on.
Regarding the standard / template ts & cs, Ill have a chat this week and see what we can issue.
I cant guarrantee it will be watertight but I can ensure we do provide a workable template, should you wish to integrate it.
Digital Window Ltd hold no responsibility over any disclaimers or legal notices that you may provide within your shops, and will only offer you a guideline for the purpose of an example.
(We have to cover ourselves too you know ;)
Cheers Guys,
Amo
Hello
Did an example privacy policy or terms & conditions statement that we could use as a starter get published? I can't find any.
If not, has anyone a suggestion for the best place to get one I could use that complies with UK law.
thanks.
Following on from an earlier post here I have added the following verbiage to the footer on my websites:
<div id="sw_footer">
<br clear=all>
<div style="text-align:center; margin:1px; border:1px;">
© 2007-2008 DigitalWindow Ltd. ShopWindow in association with
<a href="http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=3&id=623" target="_blank">AffiliateWindow</a>
{#siteTitle#}. We make every effort to display information and prices that is correct and up to date,
if you notice any errors please let us know so these can be corrected.
The information on this website is subject to change without notice and cannot be guaranteed to be correct.
</div>
</div>
I f you do use it change the wording around a bit
and (optionally :)) change the affiliate id to your own.
For version 1:
The file to change is in templates/template_x/elements/page_footer.tpl