Following the revelation that one or more high profile auction houses have been involved in bogus bidding and in giving kickbacks to acquire mandates, a plethora of criticism has flooded into the electronic and printed media.

The latest saga involves the notion of so called ghost or vendor bidders, which seems to be quite acceptable but clearly unethical.

"A very common cause of complaint which has, however, as yet received no coverage", comments Tony Clarke, Managing Director of Rawson Properties and the Rawson executive responsible for the relatively new Rawson Auctions franchise division, "concerns the practice of under-quoting the value of the property in its advertising in order to attract buyers to the auction - the expectation being that the auctioneer's skill and/or bids from bogus bidders will raise the bidding to an acceptable level. 

Examples of such advertising wording is "mid R500 000" when the reserve is actually R600 000 or "offers from" or "low R500 000s".

Punting his company's 'squeaky clean' image Clarke continues "the practice adopted by Rawson Auctions in both the Cape and Gauteng, is to advertise the property at the genuine reserve price - not below it." 

In Australia, says Clarke, new legislation is likely to be passed soon making it a criminal offence to advertise properties for auctions at a price lower than what the vendor will accept.

"South Africa," says Clarke, "should, I believe, adopt a similar legal stance as part of the massive clean-up that the recent incriminatory statements are almost certain to lead to in the auction world."