Online retailer sells mystery parcels for $6 each at Suntec which is prohibited in S’pore

After selling parcels with “mystery” items for S$6 at Comex, retailer The Auction House came under fire for possibly breaking the law, as selling mystery boxes is prohibited in Singapore.

The Auction House posted a livestream of the event on its Facebook page, featuring bargain hunters at their Comex 2022 booth, which was held earlier this month.

In another video, company founder Ms Melissa Wix was spotted showing the items customers got from the parcels, such as vacuum flasks, speakers or a robot vacuum.

However, it was reported that the retailer’s activities might be illegal if it was indeed selling mystery boxes.

Mystery boxes, which contain surprise items often priced higher than what customers pay for, are prohibited in Singapore, although not formally defined under Singapore law, reported The Straits Times on Sept 15.

In 2018, the police ordered merchants operating vending machines with mystery items to cease their activities as these were considered a form of a public lottery.

The police have since confirmed that a police report was made against The Auction House and investigations are ongoing.

“When haters not enough, they need to make multiple accounts to support their own comments,” wrote The Auction House on Facebook, attaching a comment by a netizen urging the police to investigate the company.

The Auction House also said it was aware that mystery boxes are illegal, but it didn’t sell such parcels because the items were revealed during the Facebook livestream.

“We opened quite a lot of parcels… There are some repeated items like shoes and bags,” said a representative.

Sharing the Straits Times article, The Auction House posted another update on Thursday evening.

“Fun even also people want to destroy it. Anyways guys, receive ur messages for concern. Not to worry, we have spoken to police, and as of now, they need to investigate if it is considered gambling or not, as we have shown the item on live and also during the event. So not sure yet,” it said./TISG

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