Makro Marketplace full HD and 4K TV lie

Major South African retailer Makro has allowed merchants on its marketplace to sell TVs labelled as full HD and 4K when they only support a much lower resolution.

A search through the television section on Makro’s website last week revealed that unscrupulous sellers had several TV listings headlined as “full HD” that only supported 1,366×768 resolutions.

Similarly, at least one listing for an ultra-high definition 4K TV was actually a full HD TV.

In most cases, the issue is evident when comparing the title to the specifications provided in the listing.

The sellers advertise the TVs as “full HD” or “4K” in the title of their listings, but upon clicking through, the more detailed product descriptions show that the TVs have much lower resolutions.

In one instance, a seller advertised a unit as an “LED Full HD Android TV” and claimed that it offers a 1,366Hz refresh rate upon clicking through to the listing.

This is nonsensical. While the highest refresh rates on computer monitors intended for gaming top out at 1,000Hz, they are typically between 60Hz and 240Hz on TVs.

Among the brands the sellers placed misleading listings for were Condere, Ecco, and Mora.

Not all of the TVs from these brands on the Makro marketplace were given misleading titles.

At least one was correctly labelled as “HD Ready”, while others had titles matching the given resolution specifications in the listing.

In other words, if the title said Full HD, the resolution in the listing was 1,920×1,080.

However, while several listings appeared to be accurate, the misleading ones create doubt about whether any of them can be trusted.

Silence from Makro

Three sellers were identified as the primary culprits behind these misleading listings — ATE, CNG Pty Ltd, and Khan Electronics.

Unfortunately, Makro provides no details about these merchants on its website, making it challenging to reach them for comment.

MyBroadband contacted Makro for comment and additional information about the sellers, but it did not respond by publication.

It is unclear whether the CNG selling on Makro is the real CNG (Pty) Ltd registered with the CIPC. The director of CNG (Pty) Ltd has no public contact details and could not be reached.

Following our query, several of the listings have been removed. However, many remain, including the nonsensical listing for a Condere TV with a 1,366Hz refresh rate.

The screenshot above shows how many of the Condere, Ecco, and Mora TV listings on Makro were mislabeled as “full HD” when they only offered 1,366×768 resolutions before we reached out for comment.

South Africa’s fake Full HD scandal

This is not the first time Massmart has been embroiled in a controversy around misleading TV labelling.

In 2017, MyBroadband conducted an investigation exposing suppliers that had provided retailers with fake Full HD TVs for sale.

The investigation found that Massmart’s Game and other retailers were selling 720p “HD Ready” TVs as Full HD or even 4K due to suppliers mislabelling the products.

TVs were being sold that were labelled as Full HD on the box and on the sticker attached to the back of the unit, despite the actual panel being 720p.

Our investigation found TVs from at least two brands ranging from 28-inch to 55-inch that were being sold as Full HD in this way.

Following the report, Massmart quarantined the products and instructed the supplier to alert affected Game customers as part of a product recall. Game also issued an apology.

Makro Marketplace listing of TV with 1,366Hz refresh rate

Makro Marketplace listing of UHD/4K TV with 1080p resolution