Consumers are being urged not to be fooled by the promise of bargains at one day sales after an Oxford man unwittingly paid £250 for poor quality goods.

Trading Standards issued the warning after an auction-type con which was held at the Bullingdon Arms in Cowley Road, Oxford.

Dodgy traders booked a room at the East Oxford pub, advertised the sale with fliers and then lured customers into bidding for cut-price electrical products they had not seen.

But when people handed over their money, and opened the tightly bound packages they discovered they had been conned into buying shoddy goods.

Ian Marriott, spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council's Trading Standards department, said the traders booked the room at the pub under the guise of a kitchen sale.

He said: "These people are very professional and convincing. Initial sales which appear to be genuine bargains will be sold to the seller's stooges in the audience, then they start selling the rubbish.

"Advice from Trading Standards is avoid going to the sales and if you are a venue operator be careful when letting the rooms to protect the local community.

"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Scam victim John Clayton, 30, is still counting the cost of attending the sale, more than two months later.

He paid £250 for a camcorder, a digital camera, three watches, hair cutting clippers and a knife set, which he described as cheap and nasty.

Mr Clayton, of Frederick Road, Cowley, said: "I would not consider myself partic- ularly naive, but I lost £250. They said it was worth thousands of pounds but it is the kind of thing you'd buy from a market stall."

He said the 12 month guarantee on the products did not include an address or paperwork for the manufacturer.

When he tried to contact the trader, the mobile phone given went straight to an automated answerphone message and his calls have not been returned.

Repeated efforts by the Oxford Mail to contact the trader also failed.

The Bullingdon Arms refused to comment.