Bridge Auctioneers sent an email to some 200 people asking them to pay to be put on a 'priority list' for an upcoming launch of around 30 homes.
That's despite the builder not releasing any details of house prices or a site plan for the Gleann an Ghairdín development in Gorey in Co Wexford.
Ken Murphy from Bridge Auctioneers says it was a mistake and apologised after a massive online backlash:
"Yeah, I'll be honest, it wasn't something that I had considered before but the developer was telling me as he had been talking to an auctioneer in Dublin and apparently this had been done on several different developments. It's something that I've never done before and it's something that I certainly never be doing again."
