Getting sick of sellers advertising items for a false price.

[petesean2316]

sellers advertising items at a shown price, then as soon as you choose a colour or size the price shoots up. And theres nothing in the drop down for price advertised. This is false info, good to attract buyers but a waste of buyers time. if they are lying about price are they lying about other things described ?

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

It makes searching for an item at lowest price impossible.

Also the multi lsitings can be spammed with hundreds of same listing by same seller.

Makes for a poor buyer experience.

[insidethe93]

Like the idea of the Acme troll dispersal Kit!

But as the thread's been discussing trousers, no Kit needed so far, as trolls don't wear trousers. Or is that gonks?

[zolasfoot]

Get what you are saying but still not sure i agree. If there is no mention of the sample in the description then how can you even state a 99p price? Its still deceiving and a waste of the buyers time as you have to go into the listing to see the actual price of the main item.  

[date80211]

Problems with that include first that no-one with a working moral compass would suggest 'reasonable sale practice' included advertising 'Curtains - 99p' nor even 'Curtains - from 99p' when the cheapest curtains on offer are in fact £100 - or anything else more than 99p. 

Far from 'reasonable sale practice' that's not just misleading: it's obvious dishonesty; falsehood pure and simple and worse, clearly calculated.

How could you even think, let alone attempt to justify the idea that pretending you had curtains for sale at 99p wasn't a text-book case of 'bait and switch' both as you describe it, and as potters did?

My imagination might be limited yet personally, I envisage only three kinds of people - and of course, their lawyers - ever knowing what 'bait and switch' is, let alone having any interest in it. 

Those are potential customers who have been misled by it, including most of us herer; Trading Standards officers who hope to stamp it out; traders at least partially dishonest. Why would anyone else care?

Beneath all that, your curtain-fabric sample would be poor business practice, even if it were honest.
A) Charging the poor customer for posting out a minxy little off-cut is more likely to creat bad feeling than any kind of good will.

B) Even postage and packing will cost you more than 99p and a detailed look at the logistics involved should show it's highly unlikely invoicing and accounting for that piffling some won't cost a lot more.

So broadly, charging 99p for a sample would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Others might put it more strongly, and I happen to think you're at best mistaken.

[potters_uk]

Interesting posts above.

I can not see any benefit at all to carrying out this type of misrepresentation.  Surely a lot of those who act on this when buying  simply leave when they see someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Simply counter productive.

Some people who pull this type of stunt seem to think they are intelligent business owners when in reality they are as dumb as a sack of walnut shells.

Summing it up, the intention of those that practice this is to gain a significant advantage by misleading potential customers and it needs calling out.  These are the people who contribute to buyers going to other platforms to get away from being turned over by a schemer. This not only affects the seller doing this but it pulls everyone else with it and honest people lose out because it.

[date80211]

Of course you see the benefit. How could you not?

Of course a lot of buyers leave when they see someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Isn't the point that some don't, and most of those would not have been there in the first place but for the dishonest advertising? So no, it's clearly not counter productive.

I suggest that people who pull such stunts might statistically turn oput top be intelligent business owners but that's nothing to do with whether they're decent people.

[designdemon]

So this thread is 5 years old, and yet the problem exists and is more rampant than ever. 

[insidethe93]

Anyone who knows anything about curtains, or hopefully has done some research before browsing to buy, would know you can't buy even one half of a pair of curtains for 99p or even £1.99. And none worth having. Probably not even in a charity shop.

As a business venture that has overheads (cost of materials - fabric, thread etc) I doubt you could manufacture curtains for 99p unless they come from a sweatshop. Spoken from the experience of making curtains on a low budget (sewing's a hobby).

You'd think someone wanting curtains for 99p must surely suspect they're having the wool curtains pulled over their eyes.

[idris_5616]

I agree, but I don't understand why ebay don't take action.

I tried to report a static caravan sale.  It was up for £5,000 but far down the advert it says 'deposit £5,000 plus £408 for 84 months).  Older people buy them and can quite easily click on this.  There is just no need for it, misleading, scary and allowed by ebay.

Their 'report this item' is useless as it doesn't cover this category - or much at all - so I don't think they are that interested in helping cusstomers.

[date80211]

Quite…

The real problem is that e-Bay has too little interest in ethics, morals or normal business practice, and thinks itself above trading standards laws and regulations.

Part of that is down to the outrageous provisions of what was it - prolly section 230 of the Communications Decency Act - which US America should never have been considered, let alone enacted and more clearly, should never have been adopted by any other government.

Broadly, that ludicrous Act denies that on-line publishers - including e-Bay - are responsible for whatever criminal rubbish they permit on their platforms.

That being the case, why would e-Bay or anyone else give a rat's whisker for ethics, morals or even the normal business practices that traditional media are forced to follow? 'Traditional' here including printed press, broadcast radio and TV and quite likely, cinema too..

In my view, everyone who helped perpetrate that attrocious Act should be lined up and forced to compensate its many victims.

Clearly, other views are available and if anyione here wants to justify them, do please try…

[techcat99]

'Sample not for sale' on another clickbait  low-ball price, until click on actual item where find it is dearer!!

[idris_5616]

There seems to be no quality control.

[blue-buttercup]

I just refuse to purchase items now if the actual purchase price is more
than the listing, and look elswhere.

[reilge4]

Good strategy, I'll do this also but leave a comment with each seller - 'Picture not as priced, purchased elsewhere ' 👍

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[date80211]

Brilliant, reilge4,

Wish I'd thought of that.

[61stephenuk]

You can only leave a comment in feedback if you actually purchase an item.

[reilge4]

Yeah, I've had a couple of similar replies but someone reminded me - you can only comment if you actually purchase something! Maybe what we should do is purchase the item at that lowest price advertised against the picture that isn't what you're paying for (if you know what I mean) then ask for a full refund as the item was "not as pictured" and then comment to that fact. Possibly, if enough people did this, sellers and eBay (unlikely) will stop this practice.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[blue-buttercup]

I have no idea where I am in this conversation or to whom I am speaking.
But...basically, Ebay is no longer my first 'go to chanel when I need to
purchase anything

[andrerobin.t4sto]

Although this is an old post, I'm replying because I think this is still a big problem. Eg I often see a new item of clothing (say a summer dress) advertized at, say, £6, click on it, and it turns out that the £6 is just for a sample of material. The actual item of clothing is really £17 and so forth. I think this is underhand. It's insulting to buyers and makes the seller look dishonest. 

[0305tomm]

Drop down menu offers a cheap accessory at price for item described which is much more