why is ebay allowing multiple listings in the one item? deceptive advertising....

[robneil56]

Do not understand why multiple listings are allowed. Item description & listing price state one thing, then suddenly become far more expensive when you go to purchase. extremely deceptive advertisng.

[harley_babes_hoard]

I'm with you on this, I dislike them. There is a 'tell us what you think' link down the bottom of this page , click on it.

[digital*ghost]

Variation listings theselves are not the problem (I personally think they're a god-send), it's the sellers who misuse the format by including a different item in the listing at a much lower price than the other items. That is a policy breach, as the listings are meant to be used for variations of the same item, so any listing that contains a completely different item to the one advertised can be reported. 

[jensmanchester-australia]

One of the theories behind offering multi variation listings was to create a look which is common on many websites where related products are all shown together so the customer can easily pick and choose without having to go to other pages.

For example I might sell a quilt cover set which is available in single, double, queen and king sizes. Also available might be matching european pillowcases or cushions. With the multi variation listing the buyer is able to choose the size and/or accessories they need without having to go and try and search through ebay for what they want.

When set up properly they definitely make it a lot easier for buyers but unfortunately at this stage a lot of buyers don't understand the concept and how it works. There are also a lot of sellers who misuse the multi variation listing which also doesn't help the buyer experience.

[robneil56]

When I'm looking (for example)  for a phone cover and the description & pictures match EXACTLY what I key in, at a buy it now price of (say) $1.00 when you go to purchase, the item ACTUALLY advertised at this price is a screen protector or stylus, NOT the cover described AND pictured in the listing.

Variations such as colour selection are fine as the product advertised is the same.

[donpino]

there is a very simle way to clean this up if EBAY truly wanted to stop those deceiving listings. Simply set the software used by the sellers to list the items, to automatically display the highest priced item and highest price first. Ebay is allowing also other devious practices. For exemple the chinese sellers play the shipping game. When they ship something different or ship the wrong size item, or other mistakes of theirs, you have to ship the item back to China, which for us in  US or Canada cost a lot of money most of the time worth much more than what the item is worth. You can't win at this one and there is a lot of chinese sellers that just play that game. Their shipping cost is subsidized almost completely by te Chinese government, not the same for us, so for Ebay to insist we return the item is only supporting their abusing the system. I have to say a few will recognize their error, and simply credit or ship the right item. Not to talk about he millions tens of thousands of mislabelled memory cards that were sold that way and ebay only reacted when the abuse was so big that an independant group opened a website only to identify the scammers. Ah EBAY......your buyest should be on protecting the buyers. 

[extra-keen]

donpino, and also on protecting honest sellers!!!

[digital*ghost]

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@donpino wrote:

there is a very simle way to clean this up if EBAY truly wanted to stop those deceiving listings. Simply set the software used by the sellers to list the items, to automatically display the highest priced item and highest price first. 

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On the US site, I have seen a price range stated for variation listings rather than a single, lowest price, and I think that would be good to have implemented on all sites. 

The lowest price is not always what is displayed in search results, though, it is affected by search terms / parameters, and - if just category browsing - the most popular item within the listing. If the most popular item is higher than the lowest priced item, quite often the higher price is shown instead. 

Buyers can influence the price displayed in search results with their search terms and parameters - some are probably obvious, eg setting search results to display highest price (with or without postage included), will mean the highest price in the listing is dsiplayed in results. Excluding all items under $2 works really well if the average price for the item you're looking for is above that. Using more specific search terms will also affect the price displayed - a simple example would be something with size variations at different prices, if you include the size name in search terms, only the price for that size is displayed in results. And, of course, excluding words from search terms also works quite well for listings that have common "bait" items (if a stylus is often used as the cheapie item, using -stylus will generally mean the higher prices are displayed in results).

[463michele]

I just discovered this DECEPTIVE PRICING practice when my 14 year old was tricked by it. A phone case she wanted was advertised with a buy it now price of $1, but when she selected a colour (which she had to do to proceed with the purchase) the price suddenly changed to $4.99. When I did a bit of checking I found this is a common practice. The item description is for the phone case but the $1 price is for a screen cover, The price should match the description, not some item buried at the bottom of a drop down list that isn't even visible when searching. Why does eBay allow this???

Try it yourself:

eBay item number 121283033142 "Stylish Reticular Sports Armband Pouch Case Arm Strap Holder For Multiple Models"

[davewil1964]

Good thing you supervised your 14 year old.

As she is not allowed on eBay.