Cracking down on bait-and-switch listings

[andor9438]

I waste a lot of time looking at listings sorted by "Price + postage, lowest first" only to find that the low price on the listing is for an item that has nothing to do with the thing I'm looking for.

An example: I was looking for an electric display turntable. The listing showed $8.06 to $23.72 in the search results.

 

I opened the listing and selected the Colors - White Matte was $23.72, and so was Black Matte, White Mirror and Black Mirrored versions. The $8.06 "color" was a non-motorised, non-rotating watch display which was not what I searched for.

 

 

In other words, I got suckered in with a promise on a low price thinking it was for the thing I wanted to buy when it wasn't. It's unethical, annoying and probably illegal in some jurisdictions. It's also an incredibly common tactic on eBay.

I have lost faith in the accuracy of eBay listings and I've started to look elsewhere for my products, rather than having my time wasted. Will eBay start cracking down on this practice?

[sugar249]

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@springyzone wrote:

What you were looking at, in my opinion, breaks the spirit of law a little bit.

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Please explain which law.  I'll get in touch with judge judy

[domino-710]

Spring did not mention ' the letter of the law ' - but the ' spirit of the law '.

Wake up ' grumpy '. lol

[*sons_n_daughters*]

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@springyzone wrote:

I agree, these types of ads are sometimes extremely annoying.

I don't know who the various sellers were but by the looks of it, one at least is based in Australia as it said Australian seller. The other that said Australian stock, that stock could be in a warehouse here, it probably is, but the words would alert me to the fact it is most likely a Chinese seller. A Countess says, the chinese sellers on ebay have more leeway.

I think a lot of people believe they'll get great bargains by buying from a Chinese seller because everything over there is 'cheap' but that hasn't exactly been my experience. An $8 price would probably be unrealistic for what you were after or for any sort of quality. You may pick up something similar cheaply eg on temu, but I would trust ebay more than that site.

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For the love of god Springy, you've been around long enough to know that showing "AU SELLER" on a photo SCREAMS Chinese seller. The Chinese more often than not will put that on their photos because people fall for it. Right alongside the Australia Post logo, so it looks legit. 

My husband recently purchased an item. It said AU seller, AU stock, plus had the Aust Post logo on the photo. Within a few minutes I was alerted by My Post with a tracking number. I said, you do realise this is coming from China, don't you? He said no, it said AU seller, it's coming from Sydney. I said no, it's coming from China and they are drop shipping. 3 weeks later, the tracking number finally updated to say it was in transit. It still arrived within the shipping time, so no problem there. HE KNOWS BETTER!!!! Yet still fell for the logos and photos. 

[*sons_n_daughters*]

I forgot to mention one thing re photos. The Australian flag. As soon as I see that, I immediately know it's China. Depending on what I'm buying, will depend on whether I buy from that seller. If I'm wanting a pack of rubber O rings and they are the cheapest, then yes, I'll go ahead and buy, knowing full well the item is coming from China, despite the claims of being an Australia seller.

If I want to buy a lamp, then absolutely not will I buy from them. Not in a million years.

It's also interesting to note, that the Chinese sellers flood pretty much every ebay site. If you look at say, ebay Italy, the pictures will show that they are Italian sellers and items are being sent by Italia Post, with the logos on the photos. Same with ebay Brazil, or any other country. They customise it for whatever country they are trying to invade.

[sandypebbles]

The photos posted by the OP could not scream 'China' louder if they tried

Every single thing about them is a total dead giveaway 

[*sons_n_daughters*]

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@sandypebbles wrote:

The photos posted by the OP could not scream 'China' louder if they tried

Every single thing about them is a total dead giveaway 

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Especially when they plaster Express Post on their photos! It still takes at least 2 weeks to come from China.

That said, I have bought from Chinese sellers, who state they are Chinese sellers, I know I'm buying from a Chinese seller, and the item has arrived in under 5 days. One ad said express post (not Aust Post, just express post). It was here in 3 days, from China (as is evident by the postage label that is in both English and Chinese). I can barely get an item from Sydney in 3 days (4 hours away!)!!!! I am happy to buy from those sellers because they appear to be honest. They aren't pretending to be someone they're not. Again, it depends on what I'm buying.

A lot of the items I buy, the best ones come from China, India or Africa. If they honestly state where they are, I'm happy to buy. Most of my regular high volume sellers have 100% feedback. They aren't trying to peddle the cheap carp. They are genuine people trying to make an income. My favourite Chinese seller has over 500,000 feedback and has 100% rating. I know that high volume sellers can show 100% when in actual fact they may have 1 or 2 negs, that's not the case for this seller. She had one neg year ago because the item was the wrong shade of red in the buyer's eyes.

[arctoph_49]

Springyzone is a smart poster and I think she knows very well that "Australian Seller" does not mean anything and that screaming usually means it is not true, but we all occasionally make mistakes if we are tired or for any other reason.

[sugar249]

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@arctoph_49 wrote:

Springyzone is a smart poster and I think she knows very well that "Australian Seller" does not mean anything and that screaming usually means it is not true, but we all occasionally make mistakes if we are tired or for any other reason.

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There is another huge pointer in those photo's,  which based on the so called ''bait"" priced item presented.  Makes it clear none of the items are Australian based and all are coming from china.   How anyone could suggest Australian warehouse,  even  in my sleep I can tell you that,

[springyzone]

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@*sons_n_daughters* wrote:

For the love of god Springy, you've been around long enough to know that showing "AU SELLER" on a photo SCREAMS Chinese seller. The Chinese more often than not will put that on their photos because people fall for it. Right alongside the Australia Post logo, so it looks legit. 

My husband recently purchased an item. It said AU seller, AU stock, plus had the Aust Post logo on the photo. Within a few minutes I was alerted by My Post with a tracking number. I said, you do realise this is coming from China, don't you? He said no, it said AU seller, it's coming from Sydney. I said no, it's coming from China and they are drop shipping. 3 weeks later, the tracking number finally updated to say it was in transit. It still arrived within the shipping time, so no problem there. HE KNOWS BETTER!!!! Yet still fell for the logos and photos. 

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S&D, yes, usually the aussie flag draped over an ad will denote a Chinese seller but not always.

What it usually denotes to me is cheap junk. Lots and lots of small, cheap items of questionable quality, no matter if they are from Aust or China.

I have found that those types of ads are not exclusive to Chinese sellers, I have seen banners like that on authentic aussie sellers but then again, I do check out seller location.

In the case of your husband's purchase, I would never have fallen for it because really? He thought it was coming from Aust and it was going to take about a month to get there?

That's a dead give away, whether an ad has logos or flags on it or not.

I am like you in that I am willing to buy (sometimes) from an overseas seller but all I want is the truth about location, item etc. That includes the price, which is OP's beef. He's looking for a rotating electric turntable and some of the stuff in the drop down menu doesn't fit that description.

The jewellery photography show holder of the title would be better in a separate ad.

[springyzone]

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@sugar249 wrote:

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@springyzone wrote:

What you were looking at, in my opinion, breaks the spirit of law a little bit.

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Please explain which law.  I'll get in touch with judge judy

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I'm my own judge judy here, thanks.

In my opinion, an ad with a  drop down selection menu should be for variations of the same item. Maybe a different size, different colour and so on. That's how I suspect ebay originally intended for it to be used. That's what I meant by the spirit.

And I don't have a problem with some variation in price if it is based eg on size or material or even colour.

But an ad should not be for half a dozen widely different items.

Completely different item, different ad.

That's how the majority of ebay customers would probably prefer it too.