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?

[domino-710]

Springy - you stated ' at least one ' - and were pulled up in red for it.

Take this one - you are quite right - this seller is registered in Australia - 2021.

But ' screaming ' - red white & blue. lol

[springyzone]

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@*sons_n_daughters* wrote:

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.

I don't think the aussie flag always means it is coming direct from China. I'd agree it is probably a company selling cheap stuff that originated in China but I think some of these companies have warehouses here. And quite possibly Chinese managers here.

I'll show you the top of an ad from a  seller I actually bought something from (it was just a cheap item and like you, I would not have bought an electrical item or anything, but for what it was, I was okay with it)

Now, that (very big) seller is listed as located in Aust and my item arrived from Auspost in about 3 or 4 days so i don't think it was posted from China, I think it came from a warehouse here. I had a look at the feedback & many mention quick postage, that never seems to be the problem, though plenty question the quality of the different items.

[eburtonlab]

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.

In most categories, that is a waste of your time. Stop doing that.

Try sorting by "Price + postage: highest first" instead. If there are many results, set a price range to weed out the extreme results at both ends. Then go to the end of the results (or the end of the last page) and start scrolling up through the results.

This will cause listings to sort by the highest-priced listing within your price range, ignoring entirely all the lowest-priced clickbait variations that have nothing to do with your actual search.

[gutterpunkz05]

For my money, judge judy should find in favour of the seller.  As per key words in title, display stands.

The defence rests.

[sugar249]

Objection your honour.

Relevance,  evidence is not relevant to this case

[springyzone]

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@gutterpunkz05 wrote:

For my money, judge judy should find in favour of the seller.  As per key words in title, display stands.

The defence rests.

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That's exactly what I meant by breaking the spirit of the law.

Sure, the seller has spammed the title to cover themselves, you can't touch them on that, but these variable listings, I suspect, were originally there to cover variations of the same or very similar item.

To me, a rotating electric turntable is substantially different to a photography show holder.

I will put it this way. What if variable listings had a rule that the cheapest item had to be the one in the first photo, the one that would be on display when people were scrolling through the ads?

I suspect we would see a change quick smart. Sellers would suddenly be listing these 2 items in separate ads.

I know very well that ebay allows all this. All I am saying is it annoys a lot of buyers. They aren't necessarily all people who don't read the ads either. I read ads and I find it annoying too, although I don't come across it too often as I am usually not buying the types of things these sellers are selling.

Ebay isn't the only site that does this either. Some cruise sites sail a bit too close to the wind, in my opinion. Not the actual cruise lines, the independent travel agents who market cruises. 

[springyzone]

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@sugar249 wrote:

Objection your honour.

Relevance,  evidence is not relevant to this case

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Here's how I see it.

If the banner says Australian stock, you can bet it's a seller located in China but maybe with a warehouse here.

If it says Australian seller, then it is going to say the seller is located in Australia, which may or may not be the case, but if the delivery date is in 3-7 days, then it is probably true it is all 'local' but it is still Chinese stock.

But you are completely right, this is all off on a tangent as the OP's issue wasn't about where the stock was coming from or where the seller was located, it was about the bait and switch listing.

And they can be annoying. I was chatting to a friend who sells on ebay and he was saying how much he hates those listings as he can guarantee whatever he looks up is going to be at least $10 dearer or else the cheapest item will be 'out of stock'.

I know these ads pass all the ebay rules etc etc, but all I am saying is the OP isn't on his own with being annoyed.