I hate the way sellers abuse price ranges - it ruins 'buy it now' eBay shopping

[chaau_zottfc]

I hate the way many sellers (often technology from China) list their item with a price range. The low price is for something else they are selling that has nothing to do with what you want to buy. The high price is for the item you actually are interested in. This confuses buyers who are sorting prices 'lowest to highest' or trying to consider the best item to buy as they compare prices. Sellers are being deliberately misleading and this is a potential criminal situation. I believe that prices should be clearly stated. I think government and media outlets would be very interested to hear about in this practice if it continues. eBay can easily solve this by only allowing the listing of one price per listing, but of course, allow for selecting different colours as this does not change the price. Make the seller sell the lower priced item separately. Yes, the advertised price changes when you select your options, but the buyer has had to sift through options and select what they want from the drop-down lists on the seller's page before the true price is revealed. This is not user-friendly, is potentially criminal, and it is breaking eBay. Buyers can be confused about the price from the search result and not notice the price changing with their options. They can be so confused that they end up buying an item they didn't want or paying a price they did not want to pay. There are thousands of examples of this abusive scenario. Here is an example - notice how the $1 item is a box that is out of stock, but all other selections are $7.93: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sports-Silicone-Bracelet-Strap-Band-For-Apple-Watch-iWatch-Series-3-2-1-...

[go-tazz]

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@chaau_zottfcwrote:
I hate the way many sellers (often technology from China) list their item with a price range. The low price is for something else they are selling that has nothing to do with what you want to buy. The high price is for the  Buyers can be confused about the price from the search result and not notice the price changing with their options. They can be so confused that they end up buying an item they didn't want or paying a price they did not want to pay. There are thousands of examples of this abusive scenario. Here is an example - notice how the $1 item is a box that is out of stock, but all other selections are $7.93: 

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eBay don't do anything about it as it's bringing in revenue and if buyer buy at a higher price then it's even more

revenue,(so they can't openly encourage it but by not doing anything they make a bigger profit).

Personally if I see those listings I scroll past them as I know that 99% of them are bait and switch type items,

(which is a common tactic used by scammers and not allowed on eBay,yet these sellers get away with it).

By having a low cost item and marking it out of stock they can then list the higher priced items even though

in most cases the low cost items isn't even mentioned in the listing title,(which is supposed to be another

thing that isn't allowed on this site).

Unfortunatly there are also genuine sellers that use the system correctly and that will miss out as members

will ignore their listings as it's the same format as those scammers.

[springyzone]

It's been around for years. I don't like it either.

I don't think anyone minds listings where you can choose another colour/size/quantity etc but where they have a great photo of something & the price seems to be $1.99, then when you click on it, you find the $1.99 is for something else only vaguely related & the thing you looked at is actually $14.99, it is extremely annoying.

That exact scenario happened to me once. I scrolled through several listings without actually clicking into the ads, just to get a feel for the sorts of prices for these things as I had had no occasion to buy them before.

Then I headed off to the market, priced some there, thought they were quite expensive compared to ebay, only to come home & when I checked in more detail, the market price was better.

Okay, my fault for not having a more detailed browse, but all the same, misleading and annoying.

I too avoid those ads a bit now.

[phorum_junkie*]

I use advanced search to set my minimum price at $5 (or whatever is appropriate) which gets rid of the one dollar items.

[davewil1964]

Save the paragraph

[9520329]

eBay - PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!! 

CALL IT BAIT AND SWITCH, FRAUD, OR FALSE ADVERTISING, IT IS DELIBERATELY MISLEADING, AND SHOULD BE SEEN AS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR. IT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED. 

[davewil1964]

eBay don't read the boards. This has been an issue for years, so it would seem eBay are okay with it. No amount of shouting, even in red, is likely to change it.

There are workarounds; they are enumerated in the many threads about this.

[*tippy*toes*]

Oooohhh, screaming in red. You must be angry! Not to mention that it's underlined. Clearly you are serious.