Misleading toilet roll add. People fall for this, but apparently i may not win the case if escalated

[from_mum_2_mum]

I refused to panic buy & stack up rolls and now pay the hefty price because of my duty of care.

Some shameless toilet paper seller is advertising rolls misleadingly. I called ebay to see if they can do anything to stop this before more people fall victim like myself, but it seems like they can't do much due to the cleverly placed ad. On top of that, the customer representative thinks i may not get a refund if escalated. 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/254538369953

First of all the seller put a pic of a whole pack and put a price that resembles the price of a whole pack like other honest sellers. At a glance once would naturally think $16.95 is a price of a pack (where in Australia would you sell 1 roll for that much it just doesn't make sense). She described it as 1 roll in the description and added a picture of the 1 roll but cleverly cropped it in an angle and put it in certain way so it looks like an 'australian made' label or some sort of 'Australian made' parcel pack (you wouldn't notice this is a toilet paper if you don't zoom - well so many victims didn't notice it - including myself. The ebay representative had to tell me few times & made me zoom before i realised that's a picture of a roll). Seller also  cunningly opted for a no refund policy.

30% review apparently doesn't do anything to stop this seller. If only she puts a decent 1 roll picture with no label covering it or in an angle as the main picture, i bet $100, not one single person in their right mind will click and buy. Yet ebay thinks this is okay. I'm just in disbelief.

[lyndal1838]

The item was listed as a certain brand.....only the full pack shows that information..

The photo of the single roll is not branded.

I think it is reasonable to show the brand whatever way it is possible.

[digital*ghost]

Was it necessary to show the brand and therefore a full, unopened pack in the main gallery image?

Of course not. And since the package was opened and portioned out into single rolls - why not show the empy packaging, with one roll sitting on top of it?

383477938729

[countessalmirena]

Re 383477938729,

What a lovely antidote to stories of people refusing to self-isolate, video of women hitting someone for wanting "just one pack" of toilet paper, reports of people flouting quarantine or self-distancing, and the sight I saw yesterday of a group of young guys, perhaps aged 18 or 19, crossing the road towards the main supermarket without about as much social distancing between them as a jar of Bismarck Herring.

There are some people with genuine kindness.

[springyzone]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

I don't think the refund was undeserved, TBH. I also think impulse buying on eBay is a problem, and that in some cases buyers need to accept responsibility for their errors caused by oversights such as not paying attention to all of the information a seller provides in a listing. As I've said on numerous occasions before (and a phrase which I stole from someone else who posted this elsewhere) - Not as expected does not equal not as described.

But, I if I had to guess at what was behind eBay's decision here purely on a policy level, despite finding how they went about it very troubling - there is not supposed to be conflicting information in a listing - that includes images, titles, and text in the description. A photo of a full pack and a title / description for 1 roll is conflicting information. The seller shot themselves in the foot by creating a listing with conflicting info. It's a technicality for sure, and perhaps never formed the basis of how eBay approached this case, but for anyone saying the item was 100% accurately described - no, it wasn't. 

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I thought that was a brilliant summary.

Not as expected does definitely not equal not as described.

And I do think there are some buyers who abuse the system for a refund-sometimes from not having read descriptions properly or maybe just seeking a refund if they aren't happy with colour, sizing, whatever of an item they buy.

To me, the pivotal difference in this case is that yes, the buyer (and other buyers) may not have carefully read the description or title and that is a real lesson but there was a deliberate element of deception in the ad, I believe. If not deliberate, then certainly careless.

As you said, a photo of a full pack and a description of one roll is misleading as so many people rely heavily on the photos.

Put that together with the current climate of shortages in a number of products and profiteering, and ebay really do have a situation on their hands.

There's another area I think ebay may have missed. Dry yeast. I've been watching prices go up dramatically in that for the same product I bought over a week ago.