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.

[11dustyattic]

Did you not read the listing?

[sandypebbles]

Or the heading 

[springyzone]

The seller's rating is now down around 27% and they have no items on sale.

In my opinion, there is enough negative feedback there, all saying the same thing, to suggest to me that the ad misled quite a few people.

I haven't seen the actual ad but it is clearly profiteering and I think someone suggested the item may not be in the original packaging. If not, that may be the way to get your money back.

If ebay knocks you back, try paypal dispute.

To my way of thinking, if someone is selling a single roll, then it isn't enough to just say that in the ad, there should not be any photos of whole packs of toilet rolls, there should be a photo of exactly what you will get. This isn't the time for tricky photos to be allowed.

I know that the ad might pass the letter of the law but it doesn't sound as if it passes the spirit.

[daydreams_12]

How often here do we hear of people not reading the listing.................

Although agree this is totally unethical it just shows how important it is to read a listing from start to finish

[from_mum_2_mum]

Thank you for your valuable input. I'm in the same opinion. A single roll is very unusual. The picture should at least depict what she is selling, definitely not a photo of a whole pack as the main picture. I've always assumed that we are somewhat protected purchasing via ebay and paypal. With 27% rating (and believe me it will go down even more by tomorrow when parcels arrive to the other 50+ unsuspecting buyers) yet no intervention or consequences, what's the point of rating at all? and again you are right. The ad cleverly pass the rules, but not ethical conducts.

[lyndal1838]

Springy I did see the listing and it did state very plainly in the title and in the descrition that the listing was for ONE ROLL.

There was a photo of a Pack of the toilet rolls to show the brand as well as a photo of one roll which did not have a brand name on it but was clear enough to show the quilted pattern.  Anyone who knows the brand would recognise the pattern.

It may not be ethical (who would charge those amounts for one roll)  but it was not misleading IMO.

The OP has admitted she did not read the description (and obviously did not read the title) so it was not altogther the seller's fault.

[from_mum_2_mum]

What can i say? speed buying.. time in need. As i mentioned above, i refused to go all TP crazy. I ordered via woolies online when we had maybe 6 rolls left. Woolies accepted my order paid in full, yet 3 days later they apologised because they changed their policy & couldn't fulfil my TP need. By then i only had few rolls left. Not keen in using leaves, i frantically went on Ebay.

[from_mum_2_mum]

Kudos to all of you who have an excellent eye for detail, not everyone is an experienced ebayers though. I looked at the 60 sold record, many of them only had few purchases on ebay - (they all proly panicked about their TP need like me). 60 people fell for this - is surely a reason enough to say something is a bit wrong with the ad. If you don't think so, that's fine. Each to their own.

As for me, I still think the seller shouldn't have uploaded a picture of a whole pack as the main picture. 

ANd yes i do expect to be told to 'read carefully' a hundred times more for my carelessness. 

[11dustyattic]

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@from_mum_2_mum wrote:

Kudos to all of you who have an excellent eye for detail, not everyone is an experienced ebayers though. I looked at the 60 sold record, many of them only had few purchases on ebay - (they all proly panicked about their TP need like me). 60 people fell for this - is surely a reason enough to say something is a bit wrong with the ad. If you don't think so, that's fine. Each to their own.

As for me, I still think the seller shouldn't have uploaded a picture of a whole pack as the main picture. 

ANd yes i do expect to be told to 'read carefully' a hundred times more for my carelessness. 

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I agree it's not the right thing to do to post pictures of a whole pack, not something I would do or anyone with any ethical standards, I do understand how you feel about that, however there is an onus on the buyer to read the description and check out feedback prior to making a purchase. These sellers would be stopped in their tracks if buyers did that. If they don't currently have any listings for tp up, then maybe they were reported enough times for Ebay to step in and remove the listings. Either that or they've run out of stock

[springyzone]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Springy I did see the listing and it did state very plainly in the title and in the descrition that the listing was for ONE ROLL.

There was a photo of a Pack of the toilet rolls to show the brand as well as a photo of one roll which did not have a brand name on it but was clear enough to show the quilted pattern.  Anyone who knows the brand would recognise the pattern.

It may not be ethical (who would charge those amounts for one roll)  but it was not misleading IMO.

The OP has admitted she did not read the description (and obviously did not read the title) so it was not altogther the seller's fault.

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I know I didn't see the actual ad, but what concerns me is that I don't believe the roll originally would have come as a single. i bet it was from a pack that was opened. Brand new stuff is supposed to be in original packaging, or I was under that impression.

I just feel that in today's climate, it is unethical of any seller to pop in a photo of a whole pack of toilet paper if they are actually selling only one roll.

There are enough negative comments there to show that several buyers were misled. It wasn't just one careless buyer, by any means

I absolutely understand that buyers should read ads thoroughly, but I think it is not in ebay's interests to let sellers get away with these sorts of ads. They have worked for years to try to build up a reputation as being a safe place for buyers. They need to be more like Amazon, which has banned several sellers who looked to be profiteering.

I know I am practising social distancing when I say this but to me, $17 or whatever it was for one roll of TP is extortionate and I don't care if it included postage.