Unscrupulous selling practices across the entire site

[kent9206]

Hi all!

Just wanted to get everyone's opinions on some changes to eBay that I only just noticed about a year ago, after having signed up for an account well over a decade ago.

Back then eBay was certainly the premier online marketplace for practically anything IMHO. Now it seems as though the company is getting greedier by the day, and encouraging their sellers to do the same.

A simple search for product X, sorted by price + postage, no longer brings up only product X listings in the order you'd expect; rather you're bombarded with what I'd call clickbait ads. Each one is carefully crafted to make it look 10x cheaper than the associated product/s actually are, and you don't find this out until you look at the actual listing.

At that point you realise that the listing isn't just for product X, but also products Y and Z. Oh and they all come in 10 different colours, each one being a different price! Plus, if you buy 50, you get a 1 cent per unit discount! Wow, what a sweet deal! NOT!!!!

OK, I'm obviously exaggerating, but seriously guys...what gives??? And as if everything I've said so far wasn't bad enough, you don't even notice that you're being scammed until you log into your account!

If you're like me and are paranoid about the multitude of cookies that every man and his dog wants to put on your PC these days, then you come to the site as a guest, search for whatever, end up finding a listing that you like, click "Buy It Now" and are then prompted to sign in.

That's when the price can suddenly jump up a few dollars, because you didn't realise that the blue one was more expensive than the red one (for example). But once that cookie exists on your PC and eBay can effectively track your every move, then the price auto-updates via AJAX as soon as you change your selection.

Has anyone else noticed and been annoyed by these things as much as me? Or am I just being pedantic? MTIA 

[maranock]

I see you have not spent a lot of time reading these forums. Yes, everyone knows about these types of listings and no-one likes them (the misleading ones anyway), but since Ebay has never shown any interest in removing the misleading ones we have strategies to stop us from wasting time on them. The reason you are not getting helpful advice on your concerns is that there are already a miriad of posts on the issue and posters get sick of explaining the same things over and over.

If you want to stop wasting your time on those sorts of posts you can either not click on any listing that has a price range ($1.95 - $9.95, for example) or place a minimum price in the price search bar that is above the lowest price on most of those listings and closer to the price you would expect for that product.

[repentatleisure1952]

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@kent9206 wrote:

LOL...glad to know this is such a trivial thing to you. That's the funny thing about opinions; everybody has one, and more often than not, they're all completely different  If you feel safe and not as though your privacy is being violated by staying signed in, then good luck to you. I, on the other hand, will exercise my right to feel the complete opposite.

Huh? Back button?? What's that? I had no idea you could leave a listing page once you were on it! I thought that by simply visiting one, my browser would be permanently stuck with that tab open!! I also don't have a clue how to read, as has been made obvious by my two lengthy posts on here 

Seriously, next time you think about posting something so passive aggressive...maybe do the community a favour and close your browser

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"Just wanted to get eveyones's opinions"

"I posted this thread in the hope of finding others who agree with my viewpoint"

So you wanted to place an eachway bet?

[sugar249]

pedantic

[shoppingbag*]

Just wipe your history and cookies when you log out.  Cookies are only placed so they can give you ads for similar things, sometimes I find this is a help.  We are all aware of these types of misleading and annoying listings, nothing is forcing you to look at them or buy from them. These have been around forever. I really don't waste my time thinking about such things because they are a fact of life, and here to stay. If this is all you have to worry about in life then good on you, your life must be fantastic. The rest of us have much more serious issues to worry about.

[*tippy*toes*]

Hate to break it to you, but cookies will be put on your computer whether you are logged in or not. The only advantage of not being logged in while you search, is that you don't get bombarded with emails from eBay asking if you're still interested in X item.

[jellybirddesigns]

Why do so many responders to the OP make these forums a trial by fire to those who are less experiened?

I thought the forums were to be a place of discussion and help, not snarkiness.

Some responses are just revolting and unkind.

[springyzone]

The answer to whether anyone else has noticed and been annoyed by those things you mentioned is a resounding yes.

I've been hanging around the forums for a while now and those issues are constantly brought up in different threads. 

Whether people are logged on or not (and I personally just stay logged on), the issue of multiple items on the one listing, all at different prices, generally infuriates people. I've been annoyed myself when it has happened to me. You go to look at eg a cake topper and think it is seems unusually cheap at $1 or $2, only to find the one that drew your interest is $14.

From memory, I think ebay rules are (or were) that listings like that were supposed to be for 'like' products. So for example, same dress but different sizes or different colours. But for sure, some ebay sellers abuse the concept.

Ebay sure has undergone some changes over the last decade but then again, so has every other website. And ebay has a lot more serious competition now. Back in the day (about 2001, maybe earlier) when I originally joined ebay, most major shops didn't even have a website. a lot of people didn't even have a computer, facebook didn't exist and so on.

I still use ebay and generally have had positive experiences here. In a lot of ways it is better than in the old days as far as secure purchases go. Can I just say though that your experience is going to depend to some extent on what you are looking up. If you're after some cheaper or smaller items, sometimes it pays to make the search Australia only. I'm not saying that you'll never get those annoying listings then, but they seem more common amongst Chinese sellers.

And for most of my searches, I never encounter a problem like that at all. It all depends I think on what you are searching for.

[dvd.horder]

you are right ..in what you say..and there are many traps for us to spend our dollars on

[4channel]

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@jellybirddesigns wrote:

Why do so many responders to the OP make these forums a trial by fire to those who are less experiened?

I thought the forums were to be a place of discussion and help, not snarkiness.

Some responses are just revolting and unkind.

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Well said jellybirddesigns. I can tell you why. This is probably about some people who think others shouldn't  express their views unless it goes along with what they allow.  In actual fact, the OP here has raised a valid point and comparing what this place was like "back in the day" to nowadays shows the differences.

[maranock]

Revisiting what was 'back in the day' is irrelevent. There is no point to it as policies have changed and things are different so it is a waste of everyones time and energy.