Fraudulent Listings

[wetaskiwin50]

I am getting sick and tired of clicking on a buy it now listing at a certain price and the minute I choose a color or size the price jumps to over $10 or more.  This is fraudulent.  Any way you cut it, if the store who owns the listing, has the item listed at one price and then ups the price to more than double the minute you make your choice, it's all kinds of wrong.  Listing prices during searches should reflect the actual price.  Time is totally wasted by buyers when this happens on listing after listing.  Chinese sellers are the most responsible for this and something needs to be done about it.  I am an avid ebay shopper, but I am rapidly losing any faith in the listing practices here on ebay when my time is wasted time and time again trying to find an item at a list price that is actually real!

[femmefan1946]

You're not alone.

While there can be a few reasons for this (larger sizes commonly cost more than smaller), an honest seller who wants happy customers should be forthcoming enough to make a new listings for the higher priced items.

This is enough of an annoyance to enough customers to bring to the attention of the eBay execs who have promised answers to our questions and comments in the near future.

Just because that thread is now closed, doesn't mean we won't stop nagging, tyler@ebay .

[femmefan1946]

BTW, one way to avoid most of this misleading practice is to Search using Highest Price plus Shipping and then drill down to your price point.

This Search also avoids most of the misdescribed and counterfeit listings that pollute the Lowest Price First search.

[wetaskiwin50]

Yes........keep nagging. My hubs says that is one of my forte's. lol

[wetaskiwin50]

I will try that. I would rather see ebay rectify this matter than force it's members to go to time wasting lengths to shop though!

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Or doing a search and finding out the bulk of the listings that show up first DO NOT ship to Canada. A major waste of time for anyone looking to buy something from US sellers. Or the items that do not include SOLD as a search option on dot com. No idea why that happens. Just that it does.

-Lotz

[wetaskiwin50]

I agree. Most other sites have a sidebar button that states 'ships to Canada'. EBay could use one too.

[ichopshop]

FWIW this also happens on Amazon. 

Ian

---

[wetaskiwin50]

Not to the extent it happens here. Again, mostly Chinese sellers so when I shop amazon.ca I avoid them. It's rather hard to avoid them here on ebay.

[electronicifycanada]

This is exactly why I don't shop on eBay anymore. It's against eBay policy to do this as it's search manipulation but they won't do anything.  China sellers will have a expensive item, then throw in a completely unrelated cheap item and then they get much high in price low to high searches. You can report them all day and you won't see any of the listings you reported get removed weeks later. I have tried with no success.

If you must shop on eBay, I suggest trying to stick to domestic sellers. If you must buy from china, there is other websites for that. Just stop giving eBay your money until they figure it out. I hate to say that cause I'm a seller and it would effect me but at the same time I can't recommend eBay to buyers anymore when they do this stuff.

[wetaskiwin50]

I understand your frustration. For anything other than clothes, I shop elsewhere. I live in a small rural town so online shopping is a must. However, since discovering sites like Etsy and a few other online clothing stores, Ebay is rapidly becoming a no go site for me and I find that very sad. You can't even properly report a store or item here when it comes to the listing problem I have raised in this discussion and that is the most frustrating thing of all............trying to get admin attention to a real problem that is going to end up destroying the reputation of the site.

[tyler@ebay]

Nag away @femmefan1946 - I'm paid by the hour. 😛

In seriousness, however, this is a valid complaint, and one I see regularly. @wetaskiwin50 - don't share it here, but would you send me a private message with the search query you're using, or an example item that your'e running into? More details about sending PMs below. 

At a high level, we do allow members to list a variation listing - specifically for some of the scenarios Femme calls out: different sizes, colors, etc. Those prices are also allowed to vary, though understandably it's not something we'd expect to be too far apart. The sellers who are intentionally listing shirts, but one of the choices is something that costs a penny and is always out of stock, are manipulating our search algorithm and should be reported. 

You can use the 'report item' button and follow this pathway: 
1. Listing practices
2. Search and browse manipulation
3. Other search and browse manipulation

Thanks!

If you click on my name and visit my profile, you can use 'Send this User a private message' and send me details.

[wetaskiwin50]

I raised this issue in another discussions and sent you a message with a particular item link. Really all you have to do is type (for example)  women's clothing into the search bar and when the page comes up, just start clicking on random items and then make a choice of size or color and watch the price change. 

[brettjet38]

The search was for a "blood pressure watch" 

The C$1.27 item is just a watch

all the rest are "blood pressure/watch" and cost C$7.69

So, they are using a watch as the "Hook/Bait" and it falsely puts his listing to the top when looking via price/shipping

[wetaskiwin50]

I see this a lot too. It is beyond annoying...

[brettjet38]

The search was for a "iphone leather cover" 

Sorted by lowest price/shipping

Classic Business Magnetic Leather Card Holder Wallet Stand Flip Case Cover came up as the first listing, lets take a peek....

The C$0.99 item is just a plastic "Ring Kickstand" all the rest are "case covers" and cost

C$12.98 not 0.99 as suggested via listing manipulation.

So, they are using one item as the "Hook/Click Bait" and it falsely puts his listing to the top when looking via price/shipping....

Search Manipulation on an industrial scale and basically all from China you can find this on basically every Buy it Now listing for endless different "Made in China" items...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Search       "iphone leather cove"    in error and see what comes up. I did accidentally. Lots of choices!!

-Lotz

[yakyak07g5]

JUST CAME ACROSS A LISTING FROM FROM A SELLER they had a basketball rookie item for sale. I look at  Ebay on a 55" screen, so i see alot of detail in the pics that smaller screens or phones would not show. On the back of the card there are several horizontal scratches that make the card close to worthless. I asked the seller to note that in his description or i would bring it to ebay's attention. "go ahead, i don't have to" was the reply! I noticed he already has a negative and some neutral marks against him. I personally don't like being scammed and that is exactly what this (thing) is doing, can't say person, as most people have a sense of fairness. It **bleep** me off to no end that someone would take money from some card collector, kids in alot of cases and knowingly sell them defective items.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.