Thread: Thought I found a bargain!

I was on the 'bay looking for a decent OS mug and ran across item #280330772479. I saw the pictures, looked again, saw the Buy It Now proce and *almost* couldn't log in fast enough to make the purchase. Then in a fit of uncommon good sense I decided to read the fine print, and I'm glad I did.

What would you think if you saw the picture?

- Mark (S-4-C)

I was also a little short of breath when I saw that one at first. There are good deals if you're patient, but not that good.

Originally Posted by Sandcounty

There are good deals if you're patient, but not that good.

That's for sure! The old adage "If it's too good to be true ..." certainly applies.

To the sellers' credit, the fine print is not all that fine, and I do think they are putting the product in an appealing context rather than trying to fool anybody. And it's always good to be reminded, we should always read the whole listing before bidding on anything. Still, I think in their place I'd do a little Photoshopping to blur the tempting goodies in the background a bit.

Rich

I agree they are clear in the description about the fact that they're only selling soap. However, I think they could save a bunch of paragraphs and the threats found within them by taking pictures of what they're actually selling rather than include those items with highly sought after pieces they are not selling. I can see both sides of it, but Ebay is active with those that search for items in which the value of the item is not known to the seller.

Is it crazy to think that someone may BIN thinking they bought a wonderedge and other gear for that price? I really don't think it is.

Although I don't believe the seller intends to mislead, I think the picture is misleading and would make me not want to buy the soap because of it.

Chris L

Hmm. Makes me wonder what else is not obvious at first (or second) glance.

Given the title of the listing, I don't think they are doing anything deceptive.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Given the title of the listing, I don't think they are doing anything deceptive.

You are right as far as I am concerned -- in the long run I wouldn't be confused by it, but if you, like me, scan eBay listings by primarily looking at the thumbnails, as opposed to reading the titles, you could click on that one with a completely wrong idea of what it was. And before he put up his big red disclaimer (which came across as a little hostile) it might take a little time before you caught on.

Not so much deceptive as irritating.

He deliberately blitzed the auction title with keywords to attract people doing searches (and not just for shaving soap.) He accidentally mislead people by having a nice photo where his product is mixed with other items (ones mentioned in the auction title.) The auction includes a wall of text that is difficult to plough through.

His way of dealing with the predictable consequences is to shoot his mouth off about how stupid ebay buyers can be.

Then he says: "You will find us to be polite, courteous,concerned, and as helpful as we possibly can be; we expect the same treatment and respect in return."

He isn't doing himself any favours TBH.

(Using Photoshop to blur relevant parts of the photo occurred to me too.)

I thought I had posted a link to the image in my original post, but my office connection blocks most images so I couldn't tell that it wasn't included. Hopefully this will show the image:



My original message wasn't meant to be a slam against the seller. Instead, it was meant to poke fun at myself for reacting to an auction image before actually reading the content of the auction itself.

Still, I agree that the seller's picture is somewhat, um, *distracting* to those of us that browse initially by images, and I'm sure that's why he posted the image in that way. If he posts images like that he should be prepared to hear words like "midleading" and "confusing", and I feel that the box text is a bit too defensive.

Lesson learned on my end. Glad I didn't pull the trigger before reading.

- Mark (S-4-C)

The ad is deceptive, and they know it… In all there other auctions with multiple items in the photo, everything is included in the sale. It seems the ad generates more traffic than any of there other ads, so they pretty much don’t care what you or anyone else thinks. And if you read between the lines you will realize they are not as friendly and easygoing as they would have you believe. But then, it’s typical of the average eBay seller.


They have some reasonably good items for sale/auction though... but some other friendly vendor will get my soap money.