Fake low prices/ item versions

[d0n0d]

I'm finding that a lot of eBay buy it now listings have fake low end prices, e.g. listing selection option is for say a camera tripod in 4 different colors at $50 and then an adapter screw for $5.  If eBay would only change the sort algorithm to go by the highest priced items it would self-eliminate these listings trying to game the algorithm.  People actually looking just for the screw would know to find their item and associated accessories could be co-listed.  Most of these fake low end pricing listings don't even list the low price item in the title, e.g. Brand X tripod and adapter screw, so there's no way to weed out the multitude of fake prices.

Another thing that seems to happen a lot is that people seem to be intentionally mis-listing their items.  E.g. Apple Pencil 2 is MPN A2051, MU8F2AM/A, and the Pencil 1 is A1603, MK0C2AMAA1603.

Sometimes the listing will say apple pencil 2nd generation and it will be the MPN for the 1st gen, other times the listing will say 1st gen in the title/text but use the MPN for the 2nd gen.  Sometimes the title will even have the MPN of the A1603, but the item specifics will use all the info for the Gen 2 version.  Really, you can get the right MPN or generation number into the title, but can't pick/enter the right MPN for the item specifics section?  That's why I'm suspecting more nefarious intent.  Hopefully sellers are forced to accept mis-listed returns, but I wonder if some are banking on some occasional poor sucker not knowing the difference and then just taking it, or finding it not worth the trouble to return.  I came that close to buying the wrong item, I searched by the MPN, and on mobile the site shows a generic stock item photo matching, and after you pick an item (say a buy it now) it shows the listing's pictures (in some cases sellers lead with a stock photo of the wrong item, in my case it was a picture of the cover back, which is tiny illegible in a mobile screen).  Not sure how this could be cleaned up.  Maybe text matching algorithms between titles and item specifics data.  Technological fixes can only work partially however, so I think ultimately the solution is to make attempts to game the system a net losing proposition.  E.g. if a buyer appeals for a mixed contradictory listing then the seller has to cover return postage, and a full refund, including the shipping.

[castlemagicmemories]

Be careful when purchasing and remember Caveat Emptor, let the buyer beware.

[little.font.lord.leroy]

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@d0n0d wrote:

...  If eBay would only change the sort algorithm to go by the highest priced items it would self-eliminate these listings trying to game the algorithm. 

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 I am with you, it is ridiculously annoying.

But the "annoying shopping experience" is the new "pleasant shopping experience" and eBay has jumped on that band wagon. Why in the world would eBay make it easier for you to find what you want at a reasonable price? What is in it for them?

For items like that, you might find a more pleasant experience shopping at a site (Amagoon) that has single item listings. It all depends on how much you value a pleasant experience and eBay seems to have bet you don't value pleasant at all and are willing to put up with all kinds of annoyance. The fact that you came here to complain, rather than go elsewhere to shop, might seem to confirm that.

[little.font.lord.leroy]

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@d0n0d wrote:

Another thing that seems to happen a lot is that people seem to be intentionally mis-listing their items.  E.g. Apple Pencil 2 is MPN A2051, MU8F2AM/A, and the Pencil 1 is A1603, MK0C2AMAA1603.

Sometimes the listing will say apple pencil 2nd generation and it will be the MPN for the 1st gen, other times the listing will say 1st gen in the title/text but use the MPN for the 2nd gen.  ...

Hopefully sellers are forced to accept mis-listed returns, but I wonder if some are banking on some occasional poor sucker not knowing the difference and then just taking it, or finding it not worth the trouble to return.

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As per Hanlon's razor (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.) we might assume that these sellers are confused by product codes and editions. That is easy enough to do.

If you believe there may be a problem, you can attach a message at check out before you actually pay, "I am ordering pen #abc as titled in the drop down of the listing, not #xyz as pictured. If you can not send #abc, please cancel this order."

But being stupid is not a good enough excuse, so you are right. eBay has a guarantee, it the description of an item is contradictory, and the seller sends the wrong item you can file a SNAD (significantly not as described) by going to the sold item listing.

on the green banner, choose "view order details".

On the Order details page choose +Show additional actions,

pick Return Item from the list and

Select this reason form the drop down : Doesn't match description or photos.

Explain the situation, just the facts:

"I received the shipment today, thank you. I ordered pen #abc, but the package contained pen #xyz. I believe I am due a refund because of this mistake."

No opinions like "I think the seller was trying to cheat me" you could add an observation if you think that helps, "when I ordered #abc, the image for #xyz was attached to that order, I believe the seller has confused the two items in their listing and that is maybe where the problem exists."

You may want to include a photo of the item you received.

The seller will issue a return shipping label. 

Be prepared to print the label and return the item, you might be able to recycle the original packaging.

[d0n0d]

What, you expect me to curtail my paranoic world view? Anyway,
I'm not sure how stupidity would explain putting the MPN for the gen 1 pencil in the title and then for the gen 2 pencil in the item specifics. Laziness/stupidity I could see leaving nulls in the item specifics for everything.
Unless it's eBay prefilling all those fields based on listing title without seller input, which seems unlikely. Even if they're asked to pick from among a drop down of version choices, a minute earlier while setting up their listing the seller had the sense to title "1st gen" with the appropriate MPN, and suddenly they forgot/have no clue what the right one to pick is?

[mudshark61369]

@d0n0d,

  "I'm not sure how stupidity would explain putting the MPN for the gen 1 pencil in the title and then for the gen 2 pencil in the item specifics. Laziness/stupidity I could see leaving nulls in the item specifics for everything Even if they're asked to pick from among a drop down of version choices, a minute earlier while setting up their listing the seller had the sense to title "1st gen" with the appropriate MPN, and suddenly they forgot/have no clue what the right one to pick is? ".

You are buying mostly from chinese sellers who pay those who create their listings next to nothing, and whose command of English is questionable.  Since many of them list hundreds of different items daily, there are bound to be many mistakes. That is not to say some are not purposely misrepresenting items however.

  "I'm finding that a lot of eBay buy it now listings have fake low end prices, e.g. listing selection option is for say a camera tripod in 4 different colors at $50 and then an adapter screw for $5. If eBay would only change the sort algorithm to go by the highest priced items it would self-eliminate these listings trying to game the algorithm".

You have the ability to change how you search from Best Match or Price: lowest..., to Price: Highest..., yourself.  You can even set a minimum low price you want to see results start at in the left hand column on a search results page. 

   "Hopefully sellers are forced to accept mis-listed returns, but I wonder if some are banking on some occasional poor sucker not knowing the difference and then just taking it, or finding it not worth the trouble to return".

Yes, chinese sellers do bank on people who have not read the Money Back Guarantee (MBG) terms, not wanting to take the trouble to return, or who think they have to pay the return shipping costs which often are much higher than the original price w/ shipping.  Those who have read the terms of the MBG, do not get scammed by sellers who send broken, wrong, or different items than the one ordered. 

Smart buyers check each seller's feedback profile, and click on the numbers of negs received, to read only those comments.  Never go by a sellers feedback percentage alone.  Never buy from a high volume seller with less than a 99.6% rating without checking their profile first.

"What, you expect me to curtail my paranoic world view"?

No one is asking you to do that, but there can be explanations why things happen.  I have a very jaundiced view of buying anything from Asian sellers and try to avoid them whenever possible.

[d0n0d]

The Apple pencil etc incorrect version thing is all US sellers, so it's kind of a different issue from the fake low price thing.  

I think it would be an improvement if they made multiple items under a single listing required to have a single price. So the cases where they're offering a legit multiple listing with only say cosmetic choices among selections, all same price is not an issue. 

Yes there are some cases where there are variants where it's somewhat convenient to to have choices within a listing, e.g. a 32gb vs 64gb but i'd gladly give that up to be able to honestly sort.  I seem to run into it less with Amazon's algorithm, even though they also have multi-listings.  If I remember right if you do the search for say a 32gb microSD on Amazon, it pops out the actual price for that variant alone, not the 16 and 64gb options under the same listings.

The reverse sorting high to low I guess semi-works, if you assume that the legit item is always the highest price within an item listing.  So if say the purple color is slightly discounted, it gets lumped with the most popular/expensive color.  I still think that if they simply changed the low to high sorting algorithm to sort based on the highest price within a multiple listing, it would self-eliminate the gaming attempts.