Thanks for posting the link from the FTC. I sell craft products that I obtain through a distributor, and price them at the "msrp" the distributor has listed, and put them on sale - just like other craft websites such as JoAnn's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc... (and they can put up weekly sales as often as they want to, not sure why eBay won't let me do that anymore).
Anyway, my point here is after reading that posted FTC guide, I noticed this - read part (b):
§233.4 Bargain offers based upon the purchase of other merchandise.
(a) Frequently, advertisers choose to offer bargains in the form of additional merchandise to be given a customer on the condition that he purchase a particular article at the price usually offered by the advertiser. The forms which such offers may take are numerous and varied, yet all have essentially the same purpose and effect. Representative of the language frequently employed in such offers are ``Free,'' ``Buy One -- Get One Free,'' ``2-For-1 Sale,'' ``Half Price Sale,'' ``1 Sale,'' ``50% Off,'' etc. Literally, of course, the seller is not offering anything ``free'' (i.e., an unconditional gift), or \1/2\ free, or for only 1, when he makes such an offer, since the purchaser is required to purchase an article in order to receive the ``free'' or ``1'' item. It is important, therefore, that where such a form of offer is used, care be taken not to mislead the consumer.
(b) Where the seller, in making such an offer, increases his regular price of the article required to be bought, or decreases the quantity and quality of that article, or otherwise attaches strings (other than the basic condition that the article be purchased in order for the purchaser to be entitled to the ``free'' or ``1'' additional merchandise) to the offer, the consumer may be deceived.
This to me appears to be referencing things like "free shipping", where eBay sellers have to increase the product's price to accomodate the cost of the "free" shipping, because nothing is actually free. And yet eBay wants everyone to offer "free shipping". Completely deceptive to the consumer. Take for example, I sell crochet hooks - at approx $2.49 each - I would have to charge like $7 or $8 to allow free shipping to the consumer after paying USPS, eBay, Paypal, on and on, right? A lot of customers buy more than one of these hooks at a time because they come in different sizes. But it doesn't cost much for First Class to ship 5 or 6 of them versus shipping just 1, so should the consumer have to pay $35-$40 with "free" shipping for 5 hooks, or $12.45 plus about $3.00 to ship? So I don't offer free shipping on those.
But see if a person actually paid $40 for 5 hooks with "free shipping", eBay makes $4.00 in fees, instead of $1.50. But nobody's going to pay that.
Just my two cents after seeing that bit about deceptive pricing strategies when it comes to offering freebies. It doesn't appear to bother eBay.
eBay wants your items at higher prices hoping the buyer will pay it and they'll make a higher fee. Period. I had a lady want to buy 12 skeins of yarn from me, and the sale expired before she pulled the trigger (maybe had to wait for a paycheck, or shop around, whatever?) Anyways, I emailed her that I was putting my products on sale again for the weekend - and lo and behold, eBay won't let me. Not for 12 more days. I'm pretty sure she's going to buy the yarn elsewhere in the meantime. So yes, this new policy hurts buyers.
There's always going to be dishonest people out there, but folks shopping online nowadays are pretty shop-savvy and will Google products to find what the expected price for their desired product should be on average. They're not going to get taken like people used to when salesmen would come to their house and use high pressure sales tactics to get them to buy on the spot with no chance to shop around. People don't have that same sort of sales pressure on line - they can walk away from an item at any time if they don't like the price and/or shipping charges. And sellers will feel it in loss of business if their products are priced too high - they'll reduce the price to sell more. Let the market take care of itself and give buyers some credit for intelligence when handing over their hard-earned money. It's easy to price-shop online and they do.
I was having my best month ever until today when I found out I have to wait 2 weeks to put up a sale. My roll just came to a screeching halt. And I'm not here for my health.
I hope eBay retracts this new policy and stops interfering and micromanaging. If I rented a storefront in a shopping mall, I doubt the landlord I lease the space from is going to tell me how often I can put products on sale. JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby have sales every week. Every week a new coupon. Every week a new event to bring in buyers. I called ebay and asked the rep "where's my paycheck?" Am I an employee now? I won't tell you what I else I said before I hung up.
