Sellers, please do not raise the price of watched items and then offer a discount that isn't real.

[willsgarden62]

When I am mulling a purchase, comparing items, and planning to buy items, sometimes I put them in my watch list. Lately, it's become a weird trend that an item I'm watching has its price raised and then an offer given to me to pretend the listed price is a deal. If I'm watching an item, I'm considering buying that item at that price. But when a seller raises the price just so they can pretend to give me a discount, I no longer want to deal with the seller, and suddenly find myself wishing for a BLOCK SELLER option. When I'm watching an item, I'm not begging for the item to be discounted, but I'm also not expecting the seller an hour later to raise the price of the item so they can send me a special offer at sometimes more than I was watching the item originally. For example, I was watching an item listed at thirty bucks because I thought it might be nice at that price. The seller, no more than a half hour later and before I finished shopping today (it was in my cart) raised the price to $34 so they could send me a special offer to discount it back down to $30. As a buyer, I either figure the seller thinks I'm an idiot, or they're mad at me for only watching their item. Sometimes, the seller messes up their math and will raise the price too high, and the new discount is more than the original price only hours before. I don't know what to really say about the feature, but it's very frustrating. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but it feels like the seller is pushing or playing, and neither one makes me feel like spending any money with that seller anymore, even if it's just thirty bucks. Raising the price just makes me stop watching it, jot the seller name down, and no longer want to do any business with them.

[espresso_warehouse]

That ratio.

[inhawaii]

Sometimes I raise prices.

Sometimes I lower prices.

The fact that someone is watching the item has nothing to do with it.

Sorry if something you're watching has gone up in price. Have you ever heard the phrase "when you snooze you lose"?

BTW there is a "block seller" option. Dont buy from them.

[nanasbestofbetseyjohnson]

I'm a seller as well. I agree 100% with you. I run sales, clearances and offers all the time. When the sale ends the price goes back to regular price (JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER STORE)! Maybe, if you are a buyer, I've had plenty of buyers ask me to honor the sale price and I have. If you are just getting angry thinking the worst of someone maybe you should just ask them.

[espresso_warehouse]

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@farmalljr wrote:

I too, think it's poor ethics to raise your price, just to lower it back to the same it was

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Genuinely curious what your find unethical about a seller raising prices, especially considering the rising cost of doing business on eBay?

[espresso_warehouse]

Complaining that a seller raised prices is salty. I had a buyer a few weeks ago send me 3 rambling messages with oddly worded questions trying to get me to 're-describe' an item in different words from the listing. This thing was new with UPC...and I was in the middle of a move to a different state.

I did not have time to navigate their minefield before packing the item on a Matson container, raising the price by a significant amount and changing the item to a 10 day handling period. Sure, they were 'watching' the item and immediately started complaining that I had raised the price. Buyer was quite rude, seemed to think he was entitled to the item at the price it used to be listed at.

Had the buyer bought the item while it was listed at a fire sale price, I would have honored that price shipped it before my move no questions asked. Which is why the prices were so low. Incentive to BUY NOW. Unfortunately some buyers see a cheap price and get greedy, think maybe they can get it even cheaper if they wait or ask a bunch of questions. Some others doubt the authenticity of the listing and think the price is 'too good to be true'. But that's the whole game, isn't it? So no complaining.

If you see a sale price, it's up to you to buy it or not. We sellers carry enough risk on our side already.

[funkyfreshmike.2013]

I think that sellers can raise prices as long as there aren't any offers pending. I raise prices on a whim, especially on items that have been listed awhile. Sometimes i think buyers shy away from items that are listed too low.

[farmalljr]

It's unethical because it's bait and switch. Raising the price of something immediately before offering the original price is unethical. 

That is not to say, raising prices as a whole is bad. But when you are doing it to just to send an offer to a watcher, it is dumb and unethical. It's not an "offer" or "sale" at that point, it's hustling buyers. 

Seller that do this, are only showing how poor they are at running their "business" and are willing to stoop to lows that drive buyers away. Know your numbers, set your limits, and treat buyers fairly. It's not a hard concept and it keeps buyers happy. 

If you can't see that, then I can't help you. I would point you to Kohl's as an example. That was bait and switch ethics, like the OP's issue with the seller. 

[espresso_warehouse]

False. Ending a sale price is not a bait and switch. You don't seem to understand what a bait and switch even is. A bait and switch is when a low price is advertised on an item that is NOT available for sale. My item was for sale. As was the seller the OP was talking about. The buyer failed to buy while the item was on sale, and then was crying later when the sale ended.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch

"First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the advertised goods are not available, or the customers are pressured by salespeople to consider similar, but higher-priced items ("switching")."

Me or any other seller raising their price, regardless of whether or not there are watchers is 100% ethical and our prerogative.

By the way, I never asked for your 'help'. I asked you to back up your claims, and you failed to do so.

[farmalljr]

IT IS bait and switch to list your price at $30, get a watcher, then raise your price $4 to immediately lower the price in an "offer" to the same $30 as you had minutes ago. You are "bait and switching" the price to simply make it appear it's a "sale" price. People are not generally stupid when it comes to this. Do you think the seller will wait more than the 48 hours they are locked out of editing the listing, before going back in to "lower" the price to the $30 it was originally priced at? I doubt it. 

You are free to do whatever you want within the rules of eBay. But to the onlookers of these posts, it's helpful to them to understand that this "practice" is not very smart. You are going to upset FAR more buyers pulling this stunt, then you will gain sales. You go ahead and run your business however you want. You don't see me on the board crying about slow sales, either though. 

[drusalina]

Even large stores do this, sort of.  The week before the Super Bowl  the beer I typically buy, was $4.00 more than their regular price.  Yesterday it was $1.80 off the regular price.    

[drusalina]

Many sellers who offer Free Shipping raised their prices because shipping charges went up and go up most times in January.  

eBay does a bad job of recycling older listings for exposure when the GTC turns over.  If they recycle the listings in search and saved search emails the people who may not have seen it the first time, might see it the second or third etc., for slow sale items. 

[louies1948]

yes, I raised some of my prices because USPS prices went up. And now that gas is going up, I might have to raise some more. If gas go back to $4.00 a gallon shouldn't my prices go up ? I put a lot of miles on searching for rare and odd items. When you run your store on a low margin the prices have to go up. When gas went down under $2.00 I lowered my prices. It is called business. some buyers have never ran a business so I don't think it is their fault they are 

"uninformed"

[johnny8174]

Buyers, either poop or get off the toilet. Meaning, buy or don't be mad when the price goes up

[farmalljr · Accepted solution]

I think many of the sellers are misunderstanding what I believe the OP was trying to convey. It wasn't a matter of a simple price increase. It was done (from the way it's described) as a means to give a FAKE sale price. We all have to raise prices from time to time. I think even the OP would understand that. 

However raising the price only to turn right around to "offer" a sale price a few minutes later, that is exactly the same price it was a few minutes ago, is a different matter. That's not raising prices to keep up with costs. That's having a fake sale, a bait and switch, sale. 

Some sellers here may not see the moral dilemma. I can, both as a buyer and a seller. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

::general reply::

Sellers can raise or lower their prices whenever and however they want.

That said, to raise the price, then immediately put the item "on sale" at the regular "old" price is a tad smarmy.