Ebay Trickery with Words

[Hiball]

I always wondered if some sellers on ebay use certain words like "Snap In" etc to trick people into buying, Below is a link of a example. I mean he is selling some No name deep well mm sockets and they are currently 56 bucks and right below them is some Sae and they have no bids at 7.99. I searched for Snap on in hand tools and they come up in the listing. Are people that dumb? This guy is notorious for doing it he always puts "fits" Snap on , Mac , Matco, Cornwell etc.... in all his listings along with alot of other sellers. I assume legally he is not doing anything wrong but it is Shady in my book. Opinions?

http://cgi.ebay.com/9pc-1-2-DR-DEEP-IMPACT-SOCKET-SET-M-M-ON-SNAP-IN-RAIL_W0QQitemZ360159664284QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53db30589c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

 

[alex71]

a fool and his money are soon parted... and deservedly so.

yeah, this guy's tactics are sleazy, but really, how dumb do you have to be to fall for that ****?

 

[petty4243]

actually, they do what is called key word spaming... please note that both snap and on are located in the item listing... they just rearrange the order of the words to make them appear like something else...

in this case the listing reads as follows....
9pc 1/2"DR.DEEP IMPACT SOCKET SET M.M. ON SNAP IN RAIL

they are trying to mask snap on in there by saying the sockets are "on" a "snap in rail".... of course all of us that have a clue, know that is flagrent disregard of ebay policy.... and worded just to get those of us looking for snap on tools to click on it and accidently mistake them for actual snap on tools....

 

[Hiball]

a fool and his money are soon parted... and deservedly so.

yeah, this guy's tactics are sleazy, but really, how dumb do you have to be to fall for that ****?

I searched back thru his feedback and he has sold 25 plus of those mm socket sets for less than 10 bucks. It only takes one i suppose to make the difference between McD's and Red Lobster for supper. I agree People are Dumb sometimes.

 

[Packard V8]

The answer is to take the time to use the "report this item" function at the bottom of the listing. I do it every time a search gets pulled into this sort of crappage by keyword spamming. If a seller gets enough complaint reports, eBay will finally talk to him.

thnx, jack vines

 

[petty4243]

The answer is to take the time to use the "report this item" function at the bottom of the listing. I do it every time a search gets pulled into this sort of crappage by keyword spamming. If a seller gets enough complaint reports, eBay will finally talk to him.

thnx, jack vines

i agree that should be done, but when u get a chance, do a specific search for these type of listings and you will be amazed at how many there are.... would not take long to have a days worth of reporting to do and less than likley chance ebay will do anything about them.... a better choice may be to get snap on itself get involved.... still a long shot though

 

[ImportTuner]

Damm ... he's up to $56 on 9 Craftsman sockets ..

 

[Rigmaster]

Damm ... he's up to $56 on 9 Craftsman sockets ..

worse yet, they're not even Cman!!! They're no-name taiwan/china **** sockets.


I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this guy couldn't care less if a couple of his auctions get flagged + removed, especially when the payoff is this high for those that don't!!!


Un-frickin'-believable!!!!!!!






Let's report him and see if they do anything about it- I just did mine........


- Click on "report this item" at the lower right side of the auction page
- click on "listing policy violation (improper keywords, etc)"
- click on "keyword spamming"
- click on "innappropriate or excessive use of brand or celebrity names"

 

[forceyoda]

I stopped reporting listings like this, Ebay does not care anymore as long as they get their 10% of the sale they are fine with letting it go.

 

[Merkava_4]

I stopped reporting listings like this, Ebay does not care anymore as long as they get their 10% of the sale they are fine with letting it go.

+1

Out of 10 ebay listings I'll report for keyword spamming, maybe 1 will get pulled.

 

[walrus]

Just because he has Snap in rail in the title, people think its a Snap On tool?

 

[35mastr]

If you dont like the listing. Just move onto one that you do.

Posts like this are just a plain waist of bandwith.

 

[Bo Heck]

Damm ... he's up to $56 on 9 Craftsman sockets ..

Even you fell for it; if you read the last line:

"These are impact sockets that are made to fit impact wrenches made by snap-on mac ingersoll rand craftsman and so on these do not have a name brand on them"

 

[overkill 19]

I stopped reporting listings like this, Ebay does not care anymore as long as they get their 10% of the sale they are fine with letting it go.

Well said. I saw a show on Ebay here awhile back. It said Ebay is doing 80000 transaction a minute. I sold my Ridgid pipe wrench on ebay awhile ago, the ****** who won never paid me, so I reported him to ebay....still no response from both.

 

[Canadian Charlie]

I once in a while come across the clasic ads on eBay

"TingWin Socket Set and Free Snap On Pen"



Or the other


"Snap On 3/8" Ratchet" when its really a Blue Point eBay UK is full of the 2nd kind trickery words.

 

[Rigmaster]

+1

Out of 10 ebay listings I'll report for keyword spamming, maybe 1 will get pulled.

Ebay likely won't do anything if 1 person reports something, but they WILL do something if 10 or 20 people report it. OR, we can just keep on bitching about it.

Just because he has Snap in rail in the title, people think its a Snap On tool?

Look at the title again- if you search "snap on" it will come up as a match, because it has "snap" and "on" in the title- the search doesn't care what order they are in. It's a sneaky little trick that plenty of sellers use and I think it *****.

 

[lbgradwell]

If you dont like the listing. Just move onto one that you do.

Posts like this are just a plain waist of bandwith.

Can't agree, George...

The OP is trying to do something to prevent keyword spam & force eBay to enforce their own rules. That has a great value to many people.

 

[petty4243]

probably the best thing we as customers can do is place " marks in our search example....."snap on" by doing that, it will only give you result with snap on in that order... if you want sockets by snap on then..... "snap on" socket ......

doing that will help eliminate the countless listings we all dislike

 

[Hiball]

I reported it and this is the automated response i got and this is how i interpet it, Basically Ebay is saying as long as they can make a extra 5 bucks account some idiot is unable to determine what brand of item they are bidding on it is not there fault and we are gonna keep all are findings a secret. P.s this message will self destruct in 5.. 4... 3... 2...1... Boom

We will thoroughly review the listing(s) or Want It Now post(s) you have
reported for violations of our Search Manipulation guidelines. We often
rely on members like you to bring these violations to our attention.

We base our decisions for this offense on a review of the content of the
item description and/or item title. In item descriptions, we search for
unrelated keywords that appear to have been included to manipulate
eBay's search engines. These lists of keywords may be hidden in
drop-down boxes, reduced to small fonts or typed in a font that matches
the listing's background color ("white on white" for example). In item
titles, we look for unrelated keywords, unnecessary comparisons, brand
name misuse and other language that may be misleading.

In light of our privacy policy, we cannot share any action taken by eBay
with respect to this listing or post. If we determine that the listing
or post violates eBay policy, we may:

1. Send the seller an informational alert;
2. Remove the listing or post; or
3. Suspend the seller.

Account suspensions are usually reserved for those sellers that
continuously disregard policy.

For more information on Search Manipulation, please visit:

 

[Richard Givan]

I tired of fooling with ebay a long time ago, but I remember how many sellers would put in their title or description something like (and I'm making one up here to make my point):

"socket set--like Snap-On" when it was a piece-of-**** import set and they just wanted to drag viewers to their listing in hopes of getting a bid. I guess it's like spam, get your **** in front of enough people and somebody will misread it and pay way too much.

 

[Skyline]

eBay does not care. By and large, the only way that an item like this gets removed without a huge flood of complaints, is if Snap-on makes a VERO complaint. And then it only take ONE complaint.

I have tried making complaints about listing violations like these....then watched the item to see the result. I've yet to see one pulled. I've called eBay on the Power Seller line, and complained about flagrant violators.....still no action. I gave up trying.

 

[anywrenchdoesthejob]

Personally, I am sick of all the idiot proofing we have to do in this country. If you aren't smart enough to read the entire listing, you get what you deserve. Be smart, don't bid on impulse cures all those problems, the seller will eventually run himself out of buisness.

 

[Shocker]

+1 on that. Read the listing before bidding. Caveat Emptor.

 

[J.A.F.E.]

Personally, I am sick of all the idiot proofing we have to do in this country. If you aren't smart enough to read the entire listing, you get what you deserve. Be smart, don't bid on impulse cures all those problems, the seller will eventually run himself out of buisness.

To a point I agree the buyer needs to keep eyes and brain working and is responsible for what they buy.

But this is an example where ebay has a policy that is clearly and flagrantly violated. ebay won't enfoce it's own rules therefore they aren't earning the fees they charge. Powersellers can get away with pretty much anything and if ebay enforces the rules it is one time one listing at a time. If anything that amounts to a weak slap on the wrist.

But even more practically if I am searching for Snap on brand tools on ebay why should I have to sort through all these **** listings. It is my time being wasted on what amounts to spam. I rely on ebay to enforce the rules they create for a market place with known parameters and they do not do that.

I have voted with my dollars and no longer buy or sell on ebay because of this so the entire thread is of acedemic interst only to me at this point.

 

[crashbumper]

 

[petty4243]

hope you did not buy that one crash lol... I would be pissed if I bought a psp and recieved a monochrome gameboy lol