Fooled by keyword spamming in ebay

[VWandDodge]

This was not a case of keyword spamming. As others have stated, read the description carefully and adjust your search as needed. Your search homed in on the word "Snap" Your brain saw the heading as "Snap On".

 

[Jefe de jefes]

Keyword spamming?!? how about reading the description of what your bidding on first before chucking money at something? I personally dont see any problem with the auction...because i read it and seen what it was.

Blaming the seller because you didn't read his description is stupid, and what shocks me more is the amount people who are agreeing with you.

This ^^^^^^

 

[thrifty bill]

Seller knows what he is doing with those key words. Easy get hooked unless you read carefully. I almost got hooked on one with the words snap on to rail.

 

[Apdl]

IMHO it does not seem that he tried to misrepresent it.. unless he changed it since the OP

 

[RC KID]

It could have been worse. It could have been for a lot more money than just a twenty dollar note.

Pay it and move on. But also leave a less than desirable feedback.

I've made the same mistake too.

 

[route246]

+1 I read this entire thread and I can't figure out where the scam is. The only scam is the OP trying to get out of a legitimate purchase.

+1 on this comment. He calls is a snap in rail, nothing ever mentions Snap-on and reading the description will clue you iin on what he is selling. Pay the man and use it as a life lesson to pay closer attention to wording in an ad.

 

[alex71]

You can send a request to cancel the transaction. The seller clearly sells a lot of items, so they may not care about canceling one. Go to your purchase history, find the item, then go to "resolve a problem." You can request to cancel a transaction, but I haven't done it, so I don't know what the process is like. On most ebay requests, if the seller doesn't respond, they automatically rule in your favor.

It's strange that so many people want you to "**** it up" or "learn from" what is clearly a thinly-veiled scam. The seller is hoping buyers will be too timid to call him on his BS listings. In the last month he has had several complaints just like yours.

this. i get requests from buyers to cancel transactions at least once every couple of weeks. any ebay seller who does any volume will be used to this. i always cancel them, and then refund the payment if it has been sent.

how would you react if a seller "forced" you to complete a transaction that you entered into in error? better off to cancel, then to be paid and then negged.

 

[truckdriver]

+1 I read this entire thread and I can't figure out where the scam is. The only scam is the OP trying to get out of a legitimate purchase.

Scam? Maybe you should learn the meaning of the word. In my OP I clearly stated that I was wanting to work something out with the seller instead of him shipping i and having it returned . I even posted the email I sent him. When he didn't respond for 4 days it ticked up beed me off and I came here for advice.I sent the seller an email this morning telling him I was willing to cover any Ebay fee's from this auction. Should I have read the description better? Yes. But in the end the seller ended up being a stand up guy so it's over with.

 

[SMKS]

I sent the seller an email this morning telling him I was willing to cover any Ebay fee's from this auction. Should I have read the description better? Yes. But in the end the seller ended up being a stand up guy so it's over with.

If a transaction is cancelled, I don't think the seller pays any fees.

 

[davesnothere]

im pretty sure i was fooled once by the same seller. luckily, i bid the minimum and was outbid.

 

[nsmith01tx]

Ebay is more guilty than the buyer here. His description clearly stated "snap in", not "Snap-on", but the Ebay search included it in the search results anyway.

Ultimately, you have to read the description - and the shipping charges, but don't get me started on that, gouging on shipping is a big-time scam.

 

[franzdom]

Buyers no longer get negative feedback and sellers negative only lasts a year. Feedback is basically worthless now. I would say don't pay him.

 

[Stephenw]

..................

 

[Stephenw]

A similar concept...

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

 

[nsmith01tx]

OK, yeah, I missed that .. so, as someone else pointed out early on, putting the search term in quotes generally fixes that.

..................

 

[Gtamazing]

Come on "Extra High QUALITY for this SUPER LOW price." How could you go wrong

 

[lestat]

My advise is not to pay, get the strike and move one. Nothing will happen. A few years ago I got 2 strikes in a row because of an idiot who wanted to overcharge me on shipping. Ebay won't do anything for a one off, they just don't want to see a pattern there.

There is no doubt about his word-play intentions, so there's no point in beating yourself up about not being 'fair'.

 

[Arachnotron]

Seems pretty clear to me...

 

[weegaz22]

It's great he cancelled the transaction for you.

Changing the order of the words doesn't change the fact that it is still keyword spamming. Unless quotes are used around "Snap on", the search engine still picks up the words "snap" and "on" in the description.

They've always been called socket rails.

It wasn't until eBay sellers tried to take advantage of buyers looking for Snap-on tools that you started seeing "on snap in rail" or some variation of that.

It's all about the intent.

Yeah but if i set up a search and wanted to look for double ended spanners for instance....is it the sellers fault if i dont bother to read the auction and bid on something only to realise later on that i've bid on a double ended *****??

i could see the buyers point if it actually said "snap on" like you get in the title on a lot of auctions, that i would consider that intentional keyword spamming but as said this isn't like that it just contains the two words that are searched for, its down to the buyers to read whats being described

 

[Stephenw]

You guys are missing the point.

The bidder should carefully read the full item description. Let this be a lesson to the OP as well as a warning for others reading this thread.

The seller intentionally wrote the item description the way he did so that his auctions would be viewed by people looking for Snap-on tools. He also catches some who accidentally buy, thinking they are getting Snap-on tools at a bargain price. It's a somewhat less than honest way of getting around the rules.

 

[route246]

You don't read the confirmation with all of the requisite legalese when you submit your bid? You're reneging on a contract that you agreed to. You weren't fooled. You were merely careless. I've been victimized by this kind of thing but a contract is a contract and I own up to it when it happens to me and I take full responsibility for my actions. You are quite fortunate in this case but consider yourself very lucky.

Scam? Maybe you should learn the meaning of the word. In my OP I clearly stated that I was wanting to work something out with the seller instead of him shipping i and having it returned . I even posted the email I sent him. When he didn't respond for 4 days it ticked up beed me off and I came here for advice.I sent the seller an email this morning telling him I was willing to cover any Ebay fee's from this auction. Should I have read the description better? Yes. But in the end the seller ended up being a stand up guy so it's over with.

 

[therealwormey]

i would call it key word trickery,kinda like this one i found when i was searching for craftsman stubbby wrench set

"6 Piece Polished Stubby Wrench Set SAE 4 the craftsman"​

they are obviously NOT craftsman but it did get me to look