eBay Sales and and Price Jacking

d39833 on 28/06/2017 - 12:59

I have been reading about peoples experiences regarding sellers jacking up their prices just before various promos begin.
I however experienced the same during the last 20% ebay sale when ShoppingSquare increased their price on the Xaiomi robot Vacuum cleaner.

On confronting the seller regarding the issue, that said that they are not allowed to increase the price on any item 7 days prior to the sale.
What they did was they applied a 10% discount to the whole store because of which which the products are cheaper.

How ever once the 20% promo begins the 10% store discount ends and hence the price appears to be more expensive.

Eg.

The Vacuum cleaner showed up as $431.05 prior to the sale.
I assumed that I would get it for 20% of $431.05 after the promo begins which would be $344.84.
How ever after the promo code was activated the the price of the vacuum increased to $478.95 which is 10% more. (as the 10% store discount ended).

So effectively, the vacuum costs $383.16 which is 20% of $478.95.

This is a loophole that stores are exploiting!

General Discussion

Related Stores

eBay Australia
eBay Australia
Marketplace

Comments

  • Halo375 on 28/06/2017 - 13:01

    It's not a loophole, it's a business.

  • myusername on 28/06/2017 - 13:04

    look at Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System, ok they only got preorders now, but people have them up on ebay for 250+

  • dasher86 on 28/06/2017 - 13:06
    +2

    It slightly comes under this heading in ACL and should not be allowed.

    Businesses that use such statements must ensure that consumers are not misled about the savings that may be achieved.

    Statements such as 'Was $150/Now $100' or '$150 Now $100' are likely to be misleading if products have not been sold at the specified 'before' or 'strike through' prices in a reasonable period immediately before the sale commences.

    Such statements are also likely to be misleading if only a limited proportion of a product's sales were at the higher price in the period immediately before the sale commences. The volume or proportion of sales that may result in such statements being misleading will depend on the circumstances of each case.

    The length of the period will depend on factors such as:

    the type of product or market involved
    the usual frequency of price changes.
    If a business has a policy or practice of discounting goods when not on sale and uses two-price advertising in relation to sale periods, there is a significant risk that the use of two-price advertising will involve conduct that is misleading. The business would be representing to consumers that they will make a particular saving if they purchase the item during the sale period, when this is not necessarily the case.

    Similar considerations apply to the specification of dollar amount or percentage savings such as 60% off.

    • twocsies on 28/06/2017 - 13:15

      Reading this, it depends on whether the 10% was a short term thing or the regular price. I have no idea about the standard pricing other than i can see the 10% discount goes for at least 9 more days on products such as iphones. If the 10% is really just the 2-4 weeks before EOFY, is it reasonable?

      If the 10% discount is their standard price, then ACCC might want to look into them or eBay. Personally I think it is shady. Every product is 20% off, so they should just show the original price, not the 10% off with crossed out original price.

      • dasher86 on 28/06/2017 - 13:32
        +2

        Another issue is with the current The Good Guys sale is that their eBay pricing doe not match to their advertise pricing.

        http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Breville-BEP920BSS-The-Dual-B…
        $1499

        On their normal webstore
        https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/breville-the-dual-boiler-with…
        $1299 "As Advertised price ends 30 June 2017"

        And if i go into the eBay '160 sold'
        Last sale price was for $1298
        so probably made no sales at $1499

        • tomsco on 28/06/2017 - 13:56

          Yep, and that's going back to March, so would be sufficient time at the price for the jump/eBay discount would be misleading.

          And on the "store wide discount", can't see that applying here, as an item I was looking has not changed in price on eBay and remains the same price as the website store.

  • spackbace on 28/06/2017 - 14:15
    -4

    It's because ebay doesn't cover the full % off, which has been discussed so many times before it's not funny!

    If the after price is cheaper than the day before, who cares? It's still a win for your wallet.

    So they had 10% off store wide and you thought they'd drop a further 20%? What sort of margins do you think they have?

    Or are you one of these naive people that think ebay coughs up the full 20%?

    • dasher86 on 28/06/2017 - 14:25
      +5

      I may have previously believed this but after reading threads i understand this.

      to me as a consumer i couldn't care less who bares the margin.

      If they plan on having a 20% off sale it needs to adhere to ACL.
      Or else it is misleading.

      If they can't afford the margins then don't advertise for the full 20% and actually say what it is.

      Yes we do benefit at the end of the day

      In the above case ~$100 but that's a ~7.7% discount not the advertised 20%.

      At 20% off more people are going to be willing to purchase something. At 7.7% maybe less.

      That's the problem here.

  • dazweeja on 28/06/2017 - 14:19
    +4

    I think it's a matter of perspective. If you were watching a product for a month and it was full price for two weeks, 10% off for 2 weeks and then 20% off, from your perspective the 20% off is actually 20% off and you buy it. If, on the other hand, you looked at the price the day before the 20% off sale and then again on the day - which is generally what happens in eBay sales - you might feel that the discount was far less than 20%.

    It's a vague area because many stores have rolling sales - 10% off one week, 15% off the next, then back to 10%, then back to 20%, etc. What is the real price of the product? If it has been full price some time in the months preceding the current sale price, most business seem happy to claim that that's the real price. And it's a grey area as to whether that's the case or not. If it has never been full price in the months preceding the sale, then that's just misleading.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/06/2017 - 14:30
    +1

    if you don't like it, simply never buy from these retailers. they keep on doing it because enough people still buy from them.

    if it works out to be a few dollars cheaper, and that's ok for you, go for it.

    as consumers we have a choice.

    • dasher86 on 28/06/2017 - 17:12
      +2

      As consumers we have a right not to be mislead and provisions in ACL are created to try and stop this.
      As a more informed consumer i know the difference but what if you didn't?

      It's misleading and Kogan had to pay up for something similar.

      https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/kogan-pays-32400-penal…

      • CacheHunter on 29/06/2017 - 11:15
        +2

        Agreed, but we also have a responsibility to work out what represents genuinely good value, comparing between retailers as well as over time. It doesn't really matter if one retailer is selling for 20% less than their usual price (hi harvey!) if that normal price is 50% more than a bunch of other retailers.

        There's also been a few articles recently predicting that fixed price offerings are disappearing and that businesses are setting prices for individual customers. For example, how many people are actually getting mortgages at the bank's advertised standard rates? Or how many people pay the ticketed price when shopping in store at somewhere like TGG? Similarly, think about many tourist markets in Asia, where the shop keeper sets the price according to what they think they can get away with. All of this makes the idea of % off more difficult and puts more responsibility on us as buyers.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/06/2017 - 16:24

    Another perspective - a 15% or 20% sale on ebay typically requires a coupon. So you can technically purchase the item at full price, if you desire … I think this goes a long way to their defense that they're not breaching ACL by jacking up the price.

    Whereas during the non-promotion period, you can only buy at the discounted price.

    • spackbace on 28/06/2017 - 18:33
      +3

      Yep, dick smith used to work that way. One day a coupon, next day discounted price. Happened so bloody often

  • Frugal-PANTS on 28/06/2017 - 18:03
    +3

    OZ bargainers have their tricks and so do the retailers… Game on ;)

    • cwongtech on 29/06/2017 - 11:37
      +1

      Clearly some of us need to hand in the undeserved Badge of Professionals if they can be misled this easily..

      Consumers and Ozbargainers are not the same. The latter are professionals.

      • Frugal-PANTS on 29/06/2017 - 15:56
        +1

        A true OBer already keeps a log of historical stats on the best price, and knows when to pounce.

  • whyisave on 29/06/2017 - 14:39

    10% GST to be applied on all eBay items, from 01 JULY 2017, irrespective of whether it's second hand, etc.
    (unless the seller is registered for GST)

    so, you'll see prices go up…

    • sky blu on 29/06/2017 - 15:39
      +1

      Get your facts straight

      From 1 July 2017, Goods and Services Tax (GST) will apply to fees on eBay, due to new legislation in Australia (the "Netflix Tax").

      http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/content/gst-fees-ebaycomau

    • whyisave on 29/06/2017 - 20:18

      yes, you're right.
      it's GST 'fees' applied, to those that are not registered for ABN.

      what i meant to say was, that if you’re a private seller:
      GST of 10% will be applied to your fees and will be shown on your monthly invoice.

      eBay is still the most globally recognised place for second-hand items, and i regularly look there for second-hand items, instead of other sites.

      i just think it's unfair that second-hand items will attract the 10% GST, for the private seller, unless there's some kind of distinction being made between NWT or BNWOT items.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join