I might be about to upset some Apple aficionados here, but I can’t believe how gullible some one must think you are. I was browsing through the eBay Weekly Deals when I stumbled across a small piece of black plastic with a notch in it which retails at £19.99 and apparently you won’t be able to resist buying.
It’s actually two bits of plastic, but that hardly justifies the price, and what you’re supposed to use them for is propping up your iPad or iPhone so that you can watch a movie. Who are they trying to kid? You’re hardly likely to prop your iPad on the mantelpiece to watch a move let alone try squinting at your iPhone from a distance.
Of course being as it’s on an eBay Weekly Deal it’s the best price on the Internet, so you’re only expected to cough up . It’s not the best price on the Internet though, it’s not even the best price on eBay. If you can’t managed to watch a film on your iPad without a couple of dinky bits of plastic you might as well pay as little as possible and currently on eBay that’s not £12.95, you can buy the .
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In Canada this week adstandards.com (advertising/media industry self regulatory body) published a ruling against one of the ebay.ca front page “big deals” related to the fake regular prices that are usually used to show big discounts. ebay staff have claimed ebay researches the price claims to confirm accuracy. This one was about a cheap Chinese watch they claimed was 90% off an absurd “$300 reg price” that the vendor sold for $30 all the time:
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” Description: A men’s watch was advertised at a price that was “90% off.” Adjacent to the price in the online advertisement was the statement “Comparable Value $300.00.”
Complaint: The complainant alleged that that the savings claim was highly exaggerated and misleading.
Decision: Council found nothing in the advertisement that substantiated the 90% savings claim or explained the basis for the “Comparable Value” claim; nor did the advertiser provide any substantiation for the claim. As a result, Council also found that the unqualified price claim in the advertisement overstated the price at which the watch was otherwise generally available at retail. Council concluded, therefore, that the advertisement contained an unsubstantiated and misleading price claim. ”
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(cant link directly to it). They are considering a complaint against ebay itself now. The vast majority of ebay “big deals” here violate advertising industry standards and appear to violate Canadian law by advertising discounts from “regular prices” that don’t exist.
Despite ebay demanding perfect behaviour from its sellers, they sure don’t have it themself.
And its ‘deals’ just like this that make me not bother to look at any of them.
eBay need to take a reality check.