Is there a term for Low advertised price, insane shipping?...

[Namuna]

What I mean is...If a company advertises a product for an INSANELY low price to get you in the door, then they say they're out of stock of that item...But they have a similar item (for considerably more money of course) right over here.

That's called 'Bait & Switch'

Is there a term for advertising a LOW price, to get your interest...but then charging an INSANELY high shipping price to make up for it?

 

[iamme]

E-B-A-Y

 

[Namuna]

Hehe, as a matter of fact...This kinda of pertains to an Ebay item I'm interested in.

Normal street price of item I want: ~$110 + 'normal' shipping prices
Same item on eBay: $89.99 ...Then you scroll down to shipping and it says $20

But I know this is actually a pretty COMMONLY USED gimmick that A LOT of retailers do. I just figured there's be a catchphrase for it.

 

[Kevin]

Bullsh-t...

 

[Namuna]

Well, if there's no specific term for it...Then I would like to dub it the "Bait and sideswipe!"

 

[yruffostsif]

it's called "ship for profit" and almost every company does this - can be seen in a company's quarterly report if their public.

Ebay is just teh ghey

 

[her209]

the proper term is rip-off

 

[alkemyst]

yeah additional profit

Ebay will kill auctions if you can prove the handling and shipping is excessive compared to like items.

They don't get their cut so esp things like $1 bin + $60 shipping gets them pissed.

Most 'listing sites' will kick off vendors like that.

 

[spanky]

the term i use is "raped on shipping"

 

[EyeMWing]

Pft. I have to pay $11 "return shipping" on this mobo RMA. I'd bet more money than that that they're going to send it back USPS with DC for $6 (like I sent it to them)

They also say that their RMAs are free - and then you scroll down the email and they tell you that if they have to physically repair certain items on the board (DIMM slots, CPU socket, trace) they charge you like $10.

Fortunately, I expect them to just throw the board away because the chipset has developed a VIA-related PCI flaw. Hopefully they don't have any extras of this discontinued model laying around and they give me somthing new and cool.

This is EPoX by the way.

 

[alkemyst]

well $11 for a $6 actual ship is pushing it....$8 is fair though I'd think (if it costs $6 to the carrier).

What most people don't figure in is boxes and packaging materials + the guy who does it all is an expense. You can't always use a free USPS Priority box and have the package ship safe.

Doubling shipping (except on very light packages) is rape. We usually charge about 20% over on average and at the end of the year we break even.