[DENIED] Inaccurate/misleading pricing in gold selling threads

Checkout fees are in fact charged by websites because those fees are variable. If I am a large volume merchant I can negotiate a better variable and fixed rate than smaller merchants (it is not the duty of the customer for the business to negotiate better rates). Fees like taxes are mandated by the government- they cannot be adjusted and are mandatory for anyone doing business in their sphere of influence. You cannot mark of a tax rate, but sites can choose whatever checkout fee they feel like they can get away with. The tax rate is entirely irrelevant in the scope of the transaction - whether the tax rate is 99% or 0% the tax rate makes no material difference in the business operation of things. Everyone pays the same rate therefore in order to stay competitive you must cut costs or provide better service than your competition. (one of these cost cutting measures could be negotiating a better payment processing deal) Notice 3.9% at one site and 2.49% at another. An easy example of how this can be related to other businesses are as follows:

• If I go to get buy a Coke from the grocery store. It costs $1. I go to checkout, the price is $1.08. I'm confused, it said it was 1$. The clerk points to my receipt and shows that the tax amount was 8 cents and is established by the government and is fixed depending on the geographic area the grocery store sits. I use the public streets to get here and city planning did make sure this business was safe/reliable before I came..I guess I can pay 8 cents for that service. When I purchased the coke I swiped my card so the grocery store paid a transaction fee to the payment processor to accept my card. This fee is the same as the transaction fee that gold sites face - how would you feel if you go to a grocery store and they itemize THEIR expenses and say that you should pay for their processing fees, their distribution fees, etc? It's all understood that the price of the product contains all of these expenses, otherwise the businesses would simply go out of business if it were not profitable. It's not the customers duty to pay operating expenses of the business. Simply mark your product up.

As for the adjusting the price of their gold threads it is work they already undertake! When one merchant lowers their price to undercut by even 1 cent, every single gold seller changes to their prices accordingly. There is no additional work generated. You simply post your price that meets your required margin and adjust should you see that its taking too much time to turnover your product.

I never said anyone was falsely advertising by advertising their bitcoin rate. I say people are misleadingly advertising by showing a price that cannot be obtained by the average consumer. Please address this: I always accept bitcoin for even 1 cent over my cost after fees - is it an accurate indicator of my price for the majority of my customers? Each gold site has a large database of past transactions. Bitcoin purchases on retail spectrum of the business are OUTLIERS. You will have hundreds of G2A/card payments before you see one crypto purchase that's not a bulk deal between shops/suppliers.

Can you provide one benefit to the majority of the Sythe community by enabling merchants to line their pockets ? If the benefits outweigh the harms, then by all means keep the current system in place but if even one community member's experience can be negatively impacted by misleading pricing that doesn't show up until checkout can be avoided I think we should reform. @Sythe creates this forum not for the sole purpose of enriching the merchants that post in the marketplace. The point of a community forum like Sythe is to provide a place where honest reviews, discussion, and potentially business listings merge into one. By maintaining a better community we can see our user base continue to grow. Allowing predatory business practices is not conducive to this goal.

 

Dunno if this is offtopic but its pretty close on topic. What bout the threads that say sht like buying for $0.60-0.80 and will never pay more than $0.70. Or say some sht like you must sell 50b+ to get $0.80. Ive run into this quite a few times and honestly, if they advertise a big range, i just ignore them now

 

I also don't think ranges should be allowed. I've never seen someone advertise a range and not charge the top of their range. It's a ploy to get "in the door" and it wastes our time and isn't honest.

 

The entire premise of this argument is the ploy of getting people in the door. By advertising a price that is not accessible they are effectively misleading the customer. If you are considering this argument, please ask yourself: when gold merchants put a price in their title what is the price that they actually think the gold will sell for? The ad price or the Ad plus fee price? Then relate it to the customer: when the customer sees the ad price what price do they think they will be paying?

It only leads to disappointment for the members of this community.

 

It's a marketing tactic that's been in use for 100's of years.

People need to understand the difference between commonly (or even uncommonly) used marketing/sales tactics, and flat out deceit/false advertising.

This is a free-market forum. Constant market intervention, increased barriers to entry, and over-the-top policing has no positive outcome.

 

Support,

Most of the sites also claim they're like 0,75 then you go on the site u find out 0,78 exclusive fees, same with seling, that's sometihng what's even more misleading

 

Highly support this. I also avoid doing business with most gold shops because of shady marketing. If you advertise a price you should be honoring that price

 

No doubt, never said it wasnt common. Said it was dishonest, which it is.

 

I support this, although I feel a median average price is more convenient to buyers. Not everyone has access to the most commonly used method which then causes the price to be different from user A to B. That's just a thought, but I think that would be another possible solution let me know whatcha think @Lalapo14

 

No support for the following reasons and beliefs:

- This isn't America. So such analogies are not relevant. This is the Internet, a collective of backgrounds and cultures contributing to the same virtual goods sphere. Due to transnational business relations within most gold selling entities, means different nations, marketing ethics, and laws. This isn't American law or logic.

- As somebody who advertises with ranges I understand the point of view that is can be viewed shady. However, it is an effective way to avoid argument, and keep traffic to conversion efficient. If I am buying gold on a $0.50-.65/m range, then that will usually take in to consideration the quantity of the gold I'm buying. If I am only buying 100M 07, then that's going to be a fat paypal fee if I'm sending $ from my UK business paypal to USA. The only way around this is I get my co-owner, Jacky, to send $ from his US PP. For small amounts such as the figure exemplified above, I am not going to be buying the gold at $0.65/m. However if I have a lot of sales lined up and a supplier is wanting to move 10B through me, then I'm going to offer $0.65. If the risk is increased by taking 20-50B then I'm going to offer $0.50-60 depending on PP or BTC and whether the supplier is high risk.

- As for selling, the same business practice as my ranges for buying applies. If a customer is buying a small amount of gold, I am going to charge them more. If they are buying bulk gold I will charge less. If I am supplying the Asian market in bulk, I will take much less as I can distribute 100B to them without 20 minute waits between increments.

- "Hidden Fees" are usually charged by the payment processors. You know more about G2A than me as you recently gave me some advice, however I am sure this is correct with G2A right? None of the Fee actually goes to the merchant? If this is the case, then I actually see it as harming the business. Yes some customers will be passive, and just finish the checkout, but there's also many who will just 'X' out of the site immediately and buy elsewhere.

- If your competition is doing it and you don't like it, then it's just tough. The marketing world isn't all about singing in the rain, and gazing up at the stars on a warm summer night. Don't let it bother you. It will not be impacting your sales more than it is theirs. You can even do what others have done in the past and brag in your titles like [no hidden fees!!!!].

- A simple compromise to this rule would be to force vendors (including myself) to add an * to the range. Then if the range is a complete lie, then punishment can be done on a case by case basis.

 

This suggestion has been denied.

- TO add-on to @video's statement, not only is impossible to continuously update your prices on every single payment method, this would be abused as many would target individuals / competitors on a daily.

We are already actively moderating the "False Advertisement" rule, and doing our best to keep it to a minimal.