Scum of the Earth: Bait and Hook Sites

We’ve all seen them, or at least heard of them. Those web sites that sell cameras at insanely low prices only to discover that they are “out of stock” or “don’t include the battery” (which they conveniently sell at insane prices). These sites are, in my mind, some of the nastiest, low scum places on the earth that need to be thrown into the lowest rung of that bad place that is also a swear word.

Let me tell you a story about these things. The other day I was shopping for a new camera (because I need one pretty badly) and I found out that the Canon HV20 was an amazing camera. After some shopping I discovered a site that sold the thing for well under half price. Excited, but also wary, I asked around and discovered that this site was one of the many sites I have been talking about, otherwise known as “bait and hook” schemes. I did a bit more research into this single site and I discovered that almost 100% of people who bought from them were extremely dissatisfied with them. Some of the complaints that I saw spoke about how this site had items always on backorder or had rude customer service people who called and tried to sell you more stuff.

How do these schemes work? Well, it’s very simple, they get you into the store (or website in this case) by claiming a very low price, and then, once they have “baited” you they proceed to “hook” you by not having the item in stock, not selling the battery, etc. Now, it is technically illegal for these sorts of sites to engage in false advertising (i.e. not actually selling the product for the price listed) but there are ways around it.

What is the lesson here? Well, plain and simple it is to look before you leap. By looking I mean to research any web site you buy from. There are many ways to do this, but the best web site I have found for technological stuff is http://www.resellerratings.com/.

Good luck, and don’t fall for any of those “to good to be true” deals, because they probably are….