I was browsing eBay and saw a new "feature" called Trending Now. It gives the median price of similar items in the past 30 or 90 days.
This feature gives the impression I was getting a bargain on a laptop I've been following... except obviously the Trending Now price was not a bargain. Crappy, to be sure.
But then I switched to searching a slightly different model, where I know I missed out on an awesome bargain price yesterday. Curiously the Trending Now feature was not shown. Huh?!
So let's get this straight. The feature only appears when the numbers make it look like you are getting a bargain (even if you're not). And it disappears when the numbers are telling you to step away. Useless junk!
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eBay Only Displays Pricing Trends in Decline
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @05:43PM
Thanks for your anecdote. When you've got some data to prove what you're saying, please do submit another story.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday September 07 2014, @06:41PM
Though I agree that it would have been better as a journal entry rather than a story submission, we must not be so quick to dismiss peoples' findings -- this is, after all, a way for us to discover and break original news. Unfortunately this time you'd have to try it yourself and frankly people are too damn lazy to do that.
Greedy merchants are pulling shit like this all the time, and we have to stay on top of it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Sunday September 07 2014, @07:16PM
It would help to actually define the problem though.
I have a little time and a lot of experience with automated BI and scraping with some enterprise stuff. I could flesh something out pretty fast to start collecting data from eBay.
Collect what though? Analyze it how? What does it all mean Basil?
We don't need "this is bad". We need Process X resulted in Data Y where Y was claimed to represent one thing, but represents another.
There's just no information here other than eBay=Bad=ShittyMegaCorp.
Anyone up for a circle jerk?
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Sunday September 07 2014, @08:27PM
As we've had DM links already in this story, I may as well add to the polution with pretty much the first thing my googling produced (I was actually after a chart of mars bar sizes over the years, but alas haven't found one yet): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524032/Mars-Snickers-chocolate-bars-shrink-size-price-stays-same.html When I was a kid, they were 68g, I'm pretty sure. 51g is pitiful.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 08 2014, @03:46AM
Product makers KNOW the 99%ers are broke and have been broke since around 2007 so it is pointless to raise the prices of their products unless they ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO.
However, seven years of inflation since 2007 increased the cost of doing business....
Rather than keep the portion sizes the same (at least) as a gesture of goodwill to the public at large that might gain them extra sales to compensate for the increased costs to them, they do what 'all the other companies' are doing and reduce the portion sizes while keeping the prices the same.
They are counting on people not paying close attention to portion sizes marked on the packages to get away with this ploy.
Sadly, this technique works which is why it is still in use.
The observant few notice the ploy and are either outraged or shrug it off knowing 'it's just the cost of doing business'.... :(
I saw signs of this years ago (forgot how many--wasn't many, after 2007 I think) when the gadget marketers started showing ads selling two items for $20.00 on TV instead of one ('Buy one and get the second one FREE!').
You can sell 'plastic crap' on the cheap (at a REAL bargain) but people GOTTA eat which is why food manufacturers are not going to give up their (razor thin?) profits lightly hence all the 'subtle' portion size cutting.... :P
Portion cutting in food products has gotten so bad that the orange juice I buy has 'Still 1 Gallon' printed on the label as its USP [wikipedia.org]. I buy it because it is the best value available for that item to me--the rest are overpriced, heavily advertised national brands packed in 'flashy' smaller containers.
When you have to make every penny count, you simply have to avoid buying anything flogged by the mass media. When you buy them, you are essentially subjecting yourself to more unwanted advertising.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 08 2014, @03:59AM
> However, seven years of inflation since 2007 increased the cost of doing business....
It has been going on a lot longer than that. It is a story that gets reported nearly every year during slow news weeks. The root cause is inflation and we've had inflation for longer than everyone here has been alive. I remember reading about it in the lates 70s - as a kid I was very concerned with the shrinking size of candy bars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 08 2014, @07:26AM
its been going on since the federal reserve was created in 1913
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar#Value [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday September 08 2014, @06:37PM
If you think it started then, you're deluded. It started, in this form, when pre-packaged foods became available. It's existed in other forms (e.g., adulterated bulk food-stuffs, incompletely dried grain, etc.) as far back as records go.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 09 2014, @12:54AM
i think the op is referencing a particular inflationary phenomenon, not to interupt the interference you *seem* to be running for the degenerate thieves at the federal reserve. please do carry on. perhaps you'd next like to tell us some stories about the weather underground or barry sotero? if you've been wrongly accused, then my apologies...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by BasilBrush on Sunday September 07 2014, @06:55PM
Indeed. The most likely explanation is that the first item had been fully categorised such that ebay could group it with other such items. And the second item wasn't. One could check, but who cares enough to bother, based on this example free rant.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @05:45PM
Would it have killed you to provide links to the examples you are talking about?
Without that or any other form of evidence this submission is just a rant from someone who may well be delusional.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @06:55PM
Literally: probably not. Figuratively: this is the internet. Would you really be surprised [ebay.com] if there was good reason for not sharing that information?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @07:07PM
Ok then, what the fuck?
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday September 07 2014, @07:33PM
Dolling has been featured [dailymail.co.uk] three [dailymail.co.uk] times [dailymail.co.uk] this year in the Daily Mail.
1702845791×2
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @07:47PM
So, uh, that's a thing now, eh? Not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, that's cool, let your freak flag fly. On the other hand these people probably have a nice stash of corpses hidden in their walls...
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday September 07 2014, @08:18PM
I'm sure that most of these people aren't going for the I'm-wearing-the-skin-of-my-last-victim [wikipedia.org] look but it does look creepy. I'm most concerned about the man that runs a dolling business with his mother [dailymail.co.uk]. Hopefully, they don't also run a motel business [wikipedia.org].
A combination of glassholes, facial recognition and 3D printing may make dolling and/or crossdressing cosplay [wikipedia.org] more common. Hopefully, the results won't be in the uncanny valley [wikipedia.org] or worse.
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Sunday September 07 2014, @09:37PM
you were right, it is creepy. But then, I was warned...
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday September 07 2014, @08:29PM
Your post has NOTHING to do with the article or summary.
If you've got something you think the SN community would be interested in please submit it and don't try to hijack a thread.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday September 07 2014, @08:47PM
Someone suggested that the article had no references because it was something embarrassing. Someone gave an unusual example. Someone was surprised about it. I stepped in to provide some background information because I remembered reading about it. Admittedly, the thread strayed from there but no more than usual. It was just as likely to be a discussion about ridiculous USB hubs [ebay.com], brony merchandise [ebay.com] or fishing hats [ebay.com].
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday September 07 2014, @08:35PM
cafebabe, sorry for the flame. had my view set at +2 and completely missed the comments the you were replying to. Have changed my view settings and will try to be more careful in the future.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday September 07 2014, @08:55PM
I should apologize too. It is strictly off-topic but we're on a forum with smart people who may have short attention spans and few taboos. Under these circumstances, the topic can diverge very rapidly.
1702845791×2
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @09:53PM
Sorry, that was a poor attempt at humor while making a point about delving too deeply. The original draft of the comment began with "Just because he says he was buying a laptop". I'd picked the most WTF-worthy example I could think of to illustrate, then decided it was more WTF-worthy, illustrative and amusing without redundant exposition.
The submitter could have done further research and provided examples. If the submitter had merely provided screenshots or the specific purchase, it may have allowed someone to link his ebay and SN accounts. Many people would, quite understandably, be uncomfortable doing this as it is a privacy issue.
Even amongst peers who are equally aware of these issues, posting comments that require the reader to make a logical leap can sometimes fail. I obviously failed to effectively communicate my underlying point (3405691582 got it) but there was no attempt to derail and at least the WTF factor prompted some discussion.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @07:18PM
> Would you really be surprised if there was good reason for not sharing that information?
Uh, panachocala said it was a laptop.
But even if it was something kinky and "panachocala" was a meaningful identifier, just submit the story anonymously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @09:09PM
I thought panachocala was "panocha" at first, which is Spanish slang for "vagina."
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday September 07 2014, @10:13PM
No more sub-par stories on Soylent News! No more! No more! I want to be an editor. Going to go bother ncommander now.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @10:52PM
Come on people!
(Score: 2) by cosurgi on Sunday September 07 2014, @11:07PM
welcome! Please be our new editor!
#
#\ @ ? [adom.de] Colonize Mars [kozicki.pl]
#
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 08 2014, @07:30AM
Do you need help loading the trebuchet?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @10:26PM
And it disappears when the numbers are telling you to step away. Useless junk!
So, if you don't see one, you know to step away. That seems like it would be useful information, if that's really how the system works.
(Score: 1) by linuxrocks123 on Monday September 08 2014, @01:18AM
I've seen items on eBay where the "Trending Now" price is lower than the Buy It Now price for the item being sold. It's probably a coincidence.