41–50 of 99 posts
But growth hacking right? In all seriousness, I love how techniques like this are "ok" when the company is considered a "startup", but when it suddenly becomes "evil megacorp", it's all of the sudden considered deception.
Booking.com are the all-time kings of this approach. The search results page is littered with highlighted messages like. “4 people are looking at this room now” “2 people just booked at this hotel” “Too bad you already missed out on this hot deal” “X% of the neighbourhood/city/region you’re looking at is already booked!” ... It’s quite likely real information, but the timeframes and language are vague enough to make…
Creating a false sense of urgency is a cornerstone of modern marketing. The only difference between this and any other marketing campaign is that you just happened to catch them this time. This is just like when you go to an electronics store and they put the super expensive tv (almost) nobody buys right next to the still very expensive but comparably more modest model. You are more likely to buy that second tv even…
1. There must be a representation, omission, or practice that misleads or is likely to mislead the consumer.
2. The act or practice must be considered from the perspective of the reasonable consumer.
3. The representation, omission, or practice must be material.
The post suggests StubHub is making very specific misrepresentations about specific ticket rights; the tactic here would deceive a reasonable consumer; and the misrepresentation is made to induce the sale.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh?
Once upon a time, a guy bought tickets for a basketball game on Stubhub. Some months after he bought the ticket, superstar Kobe Bryant announced that it was going to be his last game. Ticket prices shot up and the buyer was thrilled that he still had a ticket. However, the seller was equally unenthused by the idea of having sold his ticket at so much under its now-increased value. So he cancelled the sale. There was…
But growth hacking right? In all seriousness, I love how techniques like this are "ok" when the company is considered a "startup", but when it suddenly becomes "evil megacorp", it's all of the sudden considered deception.
I'd be surprised if anyone would think that this is ok for a company of any size.
Creating a false sense of urgency is a cornerstone of modern marketing. The only difference between this and any other marketing campaign is that you just happened to catch them this time. This is just like when you go to an electronics store and they put the super expensive tv (almost) nobody buys right next to the still very expensive but comparably more modest model. You are more likely to buy that second tv even…
Yeah, but to stick with the analogy, isn't this more like putting out empty boxes of TVs that have already been sold and having employees dressed as customers frantically buying them in front of regular customers. Thanks for reading btw, and thanks to whoever posted it here.
"Hey Joe we just sold another one of the . That's the 3rd one today - we better order some more before we run out of stock"
I wonder if the FTC would be interested in this. Section 5 of the FTC Act lets the agency regulate deceptive marketing practices. The FTC's test for deception has three requirements: 1. There must be a representation, omission, or practice that misleads or is likely to mislead the consumer. 2. The act or practice must be considered from the perspective of the reasonable consumer. 3. The representation, omission, or p…
> When you load a page they get a list of tickets that have already sold
I'm sure they could argue that since they are real tickets are actually sold out then they're not actually being deceptive.
I really hate these dark patterns - been getting worse and worse on travel sites.
I wonder if the FTC would be interested in this. Section 5 of the FTC Act lets the agency regulate deceptive marketing practices. The FTC's test for deception has three requirements: 1. There must be a representation, omission, or practice that misleads or is likely to mislead the consumer. 2. The act or practice must be considered from the perspective of the reasonable consumer. 3. The representation, omission, or p…
I think they key is that they're pulling ticket that are actually sold out: > When you load a page they get a list of tickets that have already sold I'm sure they could argue that since they are real tickets are actually sold out then they're not actually being deceptive. I really hate these dark patterns - been getting worse and worse on travel sites.
If the ticket was already sold, why the delay? A reasonable consumer think that specific ticket had just been sold at that moment, which sounds like a material misrepresentation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they key is that they're pulling ticket that are actually sold out: > When you load a page they get a list of tickets that have already sold I'm sure they could argue that since they are real tickets are actually sold out then they're not actually being deceptive. I really hate these dark patterns - been getting worse and worse on travel sites.
Possibly, but here StubHub would have to explain why they displayed it as unsold with a delay, and why the FTC should not consider that deceptive. If the ticket was already sold, why the delay? A reasonable consumer think that specific ticket had just been sold at that moment, which sounds like a material misrepresentation.