It's actually really easy to game the trust system. Back in the day a common scam was for a seller to sell a whole bunch of cheap books, and actually deliver with great customer service. Then they would switch to selling TVs and other high ticket items, which people would buy from the highly rated seller. Needless to say they never sent the TVs.
That one was easy to spot after a few times, but it's always a cat and mouse game. As soon as they figure out what the inputs are into the system, they game it to their advantage.
At the end of the day you have to have policies that aren't tied to the reputation to make things fair and that is where the debate about pro-seller vs pro-buyer comes in.
Most of sales are like that. The very very small minority is about actually helping people. Then, a lot of people are about manipulating and stretching truth just slightly beyond breaking point. The rest straight lies.
Associated problem: salespeople seem to be gullible when buying - they get taken in by slick salespeople. Given their skills you would think they could spot someone pulling the wool over their eyes. I haven't yet worked out whether it is just admiration for a good snow job or falling for some status game.
It’s similar to rampant doping in competitive sports, where everyone knows what’s going on. When there are millions of dollars at stake in contracts, prize money, and sponsorships, people will cheat and take risks. Even if they’re caught, the payoffs are usually greater than consequences.
The incentives and payoffs are far, far greater than any type of consequences to the seller. Worst case, they can shut down and start another shill store.
But we largely live in a consumer society where we are constantly bombarded with messages to 'buy! buy! buy!' Is it any wonder that lots of people fall for the messages? Especially when you have entire companies full of marketing people all trying to figure out a way to convince you that you need their clients' products.
Maybe there are good actors but anytime people are spending money the market will arrange for a lot of people to try to fleece uninformed buyers, and on the internet to uninform the buyers.
Part of the problem is that a lot of products are just shit that can't be sold legitimately, only mis-sold based on false promises. If you're a salesperson in a company peddling such products, your option is to mis-sell and become a conman, or be replaced by a conman.
They are deliberately creating an information asymmetry to exploit, where none naturally exists. I really dislike these sales strategies. I mean I really, really dislike them.
How can we discourage them in the market? Is 'no sale' all we have to employ against these tactics?
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