Bait and switch

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses of term, see Bait

A bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the fraudster lures in customers by advertising a good at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute good is. The goal of the bait-and-switch is to convince some buyers to purchase the substitute good as a means of avoiding disappointment over not getting the bait, or as a way to recover sunk costs expended to try to obtain the bait. It suggests that the seller will not show the original product or product advertised but instead will demonstrate a more expensive product.

Other advertising practices, such as the use of loss leaders or the use of sales techniques to steer customers away from low-profit items, depend on many of the same psychological mechanisms as a bait and switch. Likewise, advertising a sale while intending to stock a limited amount of, and thereby sell out, the loss-leading item advertised is legal in the US.

Deceptive e-mail offers that shunt the user to porn sites have been described as bait-and-switch scams. [1]

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