Bottom Phished by dealer website

[Archer]

https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2023-Yamaha-FJR1300ES-5026432961

Not complaining but wanting to caution being stupid visiting dealer website. I followed this listing on Cycle Trader and at the Bremerton, WA dealer for three days waiting for someone to fix what I supposed was a mistake of pricing. Otherwise, I've got a problem that needs to be solved by buying this offering. I got lazy and visited the dealer web site, saw the 2023 with 52,xxx miles still listed under $4k, and filled out a "request quote".

I got three emails thanking my interest but no actual reply to my inquiry. Only today does the dealer vanish the bait-and-switch ad from the site. It's still on Cycle Trader at this time. Thanks for reading.

Archer

 

[infrared]

Archer,

Maybe not in every state, but usually a published "advertisement to sell" is a public offering, a legally binding contract to sell the item at the advertised price to anybody with cash in hand. A local lawyer can confirm or deny, where you are. The usual dodge will be for the seller to tell any interested people that the item "has just been sold, but look around at what else we have, since you are there." Bottom line, this is a scam.

Shopping for a friend, I once saw an ad for a used car at a decent price, but it was at a dealer. I did a reverse image search on Google, and found out that over a thousand dealers across the USA were "selling" that same car (and exactly that same picture). My friend insisted that we check it out anyway, and of course, the dealer had "just now sold that car, but look at what else we have."

 

[Bounce]

If you want to, you can look at the root link (gmail.com, fjr-tips.org, etc.) of the link that flipped on you. Look up the customer service contact for that company (gmail, fjr-tips, etc.) and report the original link, the changes, the ad reference, and your experience. Sometimes that can start the ISP process for the host to remove the offender.

 

[Sunnyorlando]

This sounds to me like one of those scams (not by the actual dealer) where someone replicates an item for sale with minimal changes to the URL for a redirect. The scammers have gotten really good at replicating full websites, ads, emails, etc. And to the average person, it all looks legit.
Their hope is that some one will bite, they will ask for a deposit to hold the product, and that's how they make their money.
I've seen these replications and its scary how good they are at forging entire websites.
I don't know how often this type of scam works, but it must be enough to keep them going because it's been happening for some time now.

 

[Bounce]

It's why everyone should learn to read the URL string (http...) and look at it before clicking.

 

[Road_Runner]

The ad and the link to the dealers website look legit to me. It is standard for dealerships to not advise of all fees and therefore not state the actual OTD price of the bike (hence the name "Stealerships.") However, I really don't see a dealership putting up an ad with a price that artificially low on purpose.

 

[Archer]

OP here to comment again, without my usual attempts at cleverness. I'm saying this dealer is allowing a third party to host incorrect sales information and promote possibly lack of actual vehicle for sale. The dealer has two FJR's in its inventory this last year, an 05' & 15', $4k & 10k, both actively listed and still for sale at same price points all year long. Amazing that a 23' come in with ScooterG miles (sorry, me being funny) price 10K below. I know it's to make the phone ring or, more modernly, make the dreamer pony-up some deposit so a dealer can string them along. This is my complaint. Thanks for reading.

Archer

 

[Bounce]

Yeah. If they have handed their internet rudder over to "the computer guy" (or service) and allow that to happen, then they are just as culpable, IMO.