Bait-and-switch is a form of

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

used in

retail sales Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants'

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the advertised goods are not available, or the customers are pressured by salespeople to consider similar, but higher-priced items ("switching"). Bait-and-switch techniques have a long and widespread history as a part of commercial culture. Many variations on the bait-and-switch appear, for example, in China's earliest book of stories about fraud, Zhang Yingyu's ''

The Book of Swindles ''The Book of Swindles'' (''Piàn jīng'' 騙經), also known by its longer title, ''A New Book for Foiling Swindlers, Based on Worldly Experience'' (''Jiānghú lìlǎn dùpiàn xīnshū'' 江湖歷覽杜騙新書), is said to be the first publi ...

'' (c. 1617).

Function

The intention of the bait-and-switch is to encourage purchases of substituted goods, making consumers satisfied with the available stock offered, as an alternative to a disappointment or inconvenience of acquiring no goods (or bait) at all, and reckoning on a seemingly partial recovery of

sunk costs In economics and business decision-making, a sunk cost (also known as retrospective cost) is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs are contrasted with '' prospective costs'', which are future costs that may be ...

expended trying to obtain the bait. It suggests that the seller will not show the original product or service advertised but instead will demonstrate a more expensive product or a similarly priced but lower quality product. In either case, the seller expects to earn a higher margin on the substitute product.

Legality

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

s have held that the purveyor using a bait-and-switch operation may be subject to a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

by customers for

false advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...

, and can be sued for

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may ...

by competing manufacturers, retailers, and others who profit from the sale of the product used as bait. However, no

cause of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a ...

will exist if the purveyor is capable of actually selling the goods advertised, but aggressively pushes a competing product. Likewise, advertising a sale while intending to stock a limited amount of, and thereby sell out, a loss-leading item advertised is legal in the United States. The purveyor can escape liability if they make clear in their advertisements that quantities of items for which a sale is offered are limited, or by offering a rain check on sold-out items. In England and Wales, bait and switch is banned under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008; breaking this law can result in a criminal prosecution, an unlimited fine and two years in jail. In Canada, this tactic is illegal under the ''

Competition Act The ''Competition Act'' is a Canadian federal law governing competition law in Canada. The Act contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the marketplace. The Act is enforced and administered ...

.'' In Australia, bait advertising is illegal under the

Competition and Consumer Act 2010 The ''Competition and Consumer Act 2010'' (CCA) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. Prior to 1 January 2011, it was known as the ''Trade Practices Act 1974'' (TPA). The Act is the legislative vehicle for competition law in Australia, an ...

(formerly known as the

Trade Practices Act 1974 The ''Competition and Consumer Act 2010'' (CCA) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. Prior to 1 January 2011, it was known as the ''Trade Practices Act 1974'' (TPA). The Act is the legislative vehicle for competition law in Australia, an ...

Non-retail use

* A bait-and-switch interview is when a potential employee hires another person to be their stand-in during the

job interview A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for ...

process. * Online sellers use bait-and-switch by showing a photograph of a desired item to get sales, then shipping a cheaper copy of the item or a picture of the item. * Car dealerships and auto brokers have also been known to use various forms of bait-and-switch or similar tactics, such as advertising vehicles online at what seems like a bargain price, only for the customer to discover that the specific vehicle is no longer available, as well as adding on a plethora of additional fees or even changing the sale price when coming close to closing the sale. * * * * *

Politics

In lawmaking, "caption bills" that propose minor changes in law with simplistic titles (the bait) are introduced to the legislature with the ultimate objective of substantially changing the wording (the switch) at a later date in order to try to smooth the passage of a controversial or major amendment. Rule changes are also proposed (the bait) to meet legal requirements for public notice and mandated public hearings, then different rules are proposed at a final meeting (the switch), thus bypassing the objective of public notice and public discussion on the actual rules voted upon.

References

External links