Misleading pony auctions - what are your thoughts on them?

[Loona]

yesterday I was browsing an auction site searching for ponies, and I came across an auction that left me a little annoyed. it never said it's MLP, the brand name itself can't be found in the title, nor in the description, but it does say
"Pony family, 3 ponies, original, not Chinese"
in the title, and it punctuates this in the description as well, like the main information that the seller can give on the ponies is that they are originals, and of course they aren't Chinese. which is at the same time funny and annoying, because, one: originals (well, most of them) are indeed Chinese, and two: these are the ponies:

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originals, huh? well, ok, they must be original somethings

first I was about to write to the seller, stating these two things I mentioned here (of course not in a scolding way, just offering help), but in the end I didn't. maybe they didn't do it on purpose, who am I to judge, but still, they mislead potential buyers, and I hate that. they can't mislead me here, it's not what annoys me, but I'm sure there are many who can easily be mislead when it comes to ponies. and the fact that they may not only cause annoyance and anger, but possibly disappointment and sadness (to children for instance, for whom the buyer buys the "thought to be original" ponies). and I notice this (again, on purpose or not) misleading is really common when it comes to pony auctions.

what are your thoughts on such pony auctions? do they annoy you, or do they just give you a good laugh? do you contact the seller if you see something like this? or do you just report the auction?

[achab1984]

I have to laugh at them!

[Eternia]

these are fakies. I don't understand what is misleading here. the title is a bit confusing.
If a seller is confusing, I don't buy from them. I don't police them by trying to correct them though, it's not my place.

[Pleyone]

They are original fakies.

[achab1984]

I have seen some weird titles for Breyer Horses also.....

[Mlphammy]

I've seen people write in bold MY LITTLE PONY RARE and it'll be a fakie 

[HorsingAround]

I think some sellers might be intentionally deceptive while others simply don't know what it is that they have.  For example, I recently bought a Baby Stockings that explicitly said "this is NOT baby stockings".  I guess it you really want to get technical it isn't "baby stockings" as the Christmas Baby pony doesn't officially have a name.    The confusion did not deter me from buying her.  It just comes down to buyer beware. 

[NoPonySpecial]

  The fakie lover in me insists I remark that the pink fakie isn't half bad. He's so proud and handsome looking!
  It's certainly true that some people don't know what they're doing, but sometimes you can tell by the vocabulary they use that they are deliberately being misleading. We've all seen those sellers who use specific terminology or abbreviations that only those who are knowledgeable about ponies use, only to have the item(s) be fakies, or the people who put multiple ponys' names into the title so it will appear in more searches.  When it's obvious the seller is trying to mislead inexperienced sellers, or if they're just wasting my time by manipulating the search engine to make the Twilight Sparkle (s)he's appear when I search for "Bitta Luck," then I get really annoyed.

[hathorcat]

Over the years you get used to everything in titles - some deliberately misleading and some simply people not understanding or researching enough what they are selling.

I simply let them pass me by now and honestly I find that the easiest option.

At the end of the day if you are a MLP collector if you come across such an auction you know what you are buying - you can see from the images what they are so you can simply buy or ignore. So misleading in the broader scheme of things because the title and description are incorrect but not really misleading anyone who is interested in collecting actual MLPs.

[Loona]

these are fakies. I don't understand what is misleading here.

yeah, I know that the misleading part is that the seller claims they aren't fakies (the title was translated to English, this isn't the exact one).

NoPonySpecial: yeah, I agree with that, the vocabulary can tell many things. in this case it actually makes me think the seller's only stating "original" to gain more interest. that's one main reason I decided not to write them. I usually write to sellers who aren't aware what exactly they have for sale (and I happen to know), and most of the times they are happy that I helped, because an exact name can help potential buyers in finding their stuff. but when I see willingly misleading auctions I never know whether to write or not... I hate that they mislead people just for profit, but I also hate to get "mind your own business"-type rude answers back.

HorsingAround: yeah, it happened to me too once. I bought a G2 who was claimed to be "not an original MLP". the seller was selling her daughter's (mostly) G3s, so I guess she judged by the looks. lucky for me, because she indeed was lower in price than the G3s the seller had for sale.

[Stormness_1]

I got my flower bouquet that way too, from a g3 seller who had her and a mcd pony listed as 'other pony toys' for much less than the common g3's lot I also bought.

[Vintergatan]

It actually annoys me quite a bit and it is sooo common here in Iceland. Every now and then on the local add-site I see "My Little Pony lot" with either all fakies or mostly fakies, and at insane prices as well :S Seriously. I usually just comment underneath that those are not MLP but knock-offs.

I see the same thing with Barbies, they basically call all dolls barbies, unless they are Bratz

[Shenanigans]

I think a lot of sellers who don't know the difference between a real MLP and a fakie will call any plastic horse a MLP