At least in the US there's regulations against "loss leaders", products advertised at ruinously low prices (below the cost to the merchant) to entice shoppers into the store. Loss leaders themselves aren't a violation, but their use solely to entice shoppers in with the intention of upselling those shoppers to a more expensive item once they're in the door, with no intention of actually selling the low-priced item at the advertised price, is against the rules and can get a merchant prosecuted. One of the key elements is that the merchant refuses to sell the loss-leader item at the advertised price even when a customer's prepared to buy and pay. It's considered a form of deceptive advertising and misrepresentation.

Of course, most commonly it's easy to spot because when you offer to pay the shop's always "out of stock" or the item's "on back-order" and an investigation shows that the shop either never ordered any or only had 1 or 2 in stock.

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• Loss leaders - Authored by: Ian Al on Saturday, October 06 2012 @ 03:21 AM EDT
• Bait-and Switch and Predatory Pricing - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, October 07 2012 @ 01:27 AM EDT