bait-and-switch

[beyt-n-swich]

adjective

1. denoting a deceptive method of selling, by which customers, attracted to a store by sale items, are told either that the advertised bargain item is out of stock or is inferior to a higher-priced item that is available.

noun

1. an act or instance of such practice.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bait and switch¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Idioms and Phrases

A deceptive commercial practice in which customers are induced to visit a store by an advertised sale item and then are told that it is out of stock or that it is far inferior to some more expensive item. For example, I won't buy a car from this outfit; they're notorious for their bait and switch tactics. The verb to bait has meant to supply a hook or trap with a morsel of food so as to attract a fish or animal since about 1300; the verb to switch has meant to change, alter, or transfer from one thing to another since the 1890s. The pairing of the two, however, dates only from the 1920s, although the practice is surely much older. It is called switch-selling in Britain.

Example Sentences

The FTC also alleges that the ticket company is misleading artists and consumers with “bait-and-switch pricing,” with tactics such as advertising lower ticket prices than the actual total after inflated pricing and extra fees.

From Los Angeles Times

And his easy connection with the crowd made me wonder for a delicious moment if the producers might have bravely hidden a bait-and-switch.

From Salon

“It’s a good old fashioned bait-and-switch, with a power grab added in.”

From Salon

The Democrats will likely make the correct intervention that “MAGA accounts” are a distraction and bait-and-switch trick because they are a paltry substitute as compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars that the Republicans are cutting away from healthcare, education, food and housing assistance, the social safety net, science, protecting the environment, and other investments in the country and its well-being that offer much larger tangible benefits for children and young people and the American people as a whole.

From Salon

Whether or not his supporters are happy with the cynical bait-and-switch, it’s the whole trans community that’s now left fighting for survival.

From Slate

Related Words

• chicanery 
• deceit 
• dishonesty 
• razzle-dazzle 
• scam 
• shell game 
• stunt