Bait-N-Switch

I've mentioned before about advice my grandfather gave me that I didn't understand at the time but which turned out to be useful later. Like his admonition to 'spend a little extra, get nice shoes that fit.' Brilliant. My grandfather was a bit of a scam artist, to tell the truth, and I really wish I had discovered more about his upbringing before he died, I'm sure it was a sordid tale full of human drama.
   Anyway... one of the many things he warned me about was the old 'bait and switch' sales method. It used to happen all the time, especially with car sales. A dealer would advertise a '54 Chrysler Imperial for, say $500. Except they didn't have a Chrysler Imperial on the lot, let alone one for $500. So when you went to the lot to test drive the Imperial, they'd tell you of your bad luck ('someone just drove it off') and then try to sell you the 55 Chrysler New Yorker for $1500. Bait - cheap car - and switch - present you with a more expensive one.
   Bait and switch is illegal. If a vendor advertises a certain item, they'd better have that item on-hand or they'll get fined or shut down, possibly both.
   Well, let's look at Facebook's advertising rates. I have a page on Facebook for this very blog, and I have a budget each day for FB to place that ad on pages. I bid a certain amount, say 60 cents, for each click. This amount is far lower than the 'suggested' bid of 70 cents, and so my ad does not get served out because the rate never gets down to 60 cents. I left it like that for a very long time because I just didn't care to play the game I knew was coming. This past week I decided to play.
   The 'suggested' rate was 70 cents. So I raised my bid to 70 cents. A few minutes later the 'suggested' rate went up to 79 cents.
   Hmmm....
   I raised my bid to 80 cents. A few minutes later the 'suggested' bid went up to 90 cents. My mama didn't raise no fool, but I decided to play along, to establish a pattern. I raised my bid to 91 cents. A few minutes later the 'suggested' bid went up to $1.03
   Classic bait and switch. You couldn't do it better if you were a car dealer in 1965. You want us to serve your ad? That'll be 70 cents a click. Oh, hold on a moment, that 70 cents is no longer valid. But, just for you, we can do 80 cents a click, are you interested in that one? Ooooh... sorry, but that 80 cents a click isn't right either, the price just went up. We could put you in a very nice ad for just 90 cents a click, though...
   Rat bastard sons of bitches. We need to get some investigative journalists on this, start cracking heads.
   My next step is to steadily decrease my bid and see how the rates follow. My guess is the 'suggested' bid stays just tantalizingly out of reach.