HFF I am not sure about the strategy of that… sounds kind of hair brained to me….
One possibility is that at the initial listing appt the sellers and agent agreed to a price. Then when some offers or an offer did come in at that low price, the sellers said no. This irritated the agent, rightfully so, and the agent told the sellers that if they were not going to negotiate in good faith at the advertised price, then they should change the price that was advertised.
Another possibility is that the sellers were not made aware of the closing costs, or loan prepayment penalty or some other cost and are trying to cover it…
Or the sellers are idiots… or as you put it in a nicer term, “not so clever”…