An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
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Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#22They should ban hidden taxes too. The sticker price should be the final price.
The new rule does have clarification that they at least have to show you the final price with taxes+shipping before they're allowed to take your credit card. Those ones I get, because they can't be calculated without knowing your billing zip code.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#23Wonder if this going to be permanent or will be reverted as soon as the new FTC head is in office.
Time will tell - the change I'm really hoping will stick is the outlawing of non-competes without consideration.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#24An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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The higher price will be displayed up front and affected companies will have to compete on the real pricing.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#25An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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That is fine because then someone decides to buy something based on what it costs. The status quo is that some company decides to backload the cost with hidden fees and then all competitors need to follow by doing the same or they will be "undercut". This is just bad for consumers because it makes it very hard to determine what they are paying for something and how to compare it with other prices.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#26Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#27An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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You're right that businesses might roll fees into the base price, but that’s the point: transparency. When all costs are upfront, customers can more easily compare prices between competitors. Hidden fees make price comparisons difficult and misleading.
Take airlines, for example—if one shows a $200 ticket and another shows $180 but sneaks in $30 of fees later, the second one appears cheaper. By requiring prices to reflect the full cost upfront, businesses compete on the actual price rather than deceptive practices. This won’t magically lower costs, but it will force clarity and reward companies offering genuine value.
Consumers should have a clear picture of what they’re paying, not a surprise at checkout. Isn’t that just fair competition?
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#28An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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So which is better? Ticket price shows at a price of 100 dollars upon checkout you get a ton of fees and it balloons to 140 dollars. Or ticket price shows as 140 dollars you can choose to buy it at said price or not no surprises later in the checkout process.
If prices are perceived as high from the moment someone searches for it they may be more tempted to check elsewhere or opt out.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#29An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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1. I'm not convinced by this argument, airlines compete on list price. If they can add a bunch of fees after winning on list price, they can move more and more of their costs into the fees and are no longer competing on the real price.
2. Let airlines compete on transparent pricing. I think this alone is enough of a benefit to this move.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#30An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
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I think that's all we want. To know the cost upfront so we can compare choices efficiently. We don't expect businesses to lower total cost, just be more cooperative and less exploitative in communicating it.