They should ban hidden taxes too. The sticker price should be the final price.
Do you want to put in your shipping address to every website before you can shop?
A zipcode should be plenty and grocery websites do that already.
FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
41–50 of 691 posts
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#42They should ban hidden taxes too. The sticker price should be the final price.
I remember shopping in Japan.
The price on the tag, is exactly what you pay (same with services, like hotels).
Since this is Japan, it's a high price, but no surprises.
Also, the service is amazing, and they won't accept tips. If you leave money on the table, they will chase after you, to give it back.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#43Seems like a no brainer. Can they tackle sales tax next?
and service fees at restaurants. The price on the menu in Seattle or SF is ~25% lower than what the product actually costs.
Minnesota banned these this year! It goes into effect Jan 1st. https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/05/20/governor-signs-junk...
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#44Im all for this. I’m worried though that now the junk fees will just be added to the normal price without ultimately changing anything.
That does change things though, it gives you a fair point of comparison.
And that comparison is important - when junk fees are allowed more honest companies suffer because consumers might shop around and end up choosing the option that is actually more expensive. Those consumers might be on page 12/13 of a form and just accept the fee to avoid the hassle - or they may assume everyone (including what looked like a more expensive competitor) is baking the fees in late in the process and not bother investigating deeper.
Hidden fees create market inequities.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you want to put in your shipping address to every website before you can shop?
a reverse IP lookup should give you a good estimate and you can always ask the user to enter their address for more accurate price.
Surely this is outdated advice in the world of "Protect your privacy with NordVPN" all over youtube.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you want to put in your shipping address to every website before you can shop?
a reverse IP lookup should give you a good estimate and you can always ask the user to enter their address for more accurate price.
Nope. I hate when website use IP for anything, especially language selection. I travel all the time as well as use VPNs for work, and the idea that my IP represents anything other than what network I’m connecting from is just lazy UX.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
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.
Some ticket sites won't even show you the fees until you create an account.
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#48An 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.
As a free market fan, Khan seems to have been pretty terrible.
But this looks genuinely good! It's basically banning fraud.
---[EDIT], since everyone is asking for reasons here are two libertarian/conservative critiques:
Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices
#49[deleted]