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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

#101

Post by websap »

BurningFrog wrote: post #48
munk-a wrote: post #3

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.

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: • https://reason.com/2024/11/07/good-riddance-lina-khan/ • https://archive.ph/IjNmZ

Khan has been absolutely spectacular for the free markets. Transparency in pricing (with this law), transparency in cancellation of subscriptions, blocking acquisitions where businesses should fail.

The free market shouldn't allow monopolies, or duopolies to form. Bad businesses should fail, not absorb more capital and continue scaling.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#102

Post by bigstrat2003 »

YaBa wrote: post #79

Now do the same with airline companies. WizzAir charges the crap out of you for everything they can. Do not fly with WizzAir!

A significant difference here is that the airline fees are ostensibly optional. You could, in theory, fly Spirit with nothing except the clothes on your back and they wouldn't charge you extra. But with event ticket sales and the like, there is often no possible way to avoid the fees. That means there's a much stronger argument for requiring that the fees be rolled into the price.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#103

Post by bluGill »

crazygringo wrote: post #85

I'm glad (if it doesn't get reversed by the next administration). But I'm also baffled... how did this take this long? Why wasn't it done way back when they did it for airline tickets, in 2012?

Because details matter and are hard. If you don't get the details just right a court will strike the whole thing down for good reason.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#104

Post by chrisweekly »

m_ke wrote: post #60
BurningFrog wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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: • https://reason.com/2024/11/07/good-riddance-lina-khan/ • https://archive.ph/IjNmZ

Please name some of the terrible parts EDIT: to make it easier here's a list of actions from perplexity: Here are more explicit actions taken by the FTC under Lina Khan's leadership: Lawsuit against Amazon (2023): The FTC filed a landmark antitrust case accusing Amazon of monopolistic practices in its online marketplace and Prime subscription service. Meta (Facebook) lawsuit (2023): The FTC sued Meta to block its acq…

That's a pretty good list of things the FTC deserves credit for, in my book.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#105

Post by websap »

crazygringo wrote: post #80
guidedlight wrote: post #10

They should ban hidden taxes too. The sticker price should be the final price.

If you're talking about sales taxes, they can't until you input your shipping address. Because they depend on where you live. Nobody's trying to fool you by not including sales taxes. There's just no way to show them in advance, unless you want to start typing your address and zip code into every shopping website before you even browse.

Yes, because my IP address doesn't give them a way to calculate tentative taxes? My IP can be used to serve me ads, but not serve me actually relevant information?

There's a very small % of traffic that actually uses VPNs

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#106

Post by OptionOfT »

I'd be interested to see whether a movie theater is considered an event. Our local one charges a convenience fee when buying online because ... they can?

I wish they banned all mandatory add-ons. If I don't have the choice it should be part of the base price.

The touristic railroad near me advertises a price, and then slaps on a mandatory Fuel Surcharge and Historic Preservation Fee.

Excuse me? How can I compare what I'm going to spend my money on if you're just allowed to lie to me?

Sidenote on fuel cost:

Fuel is almost back to pre-COVID costs https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=e...

and once you add in inflation it's even cheaper.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#107

Post by insane_dreamer »

BurningFrog wrote: post #48
munk-a wrote: post #3

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.

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: • https://reason.com/2024/11/07/good-riddance-lina-khan/ • https://archive.ph/IjNmZ

> Khan seems to have been pretty terrible

to the contrary, she's great for free, competitive markets

she's just not good for winner-take-all M&A investors, and _that_ is a good thing

the average American - and even the average investor - will not benefit from her departure

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#108

Post by bobthepanda »

ghaff wrote: post #67
bullfightonmars wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They do. On the other hand, I'm typically exempt from a lot of the airline add-ons for various reasons. Airlines are probably not the best example. A lot of people probably want cheaper airfares even if it means less/poorer service in a lot of ways. But it should be as transparent up-front as possible. Even if infrequent travelers may not always understand the details.

I think airlines are a great example because the fees are often actually paying for something materially different.

When purchasing concert tickets recently I got a "mobile convenience fee" for an e-ticket even though the venue doesn't operate a physical box office. A recent hotel had a "resort fee" that was not opt-out even if you didn't use the amenities it allegedly paid for. These kinds of BS fees should go away.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#110

Post by morkalork »

adra wrote: post #33
spockz wrote: post #15

Im all for this. I’m worried though that now the junk fees will just be added to the normal price without ultimately changing anything.

No, the reason they tack on the fee as a "tax" is literally to confuse and otherwise mislead the public to the true cost of the product they're buying, or mislead where the money is directed. they're buying from. If you believe in the Tennant's of capitalism at all, then you must have clear price representation.

Isn't Airbnb a good example of this? In some locations you have to open each listing to get the true price and it's a huge waste of time. In locations, what you see on the map is the real value, cleaning and other, fees included.
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