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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

#141

Post by syndicatedjelly »

kstrauser wrote: post #66
yoyoyo1122 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sticker price should be the final price. God I wish this applied to buying cars as well

If you’re assertive enough, it is. “Oh, sorry, looks like we’d already applied the undercoat to your car.” “Ah, thanks!” “That’s an extra $400 charge.” “I’m not paying for it. I didn’t want it. You can have it back if you want.”

"Darn, sorry we can't make a deal. Hey look at all the people who need cars that are waiting!"

This is not as much of an upper hand as you think it is, often these shenanigans happen after sitting at the dealer for a couple hours while they do whatever it is they do. Do you value your time so little that you'll just walk out of a transaction over less than a 1% difference in cost?

The dealer knows how to play this game way better than you, if you walk into a dealership without having a plan to score a deal then you already lost

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

#142

Post by insane_dreamer »

m463 wrote: post #132
stonemetal12 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move to Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire or Oregon. No sales tax.

most states have some trick. I think you have to look at it wholistically: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Median_h...

Not a trick, just they get their income from other sources / taxes. But we're specifically talking about knowing the final price you will pay, in advance, which requires knowing the sales tax.

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

#143

Post by Alupis »

websap wrote: post #119
crazygringo wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, it doesn't. IP geolocation is nowhere near precise enough. Remember, sales tax isn't something big like state-level. It's literally town -level, including tiny towns. Two sides of the same street can have a different sales tax. Not to mention all the extra rules, such as individual clothing items under $110 being exempt in New York.

I will take the blurb which says taxes are an approximate calculation based on web browsing data available, vs, no taxes shown. We're gate keeping good features for large % of users over some edge cases.

Or, just get rid of sales tax anyway. It is the 2nd or 3rd time the same money has been taxed, depending on how you view it, and it's pretty ridiculous that a person with $100 in their bank account (post-taxes) still does not have the equivalent of $100 of purchasing power.

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

#144

Post by sofixa »

Eisenstein wrote: post #73
sofixa wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The price on the tag, is exactly what you pay (same with services, like hotels). That's the norm, not the exception, in developed countries.

Except for the one with the largest economy.

And that's not a point of pride now, is it. If you're the best but others are clearly beating you in a few categories, that's more reasons to improve to try to be the best everywhere, not put your hands in your ears and pretend nothing is wrong.

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

#145

Post by user3939382 »

bluGill wrote: post #135
user3939382 wrote: post #109

Hopefully this does away with the fraudulent “cleaning fee” when you book a hotel for $200 and then get a charge for $450.

Maybe. If they document how dirty the room was after you leave, and how clean it was before hand they can get away with this. Generally smoke smell is the only thing they would bother doing this for though. If you just leave the normal mess behind they shouldn't be charging extra.

Yeah I’m talking about an existing practice where the fee applies to all bookings and is just a way to fraudulently advertise the booking price.

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

#146

Post by m_ke »

chrisweekly wrote: post #104
m_ke wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Literally the best government person we have had for competitive markets in decades

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

#147

Post by petsfed »

guidedlight wrote: post #10

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

I'm more ok with "hidden" taxes, because the business is supposed to just hand that over. If they're putting something on the receipt that says "tax" and its not associated with an actual government-applied tax, that's just fraud., we don't need special rules to address that (yet). Its not hidden in an attempt to trick you into buying something at a higher cost. Its hidden because calculating the taxes requires additional information from the user.

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

#148

Post by mulmen »

websap wrote: post #119
crazygringo wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, it doesn't. IP geolocation is nowhere near precise enough. Remember, sales tax isn't something big like state-level. It's literally town -level, including tiny towns. Two sides of the same street can have a different sales tax. Not to mention all the extra rules, such as individual clothing items under $110 being exempt in New York.

I will take the blurb which says taxes are an approximate calculation based on web browsing data available, vs, no taxes shown. We're gate keeping good features for large % of users over some edge cases.

So currently they correctly advertise the pre-tax price but since that’s not the correct total price your proposal is to display an approximate price which is also not the correct total price. I don’t see how this reduces ambiguity.

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

#149

Post by aziaziazi »

itake wrote: post #12
legitster wrote: post #11

Seems 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.

Would boycott get a chance? The honest restaurants bragging "NO FEES" would gather more customers and the others follow.

Wondering, is there already US places that works without tips like in most other places ? (Owner pays a decent salary to its employees, include that in all products they sell and don’t expect tips)

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

#150

Post by floxy »

Eisenstein wrote: post #73
sofixa wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The price on the tag, is exactly what you pay (same with services, like hotels). That's the norm, not the exception, in developed countries.

Except for the one with the largest economy.

No sales tax in Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon.
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