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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

#311

Post by Alupis »

mulmen wrote: post #287
Alupis wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s the transaction that is taxed, not the money. By your logic I shouldn’t have to pay income tax on sales because my customers already paid income tax. We could simply the whole thing by just making dollar bills worth $0.66.

> By your logic I shouldn’t have to pay income tax on sales because my customers already paid income tax.

People often believe that because something has been for a while, it must always be so. Not too long ago we didn't have sales tax (introduced in the 1950's), and things were fine.

You are taxed on your income, and you are taxed on your expenses. If you invest that money or do anything productive with it, it gets taxed again. That's such a ridiculous idea - pick one and stick with it. Make it whatever percentage it needs to be, and that's it.

When someone looks at their bank account - that ought to be the final word on how much purchasing power that individual has. It shouldn't be handwavy minus 7-12%.

Mind you, that's 7-12% in addition to the 20-30% you already paid.

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

#312

Post by wileydragonfly »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #284
belfalas wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of reply is what makes me want to quit HN forever. There's always somebody out there smarter who knows better. Why bother to try and contribute anything?

Yes, contributing mythology is in fact worse than contributing nothing.

This is geek internet. Suggesting that anything about Japan is less than peak perfection is controversial.

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

#313

Post by hiatus »

meiraleal wrote: post #304
sdwr wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idealist: "the free market is perfect!" Realist: "the free market has flaws, which can be addressed by..." Replace "free market" with anything you like

The realist might be an idealist that is seeing inexistent flaws tho

Then that's not a realist, by definition.

> accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly.

or

> representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life.

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

#314

Post by thehappypm »

adgjlsfhk1 wrote: post #264
throw10920 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a move afoot Who is behind this move? What individuals, and what politicians? By what legal means is this happening? I've literally never heard of anything like this before - without further details, this is just political flame-baiting.

> Who is behind this move? What individuals, and what politicians? By what legal means is this happening? The supreme court. The removal of Chevron Deference this year means that the courts have given themselves huge amounts of power over any administrative decision that isn't specifically regulated by congress (rather than the prior stance which was to presume that agency decisions were reasonable interpretations of…

Federal agencies now have oversight from the judicial branch. That's a big check on their power.

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

#315

Post by ghaff »

kstrauser wrote: post #185
syndicatedjelly wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 ga…

Yes, I have literally done exactly that thing and ended up with the dealer eating the price. The dealer has time and effort sunk into closing the deal, too, and they’ll almost always chose a bird in the hand. And also-freaking-lutely would I walk instead of eating a BS charge. Sometimes it really is the principle of the thing. My principle is I’m not paying a penny for something I didn’t ask for. A dealership I’d be…

Yeah. Last time I bought a car, at the last minute, it included "factory installed" extras that included a first aid kit for a car that wasn't built yet. I may or may not have actually walked (a couple of the options were actually useful) but I was "I'm not happy but I'll close the deal NOW if you add it to my trade-in" which they did.

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

#316

Post by mulmen »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #245
HelloMcFly wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> estimate it based on geolocation and say "more exact will be available once you enter your address". I appreciate this can be done and countries in Europe do it, I just don't see how this is any better at all than status quo: * Current State: we all know the quoted price doesn't include sales tax, which will be added to make the final price in checkout after we enter our address. * Final State: we all know the quot…

The only reason why status quo is there because people are less likely to remove items from their online shopping carts once they've added it. There are techniques and shopping check out flows that have been perfected over the years to drive up the online sales. Realistically, it won't move the needle for the people who are on this forum because of the average salary (a few dollars are usually not a big deal for us),…

> The only reason why status quo is there because people are less likely to remove items from their online shopping carts once they've added it.

Sure, in a world where the actual sticker price is displayed. Do you believe this will remain true when customers have to add items to the cart to get the “real” price?

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

#317

Post by paulryanrogers »

hiatus wrote: post #303
paulryanrogers wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this what small claims court is for?

So now likely hundreds (or more) of individuals have to not only wait on hold forever, but have to learn the process of and actually go through with filing a small claim? That there is recourse is beside the point when it is mired in bureaucracy (not to mention taking days off to show up to court, etc).

Class action suits may be easier, if only arbitration was opt-in-by-default or easier to opt out of.

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

#318

Post by DiscourseFan »

hiatus wrote: post #303
paulryanrogers wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this what small claims court is for?

So now likely hundreds (or more) of individuals have to not only wait on hold forever, but have to learn the process of and actually go through with filing a small claim? That there is recourse is beside the point when it is mired in bureaucracy (not to mention taking days off to show up to court, etc).

it only takes a few hits from lawsuits for the companies to fix the process.

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

#319

Post by indrora »

drdec wrote: post #13
guidedlight wrote: post #10

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?

I suspect the answer is instead to establish two tax rate calculations:

One for in-person shopping (like VAT) -- you pay the tax according to local rates, but it's factored in already.

one for online shopping, ("E-VAT") -- you pay a national rate tax and the seller is responsible for paying gross sales based on that percentage to the state and the rest goes to the IRS.

Problem comes with the Sin Taxes that have been established. For instance, in Seattle, sugared drinks MAY incur a tax depending on what kind of store you bought it from (e.g. the normal costco has to tax it but the business costco doesn't), but that doesn't affect some folks and then there's tax-exempt organizations like churches that can have their sales tax waived and then there's states where sales taxes are a majority of the income is from sales tax but only if you're local and

oh god it gets bad.

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

#320

Post by eric-hu »

breadwinner wrote: post #296
spiderice wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suddenly waiting on the phone for 45 minutes doesn't sound so bad, unless proving a point is your main goal.

Actually there is another option. Make a complaint to your state's Attorney General's Office. They usually have a website for filing consumer complaints, and AGO will contact the business, and the business is usually responsive when contacted by AGO.

How does this work? Do you provide the AGO with your name, phone and address? Subscription details?
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