Re:Web Scraping Finds Price Fluctuation
by notatoad on Wednesday February 10, 2016 @01:46PM
(#11074936)
I believe the US has protections against deceptive pricing like that too, but i don't think any of these companies or practices described in the article would be in violation of it.
The law you're referencing is a protection against raising the price before a sale so you can advertise the sale price as x% off the inflated price instead of the store's regular price. Most e-shopping sites advertise a discount relative to MSRP, not relative to any price they've previously charged, which leaves them free to raise or lower the prices as they want.
Re:Web Scraping Finds Price Fluctuation
by jpambrun on Wednesday February 10, 2016 @02:20PM
(#11075238)
I'm fairly certain that established case law requires the retailer to have actually offered the item at the listed reference price for a reasonable amount of time before the sale. Using the (usually inflated) MSRP as reference is in contravention of art. 225.
Re:Web Scraping Finds Price Fluctuation
by pinkrooftop on Wednesday February 10, 2016 @03:39PM
(#11075795)
buyer beware; its not protection that the US is averse to, its interference
225. No merchant, manufacturer or advertiser may, falsely, by any means whatever,
(a) invoke a price reduction;
(b) indicate a regular price or another reference price for goods or services;
(c) let it be believed that the price of certain goods or services is advantageous.
[...]
231. No merchant, manufacturer or advertiser may, by any means whatever, advertise goods or services of which he has an insufficient quantity to meet public demand unless mention is made in his advertisement that only a limited quantity of the goods or services is available and such quantity is indicated.
The merchant, manufacturer or advertiser who establishes to the satisfaction of the court that he had reasonable cause to believe that he could meet public demand or who offered the consumer, for the same price, other goods of the same nature and of an equal or greater cost price is not guilty of any infraction of this section.
I feel that the United States are a bit reluctant to protect their citizens.