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Pretty much, yes. If the fees are visible up front, there's no point in making them fees, they're just part of the price. By making them fees, they can be hidde
by bastawhiz 4y ago
Pretty much, yes. If the fees are visible up front, there's no point in making them fees, they're just part of the price. By making them fees, they can be hidden until you've already made your choice and are about to pay, or hidden until some point in the future where you try to do something like stop using the service.
The problem isn't really the cost, it's the deception. It tricks consumers and prevents an efficient market for goods and services, and as the article states, creates a particularly bad experience for at least some consumers that the business can justify in the name of profit.
- jjoonathan 4y agoThe problem isn't the deception. I'm sure they would argue that you see the fee before you agree. The real problem is that fees are much more difficult to price-shop. Fees are anticompetitive.
- bastawhiz 4y agoThe dark patterns that make it very difficult to price shop are inherently an attempt at deception. They're deceiving you into choosing an option that's more expensive than it initially appears. If everyone knew this was happening, they would spend more time trying to avoid falling prey to it. Nobody is paying an extra fifty bucks because they don't want to spend the extra twenty minutes. But if every consumer knew this, it wouldn't be deception, it would be friction. And companies would eventually stop doing it to make their service more appealing.