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Yes, you are describing the dynamic I am talking about. My point about "deregulation" was in the US context where there is a strain of people who reflexively in

Yes, you are describing the dynamic I am talking about. My point about "deregulation" was in the US context where there is a strain of people who reflexively infer that deregulation must be good, from a general idea that regulations are bad. Regulations most certainly can be bad (as is the one you're describing), but this does not imply that blindly "removing regulations" is good! Because what tends to happen is that the type of regulation you are describing (registration/compliance/etc creating a fixed costs that are hard on small businesses but easy for large businesses) never gets removed. Rather what does get removed is regulations that are inconvenient to the large businesses - things like right of withdrawal [0], liability, anticompetitive restrictions on large businesses who have now become unavoidable parts of an uncompetitive market [1], etc. [0] IIUC "right of withdrawal", at least. It's an EU thing where you have a legal right to return products after a purchase, right? Whereas in the US it operates more on custom, customer satisfaction, and marketing. [1] eg if artists have to start selling through Amazon (etc) rather than shipping direct

wolvoleo 2mo ago
Yes but the right of withdrawal in the EU is only for things bought at distance (e.g. over the web or by mail catalog (if anyone still does this, lol)). And it's within 14 days and with some exception (hygiene-sensitive products and custom-order items etc). It is however allowed to open and use the product as long as you keep it in a pristine state. It also applies to services such as insurance. I recently cancelled my revolut package within 14 days as the benefits were not as good as claimed. If you buy something in a physical shop it is not a right and dependent on goodwill of the seller. Similar to the US. The thinking is that with buying remotely you don't have the ability to examine the product. The supplier may charge a small restocking fee and charge for return shipping, but most don't do that in practice. You can also use it to return for things like dead pixels, even though some suppliers try to limit that (e.g. saying you must accept x amount of dead pixels), it's not allowed to refuse that, IF you buy remote. Funny thing is that it also applies if you order something online for pickup at a physical store. So for things like displays this is highly recommended.

wolvoleo 2mo ago

Yes but the right of withdrawal in the EU is only for things bought at distance (e.g. over the web or by mail catalog (if anyone still does this, lol)). And it's within 14 days and with some exception (hygiene-sensitive products and custom-order items etc). It is however allowed to open and use the product as long as you keep it in a pristine state. It also applies to services such as insurance. I recently cancelled my revolut package within 14 days as the benefits were not as good as claimed. If you buy something in a physical shop it is not a right and dependent on goodwill of the seller. Similar to the US. The thinking is that with buying remotely you don't have the ability to examine the product. The supplier may charge a small restocking fee and charge for return shipping, but most don't do that in practice. You can also use it to return for things like dead pixels, even though some suppliers try to limit that (e.g. saying you must accept x amount of dead pixels), it's not allowed to refuse that, IF you buy remote. Funny thing is that it also applies if you order something online for pickup at a physical store. So for things like displays this is highly recommended.