Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
With all the legislation about buying and selling goods that exists in the developed countries i'm afraid I can't agree with you. Sellers have all sorts of obligations, enforced both by governments and by individuals in Courts and even cheap tribunals. Each state has its equivalent of a Department of Fair Trading and a Fair Trading Tribunal. The latter is very pro-consumer and a seller often loses even if they win because of the time and inconvenience involved. There are numerous statutory warranties. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the extent of regulation is such that hte balance is in favour of Buyers.
And, of course, try telling any EBay seller who has been defrauded by buyers who fraudulently claim never to have received the goods. Anecdotally this has become such a problem on EBay that they are losing many sellers.
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I agree with the Ebay bit, but not the other.
In my experience, if the buyer has to even go down the Tribunal road they have lost, even if they win. No-one ever recompenses them for the time and the trouble and anguish, when a seller is doing the wrong thing.
The buyer loses out on mileage and postage, and time that could have been better spent doing something else.
That's not to say the buyer is always in the right, of course not, but the odds are stacked against them right from the start. Like I said in the first post, there is not a level playing field when it comes to trust.
And as far as expectations go, in response to what others have said, the seller has the biggest expectation of all, and really do call all the shots when you truly stop and think about it, except a guarantee of purchase. They provide a product, but nothing guarantees that anyone will like it enough to buy, so really when someone does buy, it is a blessing, favor even. Sure you can do studies and determine there is a market for something, but at best that's just educated guesswork.
Most people who create something, get a reward just for creating it. Sure they might be focused on financial reward, but any creative person worth a pinch enjoys being creative. And of course many create things and never sell them, and others love what they have created, but no-one else appreciates it.
Buyers on the other hand, often go disappointed. They buy things that don't live up to expectations, but have no recourse over it. So not only have they not really enjoyed something, but they have paid for the displeasure of it.
Most things are sold with some kind of marketing, and the marketing often builds things up to be far better than they actually are, so in a very real way, lies. Some of course will call it poetic license.
So yes, the buyer can benefit and often does, and so yes if they really enjoyed it, they have been done a favor, especially if they didn't pay too much, but they take the greatest risk by far and are the ones forced to extend trust.
None of what I've said negates there is another side to it, just that things are not equal when all is said and done, and the buyer is generally the one worse off, when things don't work out like they should have.