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About LinkBacksI am hoping this becomes a law as something needs to be done : https://news.sky.com/story/shortage-...lised-12209606
I am hoping this becomes a law as something needs to be done : https://news.sky.com/story/shortage-...lised-12209606
Jon
ik9000 (08-02-2021)
You gov petition time?Originally Posted by Jonj1611
Should be really, its shocking the amount items are going for and not fair on the ordinary consumer
Jon
I wouldn't hold your breath, for that to become law. Not only does even the MP proposing it (in what seems to me to be primarily grandstanding) say it's "unlikely", but it seems to me to reflect a basic problem. Scalping only works because some consumers are either :-
- to stupid to realise they're being scalped, or
- are willing to pay the scalper's price to get a unit.
While there may be a few in the former group, I'm inclined to think it's largely the latter. And in that case, it either implies those paying scalping prices want it much more than everybody else, or that they simply have more money. And the unpalatable part of a universal (or at east, planet-wide) truth, ever since money was invented, some people will have more of it than others. And anyone thinking that the biggest issue of wealth disparity is inability to get an XBox (or whatever) seriously needs to wake up and smell the coffee .... which, by the way, lots of the wealth-disadvantaged can't afford. The coffee, I mean.
Sad truth - we do not live in an equal world. If we did, we'd all be driving Rolls Royces or Farrari's between our mansions and our yachts, we'd all have access to the best private health can buy (and for all that the NHS is fabulous (IMHO) at the serious stuff like cancer, heart attacks, etc) don't be naive in thinking that money doesn't buy both treatments and speed of treatment the NHS can't match, in so many areas, and afford top-class lawyers for our legal travails. And yes, the legal system most definitely favours the wealthy.
If Mr Grandstander MP seriously thinks the government need to "take responsibility" for this, then I can only conclude he's a naive idiot that doesn't understand how the world works, and has worked since about 5 minutes after we invented money. Maybe before. Roll on a Star-Trekian sci-fi future moneyless utopia.
The only thing likely to stop the scalpers is that sooner or later, they'll call it wrong and be left holding a bunch of unsellable kit and go broke. Or that consumers will wake up and refuse to pay scalping prices. Which brings us right back to wealth inequality. For some of us, paying £1000 for a graphics card or Xbox might mean no holiday this year. For others, it means buying a £49,000 watch rather than a £50,000 one i.e. effectively means nothing as that grand is petty cash. Nothing is going to stop those with lots more money having an advantage short of society abandoning money. It's not nice, but there it is. Money talks. And nearly always gets it's way.
A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".
If you people refused to pay a scalper premium, then scalping wouldn't exist, but people want to be the first to have the newest nicest shiniest and are willing to pay extra, then that's what happens...
People moaning about it tend to be those that cant get hold of, or refuse to pay extra, which is fine, but I hardly think petitions for it to be criminalised are called for..
It's not just gamers buying these thingsa lot of it is miners though who are willing to shell more than RRP and buy in bulk for the yields of bitcoin, ethereum etc. Were that not going on prices would be lower and scalping less lucrative.
@Saracen that argument could also have been used for gig tickets but they clamped down on that so there is precedent.
The gig tickets thing was where people were breaching sale conditions by reselling. There are no such conditions on hardware, in fact most people are glad that they can sell on further down the line. Buying a GPU for mining is completely legitimate too.
Back when software licenses were coming in people were up in arms that the licenses prohibited reselling.
2nd hand sales down the line should be ok provided not >RRP. To limit shops from charging more than RRP is quite reasonable IMO, and preventing bots and autobuyers full stop is overdue. It happens on anything they think they can profit from, whisky, ltd edition high-end guitars, etc. It's not right and not fair on the average consumer.
So I should be able to buy a vintage car for no more than it's original RRP?
How about no more than RRP for 3 years after EOL/withdrawn from sale? That gives enough time for the things to be unprofitable enough through obsolesence to deter fast-buck scalpers. I would point out the law being proposed is intended for computers, consoles, and associated parts and accessories, not used cars.
I thought you were pointing out gig tickets as a precedent?
I don't really see the logic behind restricting trade of computers/accessories. What if a manufacturer releases a limited edition part - say 10 pieces of cyberpunk themed GPUs - would you insist they could only be resold at RRP for three years even if they were collector's items? What if an item was EOL but then more are made again? How would you keep track of items that were EOL'd at which dates etc.?
an anti-scalping law and banning auto-bots is still worth it. If that hurts "collectors" who want to resell (not much of a collector then) then so be it, but it doesn't hurt them to prevent sale above RRP when things are on the market does it? And setting a min timeframe for which that applies is reasonable. No fast buck. You want silly money, if the item is worth it you wait. And anyway can you give an example of a component that was EOL and withdrawn then relaunched by the manufacturer? I've heard of product lines being extended, but not after they were taken off the market.
EOL then more manufactured happens every once in a while - akin to another print run for a book publication - if a manufacturer spots additional demand or has intermediate products they want to use up it can happen.
What about importers/distributors? It's unreasonable to expect the original manufacturers to sell in every location, so you need some level of buying and reselling in order to make products available to more people - those logistics all have costs, so you might have to sell above RRP in order to cover it if you're a specialist importer to some remote scottish island for eg.
That would be covered in the shipping cost. I regularly see surcharge for Scottish Islands etc. Now we've left the EU international sellers are less of an issue. If they want to gouge higher than our native sellers and without the same consumer protection to the UK buyer then let them. We'd need a way to stop UK stock going overseas though. Export duty could address that quick enough. Or may be a requirement to only ship to UK for ltd product stock a bit like ocuk are currently doing.
But it's frequently not. There are people who don't like shopping online for example, but want to go to a local store.
More protectionism? Again I thought people were recently up in arms about companies selling to one market but not another.We'd need a way to stop UK stock going overseas though.
if we have anti-scalping laws and the continent doesn't? Yes, protection from foreign hawks would be necessary n'est pas? If we're going to have these benefits of leaving the EU and making our own laws then maybe we can start seeing them in reality? We already have lost our consumer rights on foreign purchases, so it's not the level playing field it used to be, nevermind customs duties, VAT at the border, and the like people have been having issues with
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