January 11, 2012   11 notes

Squashed: craigslist, Comcast, and Capitalism

zombiecuddle:

squashed:

I’m moving—which means I’m doing a bit more buying and selling than usual. Some of this involves selling large objects on craigslist. Like most craigslist transactions, it’s pretty straightforward. Something is listed at a price. Maybe some negotiation occurs. Sale commences or doesn’t. Everybody…

I generally agree with your post and fully agree with your sentiment, but just to provide some pushback that isn’t based along “well if you don’t have both a high level of education and hours of time to spend researching every transaction you deserve to be crushed by your betters” lines, here’s a little devil’s advocacy:

Comcast is providing you with a service. This includes provisions in case things go wrong. It also includes detailed descriptions of what they will and will not provide for you. There are intricacies to this, and they have to be laid out in advance so that you can know what to expect. When I buy a set of headphones, I get a box with a set of headphones … and a pamphlet containing a couple of thousand words explaining to me how to get service and replacements if my set is defective, and also the circumstances in which the producer will not help me (for example, if I wear them in the shower).

Boilerplate isn’t a great way to do it. And confusing pricing structures are probably a different animal entirely meant to prey upon vulnerable consumers. But I think some significant portion of the complexity of most market transactions is unavoidable if we are to live in an interconnected society, where I have the ability to sue the people that make my headphones if they shock me (but not if I run the headphones over in my car first) and in which I can reasonably expect some kind of warranty, service, or responsiveness for most of the items I buy.

I’ve moved some items on eBay recently, which is a similar market to Craig’sList, and the vast majority of these transactions (especially on Craig’sList) contain “no returns” or “no service” declarations. You can have a simple negotiate-give me cash-here’s your item exchange with a buyer over Craig’sList because that’s all you’re doing. Your buyer doesn’t need to know how to set up an account on your website to manage his subscription plan or how to reach you if something doesn’t work or what your privacy protections for his credit card information are or or or.

Of course, I’m being a bit cheeky here, because I think most of these safeguards/promises made to consumers in boilerplate are fairly standard, and it wouldn’t be unimaginable for a public agency (the CFPB, for example) to standardize them, thus making such boilerplate unnecessary and taking away a not-infrequently-used opportunity for sellers to hide nasty surprises from unsuspecting consumers.

Boilerplate is something I have feelings about—though I’m disinclined to commit them all to writing because it’s the sort of thing I’d rather write in a more professional capacity. The short version is that yes, you’re right, market realities are complex. The long version is that considering they used to involve a lot more ships and perilous communications and things, they’re not all that complex. We have a good set of default options. However, technological change has made a different set necessary. Things like the GNU Public License take a step in that direction. Most boilerplate is unnecessary and the rest really should be eliminated so that people can have a set of readily understood options.

  1. mattmeetstheinternet reblogged this from squashed
  2. squashedcomments reblogged this from zombiecuddle and added:
    Boilerplate is something I have feelings about—though I’m disinclined to commit them all to writing because it’s the...
  3. zombiecuddle reblogged this from squashed and added:
    I generally agree with your post...fully agree with your sentiment, but just
  4. squashed posted this