Technology inflation and the study of robotics purchasing supervision,
The use of technology does not necessarily guarantee improvement of a particular situation;
On the contrary, shopping robots raise critical consumer protection issues:
These are issues that existed before the advent of this form of technology, but have been amplified by its use.
An old economic problem
Increasing prices through manipulation of supply and demand has created artificial shortages.
There are several elements that can support this manipulation, which are the condition of stocks, the liquidity of production, and the organization of the sale of the commodity.
These are indeed basic factors that contribute to expanding the scope of this practice or controlling it.
All of these elements converge towards a central idea – scarcity – which is the focus of determining the value of the commodity.
Digital scale
Technology has largely preceded the phenomenon of street vending.
But technology has facilitated its occurrence and increased its effects tenfold.
In this case, it takes the form of purchasing bots, in order to automate the process of purchasing and reselling goods and services online.
Physical connection
Although this phenomenon is now well established in the digital world,
However, it is still partly dependent on its physical counterpart because it requires the scarcity of the good in order to fraudulently increase its value.
Popular items to buy/resell recently are PlayStation 5 video game consoles,
It is an option that is also made easier due to its low production due to the scarcity of some of the ingredients needed to manufacture it.
However, the item need not have been recently on the market
Until you become a target for buying robots, which take advantage of market conditions
To target goods for which demand over supply or availability is most elastic.
We will remember some products that became essential overnight when the Covid epidemic began,
Such as hydroalcoholic gel or surgical masks, in addition to the resulting price war.
In the current geopolitical and climate context, other products are becoming more scarce,
The scarcity of which can be accelerated through robotic purchasing procedures, generally in the food sector: mustard, rice, pasta, etc.
Technological extension
From the above, it may seem that digital goods are exempt from this problem, or even that dematerialization
It would constitute an ideal solution to the phenomenon of scarcity of products suitable for such distribution of goods.
If the set is the total number of tokens registered on the blockchain for a specific type of NFTs
Including only a specific number of copies, it is expected that the phenomenon of street selling will also appear in this area,
As long as demand follows, this will depend on the general public’s acceptance of the concept of scarcity applied to digital products.
Legal solutions
In Quebec, the exclusive resale of show tickets has received special attention in consumer protection law.
In fact, the scalping issue is fully applicable and all its elements are present:
Representation in the physical world, limited number of places, online sales.
Article 236.2 stipulates the following:
No person may sell or use software that permits the purchase of show tickets by circumventing a security measure
Or a control system established by the producer of the offer or the seller authorized by the latter.
No one may resell or facilitate the resale of a ticket obtained using the program referred to in the first paragraph.
This ruling comes within a set of rules added to the Consumer Protection Law
After several reports and missions from the Consumer Protection Office revealed the extent of this problem.
The limits of legal solutions lie in the practical application of these provisions, especially their scope, which is limited to the resale of show tickets.
Technical and practical solutions
There are technical and organizational measures taken by the supplier, producer or seller with the aim of limiting the use of purchasing robots.
Each soon finds its limits:
Automated detection devices prevent them from purchasing, but rapid advances in these technological tools prevent this measure from being effective.
Linking the sale of the item to identifying the buyer, cumulatively up to a maximum per person (5 tickets per person for example),
This increases the work of sellers in the primary market and makes it easier to circumvent.
Mixed physical and online sale, in some cases, organizers can distribute a number of tickets online,
But they also offer tickets to the event in a traditional physical kiosk,
Bots cannot be purchased to access it. This is the case with visits to the Washington Monument.
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