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> * Just look at the actual checkout price like everyone else

Why should I have to go through the entire process just to see the price? Have you ever been in a store that has the tax added onto the price tag? It is very nice to not have to do mental math.

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Because it isn't very important and the more degrees of freedom the seller has the more likely they are to do something to make the whole process cheaper for customers. Although it does seem appropriate that everyone should know the price of something before they buy it, as long as it happens before the money is handed over that is fine.
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cheaper for customers??? What world do you live in where sellers care about customers?
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> the more degrees of freedom the seller has the more likely they are to do something to make the whole process cheaper for customers.

I think this is the crux of our disagreement. In my experience, the more degrees of freedom the seller has, the more chances to fuck you over they have.

I think - and this might be my European perspective and maybe why we feel differently about regulations than Americans - the main source of risk is corporations trying to take advantage of you, not the government. Curbing said risk through regulations is a core part of good governance.

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If you let yourself get taken advantage of by corporations the result is substantially higher median incomes [0]. I remain unconvinced that adopting an adversarial stance toward the people who are trying to give you real stuff is the best strategy. Cooperation and forming a consensus with them seems like a better path.

[0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/median-income-after-tax-l...

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I think this, too, is a case of cultural differences. This ranking [0] seems much more meaningful to me than the one you linked.

[0] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-countries-fo...

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What, you don't run through the checkout process on each of 100 different Airbnb listings and compile a spreadsheet of results to ascertain the true prices after fees and charges? That's gotta be the best part of vacation planning after buying plane tickets!
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I'm not an American at all.

And all of these are definitely worse than just making the vendor behave properly...

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