Caveat emptor
Latin- “Let the buyer beware”; The principal that the onerous for responsibility of the overall satisfaction of the purchaser in a sale rests upon the buyer.
How it works
It is the responsibility of the buyer to familiarize themselves well enough with the product or service to evaluate whether it meets or exceeds their own subjective requirements of such a product or service for the price offered. This operates under postulate that the transaction is voluntary, and the seller can not be expected to understand the subjective metrics by which buyers may evaluate the product or service.
Why it is a problem
In modern economies, the volume and complexity of products and services with which one purchases, or continues to use and interact with after purchase (as terms of use have become subject to change), quickly exceeds the reasonable amount of time that the purchaser can be expected to spend to evaluate the collective sum of products or services. The question becomes: at what point does "let the buyer beware" become an unreasonable expectation in a complex marketplace where comprehensive product evaluation is functionally impossible for most consumers?
Examples
Information overload - Consumers face hundreds of purchase decisions across countless products, each with their own specifications and terms[1]
Technical complexity - Many modern products (software, electronics, financial products) require specialized knowledge to fully understand
Dynamic agreements - Terms of service that change after purchase create a moving target for consumer diligence[2]
Hidden information - Critical product aspects may be obscured in technical jargon or buried in lengthy documentation
Time constraints - The cumulative time required for proper evaluation of all consumer decisions would be prohibitive
This tension between traditional "buyer beware" principles and the practical limits of consumer evaluation capacity is precisely why consumer protection laws have evolved. These regulations attempt to re-balance the information asymmetry through disclosure requirements, cooling-off periods, warranties, and prohibitions against deceptive practices.
References
- ↑ Obar, J. A., & Oeldorf-Hirsch, A. (2018). The biggest lie on the Internet: ignoring the privacy policies and terms of service policies of social networking services. Information, Communication & Society, 23(1), 128–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1486870
- ↑ Wang, P. (2019, May 29). Protect yourself from hidden fees. Consumer Reports. https://www.consumerreports.org/money/fees-billing/protect-yourself-from-hidden-fees-a1096754265/