Summary
European Union officials propose holding retailers such as Temu, Shein, and Amazon Marketplace accountable for dangerous and illegal products sold to consumers.
A draft proposal requires platforms to provide customs data before goods enter the EU, enabling authorities to inspect shipments and enforce safety standards.
New reforms shift import responsibilities from individual buyers to online platforms, mandating collection of duties, VAT, and compliance with comprehensive strict EU regulations.
Officials warn that these changes could improve consumer safety and reduce harmful imports, while prompting legal debates and challenges for e-commerce firms.
It’s ridiculous the current business model has been allowed to exist as long as it has, with these platforms taking all the profit while passing off all the risk and liability.
As a customer, when you buy something from Amazon then as far as you are concerned your relationship is with Amazon, not with ‘cooltechshop99’ or whatever the vendor may be.
Uber: We just facilitate rides between our “independent contractors” and customers. We’re not liable for anything that happens
Amazon: We just facilitate purchases between our “independent retailers” and customers. We’re not liable for anything that happens
AirBnB: We just facilitate rentals between our “independent landlords” and customers. We’re not liable for anything that happens
It’s nice to see the first steps in destroying this completely BS business model. Hopefully this can start a domino effect.
The whole tech ethos seems to be:
- Find something we decided 100 years ago should be illegal, despite being profitable
- Find a way to use digital technologies to repackage it “legally”
- Put the pedal to the metal: make enough money before the public asks for regulation that you can write the regulations yourself
Yeah. The whole “gig economy” model is based on companies being able to shrug off all the risk. It really needs to die.
And airbnb charging insane “service fees” in the process. There is a lawsuit in my country being formed against them for this.
Never thought about it like this. Damn this approach does not make sense at all😵
I’m surprised that it wasn’t the case already, but I’m all for it.
Finally!
I wonder how this affects marketplaces such as eBay and Facebook. Doesn’t seem like they’d be able to police every single trade on there.
Good question. It might shake out differently for eBay and Facebook because they make it clearer that you’re buying from an individual or store. I don’t think Facebook even takes a cut.
Good, now the rest of the world needs this.
Sounds reasonable and just.
