My Personal Finance Blog

Introduction

Consumers play a vital role in the economic system of a nation because in the absence of effective demand that emanates from them, the economy virtually collapses. Mahatma Gandhi said, “A consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us, we are on him. He is not an interruption to our work, he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favour to a consumer by giving him an opportunity. He is doing us a favour by giving us opportunity to serve him. But, of late, unfortunately cheating by way of overcharging, black marketing, misleading advertisements, etc has become the common practice of greedy sellers and manufacturers to make unreasonable profits. In this context, it is the duty of the government to confer some rights on consumers to safeguard their interests.

CONSUMER RIGHTS

1. Right to Safety: The right to be protected against goods which are hazardous to life and property.

2. Right to Information: The right to be informed about the quality, quantity, purity, price and standards of goods.

3. Right to Choose: The right to be assured access to a variety of products at competitive prices, without any pressure to impose a sale, i.e., freedom of choice.

4. Right to be Heard: The right to be heard and assured that consumer interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums.

5. Right to Seek Redressal: The right to get relief against unfair trade practice or exploitation.

6. Right to Education: The right to be educated about rights of a consumer.

Protection of Consumer Rights

Consumer protection means safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers. It includes all the measures aimed at protecting the rights and interests of consumers.
Consumers need protection due to the following reasons:

1. Illiteracy and Ignorance: Consumers in India are mostly illiterate and ignorant. They do not understand their rights. A system is required to protect them from unscrupulous businessmen.

2. Unorganised Consumers: In India consumers are widely dispersed and are not united. They are at the mercy of businessmen. On the other hand, producers and traders are organized and powerful.

3. Spurious Goods: There is increasing supply of duplicate products. It is very difficult for an ordinary consumer to distinguish between a genuine product and its imitation. It is necessary to protect consumers from such exploitation by ensuring compliance with prescribed norms of quality and safety.

4. Deceptive Advertising: Some businessmen give misleading information about quality, safety and utility of products. Consumers are misled by false advertisement and do not know the real quality of advertised goods. A mechanism is needed to prevent misleading advertisements.

5. Malpractices of Businessmen: Fraudulent, unethical and monopolistic trade practices on the part of businessmen lead to exploitation of consumers. Consumers often get defective, inferior and substandard goods and poor service. Certain measures are required to protect the consumers against such malpractices.

6. Freedom of Enterprise: Businessmen must ensure satisfaction of consumers. In the long run, survival and growth of business is not possible without the support and goodwill of consumers. If business does not protect consumers’ interests, Government intervention and regulatory measures will grow to curb unfair trade practices.

7. Legitimacy for Existence: Business exists to satisfy the needs and desires of consumers. Goods are produced with the purpose of selling them. Goods will, in the long run, sell only when they meet the needs of consumers.

8. Trusteeship: Businessmen are trustees of the society’s wealth. Therefore, they should use this wealth for the benefit of people.

Methods of Consumer Protection

There are four main methods of protecting the interests of consumers:

1. Business Self-regulation: The business community itself can help in achieving consumer protection and satisfaction through self -discipline. Businessmen can regulate their own behaviour and actions by adopting higher ethical standards. Trade associations and chambers of commerce can check unfair trade practices used by some businessmen.

2. Consumer Self-help: Every consumer must be alert as self-help is the best help. He should educate himself and know his rights. He should not allow unscrupulous businessmen to cheat him.

3. Consumers’ Associations: Consumers should form voluntary associations. These associations can educate and awaken consumers. They can take organized action and put pressure on businessmen to adopt fair trade practices.

4. Government Regulations: The State can ensure consumer protection through legislative, executive and judicial actions. The laws enacted by the Government must be strictly enforced by the executive. Government of India has enacted several laws to protect the interests and rights of consumers. Some of these laws are as follows:

o The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 which aims to regulate and control the production, supply and distribution and prices of essential commodities.

o The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 which aims to check adulteration in food items and eatables.

o The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 which seeks to ensure purity and quality in drugs and cosmetics.

o The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1956 which aims at ensuring that consumers get the right weight and measurement in products.

o The Household Electrical Appliances (Quality Control) Order, 1976 which seeks to ensure safety and quality in the manufacture of electrical appliances.

o The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 which seeks to provide speedy and inexpensive redressal to the grievances of consumers.

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986

The Act provides following remedies to an aggrieved consumer:

o Removal of defects in goods or deficiency in service.

o Replacement of defective goods with new goods of similar description which shall be free from any defect.

o Return of price paid by the consumer.

o Payment of compensation for any loss or injury suffered by the consumer.

o Discontinue the restrictive, or unfair trade practice, and not to repeat it.

o Withdraw the hazardous goods from being offered for sale and not to offer them for sale.

o Provide for adequate cost to the aggrieved party.

The Consumer Production Act provides for a threetier system of redressal agencies: one at district level known as District Forum, second at state level known as ‘State Commission’, and third at national level known as ‘National Commission’. A complaint is to be made to the district forum of the concerned district where the value of goods and services and compensation, if any, is up to Rs 20 lakhs, to the ‘State Commission’ between Rs 20 lakhs and Rs 100 lakhs, and to the National Commission for more than Rs 100 lakhs. Interestingly, there is provision for appeals against the orders of a particular redessal forum by the aggrieved party before the next higher echelon and even from the findings of the National Commission before the Supreme Court.

Conclusion

Invariably, consumers are a vulnerable lot for exploitation, more so in a developing country with the prevalence of mass poverty and illiteracy. India too is no exception to it. Instances like overcharging, black marketing, adulteration, profiteering, lack of proper services in trains, telecommunication, water supply, airlines, etc are not uncommon here. From time to time, the government has attempted to safeguard consumer’s interests through legislations and the CPA 1986 is considered as the most progressive statute for consumer protection. Procedural simplicity and speedy and inexpensive redressal of consumer grievances as contained in the CPA are really unique and have few parallels in the world. Implementation of the Act reveals that interests of consumers are better protected than ever before. However, consumer awareness through consumer education and actions by the government, consumer activists, and associations are needed the most to make consumer protection movement a success in the country.

Are you looking for the fabulous and fashionable apparel? Having the best and the fashionable apparel can make your appearances better and of course it can also help you in getting your confidence. Well, in getting the best quality of apparel and many kinds of accessories you do not need to shop in many stores and compare the price and the quality. It will only take your time and money and of course you can get tired.

In Rhinomart.com you can find the best quality apparel. They provide and offer the wholesale apparel in various designs, brands, and colors. Furthermore, they also offer the best price for you and you will not waste your money in buying all the products. They get all the products from the bankrupt businesses and companies; hence they can give the best price. Furthermore, they also provide wholesale watches that are so fashionable and have good quality. You can easily get all the products through the online stores because they are also available in the online. By this you can easily mix and match the apparel and the accessories you want without getting tired.

Besides, they also provide and offer the wholesale handbags in great price. By this you can easily and simply start your own business and you can also get more profits.

IvyBot is the latest Forex robot to be released in the Forex market. It has been getting lots of news and press attention.This automated trading robot has been reporting continued success in both live trades and back test simulations. Installation of the automated robot is a breeze for Metatrader veterans, and pretty easy for newbies, as the steps are well documented. However, there are some things to keep in mind prior to purchasing Ivy Bot.

IvyBot only trades a few select currencies IvyBot includes four key currency pairs, all of them major currency trading options, but some major currency pairs are not covered by the IvyBot system. As of our IvyBot review, the following pairs are covered (EUR/JPY, EUR/USD, USD/CHF, and USD/JPY)

Everything in Ivy Bot is automated through your computer. Some trades may fit the bots trading algorithms, but may seem strange or inappropriate to an inexperienced trader. Just watching Ivy bot will not teach currency trading.

Each currency pair traded by Ivy bot is a separate robot. Each robot trades on separate parameters, making it more difficult for the developers to fix common problems

There are many great things about Ivy bot to consider as well.

The robot is reasonably priced, given its profit potential, and is covered in clickbank’s 60 day no questions asked money back guaranty.

The robot is updated frequently, as market conditions change. All for currency robots can be updated individually, which is more difficult for the developers but a great benefit for currency traders.

Impressive results so far! We have been able to gain positive returns. Backtest results are solid as well. We have found customer support extremely good. We are happy with the profits, and drawdowns have not proven to be a major issue

EBay is a good tool for selling and buying almost everything easily.  Everything from rare valuables and memorabilia to clothes and electronics are found for sale or auction to potential customers from worldwide.  Selling on eBay offers sellers the ability to create as much money when they are willing to make the effort for, and whether you’re looking for a part-time supplementary income or perhaps a steps for success to six-figure profits, it is possible on eBay, with a little forethought and preparation. Here are six tips to make note of whenever you turn to start selling merchandise on eBay:

Beginning

Prior to deciding to rush off to understand a product or service to concentrate on and to set up suppliers, get your feet wet on eBay by finding a few things at home that you will be contemplating about selling anyway, and list those first.   this method, you obtain experience while using eBay service, it costs you nothing to do it, and this particular is an excellent chance to create some customer opinions and work out the kinks in your system of processing payment and providing your items.

Utilize Pay Pal

PayPal may be the easiest way for accepting payment for the goods on eBay should you be building a solo business without the infrastructure to process your personal E-Check and credit card payments.

Positive Feedback

The ultimate way to entice potential customers to possess a good reputation, the concept of online sales can be quite a dangerous spot for consumers. Bend over backwards for all those five-star reviews by developing confident the payment and shipping process can be as clear as you can.

Know what Will Be Sold

When listing items to offer on eBay, you’ll receive a lot of questions asking for more details.  The more knowledge you have about your products and services (proportions, specs, add-ons, and so forth.) the more likely you will be to generate sales through these types of customer inquiries.  Customers will feel convenient giving you their funds once they trust in your displayed understanding of the product or service.

Look for Unsaturated Areas

Perform slightly required research and have a look at what is selling on eBay, what isn’t, what products have numerous sellers and what products are sparsely represented.  From there, you should determine whether you need to compete for customers by marketing widely used items, or if you need to fill a less-serviced specialized niche.

Track the Expenses

Each and every successful business knows exactly how much it spends in the course of its operations, right down to the last penny.  If you use paper and sticky notes for your business, include these costs within your calculations. Recognize how much operations set you back, figure out how much you need to sell your products or services to create a return, after which find out if the market industry will bear those costs.  If everything adds up to your benefit, congratulations, you’re soon on your way a successful online eBay business!

A Good EBay Business Will Go A Long Way If You Know How To Improve Sales And Boost Your Inventory Potential, Visit www.ExtremeEbay.com .  Expanding Your Inventory Will Increase Sales.  Learn How To Make 6 Figures On EBay, Visit www.ExtremeEbay.com

 

Johnny Q

Did you notice that S&P has threatened to downgrade our credit rating on the international scene. If that does happen and the dollar drops, there’s an inevitable conclusion. Suddenly everything we import is going to be that much more expensive. Our recovery from the recession has been slow enough. If everything imported goes up in price, families will not be able to cope. Worse, if the world thinks the US might default on its debt, the country will have to pay more interest on the money it borrows. That will force the banks to raise the interest rates for us. Mortgages and loans will go up. Of course, this is all a horror story and it will never happen because the Democrats and Republicans will agree on how to cut the deficit. . .

Meanwhile that leaves us struggling to make ends meet and trying to find every possible dollar of saving there is to be found. When it comes to insurance, there’s an interesting balancing act going on. The number of people driving uninsured has been rising steadily. In some states, it’s as high as 20% of drivers on the road. Mainly this is forced by the high rates although some ignore the law anyway. The irony of this is the more drivers without insurance, the more the rest of us have to pay. That’s either directly as premiums or indirectly because we take out additional cover against uninsured or underinsured drivers crashing into us. All this is putting the profits of the insurers under pressure. If they keep increasing the premiums, this is a vicious cycle and more people stop buying. So the insurers are now playing games with us. They increase the premiums and then offer us discounts or bonuses. The idea is to keep as many people as possible paying about the same total.

So you have to play the game and shop around to find all the discounts and then check out whether you qualify. Let’s see how it works. Any driver passing into their 50s is one of the safest on the road – statistics never lie. So insurers could lower the premiums automatically, or offer a loyalty bonus if you renew, or offer discounts. Most offer discounts to “mature” drivers. To qualify you usually have to go through a defensive driving course. The AARP’s website has a locator tool telling you where the nearest course is being run. This can give you up to 10% saving. At the other end of the scale, young and inexperienced drivers also qualify for a discount if they go on a safety course approved by their insurer. To qualify, ask your insurer which courses are accepted in your area.

So when you get the first round of car insurance quotes, check which discounts you have. Then run the search again changing, say, the amount of the deductible. Each time you run the search, change a variable so you can work out what discounts are available and how much they are worth. It costs nothing to run the search. If you have more time, telephone the insurer offering what looks the best car insurance quote and ask about what additional discounts are available. The rule is, if you never ask, you cannot receive. Find out how you qualify to save money.