This article examines the legal protection of consumers from vendor bidding on New Zealand online auctions sites. The current lack of legal control over online vendor bidding is contrasted with the more restrictive legal position taken in respect of vendor bidding in traditional auctions. The...

The Report of the Working Party on Charities and Sporting Bodies recommended the establishment of a Commission for Charities in New Zealand, but at the same time concluded that no change should be made to the legal meaning of "charitable". This article is an assessment of these recommendations

Section 9 of Fair Trading Act 1986 (“FTA”) imposes strict liability on persons who “in trade” engage in misleading conduct. In the majority of cases the “person” who will be sued under this legislation is a trading corporation. But what happens when the corporation is insolvent or...

In this article the author outlines some difficulties facing the cyber-shopper. These include the practical difficulties of enforcement and redress which arise when a cyber-shopper purchases a defective product from an overseas supplier, or when misleading information is placed on the internet...

This article examines the benefits of the class action for New Zealand consumers. It analyses the current operation of the New Zealand class action and recommends significant reform to expand the use of the class action and to give clear specific guidelines on its operation. The author defines a...

Consumer protection statutes in both Australia and New Zealand impose obligations on people who are in trade. Courts have consistently interpreted the ‘in trade' limitation as excluding private transactions. In New Zealand, a statutory provision operative since 2014 requires all sellers ‘in...

The latest findings in the field of behavioural economics suggest that consumers often make seemingly irrational choices that decrease their welfare. A crucial question for policy-makers is whether paternalistic laws designed to protect consumers from making these ‘poor' choices are ever...

Recent statements by the Minister of Consumer Affairs indicate that developing consumer law so that it is technologically neutral is a priority. This article analyses how the current law responds to the technological innovation of the online auction. The article concludes that consumers using...