Those businesses experience the cost burden of that compliance. They ask that a consumer be able to reward good actors in the marketplace for voluntary compliance with codes of conduct and responsive consumer services. Good actors do not seek completely to avoid all regulation. Instead, they join consumers in seeking a system in which bad actors, those which engage in fraud, or intentional deception or cause repeated harm, will feel the full force of the law. The importance of consumers' own actions.
Consumer protection is very much a combination of legal protection and informal self protection.
They avoid merchants which have developed a bad reputation. They contact the merchant directly to resolve matters if they receive defective merchandise or are billed incorrectly. The legal system is not usually seen as a cost effective means of redress. If consumers have a choice of vendors, the wise vendor will honor these informal means of self protection or face loss of customers to those businesses which do. The Internet offers consumers the means to engage in similar self protective measures online.