NEGATIVE OPTION SELLING PLANS - CURRENT FORMS VERSUS EXISTING REGULATIONS

The recent emergence of newforms of negative option selling has increa sed the popularity of this unique marketing and selling method with se llers, hut critics claim some of these new negative option techniques circumvent consumer choice, exploit consumer trust, and are incapable of creating legally valid exchange contracts. The authors describe the different forms of negative option selling and how some of the newer forms differ from traditional club-type plans. They also assess the ad equacy of the existing negative option laws for addressing the abusive practices that are being attributed to these new negative option sell ing methods and conclude with recommendations for negative option regu latory reform, which attempt to balance consumer protection and econom ic efficiency.