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Beyond Door-to-Door: The Implications of Invited In-Home Selling

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  • PAUL HARRISON
  • MARTA MASSI
  • KATHRYN CHALMERS

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="joca12027-abs-0001"> Over the past 20 years, consumer groups and policymakers have expressed concerns about the high-pressure selling techniques used during in-home selling, often highlighting the distinction between typical door-to-door selling, and the type of selling that occurs when a salesperson is “invited” through a previous interaction to undertake a sales process in the consumer's home. This article explores these high-pressure selling techniques in the context of the invited in-home selling (IIHS) of educational software and the consequences in terms of consumer vulnerability and consumer protection policy. We conclude by drawing upon earlier discourse in this field to argue that policy-makers, consumer advocates and businesses consider a holistic, multi-dimensional contextualization of consumer vulnerability as a means to consider consumer protection in this, and other contexts .

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Harrison & Marta Massi & Kathryn Chalmers, 2014. "Beyond Door-to-Door: The Implications of Invited In-Home Selling," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 195-221, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:48:y:2014:i:1:p:195-221
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/joca.12027
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    1. Julia Rötzmeier-Keuper, 2020. "Consumer Vulnerability: Overview And Synthesis Of The Current State Of Knowledge And Future Service-Related Research Directions," Working Papers Dissertations 65, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Jeannie Paterson & Gerard Brody, 2015. "“Safety Net” Consumer Protection: Using Prohibitions on Unfair and Unconscionable Conduct to Respond to Predatory Business Models," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 331-355, September.

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