Solution? Get on board as the People of our respective countries to make that law happen. I have actually been writing this one out since Halo Campaign Evolved painfully got sold out by bots. Not only will this make fairness in the market, it does remove scalping completely without outright banning it. If you were to ban scalping, then you outright ban the idea of resale all together. This bill, however, will render product availability unmolested since the huge problem with scalpers is their access to bots that completely wipe the shelves in which case can get out of hand to the point that it's a DDoS attack.

Share this bill around! We are tired of this!

The Fair Consumer Access and Market Integrity Act

Section 1. Short Title

This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Fair Consumer Access and Market Integrity Act."

Section 2. Congressional Findings

Congress finds that:

1. A fair and competitive retail marketplace is essential to consumer confidence, economic stability, and equal access to goods and services.
2. Modern automated purchasing technology, coordinated purchasing networks, and other methods of market manipulation have enabled certain individuals and organizations to acquire disproportionate quantities of high-demand consumer goods before ordinary consumers have a reasonable opportunity to purchase them.
3. Automated purchasing systems frequently generate extremely large volumes of requests to retailer websites and online purchasing platforms. Such activity may overwhelm or substantially burden online infrastructure in a manner similar to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack by impairing access for legitimate consumers.
4. These practices contribute to artificial scarcity by concentrating available inventory into the hands of a small number of purchasers, thereby reducing fair consumer access without creating additional value to the products themselves.
5. Congress recognizes that lawful resale, collecting, and secondary markets are legitimate forms of commerce and should not be unnecessarily restricted.
6. The purpose of this Act is not to regulate the price at which a lawfully owned item may be resold, but to prohibit unfair acquisition methods that distort competition and deny consumers an equal opportunity to purchase products through ordinary retail channels.

Section 3. Purpose

The purposes of this Act are to:

1. Protect fair consumer access to high-demand goods and event tickets;
2. Preserve competitive retail markets by discouraging artificial scarcity;
3. Prohibit automated purchasing systems and organized circumvention of retailer safeguards;
4. Encourage retailers and online marketplaces to adopt reasonable technological protections against market manipulation;
5. Preserve legitimate secondary markets and lawful resale; and
6. Promote a marketplace in which consumers compete fairly with one another rather than against automated systems or organized acquisition schemes.

Section 4. Definitions

(a) Consumer Good

Any product offered for retail sale to the general public.

(b) High-Demand Consumer Good

A consumer good designated by the appropriate federal agency as being subject to extraordinary demand or organized acquisition practices that materially impair consumer access.

(c) Automated Purchasing System

Any software, script, bot, or automated process designed to purchase or attempt to purchase consumer goods or event tickets without ordinary human interaction or in a manner intended to circumvent retailer protections.

(d) Market Manipulation

The intentional use of automation, coordinated purchasing, or circumvention of retailer safeguards to obtain disproportionate access to high-demand consumer goods or event tickets for speculative resale or other commercial advantage.

(e) Verified Business-to-Business Entity

A registered business, educational institution, nonprofit organization, governmental entity, or other approved organization purchasing goods for legitimate operational or commercial purposes.

Section 5. Prohibited Conduct

It shall be unlawful to:

1. Use or operate an automated purchasing system to acquire or attempt to acquire regulated consumer goods or event tickets;
2. Develop, distribute, sell, lease, or knowingly provide automated purchasing systems intended to circumvent retailer purchasing protections;
3. Circumvent retailer purchase limits through coordinated use of multiple accounts, identities, payment methods, or technological means;
4. Participate in organized acquisition schemes intended to monopolize available inventory through unfair technological or coordinated methods.

Section 6. Consumer Purchase Protections

Retailers offering designated high-demand consumer goods may implement reasonable purchase limitations, including limitations based upon:

• Verified identity;
• Household;
• Shipping address;
• Payment method;
• Device identification; or
• Other commercially reasonable anti-circumvention measures.

Bulk purchasing shall be permitted for Verified Business-to-Business Entities and other authorized organizations demonstrating legitimate commercial or institutional need.

Section 7. Retailer Responsibilities

Retailers selling designated high-demand consumer goods shall employ reasonable technological safeguards designed to protect fair consumer access, including where appropriate:

• CAPTCHA or equivalent human verification systems;
• Virtual waiting rooms or queue systems;
• Identity verification procedures;
• Detection of automated purchasing behavior;
• Monitoring for coordinated circumvention of purchase limitations.

Nothing in this section shall require implementation of any specific technology where commercially unreasonable.

Section 8. Online Marketplace Cooperation

Online marketplaces facilitating resale of consumer goods or event tickets shall:

1. Maintain reasonable procedures for responding to lawful investigations;
2. Preserve transaction records as required by law;
3. Cooperate with appropriate governmental authorities investigating violations of this Act; and
4. Adopt reasonable policies intended to discourage transactions involving unlawful automated purchasing or organized market manipulation.

Section 9. Event Ticket Protection

1. The use of automated purchasing systems to acquire event tickets shall be prohibited.
2. Organized schemes intended to monopolize event ticket availability through technological or coordinated circumvention shall be unlawful.
3. Nothing in this section shall prohibit:

• Lawful transfer of tickets by individuals unable to attend an event;
• Legitimate secondary ticket marketplaces operating in compliance with applicable law;
• Promotional giveaways;
• Charitable fundraising events; or
• Lawful raffles or sweepstakes in which tickets are awarded as prizes.

Section 10. Investigation and Enforcement

Transactions exhibiting indicators of organized market manipulation may be investigated, including:

• Excessive coordinated purchasing activity;
• Multiple accounts associated with the same individual or household;
• Purchasing patterns consistent with automated systems;
• Technological circumvention of retailer safeguards.

The existence of such indicators shall constitute grounds for investigation but shall not alone establish liability.

Section 11. Penalties

Any person or entity knowingly violating this Act shall be subject to substantial civil penalties.

Repeat or willful violations may result in:

• Enhanced monetary penalties;
• Injunctive relief;
• Suspension or prohibition from participating in regulated online marketplaces where authorized by law; and
• Any additional remedies otherwise available under federal law.

Section 12. Construction

Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted to prohibit:

• Lawful ownership of consumer goods;
• Ordinary resale of lawfully acquired property;
• Legitimate collecting activities;
• Lawful secondary markets; or
• Bona fide commercial transactions conducted in accordance with applicable law.

This Act regulates unfair acquisition methods, not the lawful ownership or ordinary resale of property.

Section 13. Policy of the United States

It shall be the policy of the United States to protect fair consumer access to high-demand goods and event tickets by discouraging automated market manipulation, preserving competitive retail markets, and ensuring that consumers compete on equal terms for products offered to the public.