Should people who purchase nonfungible tokens (NFT) be entitled to refunds if they decide they don’t like their digital pictures? Some Europeans are beginning to make that case under a 25-year-old law.
Unhappy buyers have claimed that their right to a refund is protected by a 1997 European Union law that requires any person or business engaged in “distance selling” — that is, buying and selling a product that is not done in person — to allow customers a 14-day grace period to return the product for a refund. But since digital goods are different, the law makes provision for the 14-day period to be waived if customers are made aware in advance.
Christos Makridis is the chief operating officer and co-founder of Living Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA), a Web3 multimedia startup anchored in classical music, and a research affiliate at Columbia Business School and Stanford University. He also holds doctorate degrees in economics and management science and engineering from Stanford University.