A cobrança da taxa de conveniência no comércio eletrônico: uma análise acerca da sua licitude, abusividades e do entendimento jurisprudencial do Superior Tribuna de Justiça (STJ)

Abstract

The present research aims to analyze the Convenience Fee charge when issuing tíquetes for shows and events. This study will focus on the aforementioned charging through commercial transactions between consumers and suppliers in electronic commerce. It will be discussed the legalities and abusiveness of charging the convenience fee, as well as if it effectively materializes in a convenience to the consumer. The choice of this topic is justified because electronic commerce is already a growing reality in social relationships, thus requiring specific regulations for its exercise, under penalty of violating consumerist rights recognized for more than three decades. Besides that, the fact that the consumer class materializes into a daily active social group that involves practically the whole world's population. Thus, it will be studied how electronic commerce consumers feel themselves even more vulnerable and hypo-sufficient in face of contractual and obligatory impositions from suppliers, further weakening this relationship already imbalanced. The aim of this research is to analyze how to harmonize constitutional principles of economic and financial order, once there is a provision for free competition and for consumer protection. Thus, the emergence, development, evolution, and possible abuses imposed by the convenience fee charging in electronic commerce consumer relationship will be discussed and the responsibility limit of products and services suppliers that participate in this relationship will be covered, from the pre-contractual phase, through the contract phase and still seeking to protect consumerist rights in the post-contractual phase. Through a systematic literature review, the aim was identify the main problems and violations of consumer rights, due to the convenience fee charging, while also analyzing legislative developments, gaps, jurisprudential developments on the subject, focusing on the assessment of the Superior Court of Justice's jurisprudence on the subject.