A ripoff (or rip-off) is a grossly unfavorable
financial transaction
A financial transaction is an Contract, agreement, or communication, between a buyer and seller to exchange goods, Service (economics), services, or assets for payment. Any transaction involves a change in the status of the finances of two or mo ...
. It originated as slang that has entered into standard English usage as a business term.
Usually it refers to an incident in which a person is
overcharged for something, or receives goods or services not of the standard expected for the price. A ripoff is usually distinguished from a
scam
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their Trust (emotion), trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence ...
in that a scam involves wrongdoing such as a
fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
; a ripoff may be considered excessive, but not illegal.
See also
*
Rip-off Britain
Rip-off Britain is an expression used by some to refer to the phenomenon in which some products and services cost significantly more in the United Kingdom than in other countries, especially member states of the European Union and the United St ...
*
Spin-off
Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media
*Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine
* ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
*
Knock-off
*
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...
*
Mockbuster
A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to maxi ...
References
{{Reflist
Pricing controversies
Fraud