Within economics, a market in which runs under laissez-faire policies is really a free market. It is “free” inside the sense that the government makes no make an effort to intervene through taxation’s, subsidies, minimum wages, price ceilings, etc. Market prices may be distorted by any seller or sellers with monopoly power, or a customer with monopsony power. Such price distortions can have an adverse effect on market participant’s welfare and reduce the efficiency of market outcomes. Also, the relative amount of organization and negotiating power of customers and sellers markedly affects the functioning of the market. Markets where price negotiations meet balance though still usually do not arrive at desired outcomes for each sides are believed to experience market disappointment.
Markets are a system, and systems have structure. System works fine when the structure of a system is in good shape. Structure of any (utopistically) well-functioning markets is defined theoretically of perfect competition. Well-functioning markets of the real world will never be perfect, but basic structural characteristics may be approximated for real life markets, for example
many small customers and sellers
buyers and sellers have equal use of information
products are equivalent
Buying and promoting in well-structured markets creates a price that satisfies each buyers and sellers, not buying as well as selling alone as the free market advocates tells us. For example, trade unions are sometimes accused of spoiling industry mechanims of any labour markets, in reality it is the opposite: blue collar industry unions make the buyer and seller more equally powerful once they negotiate the price for a working hour. When the customer and seller are usually equally powerful, then the price for a commodity is acceptable to both celebrations.