The way we shop has changed dramatically over the last few years. While there are advantages to online shops, such as cheaper items, lots of choice, convenience and comparison sites, there are also a few major flaws. As well as the proliferation of fraudsters, there’s also the quality of goods and services offered by the retailers – and your rights if you want to cancel or return items you’ve bought. This becomes a major problem if the retailer is based abroad.
It’s important to be aware of the risks when buying from abroad.
Fake UK Firms
These days you can buy everything from wedding dresses to vacuum cleaners online. However, just because a website has the word ‘UK’ in the brand name and in the URL address, it doesn’t mean they are necessarily UK-based, which means returning unwanted goods can be very expensive.
The simplest way to determine whether a company is UK-based is to check both the ‘contact us’ page and the ‘returns and refunds’ guide, which should give you a clue as to whether the retailer actually has a UK address. If you’re invited to email to arrange a refund, that’s a big clue that the business might be based abroad. Other things to watch out for are shops advertising on social media that price up goods in your online basket in different currencies, whopping delivery costs at checkout and suspiciously long delivery timescales.
Businesses Based Abroad
Some of the biggest retailers in the world, like Shein, are based in China. Others, like Temu, are a little opaque about where goods are shipping from. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but it’s vital to do your research before placing an order.
Sometimes, cancelling an order made to an overseas business is complicated because you can’t do this using their ‘live chat’ until the item has been dispatched – which would then leave you with return delivery charges.
This matters because when you buy most goods or services online, you usually have a 14-day ‘right to cancel’ period if you change your mind under the Consumer Contract Regulations.
Some businesses deliberately make it hard to contact them to invoke these rights so it’s harder to cancel or return things. If in doubt, use social media to say you’re returning goods to stop the clock ticking.
Online marketplaces
Online marketplaces aren’t strictly retailers. They are more of a conduit between buyer and seller. This shouldn’t be an issue; after all, some of the world’s biggest brands have similar business models.
However, it does become a problem if you want to make a complaint. That’s because laws like the Consumer Rights Act – which give us our shopping and refund rights – mainly apply to UK-based businesses that you buy direct from. Using a third-party marketplace leaves you at the mercy of the businesses own buyer dispute policies and the only right of appeal if that doesn’t work is the courts.
Although our UK laws apply to businesses trading in the UK, when it comes to disputes these can be much harder to sort out when the policies of a third party become involved.
Returns
Which brings us to returns. Consumers often receive shocking service from firms who make it difficult to return goods to get refunds. Some simply don’t provide details on where to return items in an attempt to ‘time out’ your 14-day return rights. Others stick addresses on parcels that aren’t the official return address on the website.
You’ll need to follow the website instructions to return an item. Photo the parcel with the correct address on it, screenshot the online instructions and save emails and records.
Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner TV and radio presenter and journalist