About online shopping laws
Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published a survey which revealed 28% UK-based online traders who were unaware of less informed about laws related to internet shopping. About 56% surveyed internet shoppers were ignorant about the distance selling regulations which gave them the right to cancel. On the other hand 29% did not know from where to get advice regarding their rights.
UK internet shopping market was worth £21.4bn per annum and had 20 million customers, although many did not know about their cancellation right under distance selling regulations. Under this regulation the customer could cancel the deal at any time by informing the seller in writing, but within the cancellation period. Confirmation about the cancellation period and other related details are provided in writing before the delivery or at the time of delivery and the cancellation period is normally seven days.
If in case the confirmation and other details are provided in three months of delivery then the cancellation period ends seven days after receiving written confirmation/additional information. If the confirmation of the cancellation and related details are not provided within three months then the cancellation period will be taken as three months plus seven days after the delivery date. However the sellers can expand the cancellation periods accordingly, but they should be careful as not to offend the costumer’s rights.
OFT has already announced a strategy which increased the awareness of shopper’s rights and other related topics like security issues, possible risks and effective search.
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