Shopping on-line in Europe: 1 in 3 goods never arrives

In 2002, 13 ECCs participated in a shopping survey which involved 114 orders from on-line traders in the EU. The following products were ordered: t-shirt, ink cartridges, paper, CD, DVD, toy, dictionary and watch. Only 75 of these orders resulted in a delivery. That means that 34% of the goods were not delivered.

In addition to the shopping exercise, 262 EU web sites were examined for the purpose of evaluating the quality of information provided. Among the provisions of the Distance Selling Directive, a consumer must be given at least seven days during which he or she can cancel the contract and return the goods.

But 32% of the web sites studied gave no information regarding a consumer's right to withdraw from the contract, despite the Directive's insistence that this right is brought to the consumer's attention.

If the consumer decides to withdraw from an on-line contract the consumer is entitled to a refund. To test if the web traders adhered to this provision the ECC network returned 57 of the 75 goods received. In 18 (31.5%) of those cases the network did not receive any refund.

Fifteen Irish web traders were examined for the quality of information provided. Only two of the web sites complied with the cancellation period of seven days.

Tina Leonard, Manager of ECC Dublin, said:

“The results show that consumers experience numerous problems shopping on-line in the EU. But there is protection for consumers and greater awareness of these rights will inspire confidence in on-line shopping.”