Third of online buys fail to arrive

One in three goods ordered from EU websites never arrives, according to a new consumer report, writes Laura Slattery.

The European Consumer Centre (ECC) network's report on the online marketplace, which will be launched by the Dublin ECC today, warns that shopping on the internet is hampered by problems such as failure to deliver, lack of information on consumer rights and failure to reimburse consumers for returned goods.

In 2002, about 13 European Consumer Centres participated in the shopping survey, ordering goods such as CDs, DVDs, t-shirts, ink cartridges, paper, toys, dictionaries and watches from 114 online traders in the EU.

However, only 75 of these orders resulted in a delivery, meaning that 34 per cent of the goods were not delivered.

In addition, the ECC examined 262 European websites to test the quality of information provided. Almost a third gave no information regarding consumers' right to withdraw from the contract.

Under the Distance Selling Directive, consumers have the right to a seven days' cooling-off period after receipt of goods or services before they make a final decision. Only two of the 15 Irish websites examined informed consumers of this right.

If consumers decide to withdraw from an online contract, they are entitled to a refund. To test if the online traders adhered to the legislation, the ECC network returned 57 of the 75 goods received. In 18 of those cases, the network did not receive a refund.