CHOICE: Your rights on overseas sites

Related Stores

CHOICE

• 

  shrekbeer on 21/02/2013 - 00:08

  Probably the most important part:

  However, as CHOICE noted in our submission to the IT Price Inquiry, this is not strictly correct. “Australia’s consumer protection laws provide recourse for online shoppers irrespective of whether the seller is based in Australia or overseas,” we argued. “The enforcement of these laws may be more difficult to pursue when the seller is located overseas.” Furthermore, the ACL can be pursued against parallel importers in Australia such as kogan.com.au and dstore.com, regardless of where the products are sourced from.

  I would like to see more clarification regarding Kogan's dodgy practice of putting in the tiny grey fine print "This Product is offered and supplied by Kogan HK Limited pursuant to the Terms and Conditions."

  Also of note:

  If things go wrong, contact the ACCC or the consumer protection agency of the country you purchased your goods from
  You can also file your complaint with econsumer.gov, the global site that allows consumers to file cross-border complaints with the aim of resolving the complaints without formal legal action

• 

  Helmuth on 21/02/2013 - 14:43

  Australia can write any laws they like. Good luck trying to enforce them against OS entities. Even if you can do it, the cost will be so high that you'd only bother with it for really expensive items. Remember, these are civil claims not criminal ones, so the Govt. won't help you. Ball is in your court.

  The discussion about kogan etc. is much more interesting though.

  • 

    kwaker on 04/03/2013 - 11:18

    if the os entities dont abide by them the government can ban enforce actions against them including a ban on importing into Australia and bans on registering business in Australia. They can chase up GST and can choose futher action if they want but in most cases is just not worth it.