44% say they are not confident about their rights
More than 73% of Irish consumers surveyed by the European Consumer Centre (ECC) Ireland have bought a good or service online in the past 12 months, however just over 44% said that they did not feel confident about their consumer rights when shopping online.
ECC Ireland is now calling on consumers to know what their rights are when shopping online ahead of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping spree.
The survey, which was conducted by ECC Ireland at the National Ploughing Championships in September, also found that 41.34% of total respondents were either very likely or probably planning to make an online purchase during this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping event.
Martina Nee, Press and Communications Officer for ECC Ireland, further explained: ‘With Black Friday and Cyber Monday comes the temptation to buy first and think later but we would urge consumers to learn more about their consumer rights in case things go wrong.
The survey showed that of those who made online purchases within the last 12 months, the vast majority of these purchases were from traders based outside Ireland – 60% of these were from British traders.
There were also purchases made from traders based in Northern Ireland and other EU countries such as Germany France, and Spain, as well as outside the EU/EEA with USA and China being the main countries mentioned.
As Irish consumers gain more confidence buying online from traders based outside Ireland it is increasingly important for them to protect themselves by being more aware of their EU consumers rights, when those rights do or don’t apply, and how to do their research about websites, particularly if they are not familiar with the trader.
Some of the main consumer rights to remember when shopping online within the EU/EEA include the right to change your mind, otherwise known as the 14 day cooling-off period (there are some exceptions), the right to clear information including the trader’s full contact/address details, the express right to a refund for delayed or non-delivery, and the right to redress in the case of faulty goods.’
