More than a third of online retailers could face OFT investigation Friday, 12th October 2012

Looking to crack down on unfair trading practices in the run up to Christmas, the Office of Fair Trading on Friday announced over a third of the UK’s top online retailers could be breaking consumer laws.

Of the 156 checks the OFT carried out on the UK’s most popular online retailers, 62 may not be fully compliant with distance-selling regulations and other consumer protection guidelines.

The economic regulator expressed particular concern for the 33 per cent of sites analysed that appeared to impose “unreasonable restrictions” on customers’ rights to a refund, often requiring products be in their original packaging, potentially infringing on consumers’ rights to assess their purchases.

The OFT has now contacted all 62 of the retailers in question, urging them to comply with the regulations before retailer’s peak Christmas period begins next month.

As the OFT’s “sweep” was not a formal investigation, they are not in a legal position to name the companies over which they have concerns.

Posted by Ava Szajna

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Posted in E-Commerce, Online retail, Retail Industry Tagged online, shopping, e-commerce, oft, office, fair, trading, christmas, retail