New Regulations have introduced greater consumer protection measures for the increasing number of people buying online and by mail order. Although the practice is still not without its problems due to the anonymity of the web and the regularity of card fraud.

The purchase of goods and services over the internet, by phone or by mail order generally is subject to the same consumer rights as if you had bought the item on the high street. However because you have not been physically face to face with the supplier, these types of purchases are also subject to the Distance Selling Regulations. If you have met the seller at any point (such as to test drive or agree the sale of a car), or if it is with a shop which doesn’t make a habit of selling in this way, you won’t be covered and should look to Sale of Goods legislation instead.

The supplier’s obligations

If you’ve ever ordered a product or commissioned a service over the internet, via email or by phone, then you are doing so under a Distance Selling contract. The supplier must provide you with ‘prior information’ in respect of identity of the supplier, description of the main characteristics of the product or service, price, delivery costs, arrangements for delivery, performance and payment, cancellation rights, cost of communication (for e.g. premium rate telephone line), period of validity of offer, information regarding substitute products. This information must be communicated clearly, but not necessarily in writing, before your order is confirmed so that you can be in possession of all the facts should you wish to change your mind. Remember also that the price you see when you ‘add to cart’ is often not the price you end up paying. Any additional costs such as VAT, shipping, handling or administrative fees, customs duties etc that you are responsible for should be clearly set out before you confirm payment.

Once you have made your order, you must then receive written confirmation of this order no later than the time of delivery of the product or performance of the service. If the supplier does not, he is not in breach, but must do so within 3 months. This is an important point, because the time you received written confirmation of your order has implications for the length of time in which you have to cancel.

Your right to cancel

One of the most important implications of the distance selling regulations is a cooling off period of 7 days during which you have the right to cancel. The supplier must provide you with details of your cancellation rights, any duty to return the goods should you cancel, and whether you will have to pay for this. You must provide notice of cancellation in writing and it must be posted to, left at, faxed or emailed to the business address of the supplier, and you must ensure this is done no later than 8 working days after receipt of goods. However, if the supplier did not supply written confirmation of your order before it was delivered, as they should have done, then your cancellation period will be extended by a further three months. The supplier must then reimburse you within 30 days without charge (unless you have been expressly informed that you will be liable for a charge) and if you have any related credit agreements, these will also be cancelled.

The work started before the 7 day cancellation period was up!

Unless you have agreed otherwise, goods must be delivered, or services performed within 30 days from the date you submitted your order. If you have commissioned a service under a distance selling contract and the work begins before the end of the 7 days cancellation period, then you must give up your right to cancel, but this must be clearly communicated and with your express agreement.

Does the right to cancel apply for all goods bought by mail order?

There are obvious exceptions and you will not have the right to cancel with the purchase of the following goods:

• Goods made to a personalised specification
• Perishable goods, such as foodstuffs and flowers
• Audio/video recordings or software where the seal has been broken
• Newspapers, magazines or other reading material (not books)
• Gaming, betting, lotteries

Returning the goods

Unless you are required to return the goods, and you were informed of this, your only obligations are to make the goods available for collection and to take reasonable care of them while they are in your possession. This is called a duty of care. Where the supplier has made provision to collect the goods, this duty of care expires after 21 days, but where you have agreed to return the goods, your duty of care continues until you do this and could be for as long as 6 months.

Card protection

For amounts of money over £100 it is always advisable to pay by credit card. This is because if you run into problems and you can’t get recompense from the supplier, the credit card company has equal liability. However for goods and services paid for specifically in a distance selling context, you are automatically protected against fraudulent use of your payment card - whether this is a credit or debit card. If you ever find an entry on your bank statement for a sum of money that you did not authorise, in relation to something you bought online, over the phone or by mail order generally, you are entitled to 100% of the fraudulent amount to be recredited to you by the card issuer.

Do take care however with advance or pre-payments as these are not protected against fraudulent use, and in any case, the supplier may become insolvent before your goods or services are delivered, leaving you with nothing, and little recourse.

Buying goods from online market places

Here we are referring to Internet auction sites such as e-bay, or other online market places, such as the ‘sell your stuff’ section of Amazon. In these instances, you are not buying from the sites themselves, but from individuals who have put their possessions or products up for sale on those sites. This has risks in itself where those products cannot be verified, but it also has important implications for your consumer rights.

Your statutory rights demand that any item you buy from a retailer or manufacturer must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and conform to the description given in any sales literature. However if you buy from an individual in the context of a private sale, the first two of these three rights do not apply, and this is a common cause of complaint. E bay offer lots of information on how to shop safely on their site including checking the seller’s feedback ratings, whether the item is covered by PayPal Buyer Protection, and what returns policy is offered. See: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/safetycentre/buying_safely.html In the event that you have received a mis-described, poor quality or faulty product, or if the item was never sent, report the matter to e-bay who will then take steps to ban that seller from any further trading.

Do remember however that not all transactions from these sites are with private sellers. Many are established businesses (e-tailers), and any dealings with them will be subject to your full statutory rights as well as a 7 day cooling off period under the Distance Selling Regs