Open Market Overseas Purchase Proxy Cancellation Not Allowed 'Frustration'... Excessive Refund Charges Also Reported

Consumer Agency's Survey Results on 5 Open Markets

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] It has been found that consumers are unable to properly exercise their right to withdraw from a contract when using overseas purchasing agency services on open markets. The right to withdraw from a contract, which allows consumers to cancel a purchase within a certain period without penalty or compensation for reasons such as a simple change of mind, is legally guaranteed to consumers, but product sellers impose various conditions to restrict this right.

On the 30th, the Korea Consumer Agency announced the results of an investigation into the transaction conditions of 200 overseas purchasing agency products (40 per market) sold on five open markets?Naver, 11st, Auction, Gmarket, and Coupang?during May and June.

According to the Electronic Commerce Act, consumers can withdraw from a contract before receiving the product. However, 74.0% of the products surveyed restricted this right by imposing conditions such as "order cancellation not allowed after product shipment." Even if consumers have received the product, they can legally withdraw from the contract within 7 days of receipt due to a simple change of mind, but 18% of the surveyed products set a withdrawal period shorter than this.

Most products also excessively charged consumers for refund costs. When using overseas purchasing agency services, international shipping fees are incurred during the overseas local delivery stage, so the cancellation cost is lower during the domestic delivery stage. However, 95% of the surveyed products did not differentiate refund costs based on the timing of purchase cancellation, which was disadvantageous to consumers. A significant number of consumers of overseas purchasing agency products had experienced unilateral order cancellations by sellers.

According to a survey of 700 adults who had purchased overseas purchasing agency products on open markets and had canceled or considered canceling their orders, 271 (38.7%) responded that they had experienced such cancellations. Among them, 72 did not receive any explanation for the reason for the order cancellation.

The Korea Consumer Agency advised open market operators to notify that the Electronic Commerce Act takes precedence over sellers’ transaction conditions and recommended strengthening monitoring to prevent sellers from restricting consumers’ right to withdraw from contracts.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.