Consumer Agency Issues Warning on Damages from Luxury Proxy Shopping Mall 'Sacrastrada'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] # Mr. A ordered a bag by paying 2,778,640 KRW in installments with a credit card at the overseas luxury goods purchasing agency shopping mall ‘Sakrastrada’ in August 2022. Consumer A requested to cancel the order just 10 minutes after placing it, but the seller continuously delayed the card payment cancellation, resulting in a situation where the money was not refunded.

The Korea Consumer Agency and Seoul City announced on the 7th that they have issued a consumer damage advisory due to a rapid increase in consumer complaints related to the overseas purchasing agency shopping mall Sakrastrada, which sells luxury brand bags, wallets, and clothing at discounted prices.

The company operates an online shopping mall dealing in luxury bags and clothing, attracting consumers with advertisements such as selling Louis Vuitton bags at a 29.2% discount, then causing damages such as delivery delays. Recently, the shopping mall changed its name to ‘Karap,’ raising concerns that similar damages will continue to occur.

The website of Sakrastrada, which has recently changed its name to Karapro.

The main types of damage are delivery delays and refund delays, and it has been confirmed that the escrow service (purchase safety service) available for card payments and bank transfers is currently suspended by the payment agency. Only bank transfers without passbook deposits are possible, and the deposit account number and account holder have also been changed, which may increase the damage, so consumers need to be cautious.

In the past four months, a total of 218 consultations related to Sakrastrada have been received by the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center and the Seoul Electronic Commerce Center, with 214 consultations received in August alone. During the same period, 11 damage relief applications were submitted to the Korea Consumer Agency, and some purchase amounts per case were in the millions of KRW, with poor communication with the company, raising concerns that the scale of damage may worsen.

Accordingly, the Korea Consumer Agency advised caution when using shopping malls that advertise selling luxury goods at prices significantly lower than the market price, recommended using credit cards rather than cash transactions when dealing with high-priced products, and especially advised against transactions if only cash payment is possible.

Furthermore, consumers who have suffered damages due to delivery and refund delays by the company can contact the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center to receive guidance on how to respond, and if payment was made by credit card, it is advisable to immediately seek assistance from the credit card company.

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