What are Your Legal Rights as an Online Shopper

In the world of new technology, fewer and fewer people have the time and desire to shop at physical stores. On the other hand, fewer and fewer traders tend to pay high rents for premises and staff support during fixed hours. This is why the practice of online shopping is becoming increasingly popular. Namely, thanks to the new technologies, there are numerous possibilities for manipulating the appearance of goods offered in online stores. The brampton criminal lawyer will share your rights about this. 

Online shopping by law

The legal equivalent of the colloquial phrase "online shopping" is "distance contract". It is governed by the Consumer Protection Act. 

A distance contract is any contract concluded between a trader and a consumer as part of an organized system for distance sales or the provision of distance services without the simultaneous physical presence of the trader and the consumer, through the exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to the conclusion of the contract, including at the time of the conclusion of the contract.

Simply put, when we press the buy / add to cart button / other similar button on a merchant site, we enter into a distance contract with him.

The Consumer Protection Act regards the trader as the economically stronger party in an otherwise equal relationship with the consumer. In addition, given the technical and communication possibilities of misleading the consumer as to the type of goods, the law enables him to withdraw from the contract so concluded under certain conditions.

Cancellation of distance contract

So the goods we ordered arrive by courier. We open the package, but we see that it really has nothing to do with the photos. Or it turns out that its size is not appropriate. We may have ordered it for a gift and it may not have fit the person for whom it was intended. How can we return the goods we have purchased through online shopping?

The Consumer Protection Act mandates that the consumer has the right to withdraw from the distance contract. He can do this without giving a reason, without paying compensation or penalty and without paying any expenses (with some exceptions). The period for exercising the right of withdrawal is 14 days from the date on which the consumer accepts the goods.

Although the consumer is considered to be the economically weaker party, he is still in an equal civil legal relationship with the trader. The law therefore provides that he will have to pay certain categories of expenses when exercising his right to withdraw from the distance contract. First, the consumer pays for shipping costs when choosing a delivery method other than the cheapest one offered by the merchant. Secondly, the direct cost of returning the goods remains the burden of the consumer. This obligation will terminate if the trader has not informed him that the return is at his own expense.

We will only mark here the fact that the assignment of the direct cost of returning the goods to the consumer is unjustified. This is because traders are often abused. Find us on Google and BrownBook.