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In 2008, consumer damages related to e-commerce totaled 3,080 cases, a 16.7% increase compared to 2,639 cases for 2007. In particular, all 97 claims were made for laptop computers, which was a 83% growth from 53 cases for 2007.
By a purchasing category, the ‘Garments and personal items’ category (1,018 cases) topped the list followed by IT services (625 cases) and IT equipments (304 cases). Meanwhile, by a purchasing item, ‘Internet game services’ was the most claimed with 346 cases.
By business, Internet Auction Co., Korea's largest online auction site, received the most consumer redress cases of 214 cases. Among Internet game companies, NCsoft, which is a representative game company in Korea, had the most claims of 180 cases.
The Korea Consumer Agency (President Myung-hee Park, www.kca.go.kr) stated that these were the results of its analysis on 3,080 consumer damage redress cases related to e-commerce that had been received in 2008.
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■ Consumer claims related to e-commerce rose
In 2008, the KCA received 3,080 consumer redress cases related to e-commerce, +16.7% from 2,639 cases for 2007. On the back of the increase, e-commerce category took up larger portion of total damage redress cases by reaching to 15.9% in 2008 from 11.9% for 2007.
(Unit: cases)
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2006
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2007
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2008
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Change
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No. of damage redress received
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23,482
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22,184
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19,327
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Claims related to E-commerce (%)
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2,231
(9.5%)
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2,639
(11.9%)
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3,080
(15.9%)
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+ 16.7% y-y
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※ Meanwhile, consumer counseling related to e-commerce grew by 30.9% y-y to 31.914 cases in 2008 from 24,388 cases in 2007.
■ Damage claims for garments and personal items topped the list with 33.1%
【 Consumer damage redress item (by large category) 】
(Cases, %, %pt)
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Item
(Large category)
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2007
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2008
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Change
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No. of cases (%)
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Ranking
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No. of cases (%)
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Ranking
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Change rate
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Garments, textile goods, & personal items
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997(37.8)
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1
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1,018(33.1)
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1
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2.1
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IT Services
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346(13.1)
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2
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625(20.3)
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2
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80.6
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IT Equipments
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248(9.4)
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3
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304(9.9)
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3
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22.6
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Cultural goods
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193(7.3)
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4
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212(6.9)
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4
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9.8
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Cars & Vehicles
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160(6.1)
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5
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130(4.2)
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5
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△18.8
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Sports, leisure & hobby goods
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70(2.7)
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8
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113(3.7)
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6
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61.4
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Cultural & amusement services
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73(2.8)
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7
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104(3.4)
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7
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42.5
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Transportation, storage & management services
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37(1.4)
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11
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88(2.9)
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8
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140.5
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Furniture
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62(2.3)
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9
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73(2.4)
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9
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17.7
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Household goods
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59(2.2)
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10
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72(2.3)
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10
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22.0
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Others
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394(14.9)
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-
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340(11.0)
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-
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-
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Total
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2,639
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-
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3,080
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-
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441(16.7)
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【Note】
l ‘Garments, textile goods, & personal items’ Category includes all garments, shoes, and accessories.
l ‘IT Services’ Category includes all the telephone, postal, mobile telecommunications, information usage, broadcasting, and advertisement services.
l ‘Cultural goods’ Category includes camera, photo goods, watches, optical products, musical instruments, office supplies, sound & video devices, and other cultural goods.
l ‘Household goods’ Category includes all sewing, laundry & cleaning products, detergent/ deodorizing agent, air-conditioning & heating equipments, lighting equipments, household tools, household equipments, and other household goods.
l ‘Cultural & amusement services’ Category includes travel, accommodations, performance ·movie watching, membership, and photo shooting, developing & printing.
■ By item, ‘Internet game services’ topped the list of consumer redress claims
【Top Ten List of Damage Redress Claims】
(Cases, %, %pt)
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Item
(Small category)
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2007
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2008
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Change (change rate)
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No. of cases (%)
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Ranking
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No. of cases (%)
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Ranking
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Internet game services
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129 (4.9)
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2
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346 (11.2)
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1
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217 (168.2)
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Outer garments (jumper, jacket, safari jacket)
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98 (3.7)
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5
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111 (3.6)
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2
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13 (13.3)
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Other information utilization services
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8 (0.3)
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67
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109 (3.5)
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3
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101 (1,262.5)
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Internet information utilization services
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148 (5.6)
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1
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104 (3.4)
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4
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-44 (-29.7)
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Laptop computers
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53 (2.0)
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9
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97(3.1)
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5
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44 (83.0)
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Shirts
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118 (4.5)
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4
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95(3.1)
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6
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-23 (-19.5)
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Car navigator
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120 (4.5)
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3
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93(3.0)
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7
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-27 (-22.5)
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Ladies shoes
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65 (2.5)
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7
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79(2.6)
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8
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14 (21.5)
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Casual pants
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86 (3.3)
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6
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69(2.2)
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9
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-17 (-19.8)
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Ladies lingerie
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46 (1.7)
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15
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67(2.2)
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10
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21 (45.7)
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* ‘Other information utilization services’ Category includes settlement agency services for small sum and private information services.
■ Overall, the most damage redress claims (214 cases) were made against Internet Auction Co. followed by NC Soft (180), Gmarket (128), Interpark Corp. (54), and Shinsegae I&C (shopping mall, 33 cases).
* The 214 damage redress claims against Internet Auction Co. include 98 damage claim cases against private information leakage by Korea's largest online auction site.
■ NC Soft with 180 claims topped the list of consumer damage claims related to the Internet game services followed by Nexon (28 cases), Neople (28), NHN (17), and Estsoft (11).
■ Among open market business, Internet Auction Co. had the most damage redress claims of 214 cases followed by Gmarket (128), Interpark (54), and 11st Street (8). Meanwhile, claims (33 cases) against Shinsegae I&C (mall) were the most received among Internet shopping malls followed by Danilove (14), GS Home Shopping (14), Hyundai Home Shopping (14), and dnshop (14).
■ Damages due to delivery failure of ordered goods saw a decline since the Escrow System had been introduced in 2006
* Escrow System
Under the Escrow system, a consumer first deposits payment to the third party (payment deposit service provider) with public trust including financial institutions after concluding a purchase contract. The payment will be paid to a seller after a consumer receives the goods. The Escrow System is mandatory in Korea at time of e-commerce transaction of goods worth more than W100,000.
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Supplementary coverage
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Baek, Byung-sung, Head of Consumer Transaction Research Team of Consumer Policy Research Bureau (☎ 82-2-3460-3301)
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Lee, Jae-wook, Researcher of Consumer Transaction Research Team of Consumer Policy Research Bureau (☎ 82-2-3460-3308)
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