- It is imperative to be cautious of consumer damage in consideration of Complaints about Order Cancellation and Delivery -

The volume of overseas direct purchases (ODP), which offer considerable advantages to domestic consumers, is increasing rapidly. Most notably, consumers can purchase goods that are hard to buy locally at good prices. However, the number of consumer complaints about ODP has seen a sharp rise of late.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency (www.kca.go.kr), the number of consuemr complaints submitted to the 1372 Consumer Counseling Network* increased by 31.3% from 1,181 cases in 2012 to 1,551 cases in 2013, while the number of complaints submitted in January 2014 alone came to an unprecedented 211 cases.

* 1372 Consumer Counseling Network (www.ccn.go.kr) : An integrated complaint handling system operated by the Korea Consumer Agency with the participation of ten consumer organizations and sixteen local governments.

An analysis of the 1,066 ODP-related complaints submitted between July 2013 and January 2014 revealed the following: “excessive delivery charge or fee associated with the return of goods” [315 cases / 29.5%] topped the list of complaints, followed by “rejection or delay in the handling of purchase cancellation and refund” [281 cases / 26.4%], “delivery-related complaints, such as delay in delivery or erroneous delivery” [ 202 cases/19.0%], and fraudulent cases, such as the disappearance of a site after receiving money [ 68 cases / 6.4%].

Clothes, footwear, bags, sundry fashion goods, etc. (72.6%) top the list of ODP items purchased by Koreans. It appears that Koreans rarely purchase high-priced goods, such as large household appliances, through ODP, apparently due to the high import duty and the difficulty of obtaining an after-sales service.

※ Under the current customs duty regulations, items priced up to 150,000 KRW or $200 are not subject to import duty.

The Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) advised that consumers should familiarize themselves with the merits and demerits of each type of ODP (direct shipment, using shipping agent service or purchasing agent service) to prevent any losses or damages.

The KCA plans to monitor the ODP markets extensively, set up guidelines, and find ways of compensating damages incurred by local customers associated with cyber-based sellers in major countries like the United States and China.