- Supporting the safe Overseas Direct Purchase (ODP) by setting up ‘User Guideline’, etc. –

The number of users of overseas direct purchases (ODP), which provide advantages of buying various products at low prices, has increased continuously. However, it appears that most users have experienced complaints and damages in the process of using this service. Thus, the Korean Consumer Agency(www.kca.go.kr) started supporting the safe overseas direct purchase through offering guidelines for users, etc.

■ Users of ODP felt 30% cheaper

The KCA analyzed the current condition of ODP, surveying on 1000 people who used ODP within recent two years.

As a result, 80.9% of the consumers are early users who experienced direct purchase from foreign businesses for one or two years. The average expenditure per purchase is about 290 dollars. In addition, 90 dollars(36.5%) topped the list of the expenditures, followed by 190 dollars(17.2%), and 290 dollars(10.4%). The average frequency of the ODP usage is about 11 per year.

It shows that the overseas price is approximately 30% lower than local price according to what consumers experienced. Especially, health supplement food is ranked first as it is 34.4% cheaper, followed by infant products(33.0%), and apparel(32.8%).

■ The most frequently purchased overseas fashion brands : PRADA, GUCCI, and CHANEL

In particular, a survey on whether to purchase overseas fashion brands shows 45% of all those questioned have experienced it. The ODP price of overseas brands included tariffs, delivery fee, etc. was average 28.5% cheaper than the local price.

The frequently purchased brands by those are PRADA(18.7%), CUCCI(15.8%), CHANEL(13.3%), and LOUIS VIUITTON(8.9%), etc. Bags(51.1%) topped the list of popular items, followed by wallet·sundry fashion(28.5%), and apparel·footwear(12.0%).

■ 4 out of 10 users of ODP experienced consumer complaints and damages

It is necessary to support the safe ODP, as 40.2% of consumers have experienced complaints and damages.

When it comes to analyzing damage experiences by types of ODP, ▲ defective delivered goods and breakage (overseas direct delivery) ▲ delay in delivery or erroneous delivery (delivery service) ▲ rejection or delay in the handling of purchase cancellation and refund, and excessive return charge (buying service) topped the list of the ratio of damage experience.

Although 69.1% of consumers answered to use credit cards as their payment method, the rate of cash payment reached 10.5%. In case of the cash payment, consumers need to be cautious of damages caused by the fraudulent shopping-mall, such as contact lost with enterprises, disappearance of a site, and undelivered goods, etc.

As measures for the safe ODP, respondents expressed that ▲ it would be necessary to provide a guideline for users of ODP (55.8%), ▲ comparative information on websites of the ODP (51.0%), ▲ and a cooperative system of consumer damage redress among relevant nations (50.6%). Especially, it is necessary to go over the current tax system as 49.0% of respondents supported to increase the current limit of exempted amount of tax.

The KCA has promoted the consumer support measures to secure the safety of ODP, according to the result of recent analysis. As the measures, ▲ firstly it offered 'the user guideline of the ODP' with easy access. Moreover, ▲ it planned to release the choice and comparative information on satisfaction rank of overseas shopping mall sites to help consumers to use ODP effectively.

In addition, ▲ it also plans to create the relevant organizations (tentative name : a consumer support center of overseas transaction) to prevent and redress consumer damage on ODP, and provide damage redress methods of overseas consumer transaction, building cooperative networks with major countries related to ODP.