Claim for adjustment of excessive costs of returning products purchased through overseas buying agent 게시글 상세보기 - 등록일, 조회수, 첨부파일, 상세내용, 이전글, 다음글 제공
Claim for adjustment of excessive costs of returning products purchased through overseas buying agent
Date
2020-08-03
Hit
777
The petitioner bought sport clothes for cycling (KRW 283,750, including KRW 15,000 as shipping costs) and a bicycle part (KRW 45,090, including KRW 15,000 as shipping costs) from the respondent’s website on May 14 and 15 2019.
The two orders were custom-cleared on the same date, hence subject to accumulative taxation, and the petitioner paid KRW 69,410 for customs clearance and received the products on May 29.
Finding accumulative taxation unreasonable, the petitioner requested the respondent take them back on that date, and the respondent asked the petitioner to pay KRW 67,700 as the costs of return.
A. The petitioner
The petitioner contended that the two orders were custom-cleared on the same date and subject to accumulative taxation because the respondent did not provide the petitioner correct information and the petitioner was asked to pay KRW 67,700 as the costs of return, an amount far greater than the original shipping costs of KRW 30,000, hence the petitioner claimed adjustment thereof.
B. The respondent
On the other hand, the respondent contended that the respondent, being a buying agent, receives consumers’ orders at its warehouse from the sellers and ships them to consumers, and the same process is followed for returning products, hence shipping costs for return, that the product description specified “if you change your mind and wish to return the product, the international shipping costs incurred for the import of the product should be paid,” that a table of country-specific turning costs can be found by clicking on the local returning costs section on the cancellation, return, and refund menu of the customer center on the respondent’s website, and that the original orders incurred KRW 15,000 as shipping costs per order, but returning products to the sellers should be done in a short period of time using express shipping services that would incur higher shipping costs, and returning a 1.0kg parcel to the USA would incur shipping costs of KRW 67,700.
Below is the notice on cancellation and return found from the description pages of the products in question:
o Change of mind
- Your refund requests will be processed once the returning costs are paid and the products are received in our warehouse.
- Import taxes (duties, value added taxes), if any, will be deducted from the refunds (you may file an import tax return request with the Customs Service).
According to the international shipping return cost table found from the frequently asked questions menu of the respondent’s website customer center, a flat rate of KRW 67,700 would apply to returning a 1.0kg parcel to the USA.
Article 13(2)11 of the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commere, Etc. provides that mail order distributors shall indicate, advertise, or notify the terms of transactions that influence consumers’ buying decisions so that consumers can clearly understand the terms of transactions of goods, etc., before concluding a contract and conduct transactions without errors or misunderstanding.
Given that, unlike goods sold by local shopping malls, products purchased from buying agents’ shopping malls would incur costs of return far greater compared to local returning costs if the consumer changes his/her mind and wishes to return a product, the costs of return should be construed as an important term of transactions that influence consumers’ buying decisions.
In addition, while the respondent contested that the information on shipping costs can be found from the customer center of the respondent’s website and returning products would incur higher shipping costs compared to standard shipping costs as express shipping services should be used for returning the products in a short period of time, the cancellation and return notice found from the product description pages contain no such information, hence it is not deemed that the respondent provided the petitioner with sufficient information on the important transaction terms.
Therefore, it is reasonable that the petitioner acknowledges the costs of returning the products in question in a scope of KRW 30,000, which is the sum of the standard shipping costs for the two orders as the petitioner would have normally envisaged and shipping costs in excess of KRW 30,000 should not be acknowledged.
[Relevant laws, notifications, etc.] Article 13 of the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, Etc.
The respondent shall acknowledge that the petitioner’s liability for the costs of returning the sport clothes and bicycle part that are the subjects of this case on May 29 2019 does not exist in excess of KRW 30,000.
