Irish Independent
ONLINE shopping is proving to be a headache for Irish consumers with a majority of complaints to the European Consumer Centre in Dublin last year to do with web traders.

A new report from the ECC office shows that there was a four-fold rise in the number of complaints from online shoppers.

Most of the complaints concerned non-delivery of goods, with faulty or defective goods another area of concern.

Last year also saw a large increase in complaints about fraud, with a significant number due to consumer-to-consumer transactions concluded between private individuals.

These people made contact through internet auctions and they went off-line to conclude the transaction, according to the Dublin ECC office.

An Irish consumer bought two laptops from a British-based website and paid for them in advance using a Western Union money transfer, but never received the equipment.

It turned out that the website was fraudulent.

Fraudsters had stolen the name of a legitimate company based in Britain and used its postal address on the false website.

Posted: 06|20|06 at 8:37 am. Filed under: Auction News.