How to protect online store customers? - Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The global Covid-19 epidemic has served as a kind of impetus for the development of e-commerce. Consumers who are afraid for their health and do not want to spend a lot of time in public places are more actively using E-commerce platforms.

So, if in 2019 the volume of the electronic market in Kazakhstan was just over 700 billion tenge, in 2020 it has already exceeded the mark of 1.1 trillion tenge and amounted to 9.7% of the total retail turnover (11.6 trillion tenge).

The number of online shoppers also showed an increase of almost 20%, amounting to 3.8 million. active buyers compared to 2019, when there were 3.2 million of them. Today, there are about 650 online stores on the market.

And such a transition to online trading can become a long-term trend.

However, among the disadvantages of e - commerce-consumers are increasingly faced with fraud and fraud when paying for goods via the Internet.

Although e-commerce in Kazakhstan is regulated by the Law "On Regulation of Trade Activities", and the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of e-commerce participants is carried out in accordance with the laws" On Regulation of Trade Activities "and" On Protection of Consumer Rights", public associations of consumers in the existing legislation on the turnover of goods on the Internet find a number of gaps.

As noted in the Committee on Consumer Protection of the Ministry of Trade, in 2020, they received 689 complaints from consumers about the actions of online stores. As a result of the measures taken, 13.2 million tenge was returned to Kazakhstani citizens.

Since the beginning of 2021, 265 complaints have already been received, as a result of the measures taken, 794,881 thousand tenge has been returned to Kazakhstani citizens.

The reasons for the appeals of Kazakhstanis to the KZPP are:

- evasion of registration with the state revenue authorities (online stores are registered only in social networks, olx, satu, market);

- no possibility to exchange or return the goods (due to the lack of information about the sellers);

- improper quality of the delivered goods;

At the same time, in most cases, consumers do not have the opportunity to check the quality of the goods before paying the full cost (JSC "Kazpost" obliges consumers to pay the full amount of the goods to disclose the postal item);

- failure to provide information about the product (the product is sent to the consumer without labels, labels, without a document confirming the purchase of the product);

- lack of information about the seller (details and contact numbers are not specified on the websites and social networks of online stores);

- the inability of consumers to request documents confirming the quality of goods (certificate of conformity);

- failure to meet delivery deadlines (most often without notifying the consumer about it);

- restriction of choice, imposition of a certain range of products;

- fraud; online stores that operate in social networks and require 100% prepayment, delete accounts after payment and leave consumers without goods and money;

- deception of consumers; sellers, demanding 100% prepayment, send low-quality goods to consumers without feedback and reliable information about the seller.

 

To eliminate the identified gaps, the developers of the concept of the draft law "On Amendments and Additions to certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on consumer rights protection" explained, the legislation will be updated:

- For example, attackers create a website, filling it with fictional products with prices set below the market (with the offer of discounts and sales), as well as with the option of 100% prepayment by bank transfer, by bank card. At the same time, after paying for the order, the product does not reach the buyer, and the online store itself disappears.

- To stop the increase in the number of deceptions and fraud in online commerce, a clearer procedure for the legal regulation of electronic sales is needed. Therefore, we provide for the mandatory inclusion in the future draft law of a separate section on the remote method of selling goods. - In order to effectively protect the rights of consumers in e-commerce, we will take into account the measures proposed by civil society. In our concept, we provided for the establishment of a minimum list of information at the conclusion of an electronic contract, mandatory registration of the site and the provision of information about the responsible legal entity, confirmation of the actual employment of e-commerce, " said Almas Abzhapparov, Deputy Chairman of the KPPC.