A Federal Trade Commission survey of domestic and international Web sites has found that, while most companies provide helpful general business information, they do not provide important contract-related information such as refund policies, cancellation terms and warranty information.
For example, of the sites that allowed consumers to buy goods online, only 9% of the sites (four U.S. sites and seven non-U.S. sites) provided cancellation terms. Only 26% of the sites (16 U.S. and 15 non-U.S.) provided refund policies. And only 38% (nine U.S. and 37 non-U.S.) disclosed the applicable currency.
In addition, the survey found that only 29% of the U.S. Web sites explicitly stated the country of origin (versus 79% of non-U.S. companies). Only 21% of the U.S. Web sites noted any geographic restriction on sales and only 11% disclosed the applicable currency.
FTC staff perused 200 Web sites in 18 countries. The sites were randomly selected from a random sample of 2,200 URLs provided by Dun & Bradstreet and included 100 domestic sites and 100 foreign sites. Sites were excluded from the survey if the text was not in English or the site did not offer consumer goods conducive to cross-border sales. The survey also included sites that did not allow consumers to buy goods online.
The survey was released yesterday at the FTC’s two-day workshop on the Global Electronic Market Place. The workshop is examining how to ensure effective consumer protection in international e-commerce.
