MART warned about the risks of buying on foreign Internet sites

Recently, complaints of Belarusian consumers related to the purchase of goods from foreign sellers (registered outside the EAEU) through foreign Internet sites that deliver goods to Belarus have become more frequent. This was reported in March, writes sb.by.

The analysis of appeals shows that consumers face problems of receiving, inspecting and returning such goods, since they do not always have full information about the special conditions of delivery and return from abroad.

The conditions for such orders differ significantly from the usual purchases from Belarusian sellers or sellers from the EAEU countries. When buying abroad, the goods are issued and delivered as international mail. It is delivered directly from outside the EAEU to the consumer, often bypassing the warehouse and logistics centers of the Internet sites located in Belarus and Russia.

Because of this, there is no inspection of the goods upon receipt - the consumer will not be able to open the package and check the purchase before full payment at the point of issuing orders, including in the offices of RUE "Belposhta". Claims for quality, completeness and return of funds are presented directly to the foreign seller, and the return of goods abroad is carried out at the expense of the consumer and only after agreement with the seller. In addition, buyers do not pay attention when placing an order and most often learn about the restrictions and status of the shipment at the time of receipt. Belarusian legislation on consumer protection does not apply to such relations.

It is important to understand: a foreign Internet site only provides the seller with the opportunity to place an offer, but it is not the seller itself. It does not check the quality of the goods and is not responsible to the buyer for improper quality, non-compliance with the description, as well as for violation of consumer rights in disputes or finding a defect.

In this regard, MART advises, before placing such orders, to carefully read all information about the conditions of delivery, the procedure for receiving, inspecting and returning the goods, set out in the product card and on the Internet site itself - in the public offer regulating such orders.