Online auctions have undergone many transformations and continue to attract millions of customers worldwide. However these popular platforms remain understudied by legal scholars and misunderstood by legislators. This book explores the legal classification of online auction sites across a range of countries in Europe. Including empirical studies conducted on 28 online auction websites in the UK, the research focusses on the protection of consumers’ economic rights and highlights the shortcomings that the law struggles to control. With examinations into important developments, including the Consumer Rights Directive and the latest case law from the CJEU on the liability of intermediaries, Riefa anticipates changes in the law, and points out further changes that are needed to create a safe legal environment for consumers, whilst preserving the varied business model adopted by online auction sites. The study provides insights into how technical measures as well as a tighter legislative framework or enforcement pattern could provide consumers with better protection, in turn reinforcing trust, and ultimately benefiting the online auction platforms themselves.
Online auctions have undergone many transformations and continue to attract millions of customers worldwide. However these popular platforms remain understudied by legal scholars and misunderstood by legislators. This book explores the legal classification of online auction sites across a range of countries in Europe. Including empirical studies conducted on 28 online auction websites in the UK, the research focusses on the protection of consumers’ economic rights and highlights the shortcomings that the law struggles to control. With examinations into important developments, including the Consumer Rights Directive and the latest case law from the CJEU on the liability of intermediaries, Riefa anticipates changes in the law, and points out further changes that are needed to create a safe legal environment for consumers, whilst preserving the varied business model adopted by online auction sites. The study provides insights into how technical measures as well as a tighter legislative framework or enforcement pattern could provide consumers with better protection, in turn reinforcing trust, and ultimately benefiting the online auction platforms themselves.
Well-settled principles of law, such as those encompassing fraud in its various forms, have long maintained their vitality, adapting to changes in the legal and business environments through judicial and legislative interpretation and intervention. Many of these changes have manifested themselves in the world of commerce. The creation and development of the Internet has resulted in significant changes in the way people engage in commerce. The increasing popularity of the Internet as a medium of commerce has generated an increase in Internet fraud, raising new and challenging legal issues in areas including online auctions. Under current law, a defrauded participant in an online auction transaction has no recourse against the online auction site that facilitated and controlled the auction transaction and claimed a percentage of the transaction price as its fee. Online auction sites can and do legally disclaim any responsibility for fraud occurring on their sites. Because of the lack of meaningful consumer protection with respect to online auctions in the form of consumer education efforts and appropriate regulation and effective enforcement thereof, the rising numbers of online auction fraud victims are left with no meaningful avenues of relief. The increased popularity of the Internet and the huge volume of e-commerce transactions have generated opportunities for cyber crimes and torts, including various forms of Internet fraud. The Internet offers low-cost communication, the capacity to reach a global audience, and a presumptive veneer of credibility stemming from the anonymity of cyberspace. Thus, Internet users may find it hard to distinguish genuine sources of information from fraudulent sources, creating a fertile environment for all kinds of Internet fraud. This article examines the most commonly reported form of Internet fraud, online auction fraud. Part I discusses fraud in the context of online auctions, highlighting the increasing numbers of reported cases and the most common forms of online auction fraud. Part II examines two prominent online auction fraud cases, and illustrates the critical need both to protect consumers from being victimized by online auction fraud and to provide opportunities for meaningful relief in the event that consumers are so victimized. Part III offers suggested areas for regulation to protect consumers from online auction fraud, and further provides an examination and evaluation of the responses to online auction fraud by various consumer and law enforcement groups. Part IV examines the response of online auction sites to online auction fraud. Part V is an examination of some forms of online alternative dispute resolution. Because of the lack of meaningful consumer protection stemming from the lack of appropriate regulation and effective enforcement thereof, and the dearth of consumer education with respect to online auction fraud, online alternative dispute resolution remains one of the only available avenues of relief for victims of online auction fraud.
Online auctions, such as eBay, are enormously popular in Australia. But the online auctions industry, law enforcement agencies, and consumer government bodies are lagging behind when it comes to protecting consumers. Going, Going, Gone: Online auctions, consumers and the law contains a detailed analysis of laws and regulations that apply to online auctions, extensive feedback from people who buy and sell online, and recommendations and suggestions to help the relevant bodies improve consumer safety. A must for anyone interested in this growing but largely unregulated market.
Get expert advice on becoming a successful online auction buyer and seller! This book tells you all about eBay, Amazon, FairMarket, and other popular auction sites and explains how to bid on items, offer your own merchandise for auction, get the best price, and close the deal.
Peer-to-peer transactions have long played a role in commerce, but today's online platforms enable them on a much greater scale. Early examples include platforms for the sale of goods (e.g. online auction sites). Newer models include the rental of short-term accommodation and transport or mobility services. Sometimes described as the "sharing" economy or "collaborative consumption, " this report refers to these innovative businesses as "peer platform markets." In addition to bringing benefits, peer platform markets raise new policy challenges, including consumer protection issues. As a general principle, consumer laws should be considered to apply to the basic offer of services to peers by peer platforms. It can be difficult, however, to apply existing laws to business models that blur the boundaries between consumers and businesses. What is the best approach to provide effective consumer protection while encouraging innovation? This report provides context for considering this and related questions.
Under Directive 97/7/EC of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts, consumers buying at online auctions face an uncertain fate. Whilst Article 3(1) excludes contracts concluded at an auction from the scope of this Directive, it does not provide a definition of what an auction is, leading to much legal uncertainty and fragmentation amongst the Member States. The proposal for a Directive on Consumer Rights (pDCR), COM (2008) 614 final, responds to the negative effects of fragmentation by the use of full targeted harmonisation. In the area of online auctions, the Proposal recommends amending the distance selling provisions to create a harmonised regime that no longer exclude contracts concluded at an auction from the scope of the Distance Selling Directive, but defines auctions and public auctions respectively in Articles 2(15) and 2(16). For the sales that will fall within the scope of the proposed Directive, traders will have to yield to new information requirements, in exchange for consumers being barred from the right to withdraw under Article 19(1)(h) pDCR. This article argues that the latter constitutes a dangerous erosion of the protection of consumers buying on online auction sites. The article identifies three main arguments that are used to justify the absence of a right to withdraw being granted to consumers, namely, - the enhancement of information requirements; - the uniqueness of the sale method; and - the potential for consumers abusing the right to withdraw. The author argues that neither of these arguments can justify such strong erosion of consumer rights and calls for the Commission to review its position and explore the possibility of providing consumers a right of withdrawal, all be it limited.
Recent statements by the Minister of Consumer Affairs indicate that developing consumer law so that it is technologically neutral is a priority. This article analyses how the current law responds to the technological innovation of the online auction. The article concludes that consumers using online auctions have fewer legal rights and more difficulties obtaining redress than consumers who purchase goods from shops or from New Zealand online stores. The two main risks facing consumers using online auction sites are that the goods are not delivered or that they are defective in some way. The article concludes that there is an urgent need to update the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 to expressly cover online auctions. However, this amendment alone will not be sufficient to protect consumers using online auctions. Several other suggestions are made for creating a comprehensive regulatory framework for New Zealand online auctions. These suggestions include introducing a public enforcement agency to enforce the Consumer Guarantees Act, imposing a duty on suppliers to provide identity and contact information and enacting specific regulation for online auction site operators.
Peer-to-peer transactions have long played a role in commerce, but today's online platforms enable them on a much greater scale. Early examples include platforms for the sale of goods (e.g. online auction sites). Newer models include the rental of short-term accommodation and transport or mobility services. Sometimes described as the "sharing" economy or "collaborative consumption," this report refers to these innovative businesses as "peer platform markets." In addition to bringing benefits, peer platform markets raise new policy challenges, including consumer protection issues. As a general principle, consumer laws should be considered to apply to the basic offer of services to peers by peer platforms. It can be difficult, however, to apply existing laws to business models that blur the boundaries between consumers and businesses. What is the best approach to provide effective consumer protection while encouraging innovation? This report provides context for considering this and related questions.
