Which? (UK): We have to protect customers who shop using online marketplaces

To mark the official launch of the Consumers International Guidelines for Online Product Safety, our Member in the United Kingdom, Which?, shares the importance of consumer protection being built into online marketplaces.

With the cost of living increasing for the majority of consumers, it’s unsurprising that many are tempted to turn to what appears to be good value for money on an online marketplace. However, far too often products turn out to be faulty and, in the worst case, could have been harmful. 

Which?’s product testing has uncovered a number of items that simply shouldn’t be up for sale on popular marketplaces that many of us use frequently, from teeth whiteners that burn gums to smoke alarms that don’t detect smoke. Why? Because regulation and oversight have simply not kept pace with changes in consumer behaviour. Our research from late 2019 found that more than nine in ten consumers from the United Kingdom (UK), were buying from an online marketplace. That’s likely to have increased during the pandemic.  

For larger retailers that are well-acquainted with UK safety laws, consumers can be confident that the products they sell are unlikely to cause them harm, not only because of the reputational damage they’d suffer if they were caught selling faulty or dangerous items, but because they have a legal responsibility not to do so. 

But what about third party sellers on online marketplaces, many of whom are based abroad and operating on a massive scale, who too often don’t comply with safety regulations and are almost impossible to contact should things go wrong? What many consumers don’t realise is online marketplaces have no legal responsibility to ensure these sellers are aware of UK safety standards and are meeting their requirements. As a result too many dangerous products appear on their sites leaving millions of consumers exposed to possible harm. 

Which? believes that it is sensible to tackle this consumer harm through international collaboration. But issues must also be addressed on a country by country basis - and here the UK has an opportunity to set the global standard. 

The UK government, which has repeatedly claimed that it wants to make the UK the safest place in the world to go online, must empower its Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) by making necessary changes to modernise the UK’s product safety regime. It has been encouragingly committed to ensuring that only safe products are sold online, but given the scale of the issue that consumer groups are uncovering all across the world, a much more proactive approach is required. The OPSS recently issued a product safety message to warn people of the risks of buying from online marketplaces. But responsibility cannot be left to consumers alone. 

A first step is to update online marketplaces’ responsibilities, by placing a legal duty on marketplaces to ensure all products sold through their platform - either by third party sellers or by the platform itself - are safe. It also means requiring online marketplaces to remove unsafe products from their site and inform consumers within 24 hours.   

These changes would give consumers greater confidence to shop online, and reduce the possibility of ending up with an unsafe product. Christmas is fast approaching, when millions more consumers will enter the lottery of unsafe products sold through online marketplaces when shopping for presents. Consumers deserve better protection, and the government and online marketplaces must move quickly to provide it.