Website owners will soon have to change the way some of their forms are laid out as the EU moves to make online shopping more straightforward and safer.
In a move that EU ministers hope will protect consumers, websites will not be allowed to ‘pretick’ any of the check boxes in their online forms if they would result in additional charges. This will prevent customers entering into so-called ‘cost traps’, where they are lured by the promise of something that is free, or are given a price which then increases when pre-ticked boxes are applied for additional fees.
For example, low-cost airlines cannot be sold with a pre-selected add-on amount for travel insurance which the customer must deselect themselves. Services which provide free mobile games or other free digital goods may not charge for anything else via a pre-ticked box. That means that the total price displayed will be the price the consumer ultimately pays.
There are a raft of other changes designed to make the cost of online and distance shopping simpler. Any costs which the customer incurred via a pre-checked box will be refundable by EU law, and credit card fees must be charged at cost only, without making a profit for the retailer.
Customers who contact companies by telephone must only pay ‘basic’ charges for the call.
The new regulations specifically target digital products such as downloads and software.
Companies must be very clear about compatibility issues before the purchase is made as a consumer will not be able to cancel the purchase once the product has actually started to download.
The period in which a customer can cancel a purchase, known as the ‘cooling off’ period, will be extended from 7 days to 14 days throughout the EU. Delivery charges will have to be refunded by the retailer as they are now. This will apply for any sales agreements made outside of a physical store; online sales, doorstep sales and sales made over the telephone.
The changes will not have to be made for another two years to allow retailers time to update their systems.