Brussels – The online sales of used goods sector continues its boom, which began in 2020 with the Pandemic: thousands of platforms, such as Vinted and Facebook marketplaces, offer every day all kinds of second-hand items, from clothes to furniture, from cars and household items to electronics to millions of users. This market growth, however, does not seem to be accompanied by an increase in transparency on the part of retailers, at least as far as the old continent is concerned.
An investigation by the EU Commission, with the participation of a network of national consumer protection authorities of 25 member states (including Italy), Norway, and Iceland, released the results of its online monitoring operation on second-hand sellers. It concluded that out of 365 retailers surveyed, 185 (52 percent) were potentially in breach of EU consumer protection law. In addition to national laws, five European directives regulate the sale of online and offline products, including consumer rights and e-commerce directives.
In particular, 40 percent of observed retailers did not inform consumers of their rights of withdrawal (such as the right to return the product within 14 days without justification or cost), while 45 percent did not correctly inform consumers of their right to return faulty goods or goods that do not look or work as advertised; 57% did not respect the minimum period of one-year legal guarantee for second-hand goods, while among those who make environmental claims on their site, 20 percent were not sufficiently substantiated, while 28 percent were manifestly false or likely to qualify as unfair commercial practices.
The investigation also stressed the importance of verifying that sellers properly attest to their identity (this is not the case for 5 percent of cases) and that the product’s total price, including taxes, is provided (not provided in 8 percent of cases). National authorities will now decide whether to take action against the 185 “non-compliant” retailers.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
