<Anchor>
Here is reporter Han Ji-yeon, who easily releases economic news.
The overseas direct purchase market, where people directly purchase goods from overseas through online platforms, has grown a lot, and purchasing agents are also being used a lot.
But what about the results of investigating complaints from consumers?
<Reporter>
Yes, there were a lot of consumers who were particularly bothered by the excessive return cost. I also bought clothes that cost about 30,000 won through an overseas purchasing agent and spent more than 20,000 won for the return cost.
It's something everyone experiences at least once.
The Korea Consumer Agency analyzed about 3,500 complaints of overseas purchasing agency complaints in open markets such as Naver and Coupang over the past three years. Complaints about unfairly charging penalties or fees were the largest, exceeding 28%.
Knowing that returns are expensive can make you more cautious before buying, or give up on your purchase.
According to the law, business operators must indicate the return cost in an easy-to-understand manner for consumers, but in practice, this has been found to be insufficient.
When I looked at 240 products of merchants in 6 open markets, most of them were 232 products that did not distinguish them, even though there was a difference in return costs depending on where my product was at the time of requesting a return.
Twenty-one did not list any return costs at all, or listed two return costs for one product.
<Anchor>
It seems that the most dissatisfaction among consumers who want to return an item is the return cost in the end.
After researching, how much was the cost of returning direct purchases overseas?
<Reporter>
Yes, regardless of the type of product, there was a lot of variation, but the only thing that was small was 2,500 won, which is about the same as domestic shipping.
In many cases, it was up to $400,000.
On average, that's around 61,400 won.
If the return cost was more than 100,000 won, 1 out of 5 cases came out.
When looking at the return cost compared to the product price, the number of cases where the return cost was higher than the product price was 33.3%, accounting for the most.
This is a case where the belly button is bigger than the belly button, and the customer does not receive a refund when returning the product, or there is a trade condition in which the customer has to pay additional money to lose money.
To take a more serious example, there was a case where a Bluetooth earphone priced at 25,600 won was priced at 300,000 won as a return cost.
If I bought a beauty aid for 7,100 won, I had to spend 200,000 won to return it.
Talk about not returning it.
The return cost compared to the product price was up to 28 times higher.
However, on the contrary, there were products with lower return costs than expected.
The fully automatic coffee machine has a product price of 1.33 million won, but I received a return cost of 10,000 won.
The return cost is fluctuating, but it seems necessary to disclose the exact details of the return cost in order not to confuse consumers.
<Anchor>
In the end, consumers need to be a little smarter in order not to be bothered by the cost of return.
Before using overseas direct or purchasing agents, there are some things you need to know.
<Reporter>
Overseas purchasing agency return costs are also borne by the seller if there is a defect in the product, and by the consumer if there is a simple change of mind.
Overseas shipping products cost a lot of money.
Shipping charges by plane or ship and import taxes are also charged.
Since the shipping cost itself is an important condition in determining the purchase, the online seller must notify the consumer of the relevant information under the E-Commerce Act.
Consumers must check not only the shipping cost at the time of purchase, but also the international shipping fee at the time of return.
If there is no notice of overseas shipping charges and the return cost specifically requires the purchase of the product or the overseas shipping cost that was not covered at the time of purchase, the consumer may request the business operator to prove the cost incurred in the process of importing the product or to provide information related to the return of the product. can.
Also, before using an overseas purchasing agent, it is recommended to read the cautions on the international transaction consumer portal.