How well do you know your rights as an online shopper?

Loading player...
Here’s Janet’s question to me: “I bought a pair of trainers on an online sale about 5 days ago.

On delivery day I tried on and them to be too tight across my foot.

I have been told I can’t return them because they were a sale item.

I'm very unhappy about this and would like a full refund from the company. I don't think that this is the way to treat a return customer.”

Is she entitled to one? Gold star if you said yes.

Thanks to the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act you are legally entitled to return something you bought online with a week of delivery for a refund – regardless of whether they were bought online or not.

The only catch is that you have to bear the cost of sending the goods back - unless the retailer chooses to absorb that cost.
26 Jun English South Africa Education · Self-Improvement

Other recent episodes

Never stop paying the whole bill

If your municipal bill is wrong, dispute it. But keep paying the part you don't dispute. That one move takes away the municipality's lawful grounds to cut off your water or electricity while the dispute drags on, and these disputes drag on for months. Do it properly. Put your dispute…
11 Sep 1 min

Shake the sand out

Back from the beach in a hired car? Get the sand out of it before you return it. Nur returned his rental car with sand in the footwells after a family trip to the Drakensberg and was charged R600 extra for a specialist valet. Rental agreements generally allow the company…
10 Sep 1 min

Your usual Uber is going away

Uber has retired its UberX option – the go-to for many South Africans, and from this month you have four options. Uber Go is a smaller car at a smaller price, for quick trips around town. Uber Comfort gets you a newer car with extra space, and you can request…
9 Sep 1 min

Paying for the privilege

Roderick asked me: "When you have an account with a retailer and it is fully paid up, why do they still debit you with account fees when you have a zero balance? I buy maybe twice a year from this retailer and always pay my account up as quick as…
8 Sep 1 min

Pay down the card that's nearest its limit first

Your credit score is not a judgment of you. It's a forecast built from behaviour, and behaviour can change. The thing lenders consider most, after whether you pay on time, is how much of your available credit you're using. TransUnion tells South Africans to worry they’ve used up more than…
7 Sep 1 min