According to figures from the European Consumer Centre (ECC), the number of complaints about dropshipping and fraudulent web shops has increased during the past last two years. VRT Radio 2’s consumer affairs programme ‘WinWin’ requested the figures from the ECC.
Dropshipping is a form of e-commerce whereby the online web shop sends the ordered products directly from the supplier, for example from a factory in China, to the consumer. This means that the online shop that you have ordered your goods from does not have a warehouse of its own to store stock. The web shop simply acts as a middleman and this can cause issues.
In 2024, the ECC handled 605 complaints about dropshipping, up from 472 complaints in 2022. The total number of complaints about e-commerce last year was 9,600. Martijn Dirckx is a lawyer that works at the ECC. He told VRT News that "First of all, consumers often do not know that dropshipping had been involved when they file their complaint. Secondly, the amounts involved are often small and I suspect that as a result many don’t bother filing a complaint”.
The Federal Economy Department says that it also often receives complaints about fraudulent webshops. The Department’s Lien Meurisse told VRT News that “Last year up until 27 November we received 5802 complaints”.
“In 2023 were received a total of almost 47,000 of which 8,238 were about fraudulent webshops. It is not always clear whether a webshop is using dropshipping. This only becomes clear during the investigation”.
4 main causes for complaints
Despite dropshipping being legal, the system is often abused. At the ECC, they see 4 issues regarding dropshipping.
- Company details, such as an address or a company number, are untraceable. “If something goes wrong, it is difficult for the consumer to get in touch with the company”.
- No returns possible or the address is in China. Your statuary rights as a consumer state that you can return a product within 14 days. You don't have to provide justification or pay other additional costs it you decide to return goods within 14 days. “We often see that consumers are not given a return address or that the address is in China and then they have to pay the costs for returning the goods themselves. This is against the law”.
- Delivery issues. “Sometimes products are never delivered or they are sometimes delivered much later than stated on the vendor’s website. In addition to this the products delivered may be of inferior quality once they are delivered to you.”
- Import duty costs. “Products are delivered to the consumer straight from the supplier, who is often based outside the European Union. With products are that come from outside the EU, import duties have to be paid and often it is the consumer that has to pay them”.
Dropshipping is legal
Dropshipping is perfectly legal. However, the vendor does have to abide by certain rules. “The vendor must provide clear information about themselves, such as a name under which they trade, an address, a company registration number and a way to contact them”, Martijn Dirckx explains.
“The vendor must communicate correct delivery times and have a return policy. In the Netherlands, a Dutch vendor must have a return address in the Netherlands and not in China or another country.”
“What is very important is that the vendor remains responsible. So, if something goes wrong then the web shop is liable, regardless of whether or not the product has been sent directly from China to the consumer.”
If it's too good to be true, it probably isn’t
Despite all the rules that are In place to protect you as a consumer, you need to be remain vigilant. Martijn Dirckx of the ECC offers a golden tip: "If it's too good to be true, it probably isn’t. People are often lured via social media, so when you see advertising on social media for a winter coat costing 40 euro, the quality of the coat is probably questionable.”