The case in summary: Carina Wadel was deceived by an online store that operates “dropshipping”, where the online store appears to be Norwegian, but does not have its own goods in stock. The Consumer Council warns against such online shops, as they can cause more problems for customers, including demands for customs, VAT and poor quality goods. The Norwegian Environment Agency has found that up to 70% of the products from “dropshipping shops” contained substances hazardous to health and the environment. Online stores that engage in “dropshipping” are often eager to sell items that are trending in social media, have abnormally low prices and long or unknown delivery times. The Consumer Council recommends contacting the online store and demanding a refusal or the money back if the item does not meet expectations. If the online shop is empty, you can contact the bank for a card complaint. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. They are designed to make you think you are shopping from a Norwegian online store. But these stores have no stock of goods. – I didn’t know whether to grin or cry when I opened it. It was by no means what I had ordered. It was something similar, says Carina Wadel. She is one of many who have bought from an online store that operates “dropshipping”. Everything on the website was in Norwegian and the prices were stated in Norwegian kroner. The website address was also Norwegian. – I sat and browsed and scrolled a bit. Then I saw two great, gorgeous sweaters that I fell head over heels for. Since they were quite reasonable, considering how nice they were, I ordered two, says Wadel. It was not until the order was completed that she received an order confirmation in English. – Then I thought I had to be a little cold and sit down and wait and see what comes. She has also told about her trade to TV 2 Not illegal. At the Consumer Council, the phenomenon of “dropshipping” is well known. Consumer lawyer Nora Wennberg Gløersen at the Consumer Council says that people who do dropshipping are often looking for easy money. Photo: The Consumer Council Online shops that operate in this way differ from other online shops in that they do not have any of their own goods in stock. – When you place an order, they turn around and order the item from a cheap, foreign online store. Typical one in Asia. So it only functions as a link between you and Asian discount stores, says consumer lawyer Nora Wennberg Gløersen at the Consumer Council. According to the Consumer Council, it is not illegal to run such websites. But they can cause more problems for those who buy from them. Among other things, you may be met with demands for customs, VAT and receive goods of far poorer quality than you expect. – The Norwegian Environment Agency has found that up to 70 per cent of the products from “dropshipping shops” contained such large amounts of substances dangerous to health and the environment that they should have been illegal to sell. When buying electrical goods, you run the risk of getting flammable goods or things that don’t work. This was one of the sweaters Carina Wadel fell head over heels for and bought online. Photo: Screenshot It was a slightly paler version of the sweater that appeared in the mail some time after it was ordered. Photo: Carina Wadel This is how you recognize “dropshipping shops” Although the language may be good and the website address ends in .no, there are still a number of things that characterize online shops that resell other people’s goods. Among other things, they are very keen to sell goods that are trending in social media. – You won’t find well-known brands and the prices are abnormally low. The delivery time is usually very long, or is listed as unknown. In addition, it can be difficult to find contact information for customer service, says Gløersen. If you are in doubt, she recommends searching the website and seeing if you can find other people’s experiences with it. – You can often find warnings on sites such as Trustpilot and Facebook. Stop the payment When Carina Wadel began to sense owls in the bog over her online store, she contacted the payment intermediary Klarna. She got them to freeze the payment and then she contacted the online store and told them that the goods she had ordered did not meet expectations. – They offered to halve the price of the goods, says Wadel. She believes the sweaters costing more than NOK 700 were not worth NOK 50 once. Therefore, she sent a new e-mail with pictures of the sweaters received and pictures of the sweaters on the website. – Then I got another feedback that they deleted the entire payment, says Wadel. The Consumer Council advises people to do the same as Carina did. Contact the online store and demand a refusal or a refund if the item does not meet expectations. – But if you are greeted by an empty website, the race is not necessarily over. If you have shopped with a card, you can contact your bank for a card complaint. It is always worth trying to contact the bank, says Gløersen. news has tried to get a comment from the website in question, but has not yet received a reply. This was the second sweater Carina Wadel fell for. Photo: Screenshot But the colorful jumper was not as bright in its colors when it arrived in the post. Photo: Carina Wadel
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The Consumer Council warns against dropshipping – How to recognize online stores that engage in this – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
