Balagangadharan was absolutely thrilled when he won the bid at an auction for a refrigerator on an Internet site. On hindsight, he now feels that it was the biggest mistake he?s ever made. Soon after informing him that he had won the bid, the site deducted Rs 20,000 (the bid amount) from his credit card. He was told that the refrigerator would be delivered within two to three weeks. When there was no sign of the refrigerator even after three weeks, he tried getting in touch with the owners of the site. However, he got no response to his e-mails and telephone calls to Delhi. That?s when he got really panicky and wondered whether he was a victim of an Internet fraud. After trying different numbers, finally, he got through to the owners of the site, only to be told. that the delivery would take more time. At the time of writing, Balagangadharan has cancelled his order and is trying to get his money back.

Satya Rao had a slightly different problem. He bought an expensive electronic product from an Internet shopping site, only because the purchase entitled him to a free gift of another electronic gadget. However, when he opened the package that came by mail, he found the free gift missing. And both the e-shop and the hosts of the shopping site are unwilling to take responsibility for the missing product.

I quote these two cases to emphasise the urgent need for consumer protection measures in the area of electronic shopping. Now that the government is amending the Information Technology Act, it must look at this aspect too. In fact, there should be a separate chapter dealing with e-shopping or consumer-to-business transactions.

Besides protecting consumers against fraud, unfair trade practices, defective goods and deficient services vis-?-vis e?shopping, the law should formulate specific guidelines that are binding on those that sell goods through the Internet. For example, there should be a specific time-frame within which goods should be delivered. And the e-shop should collect the money only at the time of despatching the order.

Similarly, even after paying for the order and getting delivery, a consumer should have the option of returning it within a specified period for a full refund, without offering any explanation. And the refund should also reach the consumer within a specified time. In short, we need a comprehensive law or a regulation to protect consumers who shop on the Net.