Black Friday and Cyber Monday are nearly upon us, and thousands of us will be using these sales events to hopefully cut the expense of Christmas gift shopping. But do you know your rights when it comes to buying online and on the high street?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast becoming the most popular shopping days in our calendars.
In fact, UK shoppers spent more than £3.3bn over the Black Friday weekend last year.
But, according to research published by Clear Returns, as much as £180m of those purchases were returned within days – that’s £1 for every £18 spent. And in a recent Which? survey of more than 2,000 shoppers, half said they’d returned something they’d bought in the past year.
Online or offline – what are your rights?
Surprisingly, for a nation of returners, we also found that just three in ten of those surveyed knew you have different rights when shopping online than on the high street.
With most online orders you have 14 days to let a seller know you no longer want an item, you then have a further 14 days from that date in which to return the item to the seller.
In store, however, you’re at the mercy of each shop’s own returns policy, unless your product is faulty.
So, if you’re going to get caught up in deal hunting on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, you’re probably best placed doing it online. That way, you’ll be better protected should you make a rash decision or two that you later regret.
Test your shopping rights know-how
The average UK family spends just over £800 on Christmas. But if anything goes wrong it can pay to know where you stand and how to put things right.
Before you hit the high street or hammer the online sales, take our quiz and test your knowledge. Let us know how your score stacks up.
Do you know your shopping rights? Has a retailer ever tried to fob you off?