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E-commerce scams – should platforms bear losses?
Contract law is premised on the principle of buyer beware, but the dynamics of digital marketplaces demand a new approach.
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Over $8.3 million alone has been lost in e-commerce scams in the first half of 2022.
PHOTO: PEXELS
Mark Findlay
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The biggest myth about e-commerce platforms is that they do nothing more than bring sellers and buyers together. If this were so, then Carousell and the like would be charitable services doing the public a service by filling a need yet charging nothing.
But reality suggests otherwise. In fact, online marketplaces can be dangerous spaces where trading goods and services can feel like sketchy exchanges in the absence of laws or other strong regulations ensuring the security, safety and authenticity of such transactions and proportioning losses arising from fraud.
