In the domestic online trading field, more and more risky e-shops are appearing. Their operators use so-called “abandoned” domains with a good history (e.g. krajzlin.cz or nejfilm.cz).
The situation has long been monitored by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (CTIA), which “considers e-commerce to be risky primarily due to non-compliance with certain legal obligations and the difficulty of enforcing consumer rights”, and lists dubious e-commerce on its website (but this is not a complete list).
According to its information, the number of e-shops that have unknown operators, insufficiently inform customers about their rights or even use deceptive business practices is increasing dramatically. While two or three years ago the Commission warned about four such shops a year, last year the number exceeded 130.
“Unfortunately, at the moment there is no legal tool to immediately block high-risk fraudulent sites. Virtually the whole of Europe is dealing with a similar problem with fraudulent websites,” said Tomáš Hüner, the Minister of Industry and Trade in the resignation.
Internet search engines and anti-virus companies are also joining the fight. Seznam.cz is limiting the position of dubious e-shops listed on the CTIA website in search results as well as in reviews on the Zbozi.cz portal. ESET antivirus software is trying to protect users from visiting these sites by warning them.
Have you encountered unfair business practices on the Internet?