Remember your consumer rights in the sharing economy
When you buy from a platform where users can trade products or skills as a service, you have the same rights as you do when you buy from a shop in person or online.
The NSW Government is reminding consumers that the Australian Consumer Law extends to goods and services bought on platforms such as Uber, Airbnb and Airtasker.
Consumers can follow these steps to resolve an issue:
- Speak to the seller or service provider.
- Make contact through the platform’s internal dispute resolution process, if they have one.
- Write a factual customer review and rate the trader on the platform.
- Lodge a complaint with NSW Fair Trading.
Sellers also have the same rights and responsibilities as they would in-store and need to comply with consumer law.
Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean said it was important for traders to understand their obligations and reminded them that misleading or deceptive conduct was unacceptable.
“This includes writing a fake review, asking or paying someone to write a review, writing a false review about a competitor or hiding negative customer reviews,” Mr Kean said.