Most problems with online shopping are decided before the payment goes through. The listing, the checkout page and the policy documents tell you who you are actually dealing with, what happens if the parcel never arrives, and what you can do if the item is faulty. This guide is built around those pre-purchase checks: the identity of the seller, the delivery terms, the returns position, and the warranty wording. It draws on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) guidance on buying online, and it flags the points you should confirm yourself rather than assume.
Start with the seller, not the platform
On a marketplace, it is easy to think you are buying from the website you are browsing. Under the Australian Consumer Law, that is usually not the case. The ACCC states that your consumer guarantees rights apply to the seller you buy from, not the platform itself.
That distinction matters in three practical ways:
- If something goes wrong, the business you need to contact is the seller named on the order, not the marketplace operator.
- The seller's own returns and warranty terms govern the sale. Any separate promise the platform makes is in addition to those terms, not a replacement.
- A marketplace listing may show one price while the seller's own terms add fees, exclusions or conditions. The ACCC advises checking the service providers' own websites for the full details of prices, additional fees, inclusions and exclusions.
So the first task is to find the seller's name on the listing or at checkout, and read their terms before you commit.
Confirm the business is identifiable
The ACCC's buying-online guidance points to checking that a business displays a phone number, a physical address and an Australian Business Number or other business registration number.
Treat this as a basic due-diligence step:
- Can you find a phone number and a physical address, not just a contact form?
- Is an ABN or other business registration number published, and does the name attached to it match the seller on your order?
- Are the terms and conditions, delivery policy and returns policy easy to locate before payment?
If contact details are missing or the only route is a generic web form, that is a reason to slow down. You are assessing risk, and an unidentifiable seller is harder to deal with if a dispute arises later. Where an official Australian Government register is available for checking a business or scheme — the ACCC page also refers to registers such as the Australian Government Digital ID System register — use it to confirm you are dealing with the entity you think you are.
Overseas sellers: when Australian Consumer Law applies
Buying from an overseas website does not automatically remove your protections, and it does not automatically keep them either. The ACCC states that when an online business is based overseas and provides goods or services directly to consumers in Australia, the business must follow the Australian Consumer Law.
The key word is directly. The ACCC also states that consumers are not covered by the Australian Consumer Law if the business doesn't directly offer their products and services in Australia.
In practice, that turns on questions you can check before ordering:
- Does the site advertise to Australian consumers, ship to Australia, and price in Australian dollars?
- Does checkout accept an Australian delivery address as a matter of course?
- Does the site describe Australian delivery timeframes or Australian customer support?
A freight forwarder, a redirect service or a personal shopping agent can change who you are contracting with. If you route a purchase through an intermediary, the entity you bought from may be the intermediary rather than the original retailer, and your rights run against the entity you bought from.
Delivery terms: confirm before you pay
Delivery is where expectations and written terms most often diverge. Check the seller's delivery page for:
- Whether the item is in stock, or listed as a pre-order or backorder.
- The stated delivery window, and whether it is business days or calendar days.
- Whether the price includes delivery, or whether shipping, handling and any duty or import charges are added at checkout.
- Whether Authority to Leave is defaulted on, which affects what happens if a parcel goes missing after delivery.
- Whether tracking is provided, and who is responsible for the parcel in transit.
- Whether there is a stated process for lost or damaged deliveries, and who pays for return shipping.
Screenshot the listing and the delivery terms at the time of purchase. If the description later changes, your record is what you can point to.
Returns, refunds and change of mind
Returns fall into two different categories, and mixing them up causes most of the confusion:
- Change of mind. Whether you can return an unused item because you no longer want it depends on the seller's own policy. There is no assumption that a store must accept change-of-mind returns, so read the policy before ordering.
- Problems with the goods. These are dealt with under consumer guarantees, which the ACCC says apply to the seller you buy from.
Before buying, check the policy for: the return window and how it is counted; who pays return postage; whether the item must be unopened; whether sale or clearance items are excluded; whether return shipping for faulty goods is covered; and whether refunds are issued to the original payment method or as store credit.
Warranties and faulty goods
Read the warranty section carefully, because marketing headlines and warranty documents often say different things. Look for the warranty period, what it covers, what it excludes, whether it is a manufacturer's warranty or a seller's warranty, and whether you must return the item overseas to make a claim.
An overseas warranty can be usable in principle but impractical in practice. If a claim requires shipping a heavy item back to another country at your cost, that is a real cost to weigh before you buy, not a detail to discover after the item fails.
If a listing refers to Australian Consumer Law rights alongside a warranty, note that these are separate things: a warranty is a promise the business makes, while consumer guarantees are rights that apply to the seller.
Prices, fees, inclusions and exclusions
The ACCC specifically advises checking service providers' own websites for the full details of prices, additional fees, inclusions and exclusions. Apply that at checkout:
- Compare the headline price with the final total, including postage, handling and any currency conversion.
- Check whether import duties, taxes or customs charges are included or billed separately on arrival.
- Check what is actually included — cables, accessories, batteries, installation, software licences, subscriptions.
- Check recurring charges: free trials that roll into paid plans, auto-renewals, and how to cancel.
- Check whether the listed price is conditional, for example tied to a minimum spend, a membership or a coupon.
Pre-purchase checklist
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Seller identity | Seller name on the order, plus phone number, physical address and ABN or other business registration number |
| Platform vs seller | Confirm consumer guarantees run against the seller, not the marketplace |
| Overseas seller | Whether the business directly offers goods or services to consumers in Australia |
| Delivery | Stock status, delivery window, shipping cost, Authority to Leave, tracking, lost-parcel process |
| Returns | Return window, condition required, who pays return postage, exclusions |
| Warranty | Period, coverage, exclusions, whether claims require overseas shipping |
| Price | Final total, duties and taxes, inclusions and exclusions, recurring charges |
| Records | Listing, checkout total, policies and confirmation email saved |
Questions worth verifying yourself
Consumer law and platform policies change, and the details depend on your specific order. Confirm directly with the seller or the ACCC's buying-online guidance: which entity is the seller of record; whether the business is based in Australia or overseas and whether it directly offers goods to Australian consumers; the exact delivery and returns terms that apply to your order; and how a warranty claim is made and paid for.
If a dispute has already arisen and you cannot resolve it with the seller, check the ACCC's published guidance on complaints and your state or territory consumer affairs agency for the process that applies to you.
Next steps
Pick one purchase you are considering right now and work through the checklist against the actual listing: name the seller, find their contact details and registration number, open the delivery and returns policies, and read the warranty exclusions. If any of those are missing, unclear, or buried behind a contact form, treat that as information rather than an obstacle — you can ask the seller to confirm in writing before you pay, or choose a seller whose terms are easier to read.
Then save your records: the listing, the checkout total, the policies as at the date of purchase, and the confirmation email. Those documents are what you will rely on if the parcel does not arrive or the item is not right.
General information only
This article is general information about shopping online in Australia, not legal, financial or consumer advice, and not a recommendation to buy from any seller or platform. It reflects the ACCC's guidance on buying online as published at the source above at the time of writing; terms, policies and laws can change, and your rights depend on the facts of your purchase. Confirm the details with the seller and with official sources before relying on them. Australian Today is not a regulator, a government body, a complaints handler, a comparison service or a seller, and it does not act on behalf of any business mentioned or linked here.