Online Purchase Parameters Fortified and Simplified

An interesting ruling was made in the British Court of Appeals recently …

The justices determined that British customers who use a credit card abroad or on the internet will be given the same protection as those who shop in Britain.

This decision allows purchasers to reclaim funds from their card company if the product they buy is faulty or does not arrive. As is the case in many countries, such a law already exists if goods are bought in Britain.

The plaintiff in the case was the government itself, on behalf of its consumers. The Office of Fair Trading targeted three representative credit card companies — Lloyds TSB, Tesco Personal Finance and American Express — in the court action for the purpose of expanding those rights to include purchased goods outside the United Kingdom or in cyberspace.

This decision can make issuers liable for credit card purchases over the internet from fraudulent foreign suppliers who failed to deliver. From their perspective, the original ruling had been expected to add 1billion in profits. However, now they’re more accountable, not only to the cardholder, but to the transaction itself.

With...