Your rights, shopping & pricing

No matter how a business communicates with you, have the right to receive accurate and truthful messages about the goods and services that you buy. There are laws in place to protect you from false, misleading and deceptive selling practices. Also find out about spam, unsolicited goods and services, and testimonials and endorsements.

While you should carefully consider offers and promotions, you do not need to assume that all people who knock on your door, ring you up, or send you offers in the mail are out to scam you. There are lots of reputable direct selling and marketing in Australia this type of trading can be convenient for many consumers.

You have many options for paying for your purchases, such as EFTPOS and layby. You can also save money by using discount vouchers and taking up interest free promotions. Find out about these topics, as well as what you can do if you are overcharged or mislead about prices. Petrol price information is here too.

To avoid an unpleasant online shopping experience, protect yourself against the risks and make sure you know your consumer rights. Your rights will be different, depending on whether the seller is located overseas or in Australia and whether you made your purchase from a business or at an auction.

There is a scam out there for everyone. Stay one step ahead of the scammers. Read The Little Black Book of Scams and explore SCAMwatch online to get the low-down on scams which target you!

We are often asked by consumers how they can check if the business or trader they are dealing with is legitimate. Here are some tips that may help you get your research started.

When dealing with internationally based companies, you may not be protected by Australian law. Even if a foreign country has strong consumer protection laws it may be difficult to enforce that legislation on your behalf.

If you have a complaint about a business that subscribes to a voluntary industry code of conduct, you may be able to resolve it using the complaints handling procedure in the code.