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ONLINE shopping addict? Make sure you know your rights, and whether it's worth picking up extra protection from your credit card provider, in this guide.

We'll take a look at how online purchases are protected against loss or damage in transit and when you can get a refund when your item doesn't live up to its online promise.

Your rights when shopping online: purchases

Knowing your basic rights to return or query online purchases can make resolving disputes with retailers a whole lot easier.

Distance selling regulations:

Distance selling legislation should apply to most purchases you make online, they'll cover most transactions when you have never physically met face to face with the retailer at any point.

Distance selling law is designed to help consumers get what they expect: the item they wanted in good time.

The legislation says that consumers should have a right to a refund when items fail to match the information a retailer gave prior to purchase and, often more helpfully, for any reason within a seven-day cooling-off period.

The seven working day cooling-off period starts on the day after consumers receive their goods. The retailer has a responsibility to tell them, in writing, how to return goods and they may have to pay for this return, though this cost should be refunded.

If they don't do this, consumers have additional time to return their items.

It also means that consumers have the right to a refund if their items aren't delivered by an agreed date. When no date was agreed, they should get a refund if the items haven't arrived after 30 days of placing the order.

Customised and perishable goods as well as newspapers, periodicals and magazines (but not books) are excluded from refunds, for obvious reasons. Sealed audio, video or computer software that has been opened can also not be returned.

Less obviously, the refund period doesn't apply to purchases made on online auction sites such as eBay.

Sale of Goods Act 1979:

Distance selling regulations are part of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 but other parts of this consumer cover-all are also useful to know when you buy online.

The rules say that goods should be:

• Satisfactory: that is, of a quality that you could reasonably expect from the information available to you at the time of purchase.
• As described: that is, the label should tell the truth or the information you received before purchasing should be correct (although the latter is covered in the rules above).
• Fit for purpose: that is, work for what you bought it for.
• Last a reasonable length of time: again, reasonable is a tricky word here and depends on the information the seller supplied at time of purchase.

Section 75:

The Sale of Goods Act is designed to offer protection to ensure that consumers get a fair deal on what they buy.

The legislation can be particularly challenging, however, when retailers refuse to accept their responsibilities or the company you bought from goes out of business.

That's why, for goods that are over £100, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act can be particularly helpful.

The clause says that credit card providers are equally liable, with retailers, for ensuring that goods comply with the consumer laws above.

There are restrictions, however. See our full Section 75 guide for more details.

Credit card purchase protection:

Finally, it's worth being aware that some credit card providers offer purchase protection insurance and/or internet delivery insurance on purchases made with their cards.

Purchase protection insurance usually covers items bought with the card against theft, loss or accidental damage for up to 90 days after the purchase date.

However, check the small print because many policies exclude delivered purchases, especially problems (i.e. damage or loss) that happens whilst they are in transit.

Internet delivery insurance, on the other hand, covers purchases made online against theft, loss and damage. But only until they arrive safely at your home address.

We've covered in more detail in this guide how these extra purchase protection policies compare with cover under Section 75.

Your rights when shopping online: fraud

When debit or credit cards are used fraudulently but the consumer is not at fault they should be refunded the full amount.

The Lending Code states that credit card holders can be liable for the first £50 of a fraudulent transaction.

However, this only applies when the cardholder has failed to inform their bank before the fraud takes place that they've had their card lost or stolen or the account has been, to their knowledge, compromised in some other way.

The onus is on the credit card provider to prove that the consumer was involved in the fraud or negligent of their personal information. If they cannot prove this, the cardholder will not be held liable.

See our knowledgebase faq for more information on what happens if you become a victim of credit card fraud.

Five ways to shop safe online:

The best method of protection against both bad retail experiences and fraud, and the least stressful, is taking as much care as possible to keep safe in the first place.

1. Shop with companies you trust: Look for sites that have a clear returns policy already in place and that take you to an encrypted page (usually a padlock icon on the top left or bottom right hand your browser will indicate this) when you come to enter your credit card details.

2. Read and re-read product descriptions: As we saw in the first section, many disputes with retailers can be avoided, or at least resolved much more quickly, when consumers know exactly what they're buying.

3. If you're suspicious, check reviews online: news often travels fast about dodgy retailers. Don't believe everything you read online but, if you're already suspicious, we'd say that bad reviews should be enough to make you go elsewhere.

4. Check your payment method for help with problems: We've already seen that credit card users get statutory assistance from their provider on some purchases and additional insurance in the case of some cards, too. Check with your card provider if you're not sure whether you have additional protection and remember if you used a third party payment provider, such as Paypal, they may be able to help too.

5. The sooner you complain the better: The seven working days refund limit on online purchases is often your best bet when returning online goods: it saves an argument.

Many of the Sale of Goods Act points are also easier to argue the sooner you report the fault.

If, for whatever reason, you didn't realise that the good was faulty or not as described for some time, though, be persistent.

Under the Limitations Act, consumers have up to six years after they've bought a good to complain about it.

In Scotland, a similar piece of legislation called the Prescription and Limitation Act gives consumers five years after they first realised there was a problem to complain.

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