E-consumer protection in delivery of goods: a Malaysian perspective

E-consumers nowadays are increasingly being involved in online transactions of sale of goods where mostly the transaction is cross border in nature rather than domestic. In fact, e-consumers are allure with the concept of bringing stores to the shoppers, not shoppers to the stores. For the face-to-face shopping, consumers will deal directly with the trader at the traders’ premise. Meanwhile, for the e-consumers, the communication between the purchaser and the vendor who are located in different jurisdictions or countries through web page may or may not carry information as well as details about the supplier and his place of business. Once the e-consumer has chosen the items of interest, he will then proceed to make payment by credit card or electronic cash. By this, a transaction is concluded and the buyer has performed his duty but the seller’s duty is yet to be performed. As a consumer, one would expect the goods bought to be delivered on time. The problem will arise when the seller fails to deliver the goods to consumer or he refuses to deliver the goods or late delivery of goods or wrong delivery of goods in terms of quality and quantity. Therefore, this paper will identify the e-consumer issues concerning e-delivery and analyze the extent to which present related e-commerce legislations in Malaysia could provide protection to the e-consumers as well as discuss on the availability of remedies to e-consumer in cases of breach of contract by e-traders. This paper will evaluate several Malaysian related e-commerce legislations focusing on the protection for e-consumers in this issue namely the Consumer Protection Act 1999, the Sale of Goods Act 1957 (SOGA) and the Contracts Act 1950 in preserving the interest of the e-consumers in order to overcome their anxieties as well as building up their confidence in purchasing goods online