Legislators around the country are responding to public pressure to increase protections for consumers shopping online. | Canva
Legislators around the country are responding to public pressure to increase protections for consumers shopping online. | Canva
As online scams and predatory practices in online shopping become increasingly common, a new poll shows that 88% of Oklahomans favor stronger protections for online shoppers to prevent identity theft, counterfeit items, and the leaking of sensitive information.
“While consumers support online retailers listing items from third-party sellers, there is a near universal consensus that fraudulent online purchases are a problem," said Blake Moore, an Axis Research Data scientist. "This translates to strong support for requirements that would disclose key information about third party sellers, including name, physical address and contact information. Support for these requirements is bi-partisan and consistent across all age groups.”
Any legislation that does pass is likely to target online retailers that allow third-party sellers. These sellers have been notorious for selling counterfeit items of high-end brands, claiming that they are authentic. When these sellers draw attention, they simply start over with a new account. This has especially been a problem with Amazon's third-party sellers, an issue that it is attempting to fix through its transparency program. However, many say that Amazon is still not doing enough to address the problems.
Oklahomans are certainly not alone in their desire to have stronger protections for consumers. There is growing support for laws that protect online shoppers from fraud and stolen goods online, called the INFORM Act.
Many states are responding to the demand for more oversight. States and the federal government are considering new laws to protect online consumers from fraudulent goods by requiring sellers to make certain information about their business publicly available. Massachusetts earlier this fall held hearings on such a bill.
Online retailers are jumping on board, as well, thanks to consumer pressure. Now, all major online retailers support some version of consumer protection from fraudulent online sellers. Amazon become the most recent major retailer to publicly support the protections.
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