Is the company respectable?

Read what others think about the company

Do a search of the company’s name to see what others say about it. It is often possible to find pages where other customers have posted opinions of the company. Do not just read customer opinions on the company’s own website as critical comments are rarely published. Also, see if the company is on social media. It is usually possible to read opinions and comments there.

If you want to know if other consumers experienced problems with a company, you can search for reports in the Swedish Consumer Agency’s register. There you can find out if the company has been reported by others. But keep in mind that a report does not automatically mean that the company violated any rules.

Search in the Swedish Consumer Agency’s register (information in swedish)

Check contact information for the company

Investigate if there is real contact information for the company. There should be a phone number, address, email address and corporate identification number. If contact information is missing, you should be cautious. If a company is missing contact information, you cannot check who you are buying from, and you will have no one to contact if there is a problem with the delivery.

You can also try to call the company to see how easy they are to get a hold of. If there is nothing but a contact form on the webpage you should be cautious.

Read the terms of agreement

Always read the terms of agreement or purchase terms before you buy anything from a company. The terms should, among other things, state how and when the delivery is made and how you can withdraw from your purchase. By reading the terms, you also get information on what you can do if there is anything wrong with the product or service you have bought. If any extra costs arise in the purchase, they should also be included in the terms.

Be aware of how you are paying

Only provide your bank card number if you are going to buy something. Never send a credit card number by email or a contact form.

If you pay by credit card or by invoice, the purchase is covered by the Consumer Credit Act. This provides an extra good protection. You can then turn to the creditor, meaning the card issuer (the bank) or the company you received the invoice from, and request a repayment if for example the product is not delivered within the agreed time.

If you pay directly, you lose the possibility to withhold the payment if the product, for example, is incorrect or is not delivered.

Check the right of withdraw before the purchase

If you are shopping remotely, for example via an online store within Sweden and the EU, you most often have a right of withdraw on your purchase for 14 days. If you buy from a company in countries outside the EU, other rules apply.

Remember that you may need to pay for return postage if you want to send the product back.

Your right to file complaint

You always have a right to file complaint for at least two years if you purchase from a company within the EU, Norway and Iceland. Some countries may have a longer time. In Sweden, you have the right to file complaint for three years.

The right to file complaint means that if any fault on the product you bought appears, you can have it fixed, get a new product or receive a refund.

When you file complaint instead of buying a new product, you save money and can contribute to a better environment. The companies get the chance to correct the faults and have a push in the right direction to make and sell better goods and services.

Save all receipts, order confirmations, payment transfers and the like so that you can show that you have bought the product and when the purchase was made. If you send a package back, you can receive a package number. Using the package number, you can trace the package if it gets lost.

Read more about filing a complaint

Find out where the company is located

If you shop within the EU, you have a stronger protection as a consumer compared with if you shop from a country outside the EU. It is therefore good to find out where the company is located. Even if the company writes in Swedish on the website, it is not certain that the company is in Sweden.

It is usually stated in the terms where the company is located. See if you can find contact information and the address for the company.

If a foreign company addresses Swedish consumers, Swedish law should apply. If a company writes in Swedish or provides prices in SEK, they are addressing Swedish consumers.

But even if Swedish law is to apply, it is not certain that a foreign company will follow the National Board of Consumer Disputes’ (ARN) recommendations in a dispute. Therefore, it is good to think about where you are purchasing from.