Wendy Knowler Exploding Charger, Dirty 'new' Sofa: When E-commerce Giants Deliver A Dud

Kyle Wales of Cape Town bought a laptop on Takealot, and when its charger exploded recently, he went looking for an invoice on the app in order to make a warranty claim. When he couldnt access it, he turned to Takealot for help. But the e-tail giant said its third-party supplier was non-responsive to requests to provide one. Meanwhile, some Makro online customers dealings with third-party suppliers on that platform have gone weirdly wrong: theyve received poor imitations of the top branded products, completely wrong orders and in one case the new couches with clear signs of prior use gouges and crumbs and fluff in the seats. Where does the consumer stand? Wendy Knowler explains.

• News24 Business front page .

You choose to buy your stuff from a reputable online retail site because you trust that theyre going to deliver as promised, right?

But what if that appliance, sofa or laptop you bought is actually being supplied by a third-party merchant which is paying the big e-tailer to host them on the platform.

And the goods you get are either not what you ordered, or second-hand, stolen, or they dont come with an invoice, meaning you cant make a warranty claim. Must the host platform take responsibility?