Now let's tackle unreliable trustmarks

1 feb 2012 - The Netherlands Consumer Authority has announced that it will be keeping a close eye on unreliable webshops. That's good news! But we need more than that: trustmarks that do nothing should also be tackled. Only then can consumers be certain of what is and isn't reliable.

The Netherlands Consumer Authority's plan to increase their supervision of unreliable webshops is fully in keeping Thuiswinkel.org's vision and can therefore count on our support. As organised pressure group we are aware of the importance for both consumers and webshops of guaranteeing quality and reliability. We have spent years working on this, with our Thuiswinkel Waarborg. Our members fulfil all laws and legislation and in many fields even offer more certainties than statutorily required. After all, the entire branch benefits from a good imago. This requires satisfied customers. We have spent years arguing this case, because webshops that are less stringent about laws and legislation do not contribute to ensuring a level playing-field for webshops.

But it will take more than this. As long as there are all sorts of bad trustmarks for webshops, consumers lack clarity about who is and isn't reliable. There has been a veritable proliferation in trustmarks. Most trustmarks promise the earth, but actually do very little. They do little or nothing to monitor adherence to statutory regulations. In November we urged the Netherlands Consumer Authority to give this matter extra priority. What's worse is that the names of new trustmarks often resemble that of the Thuiswinkel Waarborg. This generates a false sense of familiarity.

For the rest, there are still cases of webshops making illegal use of the Thuiswinkel Waarborg. We are continually on the alert for this and have a special place for 'Reporting abuse of the Thuiswinkel Waarborg logo', where both consumers and webshops can report illegal usage. At the moment the situation is bad with regard to clarity surrounding trustmarks. An important task for the Netherlands Consumer Authority.