Buying goods and services
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In Queensland, laws and regulations protect you when buying goods or services in person, online or over the phone. However, most consumer protection laws don’t apply to private sales.
When you need legal advice
Get legal advice if you have:
- a dispute about a private sale
- a dispute with the supplier of goods or services that you never ordered or agreed to
- problems terminating (ending) an unsolicited consumer agreement
- a dispute about buying or selling goods online
- signed a credit contract (borrowing money to buy something) that you want to cancel.
How to get legal advice
Private sales of goods and services
A private sale is when you buy goods and services in person, online or over the phone from another person who isn't usually in the business of trading goods and services.
Most consumer protection laws don't apply to private sales.
A private sale creates a legally binding contract where the terms may be verbal, written or a combination of both.
When buying goods or services online using a credit card, you may be able to stop payment if the goods or services aren't delivered, even if it was a private sale.
When buying goods and services, the law says they must be fit for their purpose. How much you paid for them is relevant to whether they’re fit for purpose.
Private sale agreements can often be hard to enforce as it can be difficult to prove what was agreed. Sometimes, the goods or services are only for a small value and you'll need to consider whether it is worth taking legal action.
Unsolicited goods and services
Unsolicited goods or services are those you've not asked for or paid for.
They can be delivered to you, even if you didn't ask for them. You don't have to pay for any goods or services received if you didn’t agree to buy them, and you don't have to pay for them to be returned.
It's unlawful for a person or business to ask you to pay for unordered goods or services unless they have reasonable cause to believe they should be paid for.
If there's a dispute with a business or person demanding payment for unordered goods or services, they'll have to prove you agreed to buy the goods or services.
Keeping unordered goods
If you receive unordered goods, the supplier can recover the goods from you—generally within 3 months from the day after the goods were received.
If you've written to the supplier telling them you've received unsolicited goods, the recovery period will be reduced to 1 month, starting on the day after the notice was given.
The notice must be in writing and must include:
- your name and address
- the address where the goods are being kept (not necessarily your own address)
- a statement that the goods are unsolicited.
If the supplier doesn't take any action to recover the goods within the recovery period, you may be able to keep the goods for free.
During the recovery period, any unsolicited goods and services must be kept in a good condition and available for collection by the supplier. If you wilfully or unlawfully damage the goods during this time, you may have to pay compensation.
If you know the goods are meant for someone else (e.g. the package was clearly addressed to another person), these are not unsolicited goods and you're not allowed to keep them.
Unsolicited consumer agreements
The Australian Consumer Law gives extra protections to people buying goods or services from ‘unsolicited consumer agreements’ (e.g. door-to-door sales or phone calls from telemarketers). These usually come from sales when the seller approaches you first, rather than when you've contacted the seller with an interest in buying their goods or services.
These rights cannot be waived (given away) by the consumer, and it's unlawful for a supplier to try and persuade a consumer to do so.
A consumer agreement is unsolicited if all of the below apply:
- It's for the supply of goods or services
- It's been made over the phone or in a place other than the business or trade premises of the supplier
- You didn't invite the dealer to come to that place or call you
- The price is more than $100.
Common situations where you may enter into an unsolicited consumer agreement include:
- a door-to-door salesperson coming to your house
- phone calls from telemarketers
- being approached by a salesperson in the common area of a shopping centre.
It's not considered an unsolicited agreement if you've invited a salesperson to your house or asked them to phone you at a specific time to discuss buying the goods or services.
Being contacted about unsolicited consumer agreements
A salesperson can only contact you in person about unsolicited consumer agreements on:
- weekdays between 9am and 6pm (8pm for telemarketing)
- Saturdays between 9am and 5pm.
A salesperson can only contact you by telephone about unsolicited consumer agreements on:
- weekdays between 9 am and 8 pm
- Saturdays between 9 am and 5 pm.
They're not allowed to contact you on Sundays or public holidays.
They can't call you if you're on the Do Not Call Register.
To stop door-to-door sellers knocking on your door, get a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker from the Office of Fair Trading. Registered charities are exempt from this and may still contact you if you have a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker.
If you ask a salesperson to leave your home, they must do so immediately. If they're told to leave, they can't contact you again (on behalf of the same supplier) for at least 30 days.
Cooling-off period
Unsolicited agreements have a statutory cooling-off period, where you can terminate the agreement within 10 business days without penalty.
In some situations, if the supplier breaches certain rules for unsolicited consumer agreements, the cooling off period may be extended to 3 or 6 months. For example, if negotiation of the agreement occurs outside the permitted hours, the consumer has 3 months to terminate the agreement. If a consumer is not told of their rights to terminate an agreement, they have up to 6 months to terminate the agreement.
To terminate the agreement within the cooling-off period, you must let the supplier know, either verbally or in writing (preferred).
You can send a written notice to terminate by post, email, fax or hand delivered. There's no set form for this notice.
Copies of the agreement
The supplier must give you a written copy of the agreement once it's been made.
They must give it to you:
- for agreements made in person—immediately after it's been signed
- for agreements made over the phone—within 5 business days of the agreement being signed (by post or electronically, if agreed).
Pyramid selling schemes and other scams
Pyramid selling schemes require all new participants to provide a financial or non-financial benefit to the existing participants of the scheme to become a member. New participants are then promised a financial or non-financial benefit for recruiting others to join the scheme.
Many pyramid selling schemes are illegal.
Learn about different scams and how to protect yourself (including pyramid selling schemes, investment scams and lottery and competition scams)
Report a scam.
Online shopping
When you buy or sell goods or services online you enter into a contract.
Read consumer tips for online shopping, including buying from overseas websites and using auction websites, such as eBay, on the Office of Fair Trading website.
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal
You can apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) to hear disputes about:
- the supply of goods and services, such as food, clothes, appliances, furniture and car repairs for amounts under $25,000
- a defective car for amounts up to $100,000.
You should try to resolve your dispute with the other party before asking QCAT to hear your dispute.
See Consumer credit and guarantees.
How to get legal advice
We may give legal advice about disputes involving consumer contracts, private sales or unsolicited goods and services, including matters where products have been sold in situations where there's been high pressure sales tactics.
Contact us
Other places to get legal advice:
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Related information
Disclaimer: This content is for general purposes only and not legal advice. If you have a legal problem, please contact us or speak to a lawyer. View our full disclaimer.
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