If You Haven't Accessed the eBook Content, 90% Refund Upon Cancellation Even After 7 Days

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] If an e-book user has not accessed the content, they can receive a full refund if canceled within 7 days, and a 90% refund of the payment amount if canceled after 7 days.

The Fair Trade Commission reviewed the terms and conditions of four domestic e-book platform operators and ordered corrections to 10 types of unfair contract terms.

Until now, withdrawal of subscription and refunds were not allowed due to arbitrary reasons set by the operators, and only cancellation reservations effective from the following month were possible, with immediate contract termination not allowed.

Since withdrawal of subscription is possible unless it falls under the restrictions specified in the Electronic Commerce Act, arbitrary reasons that are not legal grounds should not be set to unfairly limit the right to withdraw. Accordingly, if the content has not been accessed, a full refund is available if canceled within 7 days, and a 90% refund of the payment amount is available if canceled after 7 days.

Also, refunds were not allowed when payments were made via Naver Pay, Munhwa Nuri Card, book gift certificates, Happy Money gift certificates, cultural gift certificates, and overseas payment methods. However, if the contract is canceled, the operator has an obligation to restore the user’s original state by providing a refund, so refusal of refunds due to security issues of payment methods is not permitted. Accordingly, these clauses were deleted.

Additionally, the following clauses were corrected: ▲ refunding with deposit without prior notice ▲ deletion of points and restriction of membership without prior notice ▲ unilateral service changes and restriction of bulletin board access ▲ suspension or termination of free usage rights without prior notice ▲ use of user posts for promotional purposes without consent ▲ clauses requiring customers to compensate for all damages ▲ unfair operator exemption clauses ▲ agreement clauses on jurisdiction unfavorable to customers.

A Fair Trade Commission official stated, "Refund guarantees in the e-book subscription service sector are institutionally secured, and strengthening the operator’s obligation to notify in advance when changing services is expected to contribute to damage prevention," adding, "The Fair Trade Commission plans to continuously inspect unfair contract terms in subscription and sharing economy sectors to promote consumer rights in non-face-to-face transactions."