FY2017 Summary of inquiries about cross-border consumer disputes received by Cross-border Consumer Center Japan (CCJ)

This summary reflects inquiries about cross-border consumer disputes received by Cross-border Consumer Center Japan (CCJ) in the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan (NCAC). Details of the information will be described on the "Annual Report on Consumer Affairs 2018", which will be released on NCAC's website in October 2018.

Trends and characteristics in FY2017

• CCJ received 4,086 inquiries about cross-border consumer disputes in FY2017. The number of inquiries continued to exceed 4,000 since FY2013.
• Inquiries from consumers aged 20s to 50s accounted for 85% of the total.
• Almost all of the inquiries (97%) were about trouble over online shopping. Credit card payment accounted for about 80% of all the payment methods.
• The breakdown of inquiries by type of trouble showed that inquiries related to "trouble over cancellation" accounted for 36% of the total, followed by those related to "trouble over fraud or counterfeit products" (26%).
• The breakdown of inquiries by product/service category showed that inquiries about "clothes", "footwear" and "small articles like bags", which are often subjected to fraud or counterfeiting, accounted for about 40% of the total.
• The most common home country of businesses related to the inquiries was the US (31%), followed by China (13%), and the UK (8%). These three countries occupy about 50% of all.