The Australian Consumer Law provides protection for consumer relating to goods as well as services.
Consumer guarantees products must meet
The law automatically gives consumers rights when they buy goods and services from you. These are called consumer guarantees.
There are 9 consumer guarantees that apply to any goods purchased from businesses in Queensland.
Consumer guarantees for goods apply to:
- anything purchased
- from 1 July 2021 for $100,000 or less
- before 1 July 2021 for $40,000 or less
- anything for personal or household use, regardless of price
- vehicles and trailers.
Consumer guarantees for goods do not apply to:
- goods bought before 1 January 2011 (these are covered under older laws)
- goods the consumer would normally use for business
- one-off sales by private sellers, garage sales or school fetes (though guarantees about clear title still apply)
- auctions where the auctioneer is the owner’s agent
- goods purchased for on-sale (re-supply)
- goods the consumer plans to use up or transform during a production, manufacturing or repair process.
A consumer can seek a remedy if they buy something that doesn't meet these guarantees. This means you must fix the fault. This might be a refund, repair, replacement or compensation for the drop in value of the product.
Acceptable quality
You guarantee that goods will be of acceptable quality. This means they must:
- be fit for all of their usual purposes
- look acceptable in appearance and finish
- have no defects
- be safe
- be durable.
This acceptable quality test considers:
- the nature of the goods
- the price paid for the goods
- any claims the manufacturers make on the packaging or labels
- anything you or your salespeople claim about the goods.
Below are a series of videos from Fair Trading Queensland that act as a basic guide to your rights and responsibilities of those that provide goods andservices