What is this site?

This site has been set up by the EU to help unsatisfied customers. You can use it to make a complaint about a good or service you bought over the internet and find a neutral third party ("dispute resolution body") to handle the dispute. In some countries, traders are allowed to submit complaints about consumers. If this applies to your country, as a trader you will be able to use this system to complain about a consumer.

The resolution bodies listed on this site have all been checked to make sure that they meet our standards and are registered with the national authorities.

Dispute resolution bodies registered on this site.

You can use this site in any of the EU's 23 official languages plus Norwegian and Icelandic. You can see a detailed step-by-step explanation of how this website works here.

What is alternative dispute resolution?

If you have a complaint about a purchase, instead of going to court, you could opt for alternative dispute resolution. Alternative dispute resolution is the term used to describe all the different ways of resolving a complaint that don't involve going to court. Typically what happens is that you ask a neutral third party to step in and act as an intermediary between you and the trader you're complaining about. The intermediary might suggest a solution to your complaint, impose a solution on you and the other party or just bring you both together to discuss how to find a solution. You might know alternative dispute resolution as "mediation", "conciliation", "arbitration", "ombudsman" or "complaints' board". Compared with going to court, alternative dispute resolution usually costs less, is less formal and quicker.

What is online dispute resolution?

If you have a complaint about a purchase and you don't want to have to go to court, you may be able to use online dispute resolution to reach an out-of-court settlement.

Using our website, you and the trader you are complaining about can find a dispute resolution body, then go through the process of finding a solution to your complaint. Important: you can only use this system if your complaint is about an online purchase.