As more Koreans turn on their computers to shop, e-commerce disputes are growing, government data showed yesterday (April 10).

The number of disputes filed to the Electronic Commerce Mediation Committee rose to 11,076 in 2007, up from 308 in 2001. The ECMC is an arbitration body for e-commerce transactions, under the state-run Korea Institute for Electronic Commerce.

E-commerce stood at 516.5 trillion won (US$529.2 billion) in Korea last year, compared with 11.9 billion won ($12.18 million) in 2001.

Nearly half, or 48.1 per cent, of the disputes involve cancellations of the purchase and refund, while 15.6 per cent arises from the delivery of the products. Clothing and fashion items account for about 40 per cent of the cases, while home appliances and IT gadgets took up 30 per cent.