I was the victim of a large number of unauthorized charges on my credit cards that has resulted in high interest and bank fees. Unaware of the transactions I was deemed the " billing '' party and not the " shipping '' party. In the process of recovering the items from the individual who placed the charges on my account and being sure the items were returned, I discovered how difficult it is to return items because there is no recognizable footprint for internet transactions. If the " shipped '' party does not possess their electronic record ( email confirmation of the transaction ), it may be difficult to access the electronic record any other way. Banks tell me they have no information for dot.com transactions. Merchants tell me they ca n't understand and synthesize their records and easily tie the records back to the original transactions. Meanwhile, the interest and fees charged by the credit card mount for the consumer. 
The problem with record keeping starts at purchase. In my case : Dot.com merchants never validated or asked whether the purchaser and the credit card owner were the same. With this, merchants invited the possibility of an unauthorized transaction and bear none of the burden of interest charges and fees or other consequences to the " billed '' party. 

Once the transaction occurred, the merchant 's loyalty was only to the " shipped '' party. Dot.com merchants did not recognize the " billed '' party ( me ) as a legitimate party. Most would not correspond with me, send refund check for returned merchandise to me, share specific information about the account, or in some cases, even talk to me. 

As the 'billed '' party, I received only information on the credit card statement : transaction date, merchant, and total cost. These are not sufficient information to return an item for a refund. 
Ultimately, most of the items have been returned because of my persistance and luck with finding pieces of information. I am left with an estimated {$1000.00} in interest and fee charges. I feel the inaccessibility of information contributed greatly to not being able to return items sooner. 
At risk are those who are not tech savvy, the XXXX, the elderly, who could potentially incur large credit card balances and be unable to trace charges and make returns because of the morass of data surrounding their transactions should they be unable to keep accurate personal records. In the meantime, the credit card company is charging interest on transactions that this consumer is unable to resolve without the merchants ' cooperation. 
