Fair Trading services

We provide a wide range of services to deliver a fair and safe marketplace for Queensland consumers and businesses.

Consumer services

We provide the following services for consumers.

Expand all | Collapse all

Information about consumer rights

Find advice about your rights when it comes to:

• guarantees, warranties and refunds
• tips for becoming a smart shopper
• avoiding unfair business practices.

We also provide targeted advice for:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers
• consumers with a disability
• non-English speakers
• protecting yourself when online gambling.

Help resolving complaints

Before you make a complaint to OFT, you need to talk to a business to try to resolve the issue.

Read more about how to raise a consumer issue with a business.

If that doesn't work, you can make a complaint to us and we will raise the issue with them to resolve it.

Read more about consumer complaints.

Investigation and enforcement

We investigate possible breaches of consumer protection laws and may take enforcement action against businesses that have broken the rules.

Read more about OFT's enforcement processes.

Scam alerts

We can help you identify common and recent scams.

Find out how to report a scam—including to ScamWatch—to help others be aware.

Read more about scams and fraud.

Property advice

We offer:

• advice about buying a home
• advice about selling a home.

This includes advice about standalone houses and units in large complexes.

Product safety advice

We make sure your products are safe and provide advice about how to use them safely.

We also monitor and enforce product safety standards and bans for household goods, and toys by:

• conducting marketplace surveillance
• regularly testing products
• investigating complaints
• negotiating recalls and issuing warnings.

Find out how to make a product safety complaint.

Licence and registrations checks

We provide registers you can easily search to:

• check if an individual or corporation is licensed by us
• check the registration of an incorporated association, charity or cooperative.

Expand all | Collapse all

Licensing and regulating occupations

We ensure high professional standards by licensing and regulating workers in a range of occupations, including:

• auctioneers of chattel and real property
• debt collectors and process servers
• inbound tour operators
• introduction agents
• motor dealers
• property agents and managers
• second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers
• security providers
• tattoo parlour operators and tattooists.

Search the register to check if someone is licensed.

Registering incorporated associations, charities and cooperatives

We can help you form and run:

• an incorporated association
• a charity
• a cooperative.

Search the register for incorporated associations, charities and cooperatives.