These days, Internet activity has turned into an everyday activity for people around the world. Its growth has created an ideal platform for business transactions, between parties far away from each other. Although business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce has had a positive impact, yet every online transaction might give rise to transaction disputes, as their offline versions have done. It has been recognised that Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) will be helpful in solving online disputes. ODR combines the advantages of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and of new information technology. It reduces the cost because there is no need for traveling and parties can participate from different locations in ODR and present their evidence in writing form, such as email attachments, with copies fees and postal charges avoidable. Moreover, there is no limitation time in ODR and it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week around the world which removes the potential problems of time zone descriptions. Although Online Dispute Resolution has many advantages over traditional dispute mechanisms, yet certain of its characteristics pose fundamental problems. This study uses the content analysis method, adopting the comparative and jurisprudence approaches. It focuses on the legal issues in consumer online dispute resolution including, enforcement of outcomes, publication and confidentiality, significance of trust and redress mechanism, security and inequality of bargaining power in B2C disputes. This paper will make recommendations on how to improve ODR systems and enhance consumer protection in online transactions.
