'I am an avid reader of your column, which is interesting and informative. I am writing with reference to an article entitled 'Almost half the Maltese shop online' (The Times, June 21).

'I wonder how many of your readers shop from play.com. The choice of goods, such as DVDs, is wide and prices are good. Delivery of goods usually takes place within a week. The problem is that, this is the second time in two months that a DVD was 'mislaid'. I would like to know if any of your readers have had the same experience. I have called Maltapost to report the loss, but to no avail. I was told this happened frequently.

'Play.com replaced the first loss, but I find it embarrassing to put in a second claim. I blamed the first loss on bad luck, but I'm now wondering if it is a matter of carelessness.' (Monica Vella) These are excerpts from the article by Ivan Camilleri, referred to by Ms Vella:

'A new Euro barometer survey shows that Maltese consumers are getting accustomed to buying services and products over the internet. Forty-four per cent of Maltese respondents said they used the internet to make a purchase in the past year. Although the average in the EU is higher, standing at 56 per cent, Malta is stronger when it comes to cross-border purchases.

'Twenty-three per cent of Maltese respondents said they bought a service or a product from another country outside Malta over the internet in the past 12 months.

This percentage is much higher than the average in the EU where consumers tend to be rather more cautious when making online purchases from outside their country. According to the survey, the average cross-border e-purchases in the EU 27 over the past 12 months stood at only seven per cent.

'The study was conducted in Malta by Misco on a random sample of 500 respondents. It shows that Maltese consumers tend to be more confident when using the net to make purchases from abroad...'