Online Trading Laws
Online trading laws relate to people who sell things over the internet. One of the main developments of this is trading online through sites such as eBay and Amazon. Online trading laws come under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations. These regulations comes from European law and relates to all types of distance selling whether it’s over the phone, through digital TV, by mail or over the internet.
These regulations are designed to make online trading fairer, easier and clearer. The online trading laws are to protect consumers from situations such as paying for an item which is never received.
Main Provisions of the Distance Selling Regulation
The key features of the regulations are that sellers must give consumers clear information. This information includes details of the goods or service, delivery arrangements and payment. Information must also be supplied on the consumers’ cancellation right before they purchase anything.
The second key feature is that the information must be provided in writing. With online selling this is usually quite easy to show through the use of invoices being emailed and their web pages.
It is also a condition of online trading laws that delivery is made within 30 days. This time scale can be different if it is agreed otherwise between the parties involved.
Another key issue that the regulation implements is that the consumer has a cooling-off period of seven working days. This cooling-off period means consumers can return items if they don’t want or need them. It can be difficult, even with all the information to get the right item. This is especially the case when it comes to clothes.
If the seven days cooling off period was not communicated to the consumer, this period gets extended to 3 months.
Consumers also have the right to withdraw from a contract, even after the goods are delivered and the consumer is entailed to a full refund within 30 days. However, there are a number of exceptions which include sales by auction.
Sale of Goods Act
Online trading also comes under other laws that deal with goods and services. One of the main pieces of legislation is the Sale of Goods Act which can apply to online trading.
The Sale of Goods Act means sellers have to make sure their goods are fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. This means that the goods purchased have to be what they are sold as and not be faulty in anyway unless this was clearly stated.
An example of fit for purpose is if someone ordered an Xbox online and just received the Xbox packaging, the seller said they sold what they described, “a box.” This is something that would be found to be unacceptable and the seller will be made to refund the money.
Fair trading, trade descriptions and Trading Standards
Another key issue with selling from a distance such as online is with accuracy of the description of what is being sold. There are a number of companies that will sell items that are not quite as what they were described as online or in a magazine.
To enforce online trading laws, the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) can impose penalties for breaches of the laws. These penalties can include stopping businesses that are in breach of online trading rules.