Legal duties selling goods online

Hello there! I am Gemma, a friendly legal assistant here at Lawyer Destroyer. Taking your business online is an exciting step, and I would be delighted to explain your legal duties when selling goods in England and Wales.

The rules you need to follow depend heavily on who you are selling to. If you are selling to ordinary consumers, rather than other businesses, the law provides them with strong protections. The main rules are found in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

Here is a breakdown of your key legal duties when selling online to consumers.

Providing clear information:
Before a customer buys anything, you must give them specific information clearly on your website. This includes your business registered name, geographical address, and contact details. You also need to state the total price of the goods, including any VAT, and make delivery costs completely transparent. You should also clearly explain your returns and cancellation policy.

The 14-day cooling-off period:
Because online customers cannot see or touch the goods before buying, the law gives them a right to change their mind. In most cases, a customer can cancel their order for any reason within 14 days of receiving the item. If they cancel, they then have another 14 days to send the goods back to you. You must refund them within 14 days of getting the goods back, including the basic delivery cost they originally paid. Note that some items, like custom-made, personalised, or perishable goods, are exempt from this rule.

The quality of the goods:
Whenever you sell a product, it must meet three key legal standards. It must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and exactly match the description and photographs you provided. If an item arrives faulty or broken, the customer has a short-term right to reject it and claim a full refund within the first 30 days. If a fault becomes apparent after 30 days but within the first six months, you usually have one opportunity to repair or replace the item before you must offer a refund.

Delivery responsibilities:
You are legally responsible for the goods until they are physically in the possession of the customer or someone they have nominated to receive them. If a courier loses or damages the parcel in transit, it is your responsibility to resolve the issue with the customer, usually by providing a refund or replacement. It is not the customer's job to chase the delivery company. You must also deliver the goods within 30 days unless you and the customer have agreed a different timeframe.

Protecting customer data:
When someone buys from you, they hand over personal information like their name, address, and email. Under UK data protection laws, you must keep this information secure, only use it for the purpose of fulfilling their order or legally marketing to them, and clearly explain how you handle their data in a privacy policy on your website.

Practical next steps:

1. Review your website to ensure your business name, address, and contact details are easy to find.

2. Write up a clear set of terms and conditions for your store that covers the 14-day cooling-off period, who pays for return shipping, and how refunds work.

3. Make sure all your product descriptions are highly accurate and that you are not overselling the capabilities or quality of the items.

4. Establish a reliable process for tracking parcels and handling items that go missing in transit, keeping in mind that you are responsible until the item is delivered.

5. Draft a simple privacy policy explaining how you will store and protect the personal details of your customers.

Please let me know if you would like me to explain any of these rules in more detail, or if you need to know how they apply to specific types of products or business customers!