The starting point in regulations concerning e-commerce and distance selling is that the customer’s legal protection in marketing and transactions should be at least the same as in any other trade.
These pages will give you basic information about distance selling in the Internet and tips on how to start an online shop. This guide is a policy of the Consumer Agency, based on existing legislation, guidelines, recommendations and settlement practice.
E-commerce is in many respects a similar method of selling as ordinary mail order selling. There are, of course, differences, and a vendor operating on the Internet can take advantage of them. Mail order transactions are conducted with catalogues which are published a few of times a year, but on the Internet it's possible to update product information continuously. The customer also expects that the online shop information is up to date, the out-of-stock items are not shown and that the displayed prices are correct.
If you are planning to start trading on the Internet, it's advisable to check that you are at least able to:
- deliver the ordered products within the time specified
- manage customer services fluently
- update your pages sufficiently quickly
Contents of an e-commerce website should be flexible, so that they serve both new and old customers well. It is not useful to create pages by repeating an old printed advertisement; you should take advantage on the Internet environment.
E-commerce can be divided into different stages. The stage the transaction is in determines what information is given to the customer and what the rights and obligations for each party are.
- The customer visits the online shop and gets a general idea of what's on offer
- The customer examines the products and selects what to buy
- Transaction is completed and a contract made
- Contract is completed, i.e. the product is delivered and the customer pays
- The product has arrived, transaction was not cancelled – what next?
Regardless of the transaction stage the customer is in, the page should at all time display buttons which the customer can click to check the following:
- who the vendor is
- the contract terms and conditions
- how the vendor is safeguarding personal information and payment security
- how the vendor handles personal information