Online Store Regulations – What Are They?
The Online Store Regulations specify the terms of sales at the online store, including order placement method, complaint procedure, and terms for returns at the online store.
The regulations are a document which must be easily available at the online store website, and the consumer must have the opportunity of saving it on a disk.
Well-prepared regulations allow avoiding the consequences related to prohibited clauses and consumer claims, while principally it improves customers’ confidence with the store.
ARE ONLINE STORE REGULATIONS MANDATORY?
Regulations of the online store are fundamental and mandatory. Pursuant to the act on consumer rights, the seller is obligated to provide a number of information to consumers, including about the payment method and term, method and term of delivery from the entrepreneur, and the complaint handling procedure applied by the entrepreneur; method and term for withdrawal from the agreement, as well as template of termination notice form, and the costs of returning the items in the case of withdrawal from the agreement to be covered by the consumer. The Regulations serve this purpose and, because of the requirement to provide information in a clear manner, must be written in a transparent, easy to read language.
HOW TO WRITE ONLINE STORE REGULATIONS?
Developing regulations for the online store requires a careful analysis of the procurement process in a given online store. The term of online store regulations cannot differ from the processes occurring in the store. When developing the online store regulations, one should analyse the contents of particular “buttons” at the store, and contents of each of the checkboxes.
Developing online store regulations requires awareness of prohibited clauses register to avoid provisions that could be deemed prohibited.
While developing regulations, it is important not to forget that other information available on the online store website, e.g. in the tab for returns, complaints, and replacements, must comply with the regulations.
WHAT SHOULD ONLINE STORE REGULATIONS INCLUDE?
The Online Store Regulations should principally include terms regulating order placement and lead time, complaint handling procedure, terms for withdrawal from the agreement, as well as technical requirements for store operation.
Furthermore, it is important to provide the data of the Seller in the Online Store Regulations. With reference to individual businesses, one should remember that the Seller is the natural person running business under a given name; therefore, apart from the address data, the persons tax ID must be provided. In case of corporate entities, however, apart from company name and address, one should provide the VAT number and the entry in the National Court Register, as well as other information required under the law with reference to entities operating under the Commercial Law.
RETURNS AT THE ONLINE STORE?
Returns at the online store are a major issue. Firstly, because returns are a burden to the Seller,, and secondly, it is an unquestioned consumer right. One must remember that what we commonly refer to as return of products is the right to withdrawal, which cannot be contingent on anything, and the consumer has 14 days from receiving the goods to return them without stating the reason. The Seller must inform the consumer about the right to return the goods, must provide a template of termination notice, and cannot make termination contingent on anything, including having the original packaging, unbroken labels, signs of trying on, or a sending a receipt.
ONLINE STORE REGULATIONS AND THE WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY
The Privacy Policy of the Online Store is a separate document, other than the Store Regulations. The need to draft the Online Store Privacy Policy results from GDPR, and is related to the information duty imposed on the data controller, namely the Seller in the case of the online store. The Online Store Privacy Policy contains information regarding personal data processing of the customers, including designation of the data controller, indicates the purpose of processing, term of processing, and the rights of the data subjects.
Information contained in the Online Store Privacy Policy must not be copied in the Store Regulations. The Privacy Policy must be provided as a separate tab, e.g. in the store footer.
The Privacy Policy must also include information regarding cookies and the Seller’s use of the social media and marketing tools available there.
Absence of the Privacy Policy at the Online Store website may result in a penalty for violation of GDPR regulations imposed by the President of the Personal Data Protection Office.
ONLINE STORE DOCUMENTATION
Apart from the Online Store Regulations and the Privacy Policy of the website where the store is held, the store must include:
- tabs related to returns, replacement, and complaints procedure,
- template of the termination notice form (withdrawal from the agreement),
- template of the complaint form,
- checkboxes for having read the Online Store Regulations and the right to withdrawal,
- e-mails with order placement confirmation, acknowledgement, and shipment of the products ordered.
We offer the following to entities running online stores:
- audit of the current shopping process, including product description, checkboxes, regulations, and the Privacy Policy,
- drafting the Online Store Regulations,
- drafting the templates for termination notice (withdrawal) and complaint form,
- drafting the Privacy Policy and implementation of the necessary GDPR-related procedures,
- drafting checkboxes related to personal data, right to withdrawal, newsletter subscription,
- drafting the complaint handling policy,
- continuous legal services involving ad hoc legal consultancy on current matters related to running the online store, including monitoring of changes that must be implemented to the shopping process, regulations, checkboxes, personal data, as well as complaint handling and returns.