Selling online: your legal responsibilities

One of the debates that comes up again and again on Etsy forums is whether sellers ought to be held responsible if their goods get lost in the post. It's something that annoys me every time I see the question asked, because the answer is very clear, in law: yes, sellers are responsible for goods until the buyer has received them safely. If they are broken in transit, that's the responsibility of the seller, not the buyer. If they never arrive: the responsibility of the seller, not the buyer.

Boo Jewels does an excellent job of covering this subject, from both a legal and customer service perspective, but below, I outline my own understanding of the law, as it applies to online selling. From a customer service perspective, it's a no-brainer - customers expect to receive the product for which they have paid you, and will be pissed off with you if they don't. But it's legal requirements which may matter most, since those are the ones which can lead to fines and other legal consequences. Hopefully the below, and Boo's well-written post, will help educate both buyers and sellers. The below applies in EU law, since that's the one that I'm subject to, using UK government examples because they're a) written in English and b) easier to find. However, similar requirements apply in other jurisdictions; please check what applies to you as a seller before you go round disclaiming responsibility. Just because you can't control a process doesn't mean you don't have responsibility for the outcome!

Anyway. The buyer and seller enter into a contract when things are bought online. The buyer agrees to give over a certain amount of money, for their part. Once that is done, the buyer has fulfilled their part of the contract. The seller is then legally obliged to:

1) provide the goods
2) as described
3) fit for the purpose for which they were intended
4) within 30 days

If any one of these obligations is not met, the seller must refund the full price paid by the buyer, including shipping costs. You cannot charge your customers for insurance, or any extra delivery costs to cover risks that you as a seller are legally obligated to bear. (Page 17 of this UK Government publication explicitly addresses this.) Several companies I have bought from online recently would do well to remember this - I shall make a point of reminding them, if I ever have cause to again. If you would like to buy insurance, as a seller, by all means do - but it is for your protection, not mine as a buyer. You will have to refund me if it doesn't turn up, whether you bought insurance or not.

Furthermore, in the EU at least, buyers can change their mind after receiving products that they have bought online. In the UK, the Distance Selling Regulations cover this, but they implement an EU Directive to that effect. Essentially, the buyer has 7 days from when they receive the goods to examine them and decide if they want to keep them - this is because they will not have had a chance to see them prior to purchase. Should they decide they don't want to keep them when they see them in person, for any reason at all, they are entitled to return them for a full refund including shipping costs. As a seller, you are allowed to require them to pay return shipping, as long as you have said so upfront, but that is all. You are not allowed to charge any sort of restocking fee, or anything similar.

Your shop policies do not over-ride the law. In fact, it is illegal in the UK (under Section 5(4)(k) of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008) and many other jurisdictions to mislead a consumer about his/her legal rights. So please be careful about how you word your policies, for your own legal protection.