Enterprise Nation

Your website is live, the catalogue of goods and services enticing, the shopping cart eager to be filled! But did you know that once your customers have ordered and paid and you have gone to all the effort of despatching the goods to them, they can simply change their mind and force you to take the goods back?

Not many on-line traders are aware of the Distance Selling Regulations which kick in whenever a contract is concluded without meeting customers face to face (or cheek to cheek if you live in France- actually only joking!).

So this applies to on-line sales as well as contracts made over the phone. The good news is that the regulations only apply to "consumer" customers as opposed to business customers. Also, customers have a limited amount of time in which they can change their minds: 7 days from the day after they receive the goods. In the case of services that have been ordered, the 7 days start from the date the order is concluded. So if you have an urgent contract for services that your customer wants you to start right away, you must get them to expressly waive their cancellation rights.

The other bit of good news is that cancellation rights do not apply to certain types of contract such as those for bespoke goods or software which has been opened/downloaded.

So what happens when your customer cancels the contract as set out above? Well, you have to refund their money including the delivery charges within 30 days of the date of cancellation. The customer has to pay for the return postage or make the goods available for collection.

Finally, it is no good hoping that if you don't draw your customers' attention to their right to cancel, the 7 days will slip away unnoticed. The regulations say that you must point out the right to cancel before your customers place their orders. Typically, your terms and conditions of sale should do this and customers should be made to acknowledge them by having to click on an 'I accept' box before proceeding to check out...

Happy trading!

Jo Tall is editor and founder of Off To See My Lawyer, small business advice for female entrepreneurs. Sign up for its newsletter and free business health check at offtoseemylawyer.com

Photo credit: Toni Castillo