E-commerce, distance selling and marketplace compliance

What changes when the sale is at a distance

In a shop the consumer sees the product and can ask. Online, the decision is made on what the store displays. That is why the Consumer Statute requires sufficient prior information about the product, the total price, additional charges, availability, delivery times and the identity of the seller, and requires a record of the transaction and of what the consumer accepted.

Two features are specific to this channel: the right of withdrawal, which allows certain purchases to be undone within the statutory period, and payment reversal, which requires the money to be returned by the same means in the cases the law provides. Both are lost for the same reason: nobody designed them into the flow, so they end up being resolved case by case, on different criteria each time. By the time the pattern is visible, the company has already returned money where it did not have to and refused it where it did.

What we structure

• Product page. What information must appear before payment and how the total price is displayed, including shipping, taxes and charges.
• Checkout flow. The point at which the consumer accepts the conditions, the summary before confirmation and the record kept of that acceptance.
• Withdrawal and reversal. When they apply, how they are requested, who approves them and how the money goes back, with the procedure written for the team.
• Transactional emails. Confirmation, dispatch, delivery, incident and return, which are the evidence of what the company communicated.
• Deliveries and delays. What the consumer is told when delivery slips and what options are offered.
• Service channel. A real, visible contact route with capacity to respond, integrated into the complaints protocol.
• Stock and delivery promises. What the store may state about availability and lead times, and who updates it when the warehouse changes.
• Personal data. Consent, the data policy and marketing communications, designed together with our data protection practice.

Marketplaces, logistics partners and third-party sales

When the sale happens on a third-party platform or delivery is handled by a logistics operator, a question arises that the consumer should not have to resolve: who answers to them. That answer is written in two places, the contract with the platform or operator and the customer service flow, and both versions have to say the same thing.

• Review of the marketplace contract: liability towards the consumer, handling of returns, withholdings and use of the brand.
• Allocation of risk with the carrier and the logistics operator, including loss, damage and failed deliveries.
• Rules on the information the platform publishes about the product and about the seller.
• Service route for claims that arrive through the platform rather than the company's own channels.

How we work

1. Purchase walkthrough. We run the full process as a customer would, on desktop and on mobile, noting where information is missing and where friction is excessive.
2. Document review. Store terms, published policies, contracts with platforms and operators, and a sample of claims from the channel.
3. Prioritised findings. Ordered by exposure and by implementation effort, with an eye on what the technology team can actually ship.
4. Drafting. Store texts, policies, emails and internal procedures.
5. Implementation. Work with the technology, logistics and service teams, and training for the people who run the channel.

What the client receives

• The store terms and conditions and the shipping, exchange, withdrawal and reversal policies, ready to publish.
• A walkthrough report identifying where prior information is missing and how to fix it.
• The texts of the transactional emails and consumer notifications.
• The internal procedure for withdrawal, reversal and returns, with deadlines and owners.
• Observations and clauses for the contract with the marketplace and with the logistics operator.