What Information Do I Need to Provide Before My eCommerce Customers Place Orders?

When you run an online store, successfully fulfilling orders is essential to your business. However, before customers place an order, there are strict legal rules your eCommerce business must adhere to. In the UK, all eCommerce businesses must comply with the ‘Information Requirements’, which set out certain information that you must provide to consumers before they enter into a contract with you. You must also comply with data protection laws and provide your customers with information on how you handle personal data and use cookies. This article will explain what information you need to provide to your customers before they place orders with your eCommerce store. 

What is an eCommerce Business?

An eCommerce business is typically a digital store where your customers can select and purchase products from you. eCommerce businesses sell all sorts of products ranging from clothing, to furniture and beauty products. 

You may also have other online channels in your eCommerce business, such as social media and email.

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What Information Do I Need to Provide Before My Customers Place Online Orders?

It is important to provide customers with information about how you use their information to manage their expectations. This is essential when you collect their personal data or use cookies. We explain these requirements in more detail below. 

Information Requirements for Customers

If you are selling your products to consumers and not businesses, then you must comply with the Information Requirements set out in The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (the ‘Regulations’). The Regulations cover a wide variety of traders, including online, medium and small businesses. They set out what information you need to provide to your customers before they purchase from you, and you can begin the order fulfilment process.

Some of the key types of information you need to provide to your customers before they make a purchase are:

• Your company details: These include the name, address and contact information. You should make this clearly available on your website.
• The product’s main characteristics: The customer should know exactly what they are purchasing from reading your online description. e.g. a red, size M t-shirt, with a print on the back. You also need to set out the price of the relevant item and all taxes or delivery fees. These should all be clear on the checkout page before a customer makes a purchase.
• Information about the customer’s legal right to cancel: In most situations, unless an exception applies, consumers purchasing from an ecommerce business will have 14 days from the date they receive their goods to return them and receive a refund. You should explicitly note whether the customer or you will pay the shipping fees for the return. 
• Business-specific terms: Where you provide goods on subscription, such as a meal delivery service, you should provide the total cost per billing period and any cancellation terms.

In addition to providing information on checkout and order placement, you should have sales terms and conditions in place that provide more detail on your relationship with the customer. Providing these terms before the customer orders shows you aim to conduct your business transparently. This can improve customer satisfaction. 

Information to be Provided Where You Collect Personal Data

When you collect personal data from any user of your website, you must provide certain information to them. You can present this information to website visitors via a privacy policy.

UK data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), sets out what needs to be included in your privacy policy. Some of the key requirements include:

• the types of personal data you collect, e.g. names, payment details or marketing preferences;
• where you collect personal data from, which may be individuals or through third parties;
• why you are using personal data, such as to process orders;
• the lawful basis you are relying on to process personal data;
• who you share personal data with, such as email marketing software, and which countries these are in; and
• your details, including that of your data protection officer, if applicable.

You should direct individuals to your privacy policy each time you collect personal data from them. This includes any ‘contact us’ form on your website and where customers are making a purchase. 

Information to be Provided Where You Use Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on a device’s browser to store an individual’s preferences. Most e-commerce businesses will use some form of cookies, including for marketing purposes.

Where you use cookies on your website, you must tell individuals that you use cookies and explain what the cookies are doing and why. You also need to get the individual’s consent to store any non-essential cookie on their device. You can use pop-ups to obtain consent. Information on the cookies may be displayed in the cookie banner, in a separate cookie policy or in your privacy policy.

Key Takeaways

If you run an eCommerce store, maximising order fulfilment is a key goal. However, you must provide specific information to your potential customers before they can place an order from your business. This includes complying with specific rules in The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, the GDPR and cookie legislation. This information should be easily available and presented in tandem with your terms and conditions.

If you need help understanding what information you need to provide to your customers before they place orders with your eCommerce store, LegalVision’s experienced eCommerce lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your document. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.