Anyone who owns a webshop and sells to consumers must comply with various regulations. With such distance selling, the legislator simply considers it their duty to provide the consumer with extra protection. Webshop owners are doing increasingly well and are often well aware of their obligations. Nevertheless, things still go wrong sometimes. That is why we have compiled these four fun facts that you might want to take into account.
Payment obligation must be indicated with the order button
Not only do webshops have clear obligations regarding how they must inform customers about matters such as the right of withdrawal, but the ordering process must also meet various requirements. For example, it must be clear and transparent. A commonly used solution is working with a progress schedule. Many webshops do this well by now, yet the order button still often fails to function.
After all, requirements are also placed on such an order button. This is also evident from a ruling by the Amsterdam District Court (ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2018:4237). In that case, someone had purchased eight tickets for an event and subsequently received an email asking them to pay. However, nowhere during the ordering process was it clearly indicated that a payment obligation arose by clicking the “confirm order” button. Therefore, according to the judge, the agreement did not have to proceed. The solution: clearly state that a purchase agreement *and* a payment obligation arises by confirming the order. Simply do this below the order or confirmation button. The mention “order with payment obligation” suffices.
The withdrawal period is sometimes longer than you think
Most online entrepreneurs are well aware that the standard period for the right of withdrawal is 14 calendar days. They also know that this period starts at the moment of receipt of the goods. Moreover, they usually comply well with their information obligations.
However, things still sometimes go wrong when a single order is sent via multiple shipments. In that case, the withdrawal period only begins to run after receipt of the final partial shipment. Suppose, for example, that a customer orders a book and a glasses case, after which the book is shipped immediately and the glasses case only two weeks later. The customer then has up to 14 days after receiving the glasses case to withdraw from the purchase of the book. With partial shipments , products can therefore remain with the customer for much longer.
Mandatory provision of the option to pay afterwards
What many webshop owners also do not know is that, in principle, it is not permitted to require 100% prepayment. A consumer may only be required to pay a maximum of 50% of the purchase amount in advance. This is because a consumer risks losing their money if the company goes bankrupt.
While it is possible to deviate from this by mutual agreement, a mere provision in the general terms and conditions is insufficient. The simplest solution is to offer various payment methods, one of which is a pay-later . This could be a cash-on-delivery shipment, but payment solutions from AfterPay and Klarna also suffice. A credit card is also a good solution, provided the card is only charged after delivery. You must, however, clearly state this.
If such additional payment methods also cost you extra money, you can pass this on to the customer. The condition, however, is that you only pass on your actual costs and not higher costs.
Checkboxes must not be pre-checked
You may use checkboxes during the ordering process, but they must be unchecked by default. If you want a customer to agree to something, they must check the box themselves. For example, they must explicitly indicate that they want extra cancellation insurance or agree to be added to a mailing list. It is not up to you to put words in the consumer's mouth using checkboxes, and it is not up to the consumer to explicitly refute your claims by unchecking various boxes.
