The following 5 Contract Provisions will undoubtedly help save your business future headaches! While no contract provision can be guaranteed to be enforceable, following some basic principles of use will dramatically increase the odds. Of course, your business won’t get any protection without using them in the first place. 1. Warranties You may or may Read More…
E-Commerce Compliance
Are Email & Other E-Contracts Enforceable?
An “e-contract” is essentially any type of written agreement or contract between two or more parties that exists only in an electronic format. Most issues involving the enforceability of agreements entered into with businesses online generally involve click-wrap agreements, or browse-wrap agreements and email communications. Under traditional contract law, certain types of contracts must be Read More…
What Are Deceptive Trade Practices Under State Laws?
You or your business can be liable for violating state consumer protection laws. All states have laws governing deceptive and fraudulent business practices and most have adopted the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The UDTPA is essentially the state level version of the FTC Act. You should pay attention and be concerned with state laws regarding Read More…
Why “Data Pass” Sales Land Your Business In Hot Water!
Selling someone a front-end product as the initial merchant and then channeling their billing information to another merchant to be used in conjunction with an up-sale or cross-sale of some other product or service (“back-end sales”) is illegal. Under the Restore Online Shopper’s Confidence Act (ROSCA), any initial merchant that directly obtains customer billing information cannot Read More…
Negative Option Practices That Will Sink Your Business!
If you missed my last post, I continued discussing online sales practices liability, focusing on refund and shipping liability. When it comes to your online billing practices, you need also need to avoid deceptive practices. Liability can be triggered for deception under both FTC and state consumer protection statutes. Some states have specific statues dealing Read More…
Are Your Online Refund & Shipping Practices Illegal?
In my previous posts, I discussed online deceptive sales and pricing practices. This post continues my series on e-commerce deceptive practices by focusing on refund and shipping practices liability. There is no federal or state law that absolutely requires you to accept returns, make exchanges or provide refunds without legal justification. Outside of general principles Read More…
6 Online Deceptive Pricing & Sales Practices To Avoid!
Sales and pricing practices that are likely to mislead consumers are deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act. They are also a violation of state deceptive practices statues and other state laws, including the Uniform Commercial Code. For instance, in bait and switch cases, a violation occurs when the offer to sell the product Read More…
The Legal Pitfalls Of Making Guarantees & Warranties
You should pay special attention to any guarantees or any product warranties your business makes. Many businesses like to offer some type of “satisfaction” or “money-back” guarantee or free trial. Similarly, you may or may not want to include specific, express warranties regarding anything you sell. Generally speaking, the law does not require you to Read More…
When Is Your Internet Business Required to Collect Sales Tax?
One of the most frequently asked questions e-commerce attorneys receive is whether the business is responsible to collect sales tax for its out-of-state sales of goods. “Sales tax” is imposed on a seller’s receipts from retail sales of tangible personal property (tangible personal property does not include real estate, stocks, bonds, or other “paper” assets representing Read More…