Legal Aspects of an E-Commerce Website

I would do some more research into your target market before deciding on the price for your product.

One of the reasons other suppliers charge more is due to the client warranties and consumer law affecting the non business trader.

This loads the costs of the infastructure you need to run your business so if you believe you can do better than Dell you probably need to look once more at the sorts of warranties and guarantees you will be responsible for.

If you are sold on this subject you need to take legal advice on all of the items below but for starters think of :

Consumer law- check out trading standards to see the sorts of things you need to look to cover for your customers.

Distance selling regulations- a cooling off period of 7 days following order for the consumer.

Electronic regs regarding use of equipment and qualifications of those testing items for home use before they enter the market.

Manufactors' warranties if you are reselling their items as part of a whole machine- you may find the cost goes up if you are making up whole machines using a variety of parts from different suppliers.

How are you going to deal with the problems that occur? A back to base guarantee with you picking up the postage costs or a collection service? You will be bound legally to offer a 12 month guarantee minimum.

Public and product liability insurance, what happens if some one gts burnt using one of your machines?

cwcw182 said:

Thanks for the post. This is where my problem lies as I don't understand what costs are involved with the warranties. If a 12 month return to base warranty was the minimum legal requirement, with the customer paying the delivery costs, this would be achievable.

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An aquaintance of mine once bought a laptop from a major computer retailer, it developed a fault 18 mths after the purchase date, and the seller declined a repair, replacement, or a refund, as the product was 6 mths out of warranty.

He took his case to the small claims court (England) stating that this type of product should, have a useful life expectance well beyond the garuantee period, and he won his case.

visagephoto said:

cwcw182 said:

Thanks for the post. This is where my problem lies as I don't understand what costs are involved with the warranties. If a 12 month return to base warranty was the minimum legal requirement, with the customer paying the delivery costs, this would be achievable.

Click to expand...

An aquaintance of mine once bought a laptop from a major computer retailer, it developed a fault 18 mths after the purchase date, and the seller declined a repair, replacement, or a refund, as the product was 6 mths out of warranty.

He took his case to the small claims court (England) stating that this type of product should, have a useful life expectance well beyond the garuantee period, and he won his case.

Click to expand...

Exactly - the warranty period is just there to make life easier - i.e. you are guaranteed a repair/replacement during that time without having to take legal action. But it is perfectly possible to bring a legal claim against the retailer after that time - it's just more hassle than going back to the store with your receipt and asking for a repair/replacement.