Website must haves

[Bell83]

Hi,
I have been physically selling on Etsy for over a year now as a sole trader and finally decided to open up my own website on a Shopify acc.
However, the last time I ran a web store was at least 10-15y ago when policies etc were a little more lax.

I was wondering if anyone can let me know what exactly I need to have on my website to ensure I’m covered. I’m seeing a few contradicting areas of advice - one claiming you MUST have 3 ways of contact - email/address and phone number

however many ST businesses I’m seeing only show email.

can anyone advise if I need to have all 3, because I’m a sole trader, I would love to keep home address and mobile number (however pondering an extra mobile for business) from this if I can legally.

thanks

 

[WebshopMechanic]

Hi @Bell83

I always suggest that you be as transparent as possible with customers. You should never hide away from them because that's not good business and you should always be available to contact in some way. Having no phone number isn't a great customer experience.

I personally believe that mobile numbers on websites look unprofessional and don't give a great impression. To avoid having to put your home phone number you could rent a virtual telephone number for £5-ish a month and then forward to your mobile. That's what I do.

NI Business Info suggests the following as a legal requirement.

• company name
• registered number
• place of registration
• registered office address
• contact details, including an email address
• details of how to contact business by non-electronic means
• the VAT number of business, if applicable
• details of any trade body or regulator registration

For sole traders and partnership, you must display the address of the principle place of business. If the company is being wound up, you must also display this on your website.

This information doesn't have to be on every page of your website, but it must be easily found. For example, you might want to put it on the 'contact us' or 'about us' page. Some websites have this information in the footer section of each page.

(See source: https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/business-websites-legal-requirements)


Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[Bell83]

Hi @Bell83

I always suggest that you be as transparent as possible with customers. You should never hide away from them because that's not good business and you should always be available to contact in some way. Having no phone number isn't a great customer experience.

I personally believe that mobile numbers on websites look unprofessional and don't give a great impression. To avoid having to put your home phone number you could rent a virtual telephone number for £5-ish a month and then forward to your mobile. That's what I do.

NI Business Info suggests the following as a legal requirement.

• company name
• registered number
• place of registration
• registered office address
• contact details, including an email address
• details of how to contact business by non-electronic means
• the VAT number of business, if applicable
• details of any trade body or regulator registration

For sole traders and partnership, you must display the address of the principle place of business. If the company is being wound up, you must also display this on your website.

This information doesn't have to be on every page of your website, but it must be easily found. For example, you might want to put it on the 'contact us' or 'about us' page. Some websites have this information in the footer section of each page.


Hope that helps.

Matt

Thanks so much Matt,
This is great information. I’ve been on so many websites and they seem to contradict each other as to essentials.

I have been considering a virtual phone number - I’m not expecting a lot of calls but this can mean it’s a little more secure than my mobile number plastered about the internet.
I have a contact page which at present has my email however my T&Cs list my full details - name, home business address and mobile but I’ll expand this into the contact page too.
While the business is going well, I’m not yet at the point of renting an office so I am a little hesitant having the address there but if needs must...

thanks again

 

[fisicx]

Put your mobile number on the site. You aren’t going to get loads of weirdos calling you up.

Just about everyone who calls me (from around the world) is quite happy calling my mobile. Spoke to a guy in Finland yesterday and he was saying nobody used a landline anymore.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

I was going to quote The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (DSRs)
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/contents/made

However, according to a Which article from March 2021 the aforementioned DSR regulations no longer apply in UK law
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-selling-regulations-aAijb9Q8UT3V

The Consumer Contracts Regulations (officially The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013), which came into force in 2014, "now apply to all purchases you make at a distance, for example online or over the phone"
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/contents/made

According to Which, as a seller you must give the following information

1. a description of the goods or service
2. the price of the goods or service
3. delivery costs (where applicable) and any cancellation rights
4. the minimum duration of the contract (for services)
5. information about the seller (including a geographical address, if payment is taken in advance)

I recommend that you also familiarise yourself with Etsy's seller policies
https://www.etsy.com/legal/sellers/

I would recommend that you contact Etsy customer support to ask this question
https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb

However I had three clients who used Etsy and it's a notoriously difficult and slow company to contact their support team unless you contact Etsy's legal team by email (which you'll find on the following page https://www.etsy.com/uk/legal/ip-dmca in section 2)

You could also try asking your question in the Etsy community section
https://community.etsy.com/

There may be other UK regulations you need to comply with, and to be absolutely sure that you're covered it's a very good idea if you consult with a qualified legal professional

 

[DontAsk]

I recommend that you also familiarise yourself with Etsy's

Why involve Etsy when they are setting up there own website?

In addition to the information that must be displayed, be sure your Ts & Cs state who is responsible for the postage costs for returns. The default is that the seller pays.

 

[Stuart_Walker]

You'd also need links to your UK GDPR privacy and data protection policy as I am assuming you'll be storing and/or processing customer data?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Put your mobile number on the site. You aren’t going to get loads of weirdos calling you up.

F£££ that Dont do that
I dont want anybody phoning my mobile I dont give it , I dont like people calling me on it and it looks unprofessional
T

 

[fisicx]

Depends on the business. Just because you don’t want to receive calls doesn’t mean it’s the same for everybody.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Depends on the business. Just because you don’t want to receive calls doesn’t mean it’s the same for everybody.

I would give you my mobile so you can keep yer hair on

 

[DontAsk]

You'd also need links to your UK GDPR privacy and data protection policy as I am assuming you'll be storing and/or processing customer data?

And maybe cookie policy, depending how you use cookies.

 

[japancool]

I don't give my mobile number - I have a VOIP number on the site which I can direct to ring on my phone.

 

[fisicx]

Landline, mobile, voip. The type of number is irrelevant, you just need to be contactable. Except for Jeremy

 

[Alan]

For an e-commerce business a physical address on the website is a legal requirement, and in any case the lack of a physical address ( e.g. for returns ) is a major 'scam' alert for anyone who doesn't know your business and a bit worried so checking you out.

 

[ORDERED WEB]

There is a line between what you "must have" and what is desirable

It's desirable to engender trust and saftey ..

Some elements are statutory, others are driven by third parties (payment processor for example)

I like to see
- reviews
- faq
- easy to contact
- location details
- good security
- evidence of pci testing

All round you need to convince me it's safe, secure and you're easy to work with

 

[fisicx]

- evidence of pci testing

How good are the free tests? I've just run the one on immuniweb and it says I've passed but I've no idea if they are right.

 

[cjd]

Landline, mobile, voip. The type of number is irrelevant, you just need to be contactable. Except for Jeremy

Not really true. Ofcom did some research a few years ago about the kind of numbers people trust, geographic numbers were top. Mobiles are ok and expected for some businesses, notably trades people, plumbers etc. But that's because you don't expect them to be in an office.

It's true that things are changing and that the younger generation no longer feel the need for a landline, but even they wouldn't expect to see a mobile number for their bank. If you see a mobile number and only a mobile number on a website, you know you're dealing with a very small company - more than likely a one-man-band.

For the price of a geographic number - £3 in our case - it's a no-brainer.

 

[LouiseF]

I'm a litle late adding to this but I hope it helps.

If I'm shopping online for physical products and see a mobile number on a website as the only phone number, I will leave that website immediately. I automatically don't trust it. it might be 100% legit but that's a chance I don't want to take.

I used to use switchboardfree when I had an online shop years ago. I think I paid something like £6 a month to have a local number, which then redirected to my landline