#pactsafe

Before you set up shop and make your first online sales, there are several legal mandates to consider. For example, there are rigorous restrictions for shipping certain products like nail polish, alcohol and dry ice, and if you are operating the business out of your home, you need to know the zoning laws in your state. The following list of things to consider is by no means comprehensive, but here are five legal things you should know before selling online.

1. Have an informative, concise Terms of Service

Your customers deserve transparency about the way your business operates and what rights they have as users. If signing up for your service or purchasing your product online comes with weekly emails, recurring charges or an auto-renewal, this should be outlined in your Terms of Service and presented conspicuously to your customers.

It is important that customers are given notice of and can acknowledge the Terms before signing up; otherwise, your new business runs the risk of having unenforceable Terms and increase the possibility of a class action suit. Having notifications about the contents and updates of your Terms of Service is an easy way to build trust and transparency with your customers.

2. Protect your users’ data

Just like any retailer, online retailers must have reputable payment gateways. If your online marketplace isn’t using third-party companies (PayPal, CashApp, Venmo, etc.) for payment, it is your responsibility to be compliant with local data protection standards. If you serve customers that are based in the EU, for example, you must protect users’ data in accordance with the GDPR. While the U.S does not have a nationwide privacy law, California law requires web sites that process the data of California residents to follow CalOPPA, and starting in January 2020, CCPA.

Non-compliance is an expensive lawsuit waiting to happen. Become PCI compliant, understand the steps you need to take to encrypt credit card data for your checkout flow and do away with other purchasing data.

3. Insure your product

Whether you’re selling software, a service or materials, it’s important to protect your product or service. In some cases, this might mean having delivery insurance and an exchange policy. In others, it can be as simple as providing customers with a cancellation policy upfront, or a process for service review and feedback.

Good communication is important; no one wants to be left in the dark, particularly a customer in the digital age. Nurture customer relationships like you would any other — with trust and accountability. If everyone is aware of how they are being held responsible in this two-sided relationship, there is less room for legal blunders.

4. Protect your intellectual property

Before you set up your online store or even before you begin selling, it’s crucial that you put legal standards in place about your intellectual property. This means trademarking, patenting and copyrighting your logo, your content, your brand in general. This prevents others from passing off your hard work as theirs. Even more important, putting these legal measures in place will help you double-check that no one else has already claimed your business name. Take the necessary steps to research your product or service, and make it legally official.

5. Have excellent recordkeeping in place

None of the previous four tips matter if there is no record of transactions or of which customers agreed to your Terms before completing the transaction. Easily accessible records of online interactions with customers go a long way in helping you establish expectations between yourself and customers. It is as much for your protection as it is for theirs. Exceptional digital recordkeeping is too often an afterthought and lands companies in hot water. Telling customers how you are protecting them is not enough; your company needs to record when and how customers were notified of your online terms in order for any of your legal efforts to be considered legitimate.

Doing your research and protecting your business before you even start it will help you get further faster and protect you from potential litigation. Starting an online business is easy enough; however, without the proper legal protections in place, you might start losing money before you make it.