Selling online: the information you must give customers

These rules apply across the UK. They cover sales to consumers, meaning individuals buying outside their own trade. You are a trader if you sell for purposes relating to your trade, business, craft or profession. The rules apply however low the order value is.

Show who you are

Make your identity and contact details easy to find on your website and in your listings. They must also appear in any advert that describes a product and gives its price. Leaving them out of an advert is a misleading omission under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. A limited company or LLP must show further company details.

Before the customer is bound

The information must be clear and comprehensible, and suited to the way you sell. You can give it to the customer directly or make it available to them before the contract binds them.

When customers can cancel

Some goods carry no right to cancel, such as personalised items and perishable goods. If you do not tell customers who pays to return goods, you pay the direct cost of the return. If you leave out the cancellation information altogether, the cancellation period runs longer.

Set up the order page

Explain how ordering works before the customer starts, including how to correct mistakes. These ordering-step duties in the E-Commerce Regulations do not apply to contracts made only by email.

After the customer orders

Repeat in your confirmation any pre-contract information you did not already give on a durable medium. A durable medium is one the customer can store and reuse, such as an email.

Selling through a marketplace

The information duties stay with you as the trader, whichever platform you use. Details you give a platform at sign-up do not always reach customers. Check what a customer sees on your listing. Put the information in the listing, or link to it clearly from the listing.

Whether you are a trader depends on how you sell. A platform's sales thresholds do not decide it.

Replying to a complaint

When you reply to a complaint about a consumer contract, you must also tell the customer about any alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme you are required to take part in. That means a scheme that the law, your contract terms or another contract requires you to join.

If you get it wrong

Local Trading Standards services enforce these rules in Great Britain. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can also act. It can fine a business directly when a practice harms consumers collectively.

If you sell subscriptions

Subscription contracts will get their own information rules under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. When those rules start, they replace the duties above for subscription contracts made after that point.

Where to get help

If you are unsure what to show, ask your local Trading Standards service. In Northern Ireland, ask the Department for the Economy.