eCommerce Law

By Adam  |  2 Sep 2015 19:00:00

When you run an eCommerce business, or indeed, any business, you have the responsibility of ensuring that you methods are on the right side of the law. Of course, I know you won't be sending thugs round to your competitors to beat them up, or burning down their stock supplies, because those things are obviously bad and illegal. However, in the age of the internet, you have to be very careful with what you do with your customers' contact details and things like that.

Did you know, for example, that you cannot legally send out an email newsletter without giving people the chance to unsubscribe from it? It's just a minor thing, but if you had a particularly agitated customer, they might file an official complaint against you. When you're on the internet, you never know just who might find you and as that is the case, it is a very good idea to keep on top of these things. You must be especially careful when experimenting with new ideas which may not have been done before. If you look to the news, you'll see that the CEO of French taxi company Uber was arrested because their app was breaking the law; using GPS the app connected users with people nearby who they could pay to give them a lift, this included non-taxi drivers, which was illegal because the non-taxi drivers did not have the same licences and so forth as actual taxi drivers.

So keep the law in mind as you progress with your eCommerce website. If you've got an exciting new idea and you're not sure how the law will affect it, it can't hurt to do a little bit of research, or even to consult a lawyer (if that's possible for you). It's always better to be safe than sorry, and it'd be a real shame if you had an exciting new idea, started to enjoy its success, and then got in trouble with the law. But if you haven't even started your business yet, then sign up to Sellr now! You can create your own eCommerce website for no cost at all.