Will returns Law hit your shop?...

I think the rules that have been brought in about on-line shops are crazy, within a few sales of items you may have to give them a complete refund if they send you the item back, on top of that you have to refund postage you charged them for item, plus all other costs they en cured.
The problem here is that your shop posted the parcel vie say the Post Office, you paid them for that parcel, you cannot get it back as they delivered it as requested from you to the person who now does not want it.
Say if that parcel cost you £10 to send, that is £10 you have lost for good, get a few like that a month and your dead.
If you like us cannot afford that massive loss then your items you sell will have to go up to pay that loss right? but then your items will be a lot more than they are in town high streets.
We are on a no win situation.
__________________
www.Alternativehealth4u.co.uk

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

Unfortunately the rules are stacked FAR too much against the honest person running a business.

Same old story - if you are dishonest you flout all these rules and nothing happens.

If you are honest, you stick to the rules and get taken for a ride by customers who are all too aware of the rules and use them to their advantage.

A friend of mine used to run a business selling printed T-shirts. However in about 10% of cases - and sometimes blatantly after the event they were bought for, say a stag do, they got returned and the costs and postage costs to boot were so high that they ended up making a loss and going out of business.

I know several merchants who also lose out because likewise people buy something on paypal knowing they can put through a 'product never arrived' type claim and get a full refund even when they get the goods, and that the merchant can do nothing about it. I wouldn't want to be an honest merchant these days that's for sure - my friends have put me off ever considering it!!!

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

You should not have to refund the postage, it is annoying enough that you supplied the product and the customer is demanding a refund. As long as you do not misrepresent the product, refunds should be considered customer service, not the law.
__________________
My Funny T-Shirt Gallery - Chasing Carrots Blog

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

It's rather a sad story but Sasha is quite right, in 2010 is nearly impractical to operate an on-line shop unless you are willing to spend £100 for every £20 you bring in, as getting items back from people who have got massive dept so they regret buying your product, then need refunds and you are the only one that will be out of pocket.
It was bound to happen anyway because shops in the high street with Government departments, FSA,DTI behind them see E Commerce shops as a massive threat to them with all the overheads they have to operate.
I just hope people who spend lots on renting e commerce shops each month pull out from the losses soon enough rather than expect things to get better, because if your shop is not bringing in £800 per month profit within first year, then it never ever will, sadly most on-line shops take less than £20 per month they tell me, out-going at £60 plus per month plus mostly.
Remember only Amazon & E bay & Pay Pal are the only few big one's who got rich on the net, not many others can say it happened for them.
Do remember though that people can and often lie, I can tell you after 12 years on line our shop brings in £90,000 per year, I know it never ever will, but we can all dream can we not?
__________________
www.Alternativehealth4u.co.uk

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

This is a sobering reality check for those dreaming of starting up an online ecommerce store.

It shouldn't put people off, but it does show that there are many battles that have to be overcome to run a successful ecommerce operation.

Many people still believe "If I build it it, then they shall come". Sadly that is not the case anymore.

And as this post shows, when they do come AND they buy, even then your problems may not be over.

I'm not sure there are any ways to overcome this apart from the usual suggestions: dedication to the cause, a belief in yourself and your product, supplying great quality products at cost effective rates, and believing that all the hard work (will) eventually pay off. And where possible having margins that will allow you to absorb returns which are a fact of life for many businesses.
__________________
Web Design

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

Alternative4u said:

" because if your shop is not bringing in £800 per month profit within first year, then it never ever will"

This statement is untrue, it takes time to build up your online business, my own website is proof of that, I was lucky to take in £100 a month for the first year, but now things are very different. I have never stopped updating and changing the website however, or it would have been true indeed.

If there is an element of big store protectionism in this law, I find it very disturbing, I run my e-commerce store offshore, and I think if anyone is hurt by this law and have a website they can move offshore, they may just want to consider it.
__________________
My Funny T-Shirt Gallery - Chasing Carrots Blog

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

This may be a bit of a naive question, but what is the benefit of moving a store offshore, and how do you do it... given it's in 'cyberspace'?

Re : Will returns Law hit your shop?

For example, you can register a company in a tax shelter country such as Hong Kong (your tax free unless you live there), and ship and sell to every country but the one you take residence in.

Although you are supposed to play by the rules of every country you ship to, in order for someone to go after you for shipping charges they would have to sue your hong kong company, and then hong kong would have to go after you if there is a court case, it makes people trying to get their shipping back quite difficult, but you no longer have to charge your customers tax.

I am not a lawyer, this is just the way I understand it. It does not get you officially around any laws, but it makes things very complicated, so unless you commit some huge crime, or really piss people off, they will tend to leave you alone a bit more.

It is an awful lot of running around and a pain in the but, and will not help your home country very much, but if they make it so difficult you can not do business there, it is an option rather than just going out of business.

Of course living in a foreign company and not paying taxes, is not exactly putting money toward your pension or health care or anything, and your host country may expect you to fill out some papers before exporting.

There used to be a law where you could do this, and live on a boat or houseboat and it got you around all sorts of laws also, but you will need to look into that.
__________________
My Funny T-Shirt Gallery - Chasing Carrots Blog