What eCommerce Regulations are there when selling in the UK?

[Webfor]

I was informed last night that in a month from now one of my clients is launching some campaigns with a daily deal partner in the UK (Great Britain & New Zealand). (Yes, first time I'd heard of it) Regardless of the timeline, our team is now tasked with making sure we have their site ready for selling in the UK. I just want to make sure we're crossing all our T's and dotting the I's. (We're based in the U.S. and selling all physical products, no digital)

A couple questions came to mind:

• Are we required to display the product prices in the local currency? - I thought this was kind of silly, but the daily deal partner thought this was required.
• VAT - Is it seriously 20% in United Kingdom? And is that flat across the whole area? Would make it a lot easier than the US with 1,000's of different tax rates.
• Any other rules or regulations that come to mind would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance for your response!

Have a great day,

Kevin

[MoosaHemani]

Kevin, I have previously worked for an agency that has many clients from UK and most of them are related to eCommerce so I have quite a good idea about it!

On-line buyers in UK are a bit different from the buyers in USA; they are more local orientated so if you are not mentioning the price in GBP you should!

About VAT, it was 17% quite a while back but I checked one of the sites has worked on and it says 20% now so, yes on that too!

Thing that you should consider if you are targeting the UK market are:

• You should have a clear Return Policies
• They Love Privacy Policies and Terms and Condition page and I have actually noticed people reading that!
• Details about the product on detail page.

All in all give them less area to ask question from you and provide them enough information to make a decision!

[StoresDirect]

You need to comply with UK consumer law - the main laws which apply are the Sale of Goods Act and Distance Selling Regulations. This page has links to guidance on both issues http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/advice/advice-business.cfm

Local Trading Standards offices, who deal with customer complaints in their areas, can be very helpful in making sure your Terms & Conditions comply with UK law. As our business developed we liaised with our local Trading Standards team on these issues, but I'm not sure who you would deal with if you don't have a UK office.

VAT is at a flat rate with the exception of some offshore areas where there is no VAT, and a lower rate applies to certain products/situations. I'm no expert on this but some of our customers have mentioned lower VAT on heating appliances for newbuild properties. You're best off going direct to the UK tax office for information on VAT - http://www.uk-tax-office.co.uk/

Also the European law on cookies is just coming into force, so you need to make sure you're okay on this front as well http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx

[Steve25]

Regarding VAT the previous responders are slightyl wrong (sorry).

There are actually 3 rates of VAT in the UK - standard (20%), reduced (5%) and zero rated (0%). It depends what you are selling as to what VAT rate you should apply. The majority of items are 20% but there are some which are lower.

If you are wondering how I know this, our products have a mixture of all three.

Also you need to remember postage as you have to charge or include VAT on your delivery costs at whatever rate the goods are you are sending. So if your goods are 20% then VAT on your postage is also 20%, if it is 5% then delivery is also 5%. However if it is a mix it gets complicated.

As previously mentioned you need to look into the Distance Selling Regulations and to be honest if I saw an item on a site in the UK that wasn't in GBP then there is no way I would buy it.

[Webfor]

Thanks for your response. It was very helpful!

[Webfor]

Hi Moose,

I really appreciate your reply!

[Webfor]

Hi Steve,

Thank you for explaining some of the nuances with VAT. We don't seem to sell any of the products in the reduced or zero rate VAT categories.

The postage was also new to me so thank you for bringing that to my attention.

[Steve25]

No problem, glad to help.

With the p

[Vinnie]

Hi Kevin

Yes the UK has quite a few laws regarding business websites and especially ecommerce sites.  Besides what some have advised above you will also have to put an address of a physical location on the website.    It is the law that all UK companies and those that trade here disclose their contact details on their website.

[Webfor]

Good info. Thank you!