Legal requirement to display address for online selling?

[Helsbells]

Hi everyone,
Wonder if you can help me. I have read a couple of times and someone is telling me on Etsy that as a UK seller I am required by law to display my address to sellers. I am extremely reluctant to do this because I am a teacher and would not want my pupils finding out where I live. Has anyone heard of this? Are there exceptions to this law being a small business?
Please help, I am panicking now that I am breaking the law!

[JuzaMum]

This sounds unlikely - ebay sellers don't display their address. I think after a quick google that businesses do have to display an office address but an individual selling a few bits through anothers website doesn't.

JuzaMum

[bonniethomas06]

Yep dead right Juzamum, Distance Selling Regs say you have to show your address but this doesn't apply to individuals selling to individuals, rather businesses (who are trading in the course of business) selling to individuals. Company legislation says that limited companies and other incorporated bodies must show their registered office address, but again, if you are not selling as a limited company you are OK.

[Thomzo]

If you were to set up a limited company via Companies House, then the Companies Act would apply which does require you to display the registered office address on all correspondence including websites and e-mails. This is probably what your contacts are thinking of. As far as I'm aware, there's no requirement for anybody else to do so.

Be aware though that the Distance Selling regulations do still apply. The main provision that you need to be aware of is that the buyer has the absolute right to return anything without reason. I can't remember if there's a time limit on returns.

Zoe

ps. Bonnie's post came up as I was writing this. Good to know that we agree.

Zz

[Zech]

I was about to say that I think it's only if you're a limited company, but Bonnie's already said it

[Millymollymandy]

The main provision that you need to be aware of is that the buyer has the absolute right to return anything without reason.

Wish we had this law in France, especially when buying shoddy goods from a shop!

[Thomzo]

The main provision that you need to be aware of is that the buyer has the absolute right to return anything without reason.

Wish we had this law in France, especially when buying shoddy goods from a shop!

Ironically, we don't have the same laws when you buy from a shop either. It's cos when you're buying from afar, you can't check the goods out before you buy but in a shop you can.

I thought the distance selling regulations were an EU thing so it should be the same in France, Bonnie'll probably know better.

Zoe

[Crickleymal]

I'm not sure about the distance selling regs being the same. I once bought a Tilley Lamp lookalike from a company called Westfalia who are German as you might well imagine. Their UK sales depot is in Dorset. The lamp was majorly faulty and I returned it. They refused to pay up caliming I owed them money (how a mail order company can be owed money by a customer like me is anyone's guess). Anyway I contacted Trading Standards who told me they were probably trading under German law and so they couldn't do anything!

[MKG]

I'm not sure about the distance selling regs being the same. I once bought a Tilley Lamp lookalike from a company called Westfalia who are German as you might well imagine. Their UK sales depot is in Dorset. The lamp was majorly faulty and I returned it. They refused to pay up caliming I owed them money (how a mail order company can be owed money by a customer like me is anyone's guess). Anyway I contacted Trading Standards who told me they were probably trading under German law and so they couldn't do anything!

Sounds like major BS to me. If they have a UK sales depot, it trades under UK law. It's a UK-based supplier dealing with a UK-based transaction. I can't see how that could fail to be true. Otherwise, it would be legal to buy opium from a firm with headquarters in Afghanistan.

Mike

[Graye]

I have to agree MKG. Many years ago I worked for a Canadian company with an office in, among other places, Birmingham. For some antiquated reason we were paid each month in Canadian dollars and had to troop around the corner to the bank to turn them into pounds. It all seemed rather quaint to me but I DO remember we had P45s, P60s etc so obviously ruled by UK law. And when I worked for the dreaded taxman employees of overseas companies could sometimes claim tax concessions but only if the fitted very strict criteria to do with domicile so once again UK rules applied there too. On that basis I think that Trading Standards got it all wrong if you bought via the UK depot.

I have an eBay sellers account (a private one rather than a business) and my address is not displayed on the site, although buyers get to see my address once they have bought something. I know that after so much in sales you need to register with them as a business seller and then your address has to appear I believe. That probably applies across the board to online selling I suppose? Wouldn't a quick question to the admin on the site concerned come up with the legal answer?

[Crickleymal]

I'm not sure about the distance selling regs being the same. I once bought a Tilley Lamp lookalike from a company called Westfalia who are German as you might well imagine. Their UK sales depot is in Dorset. The lamp was majorly faulty and I returned it. They refused to pay up caliming I owed them money (how a mail order company can be owed money by a customer like me is anyone's guess). Anyway I contacted Trading Standards who told me they were probably trading under German law and so they couldn't do anything!

Sounds like major BS to me. If they have a UK sales depot, it trades under UK law. It's a UK-based supplier dealing with a UK-based transaction. I can't see how that could fail to be true. Otherwise, it would be legal to buy opium from a firm with headquarters in Afghanistan.

You would think so wouldn't you. I'm puzzled as to why Trading Standards would spout BS although I have noticed they are becoming less andless helpful as the years go on. I can remember contacting them in the 70s and they fell over backwards to help me. Fastforward 20 years and they just gave me some advice, another 10 years and they spout BS.

[GeorgeSalt]

Hi everyone,
Wonder if you can help me. I have read a couple of times and someone is telling me on Etsy that as a UK seller I am required by law to display my address to sellers. I am extremely reluctant to do this because I am a teacher and would not want my pupils finding out where I live. Has anyone heard of this? Are there exceptions to this law being a small business?
Please help, I am panicking now that I am breaking the law!

Are you selling as a business? I had hoped to find a concise definition as it applies to the DSR but I can't. My guess is that if you're declaring an income from your online sales on your annual self-assessment to HMRC you are probably a business. If you're making things to sell, or buying things specifically to sell on, then you are a business, the DSR will apply and you should be declaring the income.

I can't see a specific exemption that removes the need for Etsy sellers to comply with the DSR. There is no small business exemption to the DSR. If you want to avoid your name being associated with your address then the obvious solution would be to use a seperate trading name (you can trade under a business name without being a limited company or registered at Companys House). If you're trading under your given name on Etsy, or if this can be identified from your Etsy account, you may wish to change this.

The DSR does require that:

Information required prior to the conclusion of the contract
7.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), in good time prior to the conclusion of the contract the supplier shall—

(a)provide to the consumer the following information— .

(i)the identity of the supplier and, where the contract requires payment in advance, the supplier’s address; .

Short guide to the DSR from the OFT:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/busine ... oft913.pdf

Longer guide to the DSR from the OFT:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/busine ... oft698.pdf

Full text of the regulations on legislation.gov.uk:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000 ... tents/made