Have you ever met any unfair e-commerce practices? For example, you’ve ordered a product in an e-shop and after the checkout and confirming the purchase, you saw a higher price than the one on the product’s page? Or maybe you were waiting too long for the delivery without any information from the online vendor? Or maybe you’ve seen web stores, where no privacy policy or contact information was published, and you didn’t feel you could trust them enough to buy something?

I’m sure that those of you, who do a lot of online shopping, must’ve encountered such a situation at least once. Furthermore, those who just tried this way of shopping for the first time and burnt at the first attempt won’t get back to e-shops any more – or at least not for a very long time. And this is a threat to the entire e-commerce market.

To help avoid such unpleasant situations and promote good practices, the IAB’s E-commerce working group has developed a set of simple and transparent rules that define how a good and trustworthy webstore should behave. The “Good rules of e-commerce” document was already signed by some e-stores and e-commerce related companies (including PayLane, Grupa Allegro, Gratka.pl, Answear.com, Trusted Shops, Divante, e-point SA, SuperKoszyk.pl, Empathy, AGORA S.A., Hatetepe Sp. z o.o.), but the idea is still spreading and the E-commerce working group hopes it’s going to have a major impact on the quality of online shopping.

A summary of the “Good rules of e-commerce”:

1. An online vendor is defined as a business owner, who sells via the Internet.
2. An online vendor is obliged to act in accordance to relevant regulations.
3. An online vendor is obliged to provide current contact information that allows to identify him.
4. An online vendor is obliged to publish terms of service on his website.
5. An online vendor is obliged to clearly inform about areas and purposes of gathering information about his customers.
6. An online vendor is obliged to inform his customer about the gross price, total price and the terms of delivery before taking the final order.
7. An online vendor is obliged to inform his customers about available payment methods and possible additional charges before taking the final order.
8. An online vendor is obliged to clearly present current descriptions of the offered products (including the product’s and producer’s names) and provide a relevant picture, if possible.
9. An online vendor is obliged to inform his client about the maximum delivery time (and possible additional charges) as soon as possible.
10. An online vendor is obliged to inform his client about his right of withdrawal.
11. An online vendor is obliged to ensure the security of all transmitted data.
12. An online vendor is obliged to confirm the order in a printable and easy to archive form.
13. An online vendor is obliged to allow his clients to contact him by phone (specifying his working hours), email and via contact form.
14. An online vendor is obliged to specify his the time of his response and sending order confirmation.
15. An online vendor is obliged to clearly specify the procedures and terms of complaints and returns.
16. An online vendor is obliged to educate his employees in order about these principles.

Have you ever had any unpleasant situations when shopping online that discouraged you? Or maybe you have other ideas of promoting good rules of e-commerce? Share them, maybe together we can put them into practice!

Ula

Sociologist and researcher, particularly interested in what happens at the interface between individuals and society, nature and culture. Fan of commercials- claims that ads are Art! Admires pure form in any field of art. At PayLane responsible for good visibility, audibility, readability and brand presence. Thinks about new markets, channels and partners. Open to any form of cooperation. After work - follower of the slow food movement. Always finds time to support NGOs.