There is a new EU Directive which comes into force on 13th June 2014.
This includes some important changes to the Distance Selling Regulations which will affect all of us with online shops.
This blog provides a very good summary of the changes and how to implement them.
There is also a good discussion on the Darkside with some good help and advice in the UK Ireland Sellers Team.
Shirley x
Thanks for posting that link - always good to keep up to date.
So we now have to add a return postage cost if buyers are to pay return postage?
That means looking up all the countries and seeing how much it would cost and listing them all. As the blog says, posting from UK to Spain may not be the same cost as posting from Spain to UK.
Time to rethink whether to post abroad I think!
I suppose it will be up to Folksy Admin to amend the Checkout process…
thanks Shirley. As coatimundi says, that bit isn’t really in our control but the rest is.
Quoting here from the UK & Ireland Support Team on the darkside
"Don’t Panic!
blogs and guidance pages are useful to make people aware of the law, but if you want to understand how the law applies to YOU then read the law itself.
The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (3134) is available online:
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/contents/made
schedule 2, "Information relating to distance and off-premises contracts
The information referred to in regulations 10(1) and 13(1) is (subject to the note at the end of this Schedule)— "
item (m) states: "where applicable, that the consumer will have to bear the cost of returning the goods in case of cancellation and, for distance contracts, if the goods, by their nature, cannot normally be returned by post, the cost of returning the goods;"
soooo, you only have to state the return cost "… if the goods, by their nature, cannot normally be returned by post …“
panic over ;-)”
You only have to quote return postage if the goods cannot normally be returned by post. So I don’t think we have to do that bit.
Shirley x
It’s the downloadable cancellation/return form that will prove difficult I think.
It has to be done at the point of ordering so I think this is for Folksy admin to think about.
@sianfolksy1
Shirley x
Thanks for reading it and translating it so I don’t have to, Shirley! I’ve got a blind spot for regulations (and financial stuff and instruction books,etc)
@WhimsyWooDesigns Oh thanks for that Shirley. I would have delved further in time but could see the return postage being a headache.
Yes I agree with you re the cancellation/return form. I guess that would have to be added by the various selling platforms as I can’t see anyway we can add it?
Carol x
Me too 
but why can’t our goods “normally be returned by post”? I read that on etsy too, and wondered. I mean, we post them TO our buyers, so why can’t they post them back?
@NiftyKnits - Heather the regulations don’t just apply to us small sellers. They apply to all online businesses.
Because our goods are normally sent by post they can normally be sent back by post. Therefore I don’t think this bit applies to us.
I imagine this part of the regulations is for businesses that can’t send out their goods by normal postal services. Maybe it is heavy building materials, vehicles, live animals etc, which would need specialised carriers. The customer would not have access to these if they needed to return the goods and so need to know the cost involved.
Shirley x
It’ll be one of those things in there to cover absolutely everything that is ordered online, it probably covers things prohibited by normal post that are sent secure to customers by courier etc or even things like meat and fish that can easily be ordered online and are sent refrigerated so couldn’t normally be returned by post. I don’t think much of what we sell couldn’t be returned by post, even if it is by an insured and signed for service for things like jewellery etc.
yes, that’s what I’d understood too. Has someone deleted a post? I thought I was responding to someone who’d posted that our items couldn’t/wouldn’t be returned by post.
senior moment on my part?
LOL thinking of fish that has travelled around for a while 
I agree, some of these won’t apply to us. They are meant to cover all bases. I am wondering if Folksy is going to change anything. Personally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable contacting my buyers, after they bought from me, to tell them about return shipping costs and sending them forms.
The new refunds change could cause aggravation…what if the package doesn’t arrive in 14 days? The timeframe is too tight…packages from abroad can take longer.
Some of these are good for us as online buyers.
I love the one about the disallowing the automatic opt-ins. That is cheeky!
And the need to provide a phone number at a reasonable cost or free! It was about time.
I agree, if I bought something and then received a message telling me how to return it I’d assume it was going to be a disappointment when it arrived! I’m also pleased to see the no automatic opt-in, though I’ve been sent several newsletters I don’t want, not from an opt-in but just because the seller thought (wrongly) they were entitled.
I got one of those emails today from a company - no opt-in. I coudln’t reply to it and I couldn’t unsubscribe either. I sent them a polite email to delete me.
Please, @sianfolksy1, can you find out what Folksy is doing to ensure compliance with the new rules - also to ensure that Folksy sellers are warned and advised, well in advance, what we must (individually) do with our own shops, in order to be compliant?
Thank you!
Lizzie