Consumer ecommerce disclosures

Identify your role

Map whether the business operates a marketplace, sells its own inventory or supplies goods through another platform. The responsibilities differ. Keep the platform operator, actual seller, importer and customer-support roles clear in the consumer journey.

Review product pages, checkout, order confirmation and after-sales screens together. A policy page alone cannot correct misleading information at the point where the buyer makes a decision.

Publish usable business and transaction information

The 2020 Rules address entity and grievance-officer contact information, seller disclosures and information needed for an informed purchase. Review returns, refunds, exchange, warranty, delivery, payment and price information against the applicable business model.

Make the responsible party easy to identify. Check that contact methods are monitored and that the information displayed matches the person actually supplying the goods or services.

Operate the complaint process

The Rules require acknowledgement of consumer complaints within 48 hours and redress within one month of receipt. Assign responsibility for receipt, escalation and resolution, and preserve the evidence of each action.

A contact address is useful only if a team can act on it. Give support staff access to order records and clear authority to route refund, delivery and product-quality issues.

Prepare for the January 2027 amendments

The September 2026 amendments commence on 1 January 2027. Preparation should cover NCH convergence, copies of recorded complaints, clearly identified sponsored listings, search transparency and revised seller information.

The amendments also address announced discounts using the lowest offered price in the preceding 30 days, annual dark-pattern self-audits and displayed compliance certificates, specified consumer-information uses and bundled fees. Confirm the detailed conditions in the notified rules when implementing each change. Do not describe these future provisions as already commenced on this page’s review date.

Build a disclosure review checklist

• Legal and trading identity, contact channels and ownership of each published field.
• Product description, price components, delivery terms and fulfilment limitations.
• Seller and importer records supporting the listing information.
• Returns and warranty statements checked against the actual support workflow.
• Complaint acknowledgement, escalation and resolution records.
• Dated screenshots and approvals for product, checkout and policy changes.

Example: a return policy contradicts the product page

A product page promises an easy return while the linked policy contains a narrower condition. Before publishing, reconcile the statements and make the relevant condition visible where the customer decides to buy. Train the support team on the same version so that the order confirmation, website and complaint response remain consistent.

Release changes with an owner

Allocate legal review, content editing, product implementation and support training to named owners. Check a representative purchase and complaint journey after changes go live. Keep the version history and the evidence supporting factual claims.

Review packaged-product, food and other sector disclosures separately where relevant. A general e-commerce policy does not replace product-specific requirements.