What You Need To Know About Selling Across Governmental Lines

As an online retailer, you hope to do business in all the areas of your country and

, quite likely, in many other countries as well. When you begin to cross governmental lines, you need to be aware that other laws may apply. To the extent possible, you want to ensure that if there is a reason to resort to legal action, that the laws in your jurisdiction apply.

National Laws And Regulations

You need to be aware of any prohibitions, safety standards or other laws and regulations that may apply when you sell to a customer in another country. For example, you cannot sell any product in the US or the UK that contains dog or cat fur.

Products that are meant for children must meet specific safety standards. It is difficult to sell plants across country lines because there are quarantine issues related to the plants and soil.

It is illegal to sell Nazi material in European Union countries.

Many countries have embargoes that prohibit sales of any goods from specific countries. To find out whether any special rules apply to the products you sell in any country, search for the product name, the country, and the words prohibited for sale or import limits and the name of the country. You can also go to the Customs site for the country and search for a list of prohibitions and restrictions.

Jurisdiction Explained

Jurisdiction is the right and power to interpret and apply the law by a Court in a geographic location. Jurisdiction is obtained by living in a location or, in the case of online retailers, by doing business in a location. Although it is more complicated in online sales where the seller is in one location, the buyer is on another and other involved agents, the payment gateway provider for example, is in yet another location, the transaction location is usually where jurisdiction applies.

Ensuring Jurisdiction

You want to be sure that the law of your country, state or province applies to your business if at all possible. If not, you could be forced to hire a lawyer from another state, travel to that location in order to pursue a problem. Plus, if jurisdiction is in your location, people who are in other locations are less likely to sue because of the additional expense involved.

There are several ways to attempt to maintain jurisdiction.

Make sure any contract you sign says that any dispute must be filed in your home state, and that both parties to the contract agree to jurisdiction in that state. Realistically, if you are a small business and the contract is with a large business such as a wholesaler, you may not be able to achieve this contract language.

You can set terms and conditions of purchase that include jurisdiction in your location. Use a check off box to obtain the buyer's agreement. Since this language may seem a bit ominous, you can soften the effect by including your return policy and your product warranty in the terms as well.

Hopefully you will never need to rely on jurisdiction, but it's better to be prepared.

by: Jane Dawson

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