Legal Matters: Beneath Those Refund and Return Policies

For catalogers and electronic merchants who don’t maintain sales premises, but transact business remotely, the question becomes: Is there still a need to disclose return policies in order to comply with state laws, which, by their literal terms, require posting at retail establishments?

I highly recommend compliance here, and it’s probably legally required as well. Remote sellers might argue that laws mandating disclosure of return and refund policies “on the premises” or requiring that a “sign” be “posted” in a retail establishment have no applicability to the Internet or to mailed promotional materials. But direct marketers are at considerable risk of a liberal interpretation of these consumer protection laws. The penalties for noncompliance can be substantial.