UK marketplace seller information requirements
When selling to consumers through a UK marketplace, disclose your business identity, address, email, applicable VAT number and the required purchase and cancellation terms before the contract. Check the buyer-facing pages and provide a durable contract confirmation. Sourcing support is available from Cambridge China Bridge.
Identify yourself as a business seller
A trader conducts activities relating to their business or another person's business. Importing stock for resale is a practical reason to review your seller account and business disclosures before listing. Falsely presenting business trading as private selling is prohibited.
These consumer disclosures concern sales to individuals buying wholly or mainly outside their business. Do not assume that a marketplace audience consists only of business buyers. For your upstream purchasing arrangements, see UK seller business supply terms.
Publish identity and contact details
Provide your identity and the geographical address where you are established. Give available telephone contact details and your email address. If the business address for complaints differs, disclose it too. If acting for another trader, provide that trader's identity and geographical address. Online sellers must also give their VAT number if registered.
Use a seller-information block that connects the shop name with the business behind it. Limited companies must show their registered number, registered office, registration jurisdiction and limited-company status on business letters, order forms and websites. Check those documents alongside your marketplace profile.
Prepare the purchase information
Before the consumer is bound, provide the required information clearly. For an ordinary goods listing, cover the main characteristics, tax-inclusive total price, additional delivery charges, payment arrangements and promised delivery timing. Explain how the price is calculated if it cannot reasonably be calculated in advance.
Include your complaint-handling policy where applicable, a reminder of your duty to supply goods conforming to the contract, and applicable after-sales services and commercial guarantees. Disclose relevant codes of conduct and access to any out-of-court complaint mechanism you are subject to. Where relevant, include contract duration, termination conditions, minimum commitments and deposit conditions.
Make cancellation terms usable
Where a cancellation right exists, explain its conditions, time limit and procedure, and provide the model cancellation form. Where the right does not exist or can be lost, disclose that position. If the consumer must pay return costs on cancellation, tell them before contracting; for goods that cannot normally be posted back, disclose the return cost.
Prepare instructions that match the actual product and return route. Ask who receives cancellation notices, who authorises returns and where returned goods go. Keep cancellation instructions separate from your commercial warranty wording so buyers can find each easily.
Check the marketplace and retain confirmation
The pre-contract information duty rests on the trader. Treat marketplace fields as places to publish it, then inspect the listing, seller page and checkout as a buyer. Check mobile views and any linked terms. Details supplied privately during account registration are not evidence that a buyer can see them.
Give contract confirmation on a durable medium, such as an email the buyer can retain, within a reasonable time and no later than goods delivery. Include the required information unless already supplied on a durable medium before contracting. Keep a copy of what was sent. For sourcing and product-document preparation, use our e-commerce sourcing guide and importer technical-file checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell imported stock as a private seller?
Business trading must not be falsely presented as private selling. Review the actual activity and make the account description and business disclosures match it.
Do I need to display an email address?
Yes. Online sellers must give their email address. Check that buyers can find it before ordering, alongside your identity and geographical address.
Does the marketplace provide all my legal information?
Check the buyer-facing pages yourself. The trader must provide the required pre-contract information and durable contract confirmation; account-registration details alone do not demonstrate delivery to buyers.
Must I tell buyers who pays return postage?
If consumers must pay return costs when cancelling, disclose this before contracting. For goods that cannot normally be returned by post, disclose the return cost too.