There is no single law that governs every online shop. The rules depend on where your business operates, where your customers are, what you sell, which sales channels you use, and what personal or payment data you handle. Use this guide as a first-pass checklist—not a substitute for checking the laws that apply to your specific business.
What laws do I need to follow to sell online?
Start with your legal footprint. A shop selling only within one country may face a different set of duties from one taking orders across borders. The examples below focus on European Union-wide guidance and United States federal rules; they are not a complete list for either region, and they do not establish what applies in every country, state, or industry.
Map your business before researching rules
- Seller: Where is the business established, and where does it operate?
- Customers: Which countries or states can place orders, and where do you actively market or ship?
- Products: Are you selling physical goods, digital content, or services? Product categories can bring additional requirements.
- Sales channels: Do customers buy through your own website, a third-party marketplace, or both?
- Data and vendors: What information do you collect, and which payment processors, hosting providers, shipping companies, or other vendors receive it?
Use this map to identify the right regulators and rules to check. The sources covered here do not establish state or local sales-tax nexus, registration, or collection obligations, nor do they resolve business licensing or product-specific requirements. Check the relevant tax and licensing authorities, and consult qualified counsel when the answer depends on your particular locations, products, or sales arrangements.
How your sales channel and geography change the picture
| Business choice | What to check |
|---|---|
| Domestic sales | Identify the consumer, privacy, tax, product, and business rules for the seller’s location and the places served. |
| Cross-border sales | Check which consumer and data-protection rules apply based on the seller’s and customers’ locations. EU guidance treats consumer, operational, and privacy compliance as distinct areas. |
| Direct shop | Review your own disclosures, checkout, data practices, advertising, and fulfilment. The US marketplace-specific INFORM Consumers Act requirements discussed below concern qualifying marketplace sellers and hosting platforms. |
| Third-party marketplace | Check the platform’s own seller rules as well as any legal duties that apply to the platform or qualifying sellers. EU guidance also describes marketplace transparency and platform obligations under the Digital Services Act framework. |
What do I need to put on an ecommerce website?
Make important information visible before the customer commits to a purchase. The European Commission’s “e-Commerce rules in the EU” guidance says online sellers must clearly provide information about the product or service, its price, shipping costs, and delivery time. Your checkout and product pages should let a customer understand what is being bought, what it will cost, and when it is expected to arrive.
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Product pages and checkout
- Describe the item or service accurately and make any material limits clear.
- Show the price and relevant shipping charges before purchase; do not leave customers to discover material costs only after they have committed.
- Give a delivery estimate you can reasonably meet, and make the order process and purchase terms understandable.
- Explain applicable cancellation, return, and refund terms in accessible language.
For EU consumer sales, the Commission’s overview says shoppers can cancel many online goods purchases within 14 days of receipt and receive a refund. That is a high-level summary, not an unconditional rule for every purchase: exceptions apply, and national implementation matters. Check the rules for the specific goods, transaction, and country before writing your policy.
Advertising, reviews, and promotions
In the United States, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidance says advertising claims must be truthful, non-deceptive, and supported by evidence. Make sure product claims and performance promises have a reasonable basis. The FTC’s online-marketing materials also address topics such as digital-ad disclosures, email, reviews and endorsements, and children, depending on what the business does; that list is not a complete inventory of marketing rules.
If you sell through an EU marketplace, the European Commission’s overview describes platform measures related to trader-status transparency, unlawful products, complaints, advertising transparency, and dark patterns under the Digital Services Act framework. These are platform-facing duties in important respects; they do not all transfer to an ordinary merchant.
Do I need a privacy policy for my online store?
There is no universal answer established here for every online seller. The more useful first step is to identify the privacy rules that apply to your business and make sure people receive the disclosures those rules require. Under the EU example, GDPR applicability depends on the circumstances; having a website alone does not automatically make GDPR apply to every seller.
Build a data inventory
For each type of customer information, record what you collect, why you need it, which vendors receive it, who can access it, how long you keep it, and how it is deleted. Include checkout, account, marketing, support, and order-fulfilment data where relevant. Using an outside payment provider does not remove the need to understand how information moves through your business and vendors.
The FTC’s business guidance recommends collecting only what is needed, protecting information you retain, keeping it only while there is a business or legal reason, and disposing of it securely when no longer needed. If you must retain sensitive data, define what is kept, how it is protected, how long it remains, and how it will be disposed of.
Check privacy duties and security coverage
- For processing linked to the EU, assess whether GDPR applies and identify an appropriate lawful basis.
- Provide the required information to people, support applicable individual rights, protect personal data, and assess breach-notification and data-protection-officer requirements.
- Determine whether any security rule applies to your particular business before relying on it as a checklist. The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to covered companies, not every ecommerce store, and calls for administrative, technical, and physical safeguards.
What happens if my online order is delayed?
Do not promise a shipment date without a reasonable basis. Under the US FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule guide, if a seller does not clearly state a shipment time, the general default described is a reasonable basis to ship within 30 days after receiving a properly completed order. The guide is from 2010; consult the current rule text for a detailed compliance decision.
If you cannot ship on time
The FTC guide describes two next steps when a seller learns it cannot meet the promised shipment time: obtain the customer’s consent to a delay or promptly refund the unshipped merchandise. Do not treat silence as consent. Keep the customer informed and make the applicable choice clear.
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For EU sellers, Your Europe business guidance identifies fulfilment, delivery, and customer service as areas to plan for. That high-level operational guidance is not a complete account of national delivery rules or consumer remedies.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does selling through a marketplace add requirements?
It can. In the United States, the INFORM Consumers Act applies to covered online marketplaces and qualifying high-volume third-party sellers of new or unused consumer products. FTC business guidance describes the general threshold for a qualifying seller on a particular marketplace as at least 200 separate sales and at least $5,000 in gross revenue during a continuous 12-month period within the previous 24 months.
The FTC’s guidance describes a separate $20,000 annual gross-revenue threshold for certain seller disclosures on the marketplace. Marketplaces have information-collection and verification duties, along with reporting and suspension mechanisms. These thresholds and duties are not a blanket requirement for every direct-to-consumer shop; check the statute and FTC guidance against your platform, sales, and seller facts.
In the EU, the Commission’s overview describes transparency about whether marketplace sellers are traders or private individuals, alongside platform measures addressing unlawful products, complaints, advertising transparency, and dark patterns. Which duties apply to a platform and which apply to a merchant depends on the role and rule involved.
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How to turn this guide into a compliance checklist
- Write down your footprint: seller locations, customer locations, products, channels, and data flows.
- Review the buying experience: check product information, total price components, shipping charges, delivery estimates, and applicable cancellation, return, and refund terms.
- Review claims and promotions: gather evidence for advertising claims and check the rules relevant to the channels and audiences you use.
- Document data handling: record collection purposes, vendors, access, retention, security, deletion, and any applicable privacy duties.
- Test fulfilment readiness: confirm that shipment promises are realistic and that staff know how to handle delays, customer consent, and refunds under applicable rules.
- Check platform and product-specific rules: review marketplace requirements and consult relevant authorities or qualified counsel for tax, licensing, and regulated-product questions.
The European Commission’s EU e-commerce overview was last updated on 23 June 2026, and its Your Europe online-business guidance was last checked on 12 July 2026. The FTC shipment guide cited above is older. Laws and official guidance can change, so verify the current rules for your sales geography, product, platform role, data practices, and delivery terms before relying on this overview.
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