How to exclude consumer claims to the site

How to avoid consumer complaints about the quality, completeness and delivery of goods sold in the online store? Taking into account the judicial practice, it is enough to organize the implementation through the trading platform according to the agent scheme.

The owner of the trading platform, using the agent scheme of work with sellers, performs the role of an intermediary. Therefore, it does not cover consumer protection laws and is not responsible for the quality of the goods, the time of delivery, etc. These findings are equally relevant to the provision of services and the execution of works ordered through an Internet exchange.

For violation of consumer rights will be responsible directly to the seller. When considering consumer claims, the court is guided by the terms of the user agreement, offer and other documents posted on the website of the trading platform or seller.
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Since relationships with consumers and other members of the trading platforms are based on the terms of service, voluntarily accepted at the start of using the site and / or placing an order, pay attention to their content.

As an illustration, we will cite the last consumer protection case involving Yandex (see the decision of the Kuntsevskiy District Court of Moscow of January 27, 2015 in case No. 2-587 / 2015 ).

Details of the solution are hidden under the cut.

Court motivation on the case

1. Yandex is not a manufacturer, importer of goods, and also does not perform any work for the consumer through the Yandex.Market service.
2. Yandex is not the actual seller of the goods. In the preamble of the Consumer Protection Act, there is a requirement that a seller of goods (a contractor for the provision of services) and a consumer must conclude a sale and purchase agreement (a paid service agreement).
3. When providing the Yandex.Market service, including the ability to place an order and pay for it, Yandex does not transfer the thing (goods) to the consumer and does not participate in the transfer to the consumer. The seller transfers the goods to the consumer under the sales contract concluded by him with the seller. This provision is reflected in Section 4 “Delivery of Goods” of the Conditions for Ordering and Paying for Goods on the Yandex.Market Service.
4. Under the organizations performing the functions of the seller (manufacturer), are organizations with which the seller (manufacturer) has concluded contracts for the implementation of certain actions to fulfill the obligations of the seller (manufacturer) provided for in Art. 18 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" on the requirements in connection with the shortcomings of the goods. The contract with the online store, which is owned by LLC "Ekom", such obligations are not assigned to Yandex.
5. The Yandex.Market service is an information and reference system in which it houses: reference information about goods, services, advertising materials in the form of product offers of specific sellers (stores), user information about goods / stores (reviews).
6. In accordance with the terms of the User Agreement and the Yandex.Market Rules, services for providing access to reference information of the Yandex.Market service are provided to the consumer free of charge. Payment for Yandex services under an agreement with an online store does not indicate retaliation of services to consumers.
7. Yandex acts as an advertising distributor, placing an offer to purchase a specific product in a particular advertiser's store at a specific price specified by the advertiser.
8. By virtue of the Terms for stores, Yandex acts as an agent, and a store as a principal. In this case, all transactions are concluded on behalf of and at the expense of the principal (online store).
9. Thus, the relationship between the user and Yandex, concerning any way the user uses the Yandex.Market service, is not covered by consumer protection law.

Required package of documents for the site

Taking into account the above practice, we have developed a minimum required trading platform package of documents that are suitable for other forms of organization of the marketplace. For example, in online exchanges with lead generation and payment acceptance through the site, the same set is used.

The package consists of 4 documents:

• Public offer for sellers;
• Rules for the sale of goods / services;
• Terms of use;
• Privacy policy.

1) Public offer for sellers

The document regulates the procedure for concluding an agency agreement with the seller. Required for:
- promotion in the service (catalog, selection, priority, etc.);
- sales to users of goods (services) on behalf of the seller;
- collection of payment and transfer to the seller minus the service commission.
The document specifies the order of execution of orders for the conclusion of transactions and acceptance of payment, the timing and procedure for settlements, reporting (electronic document flow), the use of a simple electronic signature to confirm actions using an account and e-mail, liability limitations.

2) Rules for the sale of goods (services)

The document concerns the ordering at the seller, payment, transfer of goods (provision of services), use of a simple electronic signature to confirm actions using the account and e-mail of the client and the seller, limitation of the responsibility of the agent and the seller.

3) User Agreement

The document regulates the general conditions of registration and free use of the functional site trading site, incl. the procedure and consequences of placing content (description of the artist, product / service, application), limitation of liability, the use of a simple electronic signature to confirm actions using the account and e-mail of the user.

4) Privacy Policy

The document establishes the procedure for the processing of personal data and information collected automatically. Required by the Federal Law "On personal data" for each site on which personal data are collected. Does not require registration in Roskomnadzor and obtaining written consent for the processing of personal data.