Refunds On Internet Sales

[midyorkie]

I sold clothing from my website and full details about the garment were detailed, colour, size etc. Customer now says it's not the colour he wanted. Our terms and conditions (which customer accepted) state that there will be a restocking charge (unless the goods are faulty) and we do not refund carriage costs.
he now says he is returning goods and wants a full refund including carriage. This means we make a loss on this - do we have to comply with what he wants ?

[boxtops]

If your terms and conditions are laid out on the site then I would think not - but colour is notoriously difficult to portray accurately. Was the colour on the website the colour of the garment you sent him (exactly)?

[Buenchico]

The law requires that you must provide customers with details of their rights under the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, including their right to a full refund. As long as you specifically provide such information and do not attempt to contravene the Regulations in any other way you can then add in a contractual condition that the customer must pay the return carriage.

However restocking charges are ILLEGAL, so your notification (if any) of the customers rights under the Distance Selling Regulations is no longer valid. Where you have not provided correct information in relation to the customer's rights, you ARE responsible for paying the return carriage costs (as any contrary statement within your trading terms is automatically invalidated).

Nobody should be trading on the internet unless they're read and complied with this:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft913.pdf

Chris

[tonywiltshire]

I can add little to what Chris says as is usual, but hope repetition causes notice to be taken, as compliance is a legal requirement. The Consumer Protection (distance selling) Regulations 2000 specifically state you are not permitted to apply a restocking charge, you can obtain a copy of the regulations from the OFT.
The regulations are to permit a customer, who must not be another business, to inspect the goods before making a decision.