Guide Business registration
Duties nobody thinks of
Legal notice, withdrawal, packaging register — three things you can get a warning letter for.
With registration you become a trader, and rules apply that did not apply to private sales. Three of them are regularly overlooked and are the quickest to cost money.
1. Legal notice and withdrawal information
Anyone selling commercially to consumers needs a legal notice (Impressum) and withdrawal information — on a platform too. Most platforms have a field for it in the seller profile. Without withdrawal information the withdrawal period is extended considerably, and the missing legal notice is provable.
2. Fourteen days to return
In distance selling, consumers may withdraw within fourteen days, without giving a reason. That applies to second-hand clothing too, and even if the platform itself provides no returns. This is not a matter of goodwill but of law.
3. Packaging register
Anyone shipping packaged goods to end consumers must register in the LUCID packaging register and license the packaging. That applies from the first parcel — there is no minimum threshold. Registration is free; the licence for small quantities usually costs a few euros a year.
On top of that, depending on the goods
- Textile labelling: the material composition must be stated. If there is no label left, that is a problem — guessing is not a solution.
- For electronics and batteries: separate registration duties.
- Warranty: two years towards consumers, reducible to one year for second-hand goods, but not excludable.