One year after RODO came into effect, how are retailers treating e-commerce regulations?

The formula "I have read the terms and conditions..." is regarded today as the biggest lie of the Internet. So retailers go for the easy way. They find a model online store and a good-looking terms and conditions. They replace the company's data, copy the rest and they're done! Five minutes of work, a few hundred zlotys saved. Fortunately, thanks to RODO, people with this approach to e-business are dwindling. Shopper's data shows that among its customers, more and more sellers use terms and conditions approved by a verified source and do not combine on their own.According to analysis, only a few percent of us read the terms of sale to which we agree. On the other hand, online shopping would take much longer if we read all those points and stipulations.... Not surprisingly, quite a few e-tailers settle for a stopgap, hoping that no one will read the terms and conditions.In fact, customers are rarely interested in the store's terms and conditions, although they should look at them, especially when the seller seems suspicious. Instead, perceptive readers of the rules and regulations may become people involved in a legal dispute with the seller or officials inspecting the legality of his business. Then any illegal clause, even used unknowingly through oversight, works against him. That's why professionals solve this problem differently than by makeshift copy-paste," explains Oliwia Tomalik, Marketing Coordinator at Shoper.Do it yourself. And consult an expertSellerswho want to get serious about the subject should think about writing the terms and conditions themselves, having first familiarized themselves with the regulations on the subject - the Consumer Rights Act and the Electronic Services Act. One can, of course, be inspired by formulas used in other e-shops. However, we can never guarantee that their owners have approached legal issues fairly. Besides, regulations that apply in one industry, may not apply in another. The same is true for different models of store operation. Therefore, unreflective copying of entire paragraphs ends up with having wording in the regulations that is contrary to the law.It is worth remembering that store regulations are not the only document that should be included in an online store to operate in accordance with the law. With the commencement of RODO, retailers are required to provide an elaborate information clause about their processing of personal data of the store's customers, which is best placed in the Privacy Policy, another important document in the e-store, where information about cookies required by the Telecommunications Law can also be included. The documents should be consistent with each other and updated whenever the law changes or the store changes. For sellers who do not want to keep track of changes in the law on their own, the best solution is to use the services of lawyers who specialize in the e-commerce industry, notes Zofia Babicka-Klecor of Legal Geek.Most companies that provide software for running a store also take care to protect their users from the legal side - providing support from professionals. The rules and regulations safeguard the interests of both sides of the transaction - providing a point of reference in case of unclear situations.Shoper's automatic rules and regulationsShoper, the largest provider of e-commerce software in Poland, has decided on a slightly different solution. Launched in May last year, the Shoper Regulations application generates in minutes a document with regulations fully compliant with RODO and other recent legal changes. A law firm is responsible for its factual correctness. Importantly, the service works in the form of an annual subscription, meaning that for a period of 12 months, the regulations automatically update, remaining in compliance with the regulations.After implementing the regulations application, we record about 30 percent less intensive activity by sellers on the regulations page. They look at it less often because they simply don't need to. The app takes care of the paperwork for our customers, and they can focus on logistics, marketing and other activities closer to the core of e-business," assesses Oliwia Tomalik.Since the release of the app's version that automatically updates the store's rules and regulations (this took place shortly before RODO went into effect), several hundred new stores operating on the platform have been launching it every month. The number of retailers using this solution is growing by an average of 78 percent per year.