FTC Lobbied To Revise Internet, Mail Order Rules

Retail lobbyists are pushing the Federal Trade Commission to update 14-year-old rules governing mail-order and telephone sales to specifically include sales made over the Internet.

"Whether orders come in the mail, by telephone or over the Internet is secondary to the point that customers should receive the products they ordered, at the price they agreed to pay and within the time that was promised," National Retail Federation Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan said. "The Internet has gone from dial-up modems to DSL to cable to fiber optic in a just a decade, not to mention from desktops to laptops to handheld devices. With todays rapidly changing technologies, it is important that FTC regulations focus on customer service rather than technical distinctions that could quickly become obsolete."

The National Retail Federation and Shop.org filed their comments Nov. 7 on the FTCs proposal to update its Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, a set of regulations that govern mail-order sales in areas such as accurate descriptions of products, prompt shipping, notification of delays and refunds. The rules were first adopted in 1975 in response to consumer complaints that merchants had failed to ship merchandise on time, failed to ship at all or failed to provide prompt refunds for unshipped items.

NRF officials said the rule change would likely have little to no practical impact on retailers, but that the goal was to clean up the language.

The FTC is also considering a change that would update the regulations current list of payment methods—cash, check, money order and credit cards—to include new forms of payment, such as debit cards, gift cards and services, such as Pay Pal, NRF officials said.

NRF and Shop.org supported the proposal but said refunds for debit cards should be handled the same as those for credit cards because retailers frequently cannot distinguish between the two types of cards. Another change would repeal a requirement that refunds be made by first-class mail and instead allow them to be made by a means "at least as fast and reliable as first-class mail," such as private couriers or electronic transfers.

Other proposals from the retail lobbyists include a request that a distinction be made that orders handled through a retailers internal computer systems—such as a sales associate using an in-store computer to find an item or place an order—not be considered Internet orders even if those systems happen to operate over the Internet.

They argued that retailers should be allowed to substitute merchandise of equal or greater value when an out-of-stock situation would prevent an item from being shipped on time, provided that the customer agrees. They also proposed that merchants not be required to promise a definite delivery date on some custom-made or handcrafted products provided that customers are given the option to cancel the order.

Retail Center Editor Evan Schuman can be reached at Evan.Schuman@ziffdavisenterprise.com.

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