Online sales? Make sure you follow these basic rules

1. Place a cancellation button on your website

New regulations make it easier for customers to cancel orders and services. You must then have a clear cancellation button on your website. With this button, customers can easily indicate that they want to cancel their purchase or service.

So make sure there is an easy-to-find and clear button or link (in Dutch) on your website by 19 June 2026. Also explain how the button works. After customers use the button, send them a message in which they can confirm the cancellation. After this confirmation, the period in which they can return the order starts.

The cancellation button does not replace the form for withdrawing from a purchase. It gives customers an extra, easier option to use the 14-day cooling-off period.

2. Make sure mandatory details are on your website

Your website must have your company details on it. Make sure these details are easy for customers to find before they buy something. This can be done on every page of your website in the header or footer, for example. You must include these details:

• the company name with which you are registered with KVK
• your KVK number
• your VAT number
• the address where your business is located
• your email address
• your phone number
• what days and times you can be contacted
• Do you have a complaints procedure or are you a member of an arbitration committee? For example, as part of a sector certification or quality mark? If so, this must also be stated on your website. If you have a chat facility or can be reached online in any other way, you should mention that too.

3. Only post reviews from real customers

Reviews or ratings must be from real customers. Make it clear on your website how you check this. And carry out those checks. For instance, look for suspicious patterns, such as a high number of reviews in a short time for a certain product, or repetition of exactly the same texts.

You should also indicate whether you publish all positive and negative product reviews. Have you paid for reviews? Or do you give someone a product in exchange for a review? Then you must also mention that. You are not allowed to display fake reviews on social media. For instance, ‘likes’ posted on your behalf.

Consumers use reviews and recommendations to decide whether to buy something. These rules allow a customer to better judge whether reviews are honest.

4. Inform your customers about personalised offers

Do you give customers personalised offers for products or services? For example, based on their Google searches, a profile they have created, previous purchases, place of residence, or other customer characteristics known to you? Then you must inform the customer of this before they buy something.

You do this with a pop-up or an announcement on the payment page, for instance, mentioning what the personal offer is based on. This way, your customer can decide whether the offer is fair.

5. Stick to the rules for discounts and prices

You may not decide what price to use when calculating discounts. In the case of a ‘before’ price for a product, you must only compare the discount to the lowest price of the 30 days before the discount offer. Raising the price a week before the discount period and then lowering it again is not allowed. However, you can show how much discount you give compared to your competitor's price or the recommended retail price of a product.

These rules do not apply to services.

6. Offer clarity around ‘free’ online services

Do you offer ‘free’ digital services that require consumers to provide personal details? Such as a newsletter, apps, or social media? Then you must provide information about how long customers are tied to the digital service and how they can unsubscribe.

Consumers may cancel your digital service within 14 days for free without a reason. Do they cancel? Under the GDPR, you must then delete customer data immediately.

7. Beware of countdown timers

According to the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), many online shops mislead customers with countdown timers (in Dutch). These clocks make it seem as if an offer is only valid for a certain time, when in reality the offer is still valid after the time is up. You should only use such clocks if the offer will really expire.

8. Make your website accessible

Does your online shop have more than €2 million turnover or more than 10 employees? Then it must also be accessible for people with disabilities. Think about the possibility of shortcut keys, subtitling videos, or using short sentences and easy words.

Even if you are not legally required to make your website accessible, it is still smart to do so. If everyone can use your website, you will have more turnover. The ACM checks whether websites are accessible.

9. Provide information about the product or service

Customers need to know what they are buying. So provide enough information about your products or services. You should include these details on your website:

• key features, such as: size and colour for products, or the duration of a subscription for services
• the price
• how you handle the customer's personal data
• how customers can cancel or terminate their order
• how customers can pay
• where and when the product will be delivered, by whom, and what the delivery costs are
• whether there is a guarantee and if you also offer an extra warranty
• that customers have a minimum 14-day cooling-off period by law and a link to the form to cancel the purchase or service
• how you deal with complaints

10. Accept all EU customers

According to European regulations, you cannot refuse customers from other European Union (EU) countries. Refusing customers from other countries is called geo-blocking. You must treat customers from different countries in the same way. However, you can offer different versions of your website for other EU countries. You can use adapted products, offers, and prices on those. But the customer must be able to choose which version of the website to use.

Do you not want to deliver products everywhere in the EU? Then you may choose to offer delivery in the Netherlands only. You must give EU consumers the option to enter a Dutch delivery address. Or to collect the order from a Dutch collection point.

Supervision by ACM

The ACM checks whether you follow the rules for online sales. If you break the rules, you can be fined. Those fines can be up to €900,000 or 4% of your annual turnover. Consumers can report to ConsuWijzer of the ACM (in Dutch) if they suspect that a business is not following the rules.