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Dropshipping checklist

If you sell products through an online store, you will need to comply with certain rules. This also applies to dropshippers. For example, you must provide consumers honest information both prior to and after the purchase, such as who you are, where your products come from, the delivery time, the return address, and who pays for return shipping. Your information must be correct. Only then are consumers able to make an informed decision about whether they want to buy from you, and only then will you be in compliance with the law.

On this page:

1. Be honest about your company

Please give consumers all the mandatory information about your company (page in Dutch). Think of your company details: the registration number with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (in Dutch: Kamer van Koophandel, or KvK), company name, telephone number, email address, and company address. Your company address is the physical location where your company’s day-to-day activities actually take place for an extended period of time.

Please make sure that your information is:

  • correct, clear, and complete for consumers
  • in a logical and easy-to-find location in your online store
  • clear and easy-to-find on a mobile device as well

  • This is how you do it properly: in the footer of your website, you add the information about your company, such as the company name, the company address, your registration number with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce, and your VAT number. You make sure that consumers do not have to search for this information.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: adding a company address that is not the address where you are registered, or providing a telephone number that does not belong to your company.

2. Be honest about the quality and delivery of your products

Please provide honest information about your products (page in Dutch). Please provide correct and clear information about the quality, specifications, and materials. In addition, please provide the following information prior to any purchase:

  • the place or country where the products are shipped from
  • the fact that a third party will deliver the products directly to the buyer

Only then will consumers be able to make an informed decision about whether to buy the products. Please make sure that consumers do not have to search for this information.

  • This is how you do it properly: you clearly present all the required information about the products and the ordering process above the order button on your product page.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: using the name of a Dutch city in your domain name when your online store is based outside the Netherlands. Or using photos of a store in the Netherlands (including AI-generated photos), even though that is not your actual store. Giving the impression that your products are shipped from the Netherlands, when they are actually shipped directly from China to the consumer. Saying that shoes in your online store are made from suede, when they are in fact made from polyester.

3. Be honest about the availability of your products

Please make sure that consumers are always able to make an honest and fully informed assessment before placing an order with you. You may entice customers, but you cannot mislead them. Always give correct and clear information.

  • This is how you do it properly: you only use notifications and timers about limited availability if they are actually true. If you wish to show how long a special offer is valid for, for example, by using a timer that counts down to the end of the special offer, please make sure that the time shown is correct, and stop the timer after the special offer has ended.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: pretending that only a limited number of products are available. Using a timer or countdown when the special offer does not stop after that time.

4. Be honest about prices and discounts

Please present the correct and full price of your products. Please present prices clearly and honestly. If you use discounts, please make sure that:

  • You present a genuine discount
  • You do not briefly raise your prices and then pretend you are offering a discount
  • You only use ‘was’-prices that you have actually used in the last 30 days
  • These are temporary promotions that last no longer than three months.

  • This is how you do it properly: you only compare your promotional price with a price that you have used for the products in the last 30 days. Your discounts are temporary offers: they last less than three months.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: making it look as though your products are on sale in order to sell more products, by using words such as ‘special deal’ or discount percentages, but you have never actually sold the products at the old, crossed-out prices. Comparing prices with a ‘recommended price’ without explaining what this term means. Pretending that your online store is closing down after many years and is therefore offering big discounts, when this is not true. Listing prices for longer than three months while pretending that it is a discount.

5. Post honest reviews

Please only use reviews that have been written by consumers themselves. Please explain how you have obtained the reviews. If you refer to another website for reviews, visitors must be able to click through to that website via a link on your website.

You cannot do the following on your own or other websites:

  • remove or hide negative reviews
  • post or use fake reviews

  • This is how you do it properly: on your website, you clearly state how you have obtained your reviews: in other words, whether customers were asked to leave a review or did so of their own accord, whether customers were rewarded for leaving a review, and how you calculate scores. If you ask customers to write reviews, you do so using a neutral tone of voice. If you display reviews from a third party (such as Trustpilot), you provide a link to that page. In that way, consumers will be able to see where the reviews come from.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: writing reviews yourself or paying for a service that writes reviews for you. That will make it look as if your online store has good reviews, even though those reviews did not come from real customers. Removing negative reviews. Asking the authors of bad reviews if they would be willing to adjust them in exchange for a discount or refund.

6. State the delivery time, and deliver on time

Please provide a clear delivery time prior to any purchase. Please make sure you deliver on time. If your products are shipped from outside the Netherlands, you must clearly state this. Please make sure that consumers do not have to search for this information.

  • This is how you do it properly: you display all the required information about delivery and the origin of shipment above the order button on your product page.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: using a slogan like ‘order today, shipped tomorrow!’ on your website, but without mentioning a delivery time.

7. State the cooling-off period, return address, and return costs

You are required to provide clear and comprehensible information about the cooling-off period (in Dutch). You must provide this information prior to any purchase. If you fail to provide this information properly, consumers will have an additional year to change their mind (in Dutch).

Consumers are entitled to this cooling-off period. It means that they can cancel their purchases up to 14 days after receiving them, for example, using the mandatory withdrawal button. Your customers do not need to tell you why they wish to take advantage of the cooling-off period.

You must clearly explain how consumers are able to return their products. This information must be clear prior to any purchase. Please provide the return address in that information. If your online store is located in the Netherlands, you must provide a return address in the Netherlands. You must also state who will pay the return costs and how much it costs, otherwise you will be responsible for these return costs.

  • This is how you do it properly: on each product page, you clearly state that consumers have a cooling-off period. You place information about the cooling-off period above the order button. On each product page, you clearly explain how consumers are able to return orders. Consumer must be able to easily find your return address in the Netherlands. You clearly state whether consumers are responsible for the return costs or whether you will pay these.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: failing to offer a cooling-off period when consumers order discounted products, or telling them that the cooling-off period will no longer be valid if they open a package. Giving the return address only when a customer asks for it. Having products returned to a non-Dutch address, when you are registered in the Netherlands. Hiding a non-Dutch return address in the online store, as a result of which customers cannot see this before placing an order. Having consumers pay the return costs when this was not specified at the time of purchase.

8. Pay refunds on time

If a consumer takes advantage of the cooling-off period within 14 days after receiving their order, they will have 14 more days (counting from the day when they cancelled the purchase) to return the product.

You must also refund consumers within those 14 days after the cancellation. Please refund consumers in full if they take advantage of their cooling-off period. This means that, if they cancel the entire order, you must refund everything they paid for, including shipping costs. You refund them in the same way that they paid you.

  • This is how you do it properly: a consumer takes advantage of their cooling-off period. You receive the returned product one week later. On that same day, you refund the consumer the full purchase amount and the shipping costs.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: offering a discount code or voucher instead of refunding the consumer. Not refunding the shipping costs, even though the customer cancelled the entire order. Not refunding return costs when you did not state that the customer had to pay them.

9. Ensure that your customer service is easy to reach

Please make sure you can be reached (in Dutch) for any questions or complaints from consumers. You are required to provide an email address and telephone number on your website. These contact details must be in a logical and easy-to-find location in your online store. Please make sure that you can actually be reached, reply to emails, and answer the phone.

  • This is how you do it properly: your telephone number and email address are easy to find on your website, such as under the ‘Contact’ heading or at the bottom of each page.

  • Examples of what is not allowed: not providing an email address or telephone number on your website. Using only a contact form or chatbot.

10. Provide all the mandatory information

This page only contains the points of attention for dropshippers. Additional statutory rules are in place regarding the information that you must give prior to and after any purchase. Please consult the full list of mandatory information (in Dutch) as well as the other rules that apply when selling to consumers (in Dutch).

Sources