Be Trusted This Black Friday

It's that time of year when your inbox begins to creak under the weight of Black Friday emails. 

It's not something we do here at Lucy Legal (more on that another time).

BUT what we do is promote selling legitimately all year round, not just on Black Friday. Do you know how to do that? 

Selling legitimately means more than simply emailing your list more often than when you want to make a sale. Legitimate selling is about transparency and sticking to the rules. Yes, there are rules, known as laws or legislation. Fail to stick to the rules and you could have a refund request on your hands. 

The flip side, when you stick to the rules, you create a much better buying experience. Customers often know their rights, they want you to be transparent and clear with your terms, these are such easy wins for you to create an incredible customer experience. 

Legal Tips For Selling Legitimately 

1. Watch out for incorrect terminology - Selling something new should not be described as an "offer", a "discount" or a percentage off if it's never been available for purchase before.
2. Previous Pricing - To create an offer or promotion, it's a legal requirement that you have had the product or service available at the higher price previously for a "reasonable period". This used to be 21 days but this changed, but that could still act as a good guideline of how long a "reasonable period" may be.
3. Extending the offer - Adding additional time to your deadline for when the offer should expire is a big no no. It totally lacks integrity, plus if you've induced someone to purchase as a result of a lower purchase price then you're actually in breach of sales legislation. 
4. Cooling off period - Do you need to give your customers the chance to change their mind? Many people assume that you can change your mind within the first 14 days following a purchase but that isn't always the case. Depending on what you buy (perishable goods/digital downloads/customised products) and your status as a purchaser (consumer/business) you may not have the option to cancel your order.
5. Like for like - When you put something on offer it has to be the same quality and quantity. So for example, you can't discount a power hour by 25% and only offer 45 minutes.

If you've read these tips and you're now thinking "I wish I knew this" or "How on earth could I know these legal things?" then I have two ways to help.

1. Get some robust Sales Terms and Conditions. You can grab our Sales T&Cs for digital and physical products by clicking here. They include terms for sales and refunds for digital products and also customised or physical products too. As a thank you for reading this blog I'd love to offer you 10% off your terms too. Simply enter "BLOG10" at the checkout.
2. If you still wish you knew a little bit more about how this works then 'Sell Legit' is our super simple, clear and easy to understand course which covers off the legal things every entrepreneur must know about running a business. The course includes easy to implement tips on the legal side of selling and strategic ones too. It also includes everything you need to know about protecting your business from refund requests and how to handle one if it does arrive. You can find out more by clicking here. This course is part of an essential handbook you need to have in place in business. If you're tired of winging it and wish you knew how to run a "proper" business then this course will really help for you to understand how to handle those trickier aspects such as refunds.

I would love to know what you think of this post. Is there anything in here that you didn't already know? Let me know in the comments below.

Lucy x