Selling online from your own website: a checklist for Irish businesses

Selling from your own website means no marketplace fee on every sale, and a shop that looks like your business. It also means you are responsible for getting the basics right. Here is what to sort out before you open.

Start small

You do not need every product online on day one. Start with what sells best, or what people already ask about, and add the rest once orders are coming in.

Write proper product pages

Each product needs a clear name, real photos, the price, the options (size, colour) and an honest description of what the customer gets. Answer the questions people ask in the shop: what it is made of, how big it is, how long delivery takes.

Show prices people can trust

Prices shown to consumers must be the full price, VAT included. Delivery costs must be clear before the customer pays. No surprises at the last step.

Take payments safely

Use a payment provider that takes the card details on its own secure page, so card numbers never pass through your website.

Decide on delivery and collection

Decide where you deliver, what it costs and how long it takes, and say so on every product page. Collection from your shop is often welcome, and saves you packing. If you post a lot, a shipping service that prints labels and gives tracking numbers saves hours.

Know your customers' rights

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022, a consumer who buys online can usually cancel within 14 days of receiving the goods, without giving a reason. You must refund them, including the standard delivery cost, within 14 days of being told, though you may wait until the goods come back. There are exceptions, such as goods made to the customer's own specification, goods that go off quickly, and sealed hygiene goods once unsealed.

Your website must tell customers about this right before they buy, and give them a way to use it. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission explains the rules at ccpc.ie. This is general information, not legal advice.

Get VAT right

If you are registered for VAT, your prices include it and your invoices must show it properly. Revenue sets the turnover above which you must register, with one figure for services and a higher one for goods; check the current figures on revenue.ie.

If you sell goods to consumers in other EU countries, a single EU-wide threshold of €10,000 a year applies to those cross-border sales. Above it, you charge the VAT rate of the customer's country, which you can declare through Revenue's One Stop Shop (OSS) instead of registering in each country. Your accountant can tell you where you stand.

Make it work for everyone

A shop should work for people who use a screen reader or only a keyboard. The European Accessibility Act now applies to many online shops in the EU. Microenterprises that provide services, with fewer than ten staff and a turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million, are exempt, but an accessible shop is a better shop either way.

How a Webseer shop does it

A Webseer site can have its own shop: products, options and stock written in the Studio, a basket and checkout on your own site, and payment taken by Stripe on its own secure page. It handles delivery rates or collection in store, discount codes, VAT invoices and credit notes, and a form customers can use to cancel within their 14 days. Your team sees every order in the Studio. See how selling online works.