Can I sell products or services online without violating e-commerce laws in Iowa? What are the requirements?

To sell products or services online in Iowa, you must comply with the state’s e-commerce laws. The primary law governing e-commerce in Iowa is Chapter 554F of the Iowa Code. Below are the requirements for selling products or services online in Iowa:

Disclosure Requirements

• An online marketplace must require a high-volume third-party seller with an aggregate total of twenty thousand dollars or more in annual gross revenues on an online marketplace, and that uses an online marketplace platform, to provide certain information to the online marketplace.
• A high-volume third-party seller subject to this section shall disclose the following:
• The full name of the seller, which may include the seller’s name or seller’s company name, or the name by which the seller or company operates on the online marketplace.
• The physical address of the seller.
• Contact information for the seller, to allow for the direct, unhindered communication with high-volume third-party sellers by users of the online marketplace, including a current working phone number, a current working email address, or other means of direct electronic messaging which may be provided to the seller by the online marketplace.
• An online marketplace shall disclose to consumers in a clear and conspicuous manner on the product listing of the high-volume third-party seller a reporting mechanism that allows for electronic and telephonic reporting of suspicious marketplace activity to the online marketplace.

Definitions

• A “high-volume third-party seller” means a participant on an online marketplace platform who is a third-party seller and who, in any continuous twelve-month period during the previous twenty-four months, has entered into two hundred or more discrete sales or transactions of new or unused consumer products made through the online marketplace and for which payment was processed by the online marketplace, either directly or through its payment processor, and an aggregate total of five thousand dollars or more in gross revenues.
• An “online marketplace” means a person or entity that operates a consumer-directed electronically based or accessed platform as follows:
• The platform includes features that allow for, facilitate, or enable third-party sellers to engage in the sale, purchase, payment, storage, shipping, or delivery of a consumer product in the state.
• The platform is used by one or more third-party sellers for the purposes specified in paragraph “a”.
• The platform has a contractual or similar relationship with consumers governing their use of the platform to purchase consumer products.
• A “seller” means a person who sells, offers to sell, or contracts to sell a consumer product through an online marketplace platform in the state.
• A “third-party seller” means a seller, independent of an online marketplace, who sells, offers to sell, or contracts to sell a consumer product in the state through an online marketplace platform.

Unlawful Advertising and Selling of Educational Courses

• It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association, or corporation maintaining, advertising, or conducting in Iowa any educational course for profit, or for tuition charge, whether by classroom instructions, by correspondence, or by other delivery method to falsely advertise or represent to any person any matter material to an educational course.

Enforcement — penalties

• If the attorney general has reasonable belief that an online marketplace is in violation of this chapter, the attorney general has the sole authority to bring civil action to provide for all of the following: a. Enjoin further violations by the online marketplace. b. Enforce compliance with this chapter. c. Assess civil penalties in an amount not more than one hundred thousand dollars. d. Obtain other remedies permitted under law. e. Obtain damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of residents of the state. ^[1.2]

Based on the above requirements, you can sell products or services online in Iowa as long as you comply with the disclosure requirements for high-volume third-party sellers on online marketplaces and do not engage in false advertising or misrepresentation of educational courses. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in civil penalties of up to $100,000 and other remedies permitted under law.

Source(s):

• [1.2] Enforcement — penalties.

Jurisdiction

Iowa

• General