Distance Selling

What is distance selling?

Distance selling is trade without face-to-face contact – via the Internet, mail order, TV, phone or in other ways. The law about distance agreements also applies when selling in the street and from home.

What is distance selling?

Distance selling is when products are sold online, by phone, TV, mail order catalogue, or a reply card. Distance selling can also apply to home sales, canvas selling and when hosting events at home. Home selling is when a sales person knocks on a door to sell a product. Canvas selling is sales via a pop-up store in a shopping mall. Sales at home events (home parties) is when an individual hosts an event in their home to sell products.

The law about distance selling

All of this falls under the term distance selling, or distance trading, and the law about distance agreements applies when sales take place outside of business premises. As a seller or company, you should know what the law means and be able to meet the expectations of your customers.
The law about distance agreements applies to:

  • Distance selling – trade online, by mail order, TV or phone
  • Sales that don’t happen on ordinary business premises – for example home sales, street selling, home parties
  • Sales on premises if the customer is contacted immediately before, outside of the premises

According to the law, the seller must provide certain information to the buyer before the sale can be made. The consumer has 14 days to regret the purchase, which they have a right to be informed about prior to the purchase. The right to regret a distance purchase does, however, come with some limitations. For example, it doesn’t apply to:

  • Travel and accommodation
  • Food
  • Time limited events
  • Loose copies of magazines and newspapers
  • Custom made products for the customer
  • Digital products if they aren’t delivered in physical form
  • Products that cost less than 400 SEK and are bought outside of a business premise

Distance selling online and via traditional channels

Not too long ago, most of Swedish distance selling happened by phone or through mail order. Nowadays, the internet and e-commerce dominates among consumers.

Even if most sales are digital, many e-commerce companies use a combination of modern technology and traditional marketing for their distance trading. For example, an online order can lead to the customer getting a printed catalogue. Another example is when a company sends physical marketing with offers to their customers who have made a purchase online.

It’s also common to use hybrid models, combining physical stores with the option to order online. Sometimes, customers are offered to order online in-store via a tablet, while staff is standing next to them.

PostNord simplifies your distance trading

If you run an e-commerce store or another type of company for distance selling, PostNord Portal Business is of great help to you. With our tools you get a better overview of all packages, returns and customer claims. We have several efficient integrations to connect your web store or business system to the portal. You can also create your own connections with our practical API.

With PostNord Portal Business you get everything related to shipping and logistics from distance selling in one convenient place. Super simple!

Frequently asked questions about distance selling

What does the term distance selling mean?

It includes all trade that happens by distance, for example online, by phone, TV or mail order catalogue.

How does distance selling work?

It depends on where it takes place, for example online or by phone. Regardless, laws about distance agreements related to sales outside of business premises apply to all distance sales.

How can PostNord help with distance selling?

We have many great tools and services to make distance selling easier. For example, you get a good overview of all customer cases and returns. We also have many great web store integrations.