In this article on to discuss the five most common reasons people get sued for drop shipping. So if you’re drop shipping, this article is for you to learn the do’s and don’ts to avoid getting into trouble.
- Using copyrighted ads content without permission;
You shouldn’t use copyrighted content without permission. People commonly make this mistake when they are trying to get an ad video or ad content for marketing their dropshipping store, they tend to just copy from other people’s work, which is very wrong especially when you have no permission to do so. There are ways to get your video ads done for cheap, for example you can pay for a video ads gig on fiverr for as low as five dollars.
- Selling replica products unauthorized;
Drop shipping replica products without authority to do so from the licensed owner is one of the most common reasons why dropshippers get sued.
For example, it’s wrong to dropship fake Gucci products or a mimic of Gucci products without authority from the Trademark owners. Although some people find this aspect of dropshipping to be lucrative, But you can literally get sued by the company for dropshipping replica products of their brand.
Usually, most companies will not even notice your dropshipping replica product but when you start making huge amount of sales or you start getting publicity, they begin to notice and you can end up getting sued for droshipping replicas.
- Product that causes injury;
If you dropshipping food related products, drug or health related products you should do your due diligence and be sure that the product isn’t going to cause harm to your customers.
By selling a product as dropshipper you’ll be held liable if your customer suffers damage or injury from using that product.
It doesn’t matter that you’re just Dropshipper, you will still be held liable if the person who uses the products suffer injury from that usage.
To be on the safe side, do not dropship bad quality products. Always ensure that the product you want to dropship is of good quality and it’s safe to use especially when the product is food and health related.
- Dropshipping regulated products without due license;
There are products that are regulated by government authorities. For example, in the United States, food and medical products are regulated. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Regulates food products. It’s advisable that if you want to drop ship food products you should seek to get the necessary licenses from the FDA.
Dropshipping these regulated products without the proper licenses from the authorized agencies will amount to in breach of relevant laws, and in cases like this, it’s no surprise that defaulting Dropshipper will become liable and get sued.
- Tax Evasion;
Ignorant of the law is not an excuse. Different countries have their own tax laws, so when you are dropshipping in a country, it becomes your responsibility to research and inquire about the tax laws in that country and to be compliant with the provisions of their laws.
A dropshipper can get sued for evading Texas. To learn about the US tax laws, check out this article. To learn about the Canadian tax laws for Dropshippers, check out this article and to learn about the EU tax laws for Dropshipers, check out this article.
Conclusion
There are various reasons why drop shippers can get sued. In this article we’ve analyzed the five most common reasons why Dropshippers get sued. Do you have any contribution or do you feel we might have missed out on an important point? Let us know in the comments.
