If your products are late getting to customers, not only will it cause you a loss of goodwill, it may also violate federal law. Here are the basics.

When taking orders, whether by phone or online, you must follow the shipping and refund rules of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, also known as the "30-Day Rule." In a nutshell, the rule mandates that when you advertise merchandise and state the shipping times, you must have a reasonable basis for believing you can meet these shipping deadlines.

The 30-Day Rule

If you don't say anything about shipment times, you're expected to ship within 30 days from the date you received a properly completed order -- that is, when you receive the payment and all the information needed to fill the order. The rule does not apply to collect-on-delivery (C.O.D.) orders or sales of seeds and growing plants or to magazine subscriptions (except for the delivery of the first issue).

If you notify the customer of a delay, you'll need to get the customer's consent. This is also true for online orders, which are considered complete when the customer clicks it along to you. If you can't get the customer's consent to the delay, you must, without being asked, refund the money the customer paid you for the unshipped merchandise. If there's a shipping delay and you don't want to seek the customer's consent, you can simply cancel the order, notify the customer, and refund the payment. Keep a record of how you gave the notice (whether by email, phone, fax, or regular mail), when you gave it, and how the customer responded. Again, if you don't say anything about shipment times at the time of the order, you're expected to ship within 30 days.