Phone Number on eCommerce Website

[That Guy]

Just lately I keep coming accross eCommerce sites with no contact phone number. Is this allowed? I know your meant to have address, company reg number etc.

Just makes me wonder who would buy from a site with no sales/support number?

[Indizine]

No, a phone number is not required I dont think, however we are now supposed to put an email address on our websites even when a contact form is present. An address should be present too, but to coomunicate about the sale, so long as provision is made via email im pretty sure that's the minimum.

[That Guy]

Yes I used to just have a contact form but have now added the email addess, but it the form of an image so that crawlers and bots cant use it.

[wampit]

If you go with Paypal Website Payment Pro integration then you must publish a telephone number and address. They check for it as part of the account set-up.

[That Guy]

We currently use Paypal IPN and have created a Customised Paypal Payment Logo etc.

Does the job for us at the moment. But will still show a phone number on our site

[Paul Norman]

It is not a legal requirement, but it is good form! Being contactable is a good thing for a business!

[beancounter]

There are a few "dodgy" operators out in cyberspace - just as there are some "dodgy" high street store owners - the ones that want to remain anonymous may prefer that their clients cannot contact them

Before making an online purchase we always check up on the customer service and / or support - either by email or by telephone - if we don't get a quick response as a potential customer, chances are we'll get NO response if anything goes wrong once we've made a purchase - and sometimes things Do go wrong through no one's fault

If you have an ecommerce website with no means of "quick" contact, you've already lost one potential customer :-)

[RedEvo]

To build trust you should be easily contactable by all the normal means.

d

[Scootek]

People do buy from these sites with no numbers but I wouldn't recommend it from personal experience.

When I have been desperate for a part that I couldn't get anywhere, it always seems these sites with no numbers have them!

[Paragon]

I agree a phone number should be available if possible.

But there are lots of people who run a web-business as a side-line or part-time business and so may not be available to answer the phone during normal office hours.