Getting reviews, creator posts and email sales without a fine

Written for online shops in the UK selling on their own site or on marketplaces: direct-to-consumer brands, private-label and FBA sellers, dropshippers and subscription sellers.

The short version

1. Reward any rating, never just five stars.Disclose the reward next to each review, keep evidence of how you moderate, and never hide or suppress negative reviews.
2. Label paid creator posts 'Ad' up front.Money, free product or commission plus your control makes it an ad. 'Gifted' alone is not enough; you and the creator are both responsible.
3. Show compulsory fees in the headline price.A must-pay handling or service fee first shown at checkout is a breach. Include it up front or drop it.
4. Email only with consent or the soft opt-in.Soft opt-in: past buyers, about similar products, with a free opt-out when collected and in every email. Never market to addresses from marketplace orders.

Email lists, creators, reviews and sale prices are among the main ways an online shop wins customers, and they are exactly where consumer law now bites. Since 6 April 2025 the CMA can decide covered consumer-law breaches itself and fine up to £300,000 or 10% of global annual turnover, whichever is higher. As of Oct 2026.

Reviews

Rewarding only positive reviews is a banned practice, and so is hiding the negative ones.

Creators and influencers

A post a creator is paid for, in money, free product or commission, and that you control, is an ad and must be labelled up front with '#ad' or 'Ad'. 'Gifted' alone is not enough where you have control. You and the creator are both responsible. Put disclosure duties, a content usage licence for a stated term and approval rights in every creator agreement.

For example, a creator posts about a £35 serum after receiving free product and a 15% affiliate code, with no '#ad': both brand and creator are in breach. Get the post labelled within the day and put disclosure duties in every creator brief.

Prices and claims

• A compulsory fee of, for example, £2.50 on a £30 basket means showing £32.50 as the headline total, or dropping the fee.
• A 'was' price must be a genuine recent selling price at which you made real sales.
• Countdown timers that restart and untrue 'only 2 left' claims are misleading actions.
• Unqualified 'eco-friendly', 'sustainable' or 'plastic-free' claims are high risk, and the CMA can fine for misleading environmental claims. Say what is true, such as 'paper mailer; tape contains plastic'.
• Hold the evidence before any claim runs (CAP Code 3.7): 'clinically proven' needs the study, and food health claims can only come from the authorised register.

Email and abandoned baskets

• An email address typed at checkout without a completed sale is not a soft opt-in unless the negotiation test is met and the opt-out was offered there, so most brands ask for consent at the email field.
• Names and addresses passed to you by Amazon, eBay or TikTok Shop are for fulfilling that order. Marketing to them breaches the platform's terms and PECR.
• Advertising and retargeting pixels still need cookie consent. Since 5 February 2026, cookies used only to collect statistics to improve your own site no longer need consent, if the data is shared only with someone helping make those improvements and shoppers get clear information and a simple, free way to object. As of Oct 2026.

Asked in Greymill

Ask it about your own business

Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Marketing works it through for your business.

More for online retail and ecommerce in the UK

• Knowing whether an order makes money after ads, free delivery and returnsWork out what each order really leaves behind on your VAT-exclusive price, then the ROAS you need just to break even on your ads.Read the lesson
• Paying for stock and ads weeks before the platforms pay youBuild a 13-week cash flow on each platform's real payout timing, allow for reserves, holds and chargebacks, and price any revenue-based advance before you sign.Read the lesson
• VAT when you sell on marketplaces, ship from abroad or sell into the EUWho accounts for VAT on each kind of online sale, what is changing for parcels of £135 or less (As of Oct 2026), and how to test whether the Flat Rate Scheme suits a reseller.Read the lesson
• Making sure what you import, own-brand or dropship is legal to sellIf you import, own-brand or dropship, the law can treat you as the producer: what that means for safety duties, markings, category paperwork and packaging.Read the lesson
• What your returns policy can say, and what the law has already decidedOnline customers have a right to cancel and a separate right to reject faulty goods, so write terms that match both and refund disputes stop costing you.Read the lesson
• Staffing the Christmas peak with agency pickers, temps and freelancersBlack Friday to the January returns needs extra hands: the agency, pay, safety and freelancer rules that apply to an online shop's peak team.Read the lesson
• Amazon has suspended my account and is holding my moneyHow to get a suspended marketplace account back with one complete appeal, the notice rights you have, and how to keep trading while your money is held.Read the lesson

Open the interactive lesson · Every online retail and ecommerce lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade