#consumer-protection
Consumer protection laws, unfair trade practices, and customer rights compliance
The FTC's December 2025 Instacart settlement priced three common practices at $60 million in refunds — "free delivery" with a mandatory service fee, a satisfaction guarantee paid out in credits, and trials converting without express consent — and this checklist maps each allegation onto disclosure, guarantee, and ROSCA subscription rules small businesses must follow.
Offering layaway for holiday 2026 lets retailers keep the full ticket price instead of paying 4-6% BNPL merchant fees — but deposits must be booked as liabilities until pickup, every fee disclosed in writing before the first payment, and sales tax timed to delivery. This guide covers the accounting entries, state disclosure rules, and the layaway-versus-BNPL math.
The FTC's amended COPPA Rule, finalized in January 2025 with compliance required by April 2026, reaches any app or website with actual knowledge of users under 13, not just products built for children. It requires a separate opt-in parental consent before sharing a child's data or serving targeted ads, a published retention schedule that bars indefinite storage, and a written security program, with civil penalties above $50,000 per violation. This guide lays out who is covered, which consent methods the FTC accepts, and a seven-step checklist a small team can run without a privacy department.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act applies to every written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $10, requiring a full or limited title, forbidding blanket disclaimers of implied warranties and brand-name parts requirements, and mandating pre-sale access to the terms above $15. A small-seller guide with a 10-point compliance checklist.
Connecticut's amended Data Privacy Act took effect July 1, 2026, cutting the applicability threshold from 100,000 to 35,000 consumers, adding zero-threshold triggers for sensitive data and data sales, and removing the guaranteed 60-day cure period. Here is what changed, what arrives October 1, and a six-step checklist for small businesses.
Since July 1, 2026, a Washington homeowner holding an unsatisfied court judgment against a registered contractor can collect up to $25,000 per parcel from L&I's Homeowner Recovery Program, and the state then pursues the contractor for reimbursement. This guide covers the eligibility rules, the $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty bond requirements, and the job-costing, change-order, retention and sales-tax bookkeeping habits that keep a dispute from ending in a judgment.
Nearly 40 states cap emergency price increases — California at 10% above your own pre-emergency price — and most statutes require no proof of bad intent, only an increase past the threshold. Penalties reach $5,000 per violation in North Carolina and $20,000 in Texas, and the cost-justification defense works only if dated price snapshots and supplier invoices already exist.
Illinois replaced its pawnbroker statute with the Pawnbroker Regulation Act of 2023, ending auto-title advances under a pawn license, capping active licenses at 250 statewide (150 in specified populous counties), and adding electronic police reporting plus aggregate data collection. Here is how to structure a pawn shop's chart of accounts, book forfeitures at lower of cost or net realizable value, and run off title-secured balances separately.
Since February 21, 2026, New York City requires hotels and short-term rental hosts to advertise an all-in total price including every mandatory fee, and to disclose credit card holds and advance deposits before the guest pays. Here is how the rule differs from the federal FTC junk-fee rule, what counts as mandatory, and how to keep room revenue, fee revenue, deposits, and incidental holds straight in your ledger.
Banks tied roughly $27 billion in suspicious activity to elder financial exploitation in the year ending June 2023, per FinCEN. A practical guide for business owners — the five scams draining parents' accounts, the warning signs to watch in their finances, how to get read-only visibility without starting a family fight, and the bookkeeping rules that protect you if you end up holding the power of attorney.
Starting July 1, 2027, California's SB 919 requires franchise brokers to register annually with the DFPI, deliver a standardized disclosure document — including how they are paid — before pitching any franchise, and keep five years of auditable records. Here is what the law changes, why broker commissions of 40–50% of the franchise fee matter to buyers, and how to vet a broker before the rules take effect.
Since July 1, 2026, Washington homeowners can collect up to $25,000 of an unpaid contractor judgment from the state's Homeowner Recovery Program, after which L&I can pursue the contractor for reimbursement with interest on payment plans of up to 36 months. This guide explains the eligibility rules, the post-2024 bond levels of $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty, and how a residential contractor should log disputes, accrue probable losses under ASC 450, fund a separate cash reserve, and amortize a state repayment plan in a plain-text ledger.
