Problems with german ecommerce website guidelines and squarespace

Hello everyone,

in Germany (probably Europe as well) there are a lot of laws and guidelines on what an ecommerce website requires.

I want to post a list of problems that we were not able to solve and hope that someone knows some tricks or that Squarespace expands its editing functionalities to fulfill those guidelines.

I propose some possible solutions to the given problems as well as some quality of life feature requests later on.

Problem #1: Not able to show shipping policies in the checkout.

Right now it is possible to show the privacy policy, return policy and terms of service in the checkout. However, in Germany it is required to also link the shipping policy.

Possible Solutions #1:

• Add the option to add shipping policy to the other policies linked to in checkout
• Add the option to show the website footer in the checkout as well as the footer could contain all required policies

Problem #2: Not able to show taxes and shipping costs in the cart before selecting country in checkout.

Right now it is not possible to show taxes and shipping costs for a default country in the shopping-cart. Taxes and shipping costs are shown only when a country to ship to is selected in the checkout process. In Germany it is required to show the total costs including taxes and shipping costs in the shopping-cart before the customer begins the checkout process. 

Possible Solutions #2:

• Add option to add some default tax in shopping-cart screen. So that the price is calculated before the checkout process. Maybe use a default tax there since the country to ship to is selected later on.

Problem #3: Squarespace uses Cookies that shouldn't be required.

Even after deactivating the precise analytics and removing social sharing buttons etc. Squarespace websites seem to establish a connection to adobe typekit. This happens also when no adobe fonts are used on the website. In Germany it is required that such a connection is established only when the customer allows it. There seems to be no way to deactivate such connections though.

Possible Solution #3:

• Add option to use or load adobe fonts.
• Don't load adobe fonts if they are not used on the website

Here are also some feature requests that would make building a webshop in Germany (or Europe) more easy:

• let each physical product have a range of days until delivery is done (eg. "This item is delivered in 2 - 5 work days.")
  • right now one would have to add such information in the product description
• let each products price have the property taxes included or taxes excluded
  • this needs to be shown under each products price, right now one has to add this to each products description
• let each products price have the property shipping costs included or shipping costs excluded
  • this needs to be shown under each products price, right now one has to add this to each products description

you need to open a support ticket and submit these feature requests. Squarespace does not monitor (nor do they take an accounting of) feature requests here.

Just now, sruss76 said:

you need to open a support ticket and submit these feature requests. Squarespace does not monitor (nor do they take an accounting of) feature requests here.

Thanks for informing me, will do. I will still leave the post on here, if people wonder what problems they may have and maybe someone will even propose new solutions.

there are TONS of problems and feature requests here that have gone unresolved or not addressed for years. it's very frustrating that Squarespace is so slow or not responsive at all in addressing many crucial e-commerce issues.

On 6/23/2021 at 9:20 PM, Jost said:

Hello everyone,

in Germany (probably Europe as well) there are a lot of laws and guidelines on what an ecommerce website requires.

I want to post a list of problems that we were not able to solve and hope that someone knows some tricks or that Squarespace expands its editing functionalities to fulfill those guidelines.

I propose some possible solutions to the given problems as well as some quality of life feature requests later on.

 

Problem #1: Not able to show shipping policies in the checkout.

Right now it is possible to show the privacy policy, return policy and terms of service in the checkout. However, in Germany it is required to also link the shipping policy.

Possible Solutions #1:

• Add the option to add shipping policy to the other policies linked to in checkout
• Add the option to show the website footer in the checkout as well as the footer could contain all required policies

 

Problem #2: Not able to show taxes and shipping costs in the cart before selecting country in checkout.

Right now it is not possible to show taxes and shipping costs for a default country in the shopping-cart. Taxes and shipping costs are shown only when a country to ship to is selected in the checkout process. In Germany it is required to show the total costs including taxes and shipping costs in the shopping-cart before the customer begins the checkout process. 

Possible Solutions #2:

• Add option to add some default tax in shopping-cart screen. So that the price is calculated before the checkout process. Maybe use a default tax there since the country to ship to is selected later on.

 

Problem #3: Squarespace uses Cookies that shouldn't be required.

Even after deactivating the precise analytics and removing social sharing buttons etc. Squarespace websites seem to establish a connection to adobe typekit. This happens also when no adobe fonts are used on the website. In Germany it is required that such a connection is established only when the customer allows it. There seems to be no way to deactivate such connections though.

Possible Solution #3:

• Add option to use or load adobe fonts.
• Don't load adobe fonts if they are not used on the website

 

Here are also some feature requests that would make building a webshop in Germany (or Europe) more easy:

• let each physical product have a range of days until delivery is done (eg. "This item is delivered in 2 - 5 work days.")
  • right now one would have to add such information in the product description
• let each products price have the property taxes included or taxes excluded
  • this needs to be shown under each products price, right now one has to add this to each products description
• let each products price have the property shipping costs included or shipping costs excluded
  • this needs to be shown under each products price, right now one has to add this to each products description

Addressing these concerns is crucial for ecommerce compliance. Your proposed solutions and feature requests are practical and align with the needs of the German and European market. Enhancements such as adding default tax in the shopping cart, providing more options for policy display, and controlling cookie connections would significantly improve the functionality and legal compliance of Squarespace for European webshops. The feature requests, especially specifying delivery times and displaying tax and shipping information under each product, would indeed enhance user experience and transparency. These suggestions could contribute to a more user-friendly and legally compliant ecommerce environment.