Florida Senate - 2022 SB 944
By Senator Baxley
12-00821A-22 2022944__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to online marketplace transparency;
3 creating s. 559.953, F.S.; defining terms; requiring
4 online marketplaces to require high-volume third-party
5 sellers using their service to provide certain
6 information to the online marketplace within a
7 specified timeframe; requiring the online marketplace
8 to verify such information, or changes to such
9 information, within a specified timeframe; providing
10 that information on valid government-issued tax
11 documents is presumed verified as of the issuance
12 date; requiring an online marketplace to update and
13 require certification of the updated information at
14 least annually; requiring the online marketplace to
15 suspend certain sellers who do not provide such a
16 certification or updated information; requiring online
17 marketplaces to disclose certain information in a
18 specified manner; requiring disclosure of suppliers;
19 providing for enforcement; authorizing the Department
20 of Legal Affairs to adopt rules; preempting the
21 regulation of the verification and disclosure of such
22 information to the department; providing an effective
23 date.
24
25 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
26
27 Section 1. Section 559.953, Florida Statutes, is created to
28 read:
29 559.953 Disclosure of information by online marketplaces.—
30 (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
31 (a) “Consumer product” means a product that is used or
32 bought for use primarily for personal, family, or household
33 purposes.
34 (b) “High-volume third-party seller” means a participant in
35 an online marketplace that is a third-party seller and that, in
36 any continuous 12-month period during the previous 24 months,
37 has entered into 200 or more discrete sales or transactions of
38 new or unused consumer products resulting in the accumulation of
39 an aggregate total of $5,000 or more in gross revenues. Only
40 sales or transactions made through the online marketplace for
41 which payment was processed by the online marketplace, either
42 directly or through the seller’s payment processer, count
43 towards the calculation for the number of discrete sales or
44 transactions or the gross revenues.
45 (c) “Online marketplace” means any consumer-directed
46 electronically based or accessed platform that:
47 1. Includes features that allow for, facilitate, or enable
48 third-party sellers to engage in the sale, purchase, payment,
49 storage, shipping, or delivery of a consumer product in the
50 United States;
51 2. Is used by one or more third-party sellers for such
52 purposes; and
53 3. Has a contractual or similar relationship with consumers
54 governing their use of the platform to purchase consumer
55 products.
56 (d) “Seller” means a person who sells, offers to sell, or
57 contracts to sell a consumer product through an online
58 marketplace.
59 (e) “Third-party seller” means any seller, independent of
60 an operator, a facilitator, or an owner of an online
61 marketplace, that sells, offers to sell, or contracts to sell a
62 consumer product in the United States through an online
63 marketplace. The term does not include, with respect to an
64 online marketplace:
65 1. A seller that operates the online marketplace;
66 2. A business entity that has made available to the general
67 public the entity’s name, business address, and working contact
68 information;
69 3. A business entity with an ongoing contractual
70 relationship with the online marketplace to provide the online
71 marketplace with the manufacture, distribution, wholesaling, or
72 fulfillment of shipments of consumer products; or
73 4. A business entity that has provided to the online
74 marketplace identifying information that has been verified.
75 (f) “Verify” means to confirm information and documentation
76 provided to an online marketplace by the use of one or more
77 methods that enable the online marketplace to reliably determine
78 that any information and documents provided which correspond to
79 the seller or an individual acting on the seller’s behalf are
80 valid, not misappropriated, and not falsified.
81 (2) VERIFICATION.—
82 (a) An online marketplace shall require that any high
83 volume third-party seller on the online marketplace provide the
84 online marketplace with all of the following information within
85 10 business days after qualifying as a high-volume third-party
86 seller:
87 1. Deposit account information from a financial
88 institution. If the high-volume third-party seller does not have
89 deposit account information at a financial institution, such
90 seller must provide the online marketplace with the name of the
91 payee for payments issued by the online marketplace to the high
92 volume third-party seller, and the information must be confirmed
93 by the online marketplace or by another third party contracted
94 by the online marketplace.
95 2. Contact information, including all of the following:
96 a. A valid e-mail address and working phone number.
97 b. If the high-volume third-party seller is an individual,
98 a copy of a valid government-issued photo identification for the
99 individual which includes the individual’s name and physical
100 address.
101 c. If the high-volume third-party seller is not an
102 individual, either a copy of a government-issued photo
103 identification for an individual acting on behalf of such seller
104 which includes such individual’s name and physical address or a
105 copy of a government-issued record or tax document that includes
106 the business name and physical address of the high-volume third
107 party seller.
108 3. A business tax identification number or, if the high
109 volume third-party seller does not have a business tax
110 identification number, a taxpayer identification number.
111 (b) The online marketplace shall verify the information the
112 high-volume third-party seller provides under this subsection
113 within 10 business days after receiving such information. If the
114 high-volume third-party seller provides any changes to the
115 information, the online marketplace must verify such changes
116 within 10 business days after receiving the information. If a
117 high-volume third-party seller provides a copy of a valid
118 government-issued tax document, the information contained within
119 such tax document shall be presumed verified as of the date of
120 issuance of such document.
121 (c) The online marketplace shall, on at least an annual
122 basis, notify each high-volume third-party seller on the online
123 marketplace that such seller must inform the online marketplace
124 of any changes to the information previously provided by the
125 seller within 10 business days after receiving the notification.
126 The notification must require the high-volume third-party seller
127 to either electronically certify that the high-volume third
128 party seller’s information is unchanged or provide changes to
129 the information as necessary. If the online marketplace becomes
130 aware that a high-volume third-party seller has not certified
131 that such information is unchanged or provided such changed
132 information within 10 business days after receiving such
133 notification, the online marketplace must suspend the selling
134 privileges of the high-volume third-party seller until such
135 seller provides such certification or changed information.
136 (3) DISCLOSURE.—
137 (a) An online marketplace shall disclose to consumers in a
138 conspicuous manner on the product listing, through a
139 conspicuously placed link on the product listing, or in the
140 order confirmation message or other document or communication
141 made to the consumer after the purchase is finalized and in the
142 consumer’s account transaction history, all of the following
143 information of any high-volume third party seller with an
144 aggregate total of $20,000 or more in annual gross revenues on
145 its online platform:
146 1. The full name of the high-volume third-party seller.
147 2. The full physical address of the high-volume third-party
148 seller. If the full physical address of the high-volume third
149 party seller is the primary residential address of such high
150 volume third-party seller, only the city, state, and country of
151 the high-volume third-party seller is required to be disclosed.
152 3. Contact information for the high-volume third-party
153 seller, including a working telephone number and working e-mail
154 address to allow for direct, unhindered communication with the
155 high-volume third-party seller. If the only telephone number of
156 the high-volume third-party seller is the personal telephone
157 number of the high-volume third-party seller, then only the
158 working e-mail address is required to be disclosed or the online
159 marketplace must provide other means of electronic messaging to
160 contact such seller.
161 4. The identification of any seller that supplies the
162 consumer product to the consumer upon purchase, if such seller
163 is different than the high-volume third-party seller listed on
164 the consumer product listing before the purchase.
165 (b) If an online marketplace becomes aware that a high
166 volume third-party seller has made a false representation to the
167 online marketplace in order to restrict access to the full
168 physical address, telephone number, or e-mail address required
169 in paragraph (a), the online marketplace must, after providing
170 the seller with written or electronic notice, require the full
171 disclosure of the high-volume third-party seller’s full physical
172 address, telephone number, and e-mail address. If such
173 information is not disclosed within 10 business days after
174 notification, the online marketplace must suspend the selling
175 privileges of the high-volume third-party seller on the online
176 marketplace until the required information is disclosed.
177 (c) An online marketplace shall provide to consumers, in a
178 conspicuous manner on the consumer product listing of any high
179 volume third-party seller, a reporting mechanism that allows for
180 electronic and telephonic reporting of suspicious marketplace
181 activity to the online marketplace and a message encouraging
182 individuals seeking goods for purchase to report suspicious
183 activity to the online marketplace.
184 (d) This subsection does not prevent an online marketplace
185 from providing any additional measures, electronic or otherwise,
186 that it deems necessary to prevent the sale of fraudulent,
187 stolen, or counterfeit consumer products on its platform.
188 (4) ENFORCEMENT.—A violation of this section constitutes a
189 violation of the Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act under
190 part II of chapter 501. A person who violates this section is
191 subject to the penalties and remedies provided therein.
192 (5) RULES.—The Department of Legal Affairs may adopt rules
193 with respect to collecting and verifying information under this
194 section, provided that such rules are limited to what is
195 necessary to collect and verify such information.
196 (6) PREEMPTION.—The regulation of the requirement for
197 online marketplaces to verify information from high-volume
198 third-party sellers on a one-time or ongoing basis or disclose
199 information to consumers is preempted to the department. A local
200 governmental entity may not establish, mandate, or otherwise
201 require the verification or disclosure of such information.
202 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.