Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Michigan

Re: Processing Credit Cards for Internet Transactions

If you asking if you would have committed a crime, the answer is no, as long as you have the intent to send the product in a reasonable time. However, if you accept and process a credit payment knowing that you cannot confer upon the consumer your consideration (your product) you have made a material mispresentation to him or her. In contract, if you expect the product to be in stock the next day (or thereabout) - then it probably would not be a breach. However, there is this nasty Act called the Michigan Consumer Protection Act and such conduct may be deemed in violation of one or several sections of that Act. There may also be some problems with the Uniform Commericial Code, of which I am not very familar.

I would think that the best course of action would be to process the credit transaction for the portion you can ship - advise the consumer - and then process a second credit transaction upon shipment of the remainder.

Good luck to you.

Don Darnell