Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: pre-payment

I have no way of finding out what Amazon does other than just browsing their website for a stated policy, and I'm sure you've already done that.

As far as I know, it is not illegal to charge ahead of time for a product or service to be provided later. It's done all the time to reserve a spot or to earmark an item that will be in limited supply. However, you need to be careful of two things.

First, you need to disclose very plainly to your customers that you will be billing their cards when they place the order and that the product will be shipped either after "x" number of days or weeks, or by [firm date].

Second, be prepared that if you do not perform for any reason, the hot water level will be very high. If you are not able to deliver the books AND you are not able to refund the money, fraud charges will likely be fired at you, even if you had no such intent.

Therefore, if you are the owner of a small business, I strongly urge you to resist the temptation to accept advance sales and use the proceeds to finance production of the product. At some level, this is what many businesses do, but if your business is small enough that you may get caught short, don't do it.

The right reason to collect up front would be to guarantee yourself locked in buyers for what you produce.

Some of the above advice is more practical than legal, but I've been a business owner myself, so I just can't help adding the rest in.

Good luck with your venture!