This module covers 18 legal red flags capable of destroying an online business — the exact shortcuts most e-commerce operators take without realizing they are one customer complaint away from a federal case. Eighteen is a deliberately tight, high-signal list: not everything that could go wrong, but the specific patterns that most often do.
It walks through hidden fees, false advertising, fake reviews, privacy violations, and cybersecurity failures on the customer-facing side, then moves into tax obligations, intellectual property infringement, and wire fraud on the operational and financial side — the two halves of exposure most store owners never connect.
The framing throughout is deliberately blunt: 18 red flags, real penalties, real prison time attached to the more serious entries, not hypothetical risk presented for awareness purposes only. It is designed to be used as a one-time full audit of a store's checkout flow, marketing claims, and review practices, rather than a document to skim once and file away.
Cutting corners in e-commerce compliance feels free right up until the invoice for cutting them arrives — and by the time it does, the cost is rarely limited to a fine.