This rule does not apply to any of the following:
• Mass advertisements (e.g., in a newspaper, television, radio or internet home page) which are not addressed to individual consumers or consumer residences.
• Transactions at a seller's home or regular place of business.
• Transactions at places like a farmer's market, where goods are delivered at the point of sale.
• Catalog sales.
• Transactions initiated by a consumer (except in response to a home solicitation).
• Business-to-business sales.
• Banks, savings and loan associations, insurance companies, public utilities or telecommunications carriers whose activities are exempt under s. 93.01(1m), Stats.
• Real estate sales, other than sales of cemetery lots and "time shares" as defined in s. 707.02(24), Stats.
• Securities sold in compliance with ch. 551, Stats., or franchise investments sold in compliance with ch. 553, Stats.
• Pay-per-call services sold in compliance with s. 196.208, Stats.
• Charity raffles, unless the raffle is part of a seller's plan or scheme to sell consumer goods or services.
Opening Disclosures
Under this rule, a seller making a "home solicitation" must clearly disclose all of the following as part of that solicitation:
• The seller's correct name. If a seller (e.g., a contract telemarketing firm) makes a home solicitation for another seller, it must also disclose the name of the other seller.
• The name of the individual making the home solicitation, if the solicitation is a telephone or transient solicitation. For example, if Mary Smith makes telephone or transient solicitations for the ABC firm, she must disclose her name to the consumer. Smith may disclose a fictitious name which uniquely identifies her if the ABC firm keeps a record of that uniquely identifying fictitious name.
• That the seller is offering or promoting the sale of consumer goods or services.
• The kind of goods or services which the seller is offering or promoting.
A seller must make these opening disclosures in the following ways:
• Orally, if the home solicitation involves an oral or face-to-face communication. The seller must make the oral disclosures before asking any questions or making any statements to the consumer (other than an initial greeting).
• In writing, if the home solicitation involves a written or face-to-face solicitation.
Disclosures Prior to Sale
In a home solicitation transaction, a seller must disclose all of the following before the consumer agrees to buy or receive any consumer goods or services, and before the seller accepts any payment from the consumer:
• The nature and quantity of the consumer goods or services.
• The cost of the consumer goods or services, including material delivery and handling costs. If the cost may vary, the seller must disclose the maximum cost or the formula by which the total cost will be computed.
• All material terms and conditions affecting the sale, receipt or use of the consumer goods or services, including credit terms if any. (Cost disclosures in consumer credit transactions must comply with applicable requirements under ch. 422, Stats., and federal law.)
• The seller's policy related to refunds, cancellations and exchanges.
• The seller's correct name, mailing address, and telephone number if any.
A seller must make these disclosures in writing. However, a seller may make the disclosures by telephone if the seller confirms them in writing. The seller must give the written confirmation at or before the time that the seller first delivers consumer goods or services to the consumer, or accepts payment from the consumer.
Prize Promotions
This rule regulates sweepstakes and other prize promotions that involve an element of chance. Home solicitation sellers who use these promotions may not require consumers to make any purchase or payment as a condition to entry. A seller must also disclose all of the following in writing, before the consumer agrees to buy anything or makes any payment to the seller:
• The verifiable retail value of each offered prize.
• The odds of receiving each offered prize or, if the odds cannot be calculated in advance, the factors used in calculating the odds.
• That the consumer is not required to make any purchase or payment in order to participate in the prize promotion.
• Instructions on how the consumer may participate in the prize promotion without making a purchase or payment.
• All actions which the consumer must take, and all conditions which the consumer must meet, in order to receive or be eligible for a prize.
Prize Promotions; Misrepresentations
• The approximate length of any sales presentation which the consumer is invited to hear, view or attend, and the nature of the consumer goods or services that will be offered or promoted.
• All shipping, handling or other fees which the consumer must pay in order to receive or use a prize.
Prize Promotions; Misrepresentations
This rule prohibits any seller from misrepresenting the material terms of a prize promotion, including any of the following:
• The odds of winning a prize.
• The nature or value of a prize.
• The nature or existence of any conditions which a consumer must meet in order to obtain a prize or participate in a prize promotion.
Unauthorized Payment
Under this rule, no home solicitation seller may obtain or submit for payment any check, draft or other negotiable instrument drawn on a consumer's account without that consumer's express, verifiable authorization. The following authorizations are considered verifiable:
• An express written authorization. Express written authorization may include the consumer's signature on the check, draft or negotiable instrument.
• An express oral authorization if all of the following apply:
*The oral authorization is tape recorded and made available upon request to the consumer's bank.
*The oral authorization clearly authorizes payment for the goods and services offered to the consumer.
*The oral authorization clearly indicates that the consumer received information specifying all of the following:
-The date and amount of the check, draft or instrument.
-The payor's name.
-The number of payments, if more than one.
-A telephone number for consumer inquiries that is answered during normal business hours.
-The date of the consumer's oral authorization.
• An authorization which the seller confirms in writing, provided that all of the following apply:
*The seller sends the written confirmation to the consumer before the seller submits the check, draft or other negotiable instrument for payment.
*The written confirmation includes all of the following information:
-The date and amount of the check, draft or instrument.
-The payor's name.
-The number of payments, if more than one.
-A telephone number for consumer inquiries that is answered during normal business hours.
-The date of the consumer's authorization.
-A procedure by which the consumer can obtain a refund from the seller if the written confirmation is inaccurate.
Credit Card Laundering
This rule prohibits "credit card laundering" related to home solicitation transactions. In "credit card laundering" schemes, unscrupulous sellers gain access to the credit card system -- from which they might otherwise be excluded -- by processing credit card transactions under the name of another merchant.
This rule prohibits a merchant from presenting for payment, to a credit card system, any credit card sales draft generated by a home solicitation transaction that is not a sale by that merchant to that credit card holder. No home solicitation seller may obtain access to a credit card system under the name of another merchant unless that access is authorized by that merchant's written agreement with the credit card system operator, or with an acquirer licensed by the credit card system operator.
Misrepresentations
This rule prohibits a seller from doing any of the following in a home solicitation transaction:
• Misrepresenting seller's identity, affiliation, location or characteristics.
• Misrepresenting the nature, purpose or intended length of a home solicitation.
• Misrepresenting the nature or terms of a home solicitation transaction, or any document related to that transaction.
• Misrepresenting the cost of goods or services offered or promoted by the seller, or failing to disclose material costs payable by the consumer.
• Misrepresenting the nature, quantity, material characteristics, performance or efficacy of the goods or services offered or promoted by the seller.
• Misrepresenting or failing to disclose material restrictions, limitations or conditions on the purchase, receipt, use or return of goods or services offered or promoted by the seller.
• Misrepresenting the material terms of a seller's refund, cancellation, exchange, repurchase or warranty policies.
• Misrepresenting that a seller is offering consumer goods or services free of charge or at a reduced price.
• Misrepresenting that a seller is affiliated with, or endorsed by, any government or 3rd-party organization.
• Misrepresenting that a seller has specially selected the consumer, or misrepresenting the basis on which a consumer has been selected.
• Misrepresenting any material aspect of an investment opportunity, including risk, liquidity, earnings potential or profitability.
• Failing to disclose, in connection with every purported offer of free goods or services in a home solicitation transaction, any costs which the consumer must incur and any conditions which the consumer must meet in order to receive those free goods or services.
• Making any other false, deceptive or misleading representation to a consumer.
Prohibited Practices; General
This rule prohibits a seller from doing any of the following in a home solicitation transaction:
• Threatening, intimidating or harassing a consumer.
• Failing to leave a consumer's premises upon request.
• Requesting or receiving payment for "credit repair" services until the seller provides the consumer with all of the following:
*All of the "credit repair services" for which the seller is requesting or receiving payment.
