A few days ago, in my March 2019 update, I teased a new product for store owners who sell products impacted by California’s Prop 65. Today, I’m pleased to announce that our Prop 65 Wizard is now available for Yahoo! Store and is a simple way to quickly become compliant.
What is Prop 65?
According to the State of California, “Proposition 65, officially known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, was enacted as a ballot initiative in November 1986. The proposition protects the state’s drinking water sources from being contaminated with chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and requires businesses to inform Californians about exposures to such chemicals.”
The proposition requires that the state maintain a list of chemicals that are known to cause the harm mentioned above and is updated at least once a year. Currently, there are more than 900 chemicals on the list that range from ingredients in common household cleaners to food and drugs as well as chemicals used for manufacturing or construction.
What does this mean to me?
If you sell a product that contains a chemical that is part of the Prop 65 list, you are required to provide a “clear and reasonable” warning to the consumer.
Those who live in California, or have visited, have seen signs in many businesses, such as this one at the famous Disneyland Resort:
For online merchants, putting warnings all over our websites isn’t something anyone wants to do since Prop 65 only impacts one state. Which is where our Prop 65 Wizard comes to the rescue.
How do I comply?
Our Prop 65 Wizard makes it easy for merchants who sell impacted products to display a compliant warning message only to shoppers in California.
By using geolocation technology based on a shopper IP address, when an impacted item is added to the shopping cart, our Prop 65 Wizard will determine whether the shopper is located in California or not. If they are, the warning message will appear below the item in the shopping cart. If they’re not, no warning appears.
Our team of developers designed our Prop 65 Wizard to be simple so you can get on the road to compliance quickly and easily. All the administration is done on the item page in the backend of your Yahoo! Store.
Do I need to comply?
I wear a lot of hats, but lawyer isn’t one of them! But as the old saying goes, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.” There are indeed penalties and fines associated with Prop 65 if businesses are not providing consumers with a proper warning.
If you have questions about Prop 65 and how it impacts your business and the products you sell within the State of California, visit the state’s official website at: https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/
How do I get the Prop 65 Wizard?
Our Prop 65 Wizard can be ordered online by clicking here. The cost is $14.95 per month, as this is a hosted product. Setup is free and our support team is available to assist with helping you get started once it’s installed on your store.
Stay tuned for more new products arriving soon! Be one of the first to find out about them by subscribing to our blog by entering your email address on the top right and by following us on our Facebook page.
Thanks for your business and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at scott@yourstorewizards.com.
Scott Sanfilippo
General Manager, YSW
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.