§ 2451a. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) “Consumer” means any person who purchases, leases, contracts for, or otherwise agrees
to pay consideration for goods or services not for resale in the ordinary course of
the person’s trade or business but for the person’s use or benefit or the use or benefit
of a member of the person’s household, or in connection with the operation of the
person’s household or a farm whether or not the farm is conducted as a trade or business,
or a person who purchases, leases, contracts for, or otherwise agrees to pay consideration
for goods or services not for resale in the ordinary course of the person’s trade
or business but for the use or benefit of the person’s business or in connection with
the operation of the person’s business.
(2) “Goods” or “services” shall include any objects, wares, goods, commodities, work,
labor, intangibles, courses of instruction or training, securities, bonds, debentures,
stocks, real estate, or other property or services of any kind. The term also includes
bottled liquified petroleum (LP or propane) gas.
(3) “Seller” means a person regularly and principally engaged in a business of selling
goods or services to consumers.
(4) “Home solicitation sale” means the sale or lease, or the offer for sale or lease,
of goods or services with a purchase price of $5.00 or more, whether under single
or multiple contracts, where the sale, lease, or offer thereof is either personally
solicited or consummated by a seller at the residence or place of business or employment
of the consumer, or at a seller’s transient quarters, or solicited or consummated
by a seller wholly or in part by telephone with a consumer at the residence or place
of business or employment of the consumer. Transient quarters includes hotel or motel
rooms, or any other place utilized as a temporary business location. The term “home
solicitation sale” does not include a transaction:
(A) Made pursuant to prior negotiations in the course of a visit by the consumer to a
retail business establishment having a fixed permanent location where the goods are
exhibited or the services are offered for sale on a continuing basis.
(B) In which the consumer has initiated the contact and specifically requested the seller
to visit the consumer’s home for the purpose of repairing or performing maintenance
upon the consumer’s personal property. If, in the course of such a visit, the seller
sells the consumer the right to receive additional services or goods other than replacement
parts necessarily used in performing the maintenance or in making the repairs, the
sale of those additional goods or services would not fall within this exclusion.
(C) Conducted and consummated entirely by mail and without any other contact between the
consumer and the seller prior to delivery of the goods or performance of the services.
(D) With a purchase price of under $25.00 where the consumer is not required to sign any
contract, receipt, sales ticket, evidence of indebtedness, or other writing, and the
goods, services, or merchandise purchased are capable of delivery or performance at
one time.
(E) Pertaining to the sale or rental of real property, to the sale of insurance, to the
sale of securities by a broker dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, or to the sale of commodities by any person registered with the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission.
(F) Where, in the case of goods, the buyer may at any time:
(i)(I) cancel the order prior to delivery of the goods and receive a full refund for any
monies paid;
(II) refuse to accept the goods when delivered, without incurring any obligation to pay
for them and receive a full refund for any monies paid; or
(III) return the goods to the seller and receive a full refund for any monies paid;
(ii) the buyer’s right to cancel the order or return the goods without obligation or charge
at any time and receive a full refund for any monies paid is clearly and unmistakably
set forth on the face or reverse side of the sales ticket; and
(iii) the goods or merchandise purchased under an agreement meeting the requirements specified
in subdivisions (i) and (ii) of this subdivision (F) are capable of delivery at one
time.
(G) Solicited or consummated wholly or in part by telephone where the seller offers a
full refund and right of cancellation for at least ten days after receipt of the goods
or services, and a full refund within 30 days of return of the goods or cancellation
of the services or under terms no more restrictive than those set forth in subsections
2454(a), (c), and (d) of this title, and the right of refund and cancellation is conspicuously
disclosed with the goods or services.
(H) Solicited or consummated wholly or in part by a federally insured depository institution
or its subsidiary, affiliate, or parent organizations, or by a public utility regulated
by the Federal Communications Commission or the Vermont Public Utility Commission.
(I) In response to an order placed by a farmer for farm-related goods or services, whether
in person, by telephone, or otherwise, and the farmer has a preexisting open end credit
plan with the seller.
(5) “Business day” means any calendar day except Saturday, Sunday, or any day classified
as a holiday under 1 V.S.A. § 371.
(6) “Purchase price” means the total price paid or to be paid for the consumer goods or
services, including all interest and service charges.
(7) “Lessor” means a person engaged in a business of leasing goods to consumers.
(8) “Collusion” means an agreement, contract, combination in the form of trusts or otherwise,
or conspiracy to engage in price fixing, bid rigging, or market division or allocation
of goods or services between or among persons. (Added 1973, No. 221 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. June 7, 1974; amended 1985, No. 34, § 1; 1985, No. 61; 1993, No. 99, § 3; 1995, No. 23, § 1; 1997, No. 42, § 1; 2001, No. 42, § 2; 2011, No. 168 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. May 18, 2012; 2021, No. 20, § 16.)