37-24-1. Definition of terms. Terms used in this chapter mean:

(1) "Advertisement," the attempt by publication, dissemination, solicitation, or circulation, whether oral, visual, written, or otherwise, and whether in person, by telephone, or by any other means, to induce directly or indirectly any person to enter into any obligation or to acquire any title or interest in any merchandise;

(2) "Business day," any calendar day except Sunday, or the following holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Native American Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day;

(3) Repealed by SL 2014, ch 191, § 2.

(4) "Documentary material," the original or a copy of any book, record, report, memorandum, paper, communication, tabulation, map, chart, photograph, mechanical transcription, other tangible document or recording, reproductions of information stored magnetically, file lay-out, code conversion tables, computer programs to convert file to readable print-out, wherever situate;

(5) "Examination" of documentary material, the inspection, study, or copying of any such material, and the taking of testimony under oath or acknowledgment in respect of any such documentary material or copy thereof;

(6) "Goods or services," goods or services purchased, leased, or rented, including courses of instruction or training regardless of the purpose for which they are taken;

(7) "Merchandise," any object, wares, goods, commodity, intangible, instruction, or service;

(7A) "Organized retail crime," the theft of retail merchandise from a retail seller with the intent or purpose of reselling, distributing, or otherwise reentering the retail merchandise in commerce, including the transfer of the stolen retail merchandise to another retail seller or to any other person personally, through the mail, or through any electronic medium, including the internet, in exchange for anything of value;

(8) "Person," a natural person or his legal representative, a partnership, a limited liability company (domestic or foreign), a corporation (domestic or foreign), a trust, an incorporated or unincorporated association, and any other legal entity;

(9) "Place of business," the main or permanent branch office or local address of a seller;

(10) "Price comparison," the comparison, whether or not expressed wholly or in part in dollars, cents, fractions or percentages, in any advertisement, of a seller's current price for consumer property or services with any other price or statement of value for such property or services, whether or not such prices are actually stated in the advertisement; or, the making of price reduction claims or savings claims with respect to the seller's current price. The term includes, but is not limited to, such comparisons as "50% off," "Up to 70% off," "Save 1/3," "Half-price sale," "30% to 70% off," "Was $20, now half price," "Guaranteed Lowest Prices," "$10 value, now $8," "Was $7, now $6," "List Price $50, Our Price $29," "Clearance Price," or "Liquidation Price";

(11) "Purchase price," the total price paid or to be paid for the goods or services, including all interest and service charges;

(11A) "Retail merchandise," any article, product, commodity, item, or component intended to be sold in retail commerce;

(11B) "Retail seller," any person that is in the business of selling retail merchandise at retail;

(12) "Seller," any person, partnership, corporation, or association engaged in the door to door sale of goods or services;

(13) "Trade" and "commerce," the advertising, offering for sale, attempting to sell, selling, or distributing of any services, or any property, tangible or intangible, personal, or mixed, or of any other article, commodity, or thing of value wherever situate, for cash, exchange of goods or services, or on credit, and shall include any trade or commerce directly or indirectly affecting the people of this state;

(14) "Unordered," delivery of consumer property or services without prior expressed request or consent from the person receiving the consumer property or services, but not including consumer property sent or services performed by mistake, offered in good faith in substitution for property or services by prior expressed request or consent, or a bona fide gift. Unordered consumer property or services do not include consumer property or services sent pursuant to an agreement which is in compliance with the federal trade commission rule on use of negative option plans by sellers in commerce as outlined in 16 C.F.R., section 425, as in effect on January 1, 1992.Source: SL 1971, ch 218, § 1; SL 1975, ch 244, §§ 2 to 6; SL 1984, ch 258, § 1; SL 1987, ch 281, § 1; SL 1992, ch 278, § 2; SL 1994, ch 351, § 88; SL 2014, ch 191, § 2; SL 2019, ch 177, § 1.