Consumer protection: selling and offers online

Consumer law makes a seller disclose itself and the product before a sale. In the UK and EU it also gives buyers a right to cancel online orders.

When a site sells

All the earlier lessons on law dealt with data and advertising. Now for money. As soon as a site offers a person something to buy, or a paid service to book, a relationship arises between you and them under consumer law. The details depend on where the buyer is, not only where you are. It protects a person who buys for personal use: a consumer. If your customer needs the service for a business, the law works differently, but private individuals, whether the clients of a lawyer, an expert or a café, are covered.

A caveat, as in the earlier lessons: this lesson is a guide, dated 30 October 2026. It’s general information, not legal advice, and the law changes. For example, the EU’s rules now require online traders to offer a withdrawal function (a clear button or similar) from 19 June 2026, and the UK’s new subscription rules in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 have been delayed several times (reports in 2026 point to early 2027), so check the current position. For your own site, ask a lawyer or your trading standards or consumer authority (in the US, the FTC and your state attorney general).

What a person is entitled to know before buying

Information is asked for before the contract is made, and it’s not a formality: for a lack of it a person may be able to cancel for longer, and regulators can act.

• About the trader. In the UK the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and the E-Commerce Regulations 2002 require a trader to give its name, geographic address and contact details including an email address, and, for a company, its registration details. In the EU the Consumer Rights Directive (Article 6) and the E-Commerce Directive (Article 5) ask the same. In the US there’s no single list, but a sole trader’s or company’s name and a way to reach them are expected, and state laws and the FTC’s rules on deceptive practices make hiding them risky.
• About the goods or service. The main characteristics, the total price with taxes and delivery and other charges, how to pay, the delivery time and the terms for canceling. A price with unnamed extras breaks the advertising rules of the last lesson and consumer law too. In the EU and UK the price must include tax; in the US it’s common to add sales tax at checkout, but other mandatory fees must not be hidden.
• In the language of the buyer. For consumers abroad, a translation can be required by their country’s law.
• About canceling and returns: how and within what time (below).

You also need a way to order that is clear about the obligation to pay. In the EU and UK, the button that places the order must be labeled so that it’s clear that the person will have to pay (for example “Order with obligation to pay” or “Pay now”), not just “Continue” (Article 8(2) of the Consumer Rights Directive; regulation 14 of the UK regulations).

When the buyer can cancel

UK and EU. An online purchase is a distance contract. Because the buyer hasn’t seen the goods, the law gives them time to change their mind.

• A buyer may cancel at any time after ordering; for goods the period ends 14 days after they receive the goods (UK regulation 30(3); EU Article 9). For a service, the period ends 14 days after the day the contract is made (regulation 30(2)).
• If the trader did not provide the information about the right to cancel, the period is extended: in the UK it ends 12 months after the day it would have ended (regulation 31). In the EU, the extension is up to 12 months (Article 10).
• The trader refunds without undue delay and within 14 days of getting the goods back (or proof they were sent), including the standard delivery cost. The buyer usually pays the cost of sending the goods back if the trader told them so beforehand.
• There are exceptions: goods made to the buyer’s specification or clearly personalized, sealed goods that can’t be returned for hygiene reasons once opened, and others.
• For faulty goods the buyer’s rights are different and wider (in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015: goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, and a buyer has a short-term right to reject within 30 days; in the EU, a legal guarantee of at least two years), and don’t depend on the 14 days.
• A term “no returns” cancels nothing: a term that takes away a consumer’s statutory rights isn’t binding, and in the EU you may not mislead people about them.
• For services that begin during the 14 days at the customer’s request, the customer who then cancels pays a proportionate amount for what has been done. If the service is fully performed within the period with the customer’s express agreement, the right to cancel is lost.

United States. The picture is different, and it’s worth knowing so you don’t apply European rules to American buyers by mistake.

• There is no general federal or state right to cancel an online purchase. The seller’s published return policy decides, and it can be strict (“final sale”) provided it’s disclosed before the purchase. Some states require a retailer to post its return policy (California, for example, gives a default return window if a policy isn’t posted).
• The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) gives a three-business-day right to cancel only for door-to-door and similar off-premises sales. It doesn’t cover ordinary online orders.
• The FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (16 CFR Part 435) requires you to have a reasonable basis to ship by the date you state or, if you state none, within 30 days, and to offer the buyer a prompt refund or a choice if you cannot.
• Defective goods carry implied warranties under state law (the Uniform Commercial Code) unless disclaimed conspicuously, and federal law (the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) governs written warranties.
• Subscriptions and free trials. The Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA, 15 U.S.C. § 8403) bans charging for an online negative option unless you clearly and conspicuously disclose all material terms before getting billing information, get the consumer’s express informed consent, and provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. The FTC’s wider “click-to-cancel” rule of 2024 was struck down by a federal appeals court in July 2025 on procedural grounds, but ROSCA remains, and many states have auto-renewal laws of their own.

Open the diagram: choose where the buyer is and the kind of purchase and dates, and see until which day they may cancel.

Choose the place, the kind of purchase and the dates. The periods are a teaching reading of the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, the EU Consumer Rights Directive and the US position as of 30 October 2026; not legal advice.

UK or EU buyer US buyer

Goods bought on the site Paid service

Date received Date of the cancellation or return request

The trader told the buyer about the right to cancel before the purchase The goods were made to the buyer’s own specification

• Before the goods arrive, the buyer may cancel at any time after the order.
• After they arrive: 14 days, that is, until 20 November 2026 inclusive.
• A cancellation on 10 November 2026 is in time. The trader refunds without undue delay and within 14 days of getting the goods back (or proof they were sent), including the standard delivery cost.
• The buyer usually pays the cost of returning the goods if the trader told them so before the purchase.

Text alternative: a calculator of cancellation periods. In the UK and EU a buyer who orders online may cancel within 14 days of receiving the goods (or 14 days from the contract for a service), extended by up to 12 months if the trader did not give the information, and the trader refunds within 14 days of getting the goods back; custom goods are exempt. In the US there is no general right to cancel an online purchase: the seller’s published policy decides, defective goods carry implied warranties, shipping must follow the FTC’s mail-order rule, and subscriptions are covered by ROSCA.

Check yourself: what is the period for canceling goods after receipt in the UK or EU if the trader never gave the information about the right?

It’s extended: in the UK it ends 12 months after the day the 14-day period would have ended, and in the EU the extension is up to 12 months. So the information about the right to cancel is given in writing with the order confirmation or in the box.

An offer: when a page becomes a proposal

Under the common law of the US and the UK, a contract needs an offer, acceptance and consideration (the exchange). The classic rule is that a shop display, an advertisement or a price list is generally an invitation to treat, an invitation for customers to make offers, and not itself an offer. (The UK cases are Pharmaceutical Society v Boots and Partridge v Crittenden; US law has the same default, with exceptions for very specific advertisements.) That has practical effects.

• The order is usually the offer, and you accept it. Your confirmation, shipping the goods, or taking payment and starting work is the acceptance. The consumer rules of the EU and UK say the contract may be formed at the order, but your terms should still say when you accept: “a contract is formed when we email you an order confirmation” or “when you do ‘Book’ and pay.”
• Say it in your terms. Because a page may or may not be an offer, a mistake in a price is the typical trouble: if the page is only an invitation, you can usually decline to accept an order made at the wrong price before you accept it, but only if your terms say so. Add a line to that effect.
• “Clickwrap” beats “browsewrap.” In the US, courts tend to enforce terms that a person actively accepts (checking “I agree” or pressing a button that says the terms apply) and often refuse to enforce terms that sit behind a link in the footer that nobody had to see. In the UK terms must be brought to the buyer’s notice before the contract is made.
• Electronic signatures are valid. In the US the E-SIGN Act and state laws (UETA) give electronic records and signatures the same effect as paper ones, and in the UK and EU similar rules apply.
• Do not mix up accepting a contract and consenting to data processing. A contract is accepted by an action (an order, a payment). Consent to data processing, where you rely on it, needs a separate checkbox (the lessons on personal data). “By pressing the button you accept the terms and agree to the processing of your data” breaks the second.
• “From $800.” A “from” price must explain what the final price depends on, or it’s misleading advertising (the last lesson).
• Platforms and marketplaces. If you sell through a platform, duties are shared between it and you; read its rules, and ask a lawyer.
• A receipt. Give the buyer a receipt or invoice; say so in the payment section.

Check yourself: how does accepting an offer differ from consenting to data processing?

You accept an offer by an action (an order, a payment), while consent to data processing requires its own empty checkbox with its own text. They must not be joined in one “by pressing the button” phrase.

Russia, for comparison

Russia’s Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights” handles the same questions with fixed periods. For a distance purchase (Article 26.1) the buyer may refuse the goods at any time before receiving them and within seven days after, extended to three months if the seller gave no written information about returns, with the money refunded within ten days of the demand. A service may be refused at any time on paying the contractor’s actual costs (Article 32), and a term that worsens the consumer’s position is void (Article 16). The seller’s name, address and working hours are to be shown (Article 9), with prices in rubles (Article 10). These details come from the Russian edition and may have changed, so for a Russian audience read the current law.

The terms page

Put together one section of the site called “Terms” that a buyer sees before paying. It holds:

1. Who sells: the name, registration number, address, hours, phone, email.
2. What and for how much: the items from your brief, the prices in dollars, what is included.
3. Payment: the ways, and the receipt.
4. How we provide or deliver: the time and the manner.
5. Cancellation and returns: for goods and for services separately.
6. Complaints: where to write and how you answer.
7. The offer: a link to the full text, and what counts as acceptance.

Practice

You’re in the era of 2022: the site already takes money and promises a result. Put together a terms page for your project. If you sell goods, you need the sections about goods; if a service, about the service; if both, both. Mark whatever you don’t sell “not applicable.”

The check reads structure: that all seven sections are there, with the seller’s details and prices in dollars, the cancellation times and the main action in the offer. A lawyer will check whether the terms are right for your goods or service: many kinds of trade have special rules.

What used to be different

In the 2000s a “shop” was often a page with a phone number and no address: a person didn’t know whom they were paying or where to write, and “no returns” stood in the terms in earnest. Distance-selling rules came to the EU in 1997 and to the UK soon after, and the cancellation periods you see now date from the 2011 Directive and the 2013 UK regulations. In the US the law stayed mostly sector by sector and state by state. Today buyers know their rights, and it’s better for a seller to state them honestly at once than to receive a complaint.