Returns rights checker: what this customer is owed, by when, and who pays the postage

"Can I return this?" arrives in every shop's inbox several times a week, and the answer depends on two different laws that most replies run together. One gives a customer who changed their mind a 14-day right to cancel a distance sale. The other gives a customer with faulty goods remedies that run for years. The checker asks which one the customer is standing on and sets out what you owe.

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Returns rights checker: what this customer is owed, and by when

Why they want to return itChanged their mindFaulty, damaged or not as described What it isStandard goodsPersonalised or made to orderPerishableSealed health or hygiene item, now openedDigital content, download started Date delivered Date they told you Cancellation right and return-postage terms shown before they orderedYesNoOn the product page, basket or checkout, and in the order confirmation Your terms say the customer pays return postageYesNo Item price (£) Standard delivery charge they paid (£)

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Changed their mind: the Consumer Contracts Regulations

A consumer who buys online may cancel for any reason. The cancellation period ends 14 days after the day the goods come into their physical possession (regulation 30). They then have 14 days from telling you to send the goods back (regulation 35(4)), and you have 14 days from receiving the goods, or from their proof of posting if that comes first, to refund (regulation 34(5)).

The refund is the price plus the standard delivery charge. If they chose a dearer delivery option, you refund the standard rate only. Return postage is the customer's cost only if you told them so before they ordered (regulation 35(5)); if your pages were silent, you pay it. And if you never gave the cancellation information at all, the 14 days is extended by 12 months (regulation 31), which is how a shop ends up refunding a year-old order.

You may deduct for handling beyond what was needed to check the goods (regulation 34(9)). A customer may try a jumper on as they would in a shop; they may not wear it to a wedding.

What is excluded. Regulation 28 takes out personalised and made-to-measure goods, goods that perish quickly, sealed goods that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened, sealed audio, video and software once unsealed, and digital content once the download has started with consent. For these, there is no statutory right to cancel, and the checker says so. Your own policy can be more generous; if it promises more, keep the promise.

Faulty, damaged or not as described: the Consumer Rights Act

Here the clock is different. For 30 days from delivery the customer has the short-term right to reject for a full refund (section 22). For six months, a fault is presumed to have been there at delivery unless you can show otherwise (section 19(14)), and the remedy is a repair or replacement at your cost, including postage, within a reasonable time (section 23). If that fails, they have the final right to reject, and in the first six months no deduction for use is allowed (section 24). After six months the customer must show the fault was present at delivery, and claims can be brought for up to six years.

Return postage for faulty goods is always yours. Send a prepaid label rather than asking the customer to pay and claim it back; the second route produces two more emails and a worse review.

The contract is with you, not the courier or the maker. A parcel that arrived crushed is your problem to solve with the customer today and your claim against the carrier tomorrow. Our where-is-my-order reply writer takes the same line on lost parcels.

Why the distinction matters in the reply

A customer who says "it's faulty" to a shop that answers with its 14-day policy has been told, in effect, that their statutory rights are a favour. They go to the card issuer next, and our guide on chargebacks explains why that costs £20 before anything else happens. The right first line is the one the checker produces: which law, what the customer gets, and the date.

Put the terms where the law needs them

Everything in the change-of-mind section turns on what the customer was told before ordering. The cancellation right, the 14 days and who pays return postage must be on the site before checkout and in the confirmation. Our returns policy template has the wording, with the exclusions listed so a personalised-goods shop is not refunding orders it need not.

This is general information for consumer sales in the UK, not legal advice. Business-to-business sales are outside both sets of rules.