This page answers one question for UK dropshippers: what you must do when a customer wants to send something back, and what your published policy should say. Every timing was checked against gov.uk’s returns and refunds guidance on 15 September 2026, and there is a complete template below that you can copy, fill in three fields and publish. Full disclosure: we build Orbit Commerce, an ecommerce platform, so we have a stake in you opening a shop. Every rule links to its source. This is general information, not legal advice. And dropshipping changes none of your obligations: the customer bought from you, and your supplier is a private arrangement they never signed.
What does UK law require, exactly?
Three fourteens. A customer buying from your website can cancel for any reason within 14 days of receiving the item. Once they have told you, they get another 14 days to send it back. You must refund within 14 days of receiving it back, including standard delivery if they paid it (gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026).
gov.uk’s own wording is worth keeping in front of you: “You cannot deduct any fees from their refund, unless the item has been used or damaged.” Two more numbers sit around those fourteens. Say nothing about the cancellation right before they buy and the window becomes 12 months (gov.uk distance selling, checked 15 September 2026). And you must deliver within 30 days unless the customer agreed otherwise, which bites when a supplier quotes 15 to 40 working days.
One detail the template generators miss: your refund clock can start before the parcel arrives. Under regulation 34(5) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 it runs from the day you receive the goods or, if earlier, the day the customer gives you evidence of having sent them. A tracking receipt is evidence. The general rules are in our post on what UK returns law actually requires.
What happens when your supplier will not take the return back?
You refund the customer anyway, on the statutory timings, and you absorb the loss. No supplier’s restocking policy limits your customer’s rights. The supplier relationship decides whether you get reimbursed; it never decides whether you refund. Passing a supplier’s “no returns once opened” rule through to a consumer misleads them about their statutory rights, which is an offence in itself. So the real question is how to lose the least money.
- Refund first, on time. Late refunds become chargebacks: the money, plus a fee, plus a mark against your merchant account. Settle the consumer side, then argue with the supplier on your own schedule.
- Ask whether the item is worth shipping back. If the supplier credits nothing, return postage buys you a used item you cannot resell. On low-value goods, refunding and letting the customer keep it is cheaper. Be more generous than the law if you like, never meaner.
- Use a UK return address you control. A parcel posted to an overseas supplier who will not accept it is simply gone.
- Claim faults separately. Suppliers who refuse change-of-mind returns will often still credit goods that were not of satisfactory quality. Photograph everything the moment a customer complains.
- Reprice the supplier, or change them. One who credits nothing really costs you their wholesale price divided by one minus your return rate, which often makes the cheap supplier the expensive one. Terms are negotiable at sign-up and almost never after, so get them in writing: our list of UK dropshipping suppliers is worth working through on this point alone.
Amazon and eBay layer their own returns rules on top of the law and both can refund a buyer without asking you, as our post on the rules for dropshipping on Amazon and eBay in the UK sets out.
Who pays return postage, and can you make the customer pay?
You can require the customer to pay return postage on a change-of-mind cancellation, but only if you told them before they bought. Regulation 35(5) says the consumer bears the direct cost of returning goods unless the trader agreed to bear it or “the trader failed to provide the consumer with the information about the consumer bearing those costs” (legislation.gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026). Say nothing and the cost is yours.
For faulty, damaged or not-as-described goods you pay postage every time: that is a remedy under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, not a cancellation. The one lever you keep on change-of-mind returns is a deduction for handling beyond what a shop would allow, up to the contract price (regulations 34(9) and 34(12)). Try the coat on, fine. Wear it to a wedding, deductible. You lose that lever if you did not give the cancellation information properly, and restocking fees are not allowed at all.
What is exempt from the 14-day cancellation right?
gov.uk lists the items you only have to refund if they are faulty: personalised or custom-made items, perishables such as frozen food or flowers, newspapers and magazines, unwrapped CDs, DVDs and computer software, and sealed items that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened, such as underwear (checked 15 September 2026).
Read “sealed” carefully, because it catches beauty sellers: the exemption applies once the seal is broken, so an unopened cosmetic is still returnable. And “personalised” means made to the customer’s specification, not a stock item in a colour they picked.
Faulty or change of mind? They run on different laws
| Question | Change of mind | Faulty or not as described |
|---|---|---|
| Which law | Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 | Consumer Rights Act 2015 |
| Time to tell you | 14 days from delivery, or 12 months if you never disclosed the right | 30 days for a full refund, then repair or replacement |
| Return postage | The customer, only if you said so before purchase | You, always |
| Deductions | Yes, for handling beyond a shop inspection | No |
| Exempt items | Personalised, perishable, unsealed hygiene, press, unwrapped media | None, and sale items are included |
| Burden of proof | Not applicable | Within 6 months, you must prove it was not faulty |
| Long stop | 12 months at the outside | 6 years to bring a claim, 5 in Scotland |
Two rows matter most. Section 22(3) of the Consumer Rights Act sets the full-refund window for faulty goods at 30 days from delivery. And gov.uk is blunt on proof: “You must repair or replace an item if a customer returns it within 6 months, unless you can prove it was not faulty when they bought it.” Proving that about an item you never saw is the structural weakness of this model.
What one return actually costs you
Take the £24.99 order from our UK dropshipping guide, which nets about £5.24 after supplier cost, card fees and ads. Run it again as a change-of-mind return, assumptions stated so you can argue with them.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Customer paid, item plus standard delivery | £24.99 |
| Supplier cost, delivered (assumption) | −£9.00 |
| Card processing, Orbit Solo rate 2% + 25p (assumed not returned) | −£0.75 |
| Full refund, including standard delivery | −£24.99 |
| Supplier credit for the returned item (assumption: none) | £0.00 |
| Return postage, because your policy never mentioned it | −£3.49 |
| Net cost of one return | −£13.24 |
At £5.24 per clean order, that return eats two and a half good ones. Add one sentence about return postage to your policy and it costs £9.75. Find a supplier who credits returns at wholesale and it drops to £0.75 plus postage. Which is the argument for reading a supplier’s returns terms before their price list.
A UK returns and refunds policy you can copy
Here is a complete policy in plain English with the statutory timings written in. It assumes you are a distance seller shipping from a supplier, and it puts change-of-mind return postage on the customer, which you may only do because the policy says so before they buy. Replace the three bracketed fields and publish. To be more generous, raise a number and say so. Never lower one.
Returns and refunds
This policy is offered by [Your business name], [address]. You can reach us at [email]. It applies to everything you buy from this website, and nothing in it affects your legal rights.
Changing your mind. You can cancel your order for any reason, or no reason, up to 14 days after the day you receive it. If your order arrives in several parcels, the 14 days start the day the last item arrives. To cancel, email [email] with your order number and tell us. You do not have to say why, and a clear message is enough. Ask us for a cancellation form if you would rather use one.
Sending the item back. Once you have told us, you have a further 14 days to send it back. We will give you a return address. Please use that address and not the one on the parcel, because many of our items are sent directly by our suppliers and a parcel returned to a supplier may never reach us. You pay the cost of returning the item unless it is faulty, damaged or not what you ordered. Use a tracked service: the item is your responsibility until it reaches us.
Your refund. We refund within 14 days of receiving the item back, or within 14 days of you giving us proof that you have sent it, whichever happens first. We refund to the payment method you used, with no admin, restocking or handling fee. We also refund what you paid for standard delivery. If you chose an upgraded delivery, we refund the standard rate and you cover the difference.
Condition of returned items. You are welcome to handle an item the way you would in a shop: open the box, try it on, see how it works. If you go further and the item loses value as a result, for example it has been used, worn, washed, assembled, damaged or is missing parts, we may reduce your refund by the amount of that loss, and we will tell you the amount and the reason first.
Items we cannot take back if you simply change your mind. By law the 14-day cancellation right does not apply to items made to your specification or clearly personalised, perishable goods such as fresh food and flowers, newspapers and magazines, sealed audio, video or software once the seal is broken, and sealed items that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened, such as underwear or cosmetics. If any of these arrive faulty, everything below still applies in full.
Faulty, damaged or not as described. If an item is faulty, damaged in transit, not as described or does not do what it is supposed to, email [email] and we will put it right. Tell us within 30 days of delivery and you can have a full refund. After 30 days and within six months we will repair or replace it, and if that does not fix it you can have a refund. You never pay postage on a faulty item in either direction, and we make no deduction. Sale items carry the same rights as full-price ones, and you can bring a claim for up to six years from purchase, five in Scotland.
Delivery, wrong items and shortages. We deliver within 30 days unless we have agreed a longer time with you; if we cannot, we will contact you and you can cancel for a full refund. If the wrong item arrives or part of your order is missing, email [email] with your order number and we will replace it or refund you, whichever you prefer, and we pay the postage.
Complaints. If you are unhappy with how we handled a return, email [email] and we will reply within five working days. You can also get free independent advice from Citizens Advice.
Where the policy has to live
A policy nobody sees is legally the same as no policy, which is how 14 days becomes 12 months. Put it in three places: a returns page linked from the footer and every product page, the checkout before the pay button, and the order confirmation email. Your footer also needs your business name, address and email, your VAT number if registered, and your company number and registered office if you trade as a limited company.
In Orbit you can paste this template straight into the returns and refunds policy page during setup, so it is live before your first order rather than after your first complaint. And suppliers in Orbit’s supplier directory are UK suppliers you connect to once, so settle returns and restocking terms with the named supplier before you list their products rather than after a customer complains.
Questions people ask about dropshipping returns
Do I have to accept returns if I dropship?
Yes. You are the retailer, so UK distance selling rules apply in full. Customers can cancel within 14 days of delivery for any reason, return within a further 14 days, and you refund within 14 days of getting the item back, including standard delivery (gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026). Your supplier’s policy is irrelevant to your customer.
What happens if my supplier will not take the return back?
You refund the customer on time anyway and take the loss. The supplier contract decides only whether you are reimbursed. Delay and you risk a chargeback plus a trading standards complaint. On low-value items it is often cheaper to refund and let the customer keep the goods than to pay postage for stock you cannot resell.
Can I make the customer pay for return postage?
For change-of-mind returns only, and only if you told them before they bought. Regulation 35(5) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 puts the cost on you if you failed to give that information (checked 15 September 2026). For faulty or not-as-described goods you always pay postage both ways.
What is exempt from the 14-day cancellation right?
Personalised or custom-made items, perishable goods, newspapers and magazines, unwrapped CDs, DVDs and software, and sealed hygiene items once opened, such as underwear (gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026). The exemption covers change of mind only. If any of those arrive faulty, the customer keeps every Consumer Rights Act remedy.
How long do I have to refund a customer?
Fourteen days from receiving the goods back, or from the day the customer gives you proof of posting if that is earlier (regulation 34(5), checked 15 September 2026). Refund to the original payment method with no admin or restocking fee, and include what they paid for standard delivery.
Write the policy before your first ad runs. It takes ten minutes and it is the difference between a 14-day liability and a 12-month one. Orbit handles returns from the customer’s request through to the refund, to the original payment method or as store credit, with prepaid return labels, and there is a 14-day free trial, no card required: start free.