Your returns policy is less yours than you think. For an online shop, UK law writes most of it for you — and the shops that get it wrong don't just upset customers, they accidentally extend their customers' rights. Here's what the law actually says, checked against the legislation and gov.uk in June 2026.
The 14-day right nobody can opt out of
Anyone buying from your website can cancel for any reason, or none, within 14 days starting the day after delivery. They don't need the goods to be faulty, they don't need to justify themselves, and no policy of yours can remove the right. After telling you, they get a further 14 days to actually send the goods back — the clock they have to beat is for notifying you, not for the parcel landing on your desk.
Two details that catch people: for an order delivered in instalments, the 14 days run from the last item arriving; and the right belongs to distance sales specifically — a physical shop or market stall owes no change-of-mind refunds at all (any it offers are goodwill).
The 12-month trap
Here's the rule that makes this article worth your time: if you don't clearly tell customers about their cancellation right before they buy, the 14 days doesn't start. It extends — up to 12 months. A shop with no cancellation information in its checkout and order emails is legally exposed to returns of year-old goods, in whatever condition a year produces. The fix costs nothing: state the right, the time limit, the procedure and who pays return postage, visibly, before the order button — and repeat it in the confirmation email.
Who pays for what
Return postage: the customer — but only if you said so up front. Stay silent and that cost is yours too.
The refund: everything they paid, including the original delivery charge at your cheapest standard rate. If they upgraded to next-day, you refund what standard would have cost — the premium is theirs to lose. The refund is due within 14 days of the goods coming back (or proof of posting, if earlier), to the same payment method, with no admin fee — and restocking fees are flatly not allowed on distance-sale cancellations.
Handling deductions: the one lever you do have. Customers can inspect goods as they would in a shop — try the jumper on, turn the lamp over. Use beyond that diminishes the value, and you can deduct accordingly from the refund. Worn-for-a-weekend clothes, mounted prints, half-burnt candles: deductible. But it's a deduction, never a refusal — and you lose even this if you didn't provide the cancellation information.
What's exempt (and what never is)
No change-of-mind right exists for: goods made to order or clearly personalised; perishables; sealed hygiene-sensitive goods once unsealed (cosmetics, underwear, earrings); sealed media and software once opened; goods inseparably mixed after delivery; and digital downloads once started — provided the customer expressly consented and acknowledged losing the right first. Get that consent flow wrong on digital products and they can have the money back after downloading.
One thing the exemptions never touch: faulty-goods rights. A personalised, perishable, sale-priced item that turns out to be faulty gets the full remedies below regardless.
Faulty goods are a different law entirely
The Consumer Rights Act applies online and offline alike. Within 30 days of delivery, a faulty item earns a full refund — including all postage, both ways. From 30 days to six months, the customer must allow you one repair or replacement; if that fails, refund. And the bit most sellers don't know: in those first six months, the burden of proof is on you — a fault is presumed to have been there at delivery unless you can show otherwise. Claims remain possible for up to six years, which is a court time-limit rather than a durability promise, but it's why "it's out of warranty" is not the answer it sounds like. Sale items carry exactly the same rights, unless the specific fault was pointed out before purchase.
The sign that's actually illegal
"No refunds." "No returns on sale items." "Credit notes only." Displaying notices like these isn't just unenforceable — misleading consumers about their statutory rights is an offence, and since April 2025 the CMA can fine traders directly for it. Tacking on "your statutory rights are not affected" doesn't fix it; trading standards' view is that a contradictory notice still misleads. If your policy is more generous than the law, say so proudly. If it's meaner than the law, it isn't your policy — it's a liability.
Where this all has to live
Three places: a returns/cancellation policy customers can find before they buy; the checkout journey itself (the law expects the key information before the order button, and the button must make the payment obligation obvious); and the order confirmation email, which is your "durable medium" proof. While you're in the footer: every online seller must show their business name, geographic address and contact email, plus VAT number if registered — and limited companies must display the registered name, number, country of registration and registered office on the site.
If you sell subscriptions: the new dedicated subscription-contracts regime has been delayed again, to spring 2027 — today's rules above still govern, but renewal reminders and easy cancellation are coming as legal requirements, so building them now is cheap future-proofing.
On Orbit, business policy templates ship with every plan and the checkout and order emails are built with these information duties in mind — but the policy is legally yours, so read what you publish. Ten minutes against this list is cheaper than one trading standards letter.