UK Returns Law for Online Shops: What Shopify Merchants Need to Know
· Updated
A lot of return policies I see on UK Shopify stores were copied from somewhere else, and quite a few of them promise less than the law already requires. The rules aren’t complicated once they’re laid out, so here’s the short version for online shops selling to UK consumers.
One thing first: I build Shopify stores and a returns app, I’m not a lawyer. This is a plain-English summary, and the official guidance on GOV.UK and from Business Companion is the place to check the detail for your business.
Two different sets of rules
There are two separate rights, and it helps to keep them apart:
- The right to cancel, from the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. This covers online orders where nothing is wrong with the item. The customer simply changed their mind.
- Rights for faulty goods, from the Consumer Rights Act 2015. These apply whether the customer bought online or in a shop.
The 14-day right to cancel
For goods bought online, customers can cancel for any reason within 14 days, starting the day after they receive the goods. If an order arrives in more than one delivery, the 14 days start after the last item arrives.
Once they’ve told you they’re cancelling, they then have another 14 days to send the goods back. So “14 days to return” is really 14 days to tell you, plus 14 days to post it.
If you don’t tell customers about their right to cancel before they buy, the cancellation period can be extended by up to 12 months. That alone is a good reason to have a clear returns policy linked from your checkout and footer.
How quickly you must refund
You must refund within 14 days of getting the goods back, or of the customer showing they’ve sent them, whichever comes first.
The refund has to include the standard outbound delivery cost they paid. If they chose a more expensive option, like next-day delivery, you only have to refund the cost of your cheapest standard option.
You can reduce the refund if the item has lost value because it was handled more than needed to try it, for example worn shoes or a garment with the tags cut off and make-up on the collar.
Who pays for return postage?
The customer does, as long as you told them before they bought. If your policy doesn’t say so, you’re the one paying. Plenty of stores choose to offer free returns anyway, because it helps sales. Either way, write it down clearly.
Store credit can’t replace a refund
This one catches people out. When a customer cancels within their rights, the refund has to go back the same way they paid, unless they agree to something else. If they paid in more than one way, say partly with a gift card and partly by card, each part goes back to where it came from. You can absolutely offer store credit or an exchange, and many customers will happily take one, but it has to be their choice. “Store credit only” doesn’t work for change-of-mind returns inside the cancellation period.
I’ve written more about offering exchanges and store credit without forcing them, because done well it keeps a lot of sales.
Items you don’t have to accept back
The right to cancel doesn’t apply to some goods, including:
- Items made to the customer’s specification or clearly personalised.
- Perishable goods.
- Sealed goods that aren’t suitable for return for health or hygiene reasons once unsealed, like some cosmetics or underwear.
- Sealed audio, video or software that’s been unsealed.
If you sell these, say so on the product page and in your policy. In a returns app these are usually set up as final sale items, so customers can’t select them for a return at all.
Faulty goods are different
If an item is faulty, not as described or not fit for purpose, customers have a 30-day right to reject it for a full refund. After that, they’re entitled to a repair or replacement, and if that doesn’t fix things, a price reduction or refund. For the first six months, a fault is assumed to have been there at delivery unless you can show otherwise.
None of this depends on your own return window, and the customer shouldn’t pay return postage for a faulty item.
Putting it into practice
A policy that covers the basics:
- A return window of at least 14 days after delivery. Many stores offer 30.
- Who pays return postage, stated clearly.
- Which items are final sale, and why.
- How refunds are paid and roughly how long they take.
- Exchanges and store credit offered as options, never as the only choice.
Then make sure your returns process actually follows it. If you’re working out the label side next, here’s how to set up Royal Mail returns on Shopify.
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