E-commerce Refund Issue: What You’re Entitled to When an Online Order Goes Wrong

Under the FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (16 CFR Part 435), a seller who takes your order online must have a reasonable basis for believing it can ship within the time it advertised — or, if it advertised no specific time, within 30 days of your order. If the seller can’t meet that deadline, it must notify you of the delay and give you the choice of consenting to a new shipping date or cancelling for a full refund. For delays of more than 30 days (or a second delay), the seller needs your affirmative consent, not just your silence, to keep your order open.

Once a refund is due, sellers generally have 7 working days to process it if you paid by cash, check, or money order, or must credit your account promptly if you paid by credit card. If a seller ignores these obligations, you can report it to the FTC, but the FTC does not resolve individual disputes directly — your practical leverage in most cases comes from your payment method (see below) or your state attorney general/consumer protection office.

A common misconception is that all online or "distance" purchases in the US come with a federal "3-day right to cancel." That specific rule — the FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) — applies to door-to-door and other home-solicitation sales over $25 (or $130 at temporary locations like a hotel conference room), not to ordinary e-commerce orders placed on a website. If you’re shopping online in the US, don’t assume you have a general right to change your mind — check the seller’s own return policy, since federal law does not require one for ordinary online purchases (unlike the EU/UK, covered below).

The EU’s Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU) gives consumers a 14-day right of withdrawal from most distance (online) and off-premises contracts, without needing any reason — the period runs from delivery for goods, or from the contract date for services. If the trader doesn’t properly inform you of this right, the withdrawal period extends by up to 12 months. Exceptions apply to items like perishable goods, sealed goods that can’t be returned for hygiene reasons once opened, and bookings tied to a specific date (e.g., hotel reservations).

The UK’s equivalent, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, mirrors this 14-day cooling-off right for online and distance purchases, with the trader generally required to refund you within 14 days of receiving the returned goods (or evidence of return). Separately, the UK’s Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives a distinct 30-day right to reject faulty (not just unwanted) goods for a full refund — a different right, based on the goods being defective rather than a simple change of mind.

A well-documented dispute — order confirmation, seller communications, and a clear timeline — is resolved far more often through the seller directly or a card chargeback than through a regulatory complaint, which tends to be slower and focused on patterns rather than individual redress.

EU/UK shoppers have a meaningfully broader "change of mind" right than US shoppers do; if you’re used to shopping in one region, don’t assume the same rules apply when ordering from a seller based in the other.

This page can help you identify which right applies to your situation, but it cannot guarantee a specific seller, card issuer, or regulator will resolve your case in your favor.