Distance and off-premises selling requirements

If you sell to consumers without meeting them face-to-face in your shop, you must follow the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCR 2013). These regulations apply to:

• distance contracts, which are sales made online, by phone, by mail order or through TV shopping, where you and the consumer are not physically together
• off-premises contracts, which are sales made at the consumer's home or workplace, at temporary venues such as trade fairs, or during organised excursions

The regulations give consumers a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel for any reason, and require you to provide detailed information before they commit to buy.

From 6 April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can impose fines up to 10% of global turnover or £300,000 for breaches, without needing to go to court.

The 14-day cancellation right

Consumers have 14 calendar days to cancel a distance or off-premises contract without giving any reason. This is sometimes called the 'cooling-off period'.

When does the cancellation period start?

For goods, it starts the day after the consumer receives them, or receives the last item if they are delivered in instalments. For services and digital content, it starts the day after the contract is made.

The consumer only needs to notify you of their decision to cancel before the 14-day period ends. If they send notification on day 14, it counts even if you receive it later.

What if you did not provide cancellation information?

If you fail to tell the consumer about their cancellation rights before purchase, the cancellation period extends by 12 months. This means consumers could cancel up to 12 months and 14 days after receiving goods.

If you provide the cancellation information late (but within the 12-month extension), the 14-day period starts from when you provide it.

Pre-contract information requirements

Before the consumer commits to a distance or off-premises purchase, you must provide 24 specific items of information in a clear and comprehensible manner. These include:

Essential information you must provide

• your trading name, geographic address (not just a PO box), phone number and email address
• the main characteristics of the goods, services or digital content
• the total price including all taxes, or how it will be calculated if you cannot know it in advance
• delivery costs, or the fact that additional charges may apply if you cannot calculate them in advance
• the conditions, time limits and procedure for cancelling
• the model cancellation form, even though consumers do not have to use it
• whether the consumer will pay return postage if they cancel
• accepted payment methods, delivery arrangements and when you will deliver
• your complaint-handling policy, where you have one
• the length of the contract and how to end it, for ongoing services
• for digital content, its functionality, compatibility with hardware and software, and any technical protection measures

Failing to provide this information can extend the cancellation period and result in enforcement action. If you do not tell the consumer about delivery or other additional charges, the total cost per billing period of a subscription, or that they must pay return costs, they do not have to pay those charges or costs.

Website order button requirements

If you take orders through your website, you must ensure the consumer explicitly acknowledges that placing an order creates an obligation to pay.

Your order button must say 'order with obligation to pay' or equivalent unambiguous wording. Acceptable alternatives include:

• 'Pay now'
• 'Buy now'
• 'Confirm purchase'
• 'Place order and pay'

Wording such as 'Continue', 'Next', 'Submit', 'Confirm' or 'Order now' (without mentioning payment) is not acceptable.

If your order button does not meet this requirement, the consumer is not bound by the contract. They can claim a full refund even after using the goods or services.

From 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 also bans drip pricing, which means adding unavoidable fees late in the checkout process. Show the full price, including all mandatory fees, from the start.

Confirmation after purchase

After the contract is concluded, you must provide confirmation on a durable medium (paper, email, or PDF attachment). This must include:

• All the pre-contract information
• Confirmation of any consent given to immediate supply of digital content (and acknowledgement of lost cancellation right)
• Confirmation of any request for services to begin during the cancellation period

For goods, provide this confirmation no later than the time of delivery. For services, provide it within a reasonable time.

Delivering goods

Unless you agree a different time with the consumer, you must deliver goods without undue delay and no later than 30 days after the contract is made.

If you miss the agreed or 30-day deadline, the consumer can treat the contract as ended straight away if you refused to deliver, if the delivery date was essential in the circumstances, or if they told you before buying that it was essential. Otherwise they can set a further reasonable deadline and end the contract if you miss that too. If they end the contract, you must refund everything they paid without undue delay.

Goods stay at your risk until they reach the consumer, or someone they have named to receive them. Lost or damaged deliveries are your responsibility, unless the consumer arranged their own carrier that you did not offer as an option.

Your refund obligations

When a consumer exercises their cancellation right, you must process the refund within 14 days. The timeline depends on what was sold:

For goods, the 14 days run from when you receive the returned goods or evidence that the consumer has sent them back. For services and digital content, they run from when you are told of the cancellation.

What you must refund

You must refund the full purchase price and the original standard delivery cost. You cannot refuse to refund delivery.

What you can deduct

If the consumer chose express delivery, you only need to refund the standard delivery rate. You can also deduct for any loss in value if the consumer handled the goods more than they would need to in a shop to check them.

Refund method

Use the same payment method as the original transaction, unless the consumer expressly agrees otherwise. You cannot charge any fee for processing the refund.

Consumer's return obligations

Unless you offered to collect the goods, the consumer must:

• Send the goods back within 14 days of notifying you of cancellation
• Pay the return postage costs (but only if you told them this before purchase)
• Take reasonable care of the goods while in their possession

You cannot charge restocking fees. This is illegal under the regulations.

Exceptions to the cancellation right

Not all distance and off-premises contracts attract cancellation rights. The regulations specify contracts that are excluded and circumstances where cancellation rights are lost.

Other excluded contracts

The following are also excluded from the 14-day cancellation right:

• goods whose price moves with financial markets, such as precious metals sold at market rates or currency exchange
• services for a specific date, such as hotel bookings, car hire, concert tickets, restaurant reservations and holiday activities
• goods that become mixed with other items, such as fuel added to a tank or paint mixed with other paint
• traditional public auctions (online auctions such as eBay are not exempt)

Even when cancellation rights do not apply, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 still requires goods to be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described. Consumers can still get refunds for faulty products.

Contracts excluded entirely from the regulations

Some types of contract fall outside the Consumer Contracts Regulations altogether:

• financial services such as banking, credit, insurance and investments, which FCA rules cover
• gambling, including betting, gaming and lotteries
• sales of land and buildings
• construction of new buildings or substantial conversions
• package travel, which the Package Travel Regulations 2018 cover
• regular round deliveries, such as milk or grocery rounds
• sales from vending machines

Additional payments and helpline charges

No pre-ticked boxes

You cannot use pre-ticked boxes or default options to obtain consent for additional charges. If you do, the consumer is entitled to a refund of any payment obtained this way.

This covers add-ons like insurance, extended warranties, or priority processing fees. The consumer must actively opt in.

Helpline charges

If you provide a post-contract customer helpline, you cannot charge more than the basic rate. Prohibited number types include:

• 084 numbers
• 087 numbers
• 09 premium rate numbers

You can use 01 and 02 geographic numbers, 03 national rate numbers and 0800 or 0808 freephone numbers.

Excess charges must be refunded to the consumer.