The EU 14-day returns rule for webshops: 2026 guide

The 14-day right of withdrawal is the EU rule every webshop meets first and reads last. It comes from the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU) and applies in every EU country, to every sale to a consumer made online, by phone or by mail order. It does not apply between businesses.

This article goes through the rule in the order a return actually happens: when the clock starts, what you refund and when, who pays the parcel back, what you can exclude, and what changed in June 2026. At the end: what the return leg costs, measured, and how returns work when your stock is with a sender near the customer.

When does the 14-day period start? #

For goods, on the day the consumer — or someone they named, other than the carrier — takes physical possession of them. Not on the order date, and not on the day you ship. Article 9 of the directive has special cases for orders that arrive in parts.

The customer only has to send their withdrawal before the 14 days are over. They can use the model withdrawal form from the directive or any other clear statement — an email is enough. The return itself may follow later: they have another 14 days from telling you to send the goods back.

What must you refund, and when? #

• Everything the customer paid, including the original delivery cost, within 14 days of being told they are withdrawing. Use the same payment method unless the customer agrees otherwise, and without fees for them.
• Only the cheapest standard delivery. If the customer chose express or another more expensive option, you do not have to refund the difference.
• You may wait for the goods. Unless you offered to collect them yourself, you can hold the refund until you have the goods back or the customer shows proof of sending them, whichever comes first.
• You may deduct for wear. The customer is liable for loss of value caused by handling the goods beyond what is needed to establish what they are and how they work — trying on a shirt is fine, wearing it to a party is not. If you did not inform them of the right of withdrawal, you cannot deduct.

Who pays for the return shipment? #

The customer pays the direct cost of returning the goods — if you told them so before the sale. If you did not, or if you promised free returns, the cost is yours. For goods that are defective the return is always at your expense; that falls under the legal guarantee, not the right of withdrawal.

So “free returns” is a choice, not a duty. But once you pay for returns, the length of the return leg becomes your cost. We measured it: the cheapest small-parcel label back to a sender in the customer’s own country, against the cheapest label from that country back to a shop in Germany.

On average the cross-border return cost about €4.91 more per parcel. At ten paid returns a month from Spain that is €76 a month for distance alone. Whether you pass it on or absorb it, write it down in your returns policy before the sale; that sentence is what makes the customer pay.

Which products are excluded from the right of withdrawal? #

Article 16 lists the exceptions. For a shop selling physical goods, these are the ones that matter:

• ✕Goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised — an engraved ring, a printed name.
• ✕Goods that deteriorate or expire rapidly, such as fresh food and flowers.
• ✕Sealed goods unsuitable for return for health or hygiene reasons, once unsealed — cosmetics, underwear in a sealed pack.
• ✕Goods that are inseparably mixed with other items after delivery.
• ✕Sealed audio or video recordings and sealed software, once unsealed.
• ✕Newspapers, periodicals and magazines, except subscriptions.
• ✓Everything else — including clothes that were tried on, opened electronics and sale items. “Sale items cannot be returned” is not a valid exception.

What changed on 19 June 2026: the withdrawal button #

Directive (EU) 2023/2673 added Article 11a to the Consumer Rights Directive, and it applies from 19 June 2026. For every distance contract concluded through an online interface — your webshop — the customer must be able to withdraw through a withdrawal function.

• It is labelled “withdraw from contract here” or an unambiguous equivalent, is easy to find, and stays available for the whole withdrawal period.
• It lets the customer give or confirm their name, which order they are withdrawing from, and where the confirmation should go.
• It ends in a confirmation button labelled “confirm withdrawal” or an unambiguous equivalent.
• After that you send an acknowledgement on a durable medium — an email is the usual one — with the content, date and time of the withdrawal.

An email address in your terms is no longer enough on its own. If your platform has no built-in return portal, a form page linked from the order confirmation and the account page usually does the job; check with your platform what it offers.

Does the rule apply outside the EU? #

The directive covers consumers in the EU. Countries outside it have their own rules, and Switzerland is the clearest contrast: Swiss law has no statutory withdrawal period for online purchases, so any return right there is one you offer yourself. More in shipping to Switzerland from the EU.

How do returns work with AirPost? #

With local fulfilment through AirPost, your stock sits with a verified sender in your customer’s country. If that sender accepts returns, your return address can be theirs, so the customer sends the parcel back domestically — the cheaper column in the table above. The sender sets their own price per return, up to €25.00; the default is €2.00.

1. 1

   The return arrives at your sender

   They press “Report a return” in your conversation and take 5 required photos: parcel sealed, label, parcel opened, item, and a detail or damage close-up. They mark it Intact, Damaged or Not right.

2. 2

   You check it remotely

   The photos show whether the item came back unused, which is exactly what you need to decide on a deduction for wear. Not sure? Ask for more info first.

3. 3

   You accept and choose what happens

   Back in stock, Forward, Discard or I’ll pick it up. Accepting costs the sender’s return price plus €0.85 from your balance; nothing is charged before that.

4. 4

   You refund the customer

   The report is your proof that the goods are back, so it is the moment to refund. The refund itself goes through your own shop and payment provider.

The whole flow, with costs, is in returns without a warehouse. For parcels that never arrive or arrive broken — not a withdrawal but a carrier claim — see parcel lost or damaged: what to do as a shop.