A customer withdraws the day after delivery and writes to you: "I want my refund." The product, meanwhile, is still at their home. Do you have to refund immediately? No. This is one of the rare points where the law clearly protects the retailer, and many are unaware of it and pay too early.
The right to withhold: you can wait for the return
For a sale of goods, you must in principle refund within the 14 days following the withdrawal (the right of withdrawal is harmonised across the EU by Directive 2011/83/EU, art. 9). But the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU, art. 13) authorises you to defer this refund until the first of these two events:
- the recovery of the goods, or
- the proof of dispatch of the goods by the customer (a tracking number, a drop-off receipt, and so on).
In plain terms
You do not have to refund as long as the customer has neither sent the product back nor proved that they have dispatched it. It is the first of the two that triggers your obligation to refund. Not before.
Concretely: as soon as the customer provides you with credible proof of dispatch, the clock starts and you must refund within 14 days, even if the parcel has not yet arrived. But before this proof, you can legitimately wait.
The customer has 14 days to send the product back
For their part, the customer must send the goods back within 14 days at the latest after informing you of their decision to withdraw (Directive 2011/83/EU, art. 14). So these are two distinct 14-day deadlines that follow one another: 14 days to withdraw from delivery, then 14 days to send the product back from the withdrawal.
Who pays the return costs?
The return costs are borne by the customer, on two conditions: that you informed them clearly before the purchase, and that you did not agree to bear them yourself. If you forgot to inform the customer of these costs, they shift onto you.
On the other hand, the initial delivery costs (the outbound leg) are refunded by you, but only at the standard delivery rate. If the customer had chosen a more expensive express delivery, you do not refund the extra cost of the express (Directive 2011/83/EU, art. 13).
The case of the customer who never sends anything back
If the customer withdraws but does not send the product back and provides no proof of dispatch, your refund obligation simply does not trigger. You do not have to refund a product you have not recovered and whose departure nothing proves. The customer, however, remains bound to send it back.
And if the product comes back damaged or visibly used?
The customer has the right to try the product as they would in a shop, but not to use it beyond that. If the goods come back depreciated by excessive handling, you can withhold a sum corresponding to this depreciation from the refund, provided, here again, that you informed the customer of their right of withdrawal. We go into this point here: depreciation of a used product, in our guides.
What this changes for your process
The practical rule fits into one sentence: you refund on return of the product (or on proof of dispatch), not on the mere request. Put it into your customer-service procedure to avoid refunding and then chasing a parcel that never comes back.
You still need to receive the request properly
This whole mechanism assumes that the withdrawal request reaches you in a traceable and timestamped way, which is exactly the role of the withdrawal button mandatory since 19 June 2026: each request is dated, so you know precisely when the deadlines run. Not yet equipped? Check whether you are concerned.
This article is general information and does not constitute legal advice. For the exact wording, refer to the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU).
Founder of BackToMe
Art. L.221-21 · 19 June 2026
Ready to install the withdrawal feature?
Install the withdrawal button on your site in five minutes. 7-day free trial: 0 € today, 30-day money-back guarantee.
Start the free trial →