Consumer withdrawal

If you buy something at a distance or sign a contract away from business premises, you may have 14 days to withdraw without giving a reason. This consumer right is called Widerrufsrecht. Exceptions apply, and a complaint about faulty goods is a separate process.

In short

• For a distance contract or a contract made away from business premises, you can withdraw within 14 days with no reason, unless section 312g excepts the contract. Sending the declaration in time is enough.
• For a consumer purchase of goods, the 14 days start on receipt as section 356 states, not always on the order date. For regular delivery over a set period, they start when the first goods are received.
• For covered distance contracts made through an online interface, the business must provide an accessible withdrawal function during the withdrawal period. It does not give an excluded contract a withdrawal right.
• After declaring withdrawal from a covered goods purchase, send the goods back without undue delay and within 14 days, unless the business has offered to collect them. Keep proof of dispatch; return costs are not automatically the seller’s responsibility.
• If you were not told about your right to withdraw, it expires at the latest 12 months and 14 days after the starting point in section 356(2) or section 355. The financial-services case described in section 356(4) is an exception to that outer limit.
• Section 312g does not give this right for goods bought at the shop counter. Withdrawal is not a defect claim for goods you intend to keep.

What you need to know

Section 355 says that where the law gives a consumer this right, withdrawing in time means the consumer and the business are no longer bound by their contract declarations. To withdraw, tell the business clearly; you do not have to give a reason. The period is 14 days, and sending your declaration in time is enough. It normally starts when the contract is concluded, unless another rule says otherwise. What you received must be returned without undue delay. The business bears the risk of sending the goods back.

The rules in force since 19 June 2026 include section 356a: for covered distance contracts concluded through an online interface, the business must provide a clearly accessible withdrawal function throughout the withdrawal period. Open Vertrag widerrufen or its equivalent, enter or confirm your name, contract details and where to receive confirmation, then use Widerruf bestätigen or its equivalent to submit. The business must promptly send a durable confirmation with the declaration and its receipt date and time; keep it.

This is an additional channel, not an extension of the deadline or a right for excluded contracts. If the function is missing or fails, send a clear declaration through another accepted channel in time and keep proof.

This guide describes the ordinary route. Section 8(1) of the Insurance Contract Act also applies the electronic withdrawal function in section 356a to distance insurance contracts concluded through an online interface. The insurance period, its start, and the exceptions in that section remain special rules. For contracts made before 19 June 2026, or for other financial services, get advice on the applicable transitional or special rules; do not infer their period or start date from this summary alone.

Section 312g gives this right for distance contracts and contracts concluded away from business premises. Unless the parties agree otherwise, it excludes a list of contracts, including:

• Goods made to the consumer’s specification and goods that spoil quickly.
• Sealed goods unsuitable for return for health or hygiene reasons once unsealed, and sealed audio, video or software once unsealed.
• Newspapers and magazines other than subscriptions.
• Accommodation other than for housing, goods transport, vehicle hire, catering and leisure services for a specific date.
• Public auctions as the section defines them, and urgent repairs the consumer expressly requested.
• Betting and lottery services, subject to the section’s exceptions, and notarially recorded contracts with the financial-services condition in that section.

Check the numbered exception that applies to your contract; this list does not restate every one.

Section 356 changes the start for a consumer purchase of goods. In the ordinary case the 14 days start when the consumer, or a named third person who is not the carrier, receives the goods. If several goods in one order arrive separately, it starts when the last one is received. For regular delivery over a set period, it starts when the first goods are received. The period does not start before the business has informed the consumer as the instruction rule requires.

The right expires at the latest 12 months and 14 days after the start in section 356(2) or in section 355. That outer end does not apply to a financial-services contract if the consumer was not instructed about the right under the rule section 356(4) cites.

The right can also end earlier for a service or for digital content not on a tangible medium, if the consumer gave the consent section 356(5) or (6) requires and the business has fully performed the service or has begun the digital performance. A defect in goods you want to keep is not this withdrawal. This page does not state the warranty rules.

Return the goods and check the refund

For the ordinary non-financial contracts covered by section 357, the return deadline is separate from the deadline for declaring withdrawal. Send goods back without undue delay and no later than 14 days after you declare withdrawal. Timely dispatch meets that deadline under section 355(3); keep the receipt. You do not have to send them yourself if the business has offered to collect them.

The business normally has 14 days from receiving your withdrawal declaration to refund what it received, including the cost of its cheapest standard delivery. It need not refund the extra cost of a more expensive delivery option you chose. For a consumer goods purchase, it can withhold repayment until it has the goods or proof that you sent them, unless it offered collection. You bear the direct return costs if the business properly informed you of that duty and has not agreed to pay them. For goods brought to your home when an off-premises contract was made that cannot normally be posted, section 357(7) requires the business to collect at its own cost.

Under section 357a you may owe compensation for diminished value (Wertersatz) if that loss comes from handling the goods beyond what is necessary to inspect their nature, characteristics, and functioning, and the business informed you of the withdrawal right. Handling limited to that inspection does not by itself trigger the compensation.

What to do

1. Check that the contract is a distance contract or was concluded away from business premises, and that section 312g does not list it as an exception.
2. Send a clear declaration to the business within 14 days. You do not need a reason. For a covered online-interface contract, you can use the section 356a function described above or another accepted channel. For goods, count from receipt in the way section 356(2) states, not always from the day you clicked.
3. Keep proof of the withdrawal declaration and the function’s confirmation if you used it. For goods, send them back without undue delay and within 14 days after declaring withdrawal unless collection was offered. Keep proof of dispatch and check who pays the return costs.
4. If you were not told about the right, check the outer limit of 12 months and 14 days. The financial-services exception in section 356(4), described above, can exclude that outer limit when the required instruction was missing; other rules can still affect the right.

Choose the right route

Use this guide for withdrawal from a covered contract during its withdrawal period. To end an ongoing gym, streaming or other subscription at its applicable end date, use the related Contracts and subscriptions guide. To ask a seller to repair or replace defective goods, use Faulty goods and seller remedies. Those routes have different conditions and deadlines; a cancellation button and a withdrawal function do different jobs.

Common mistakes

• Counting 14 days from the order date for goods that arrive later. Section 356 starts the goods period on receipt, with the split-delivery rules it writes.
• Assuming every online subscription can be withdrawn after the first box. For regular delivery, section 356 starts the period when the first goods arrive.
• Asking a shop to accept a withdrawal for goods you bought at the counter. Section 312g is for off-premises and distance contracts, subject to its exceptions.