Distance selling regulations: right of withdrawal and what you must offer

Last reviewed: June 2026. Back-office paths reflect PrestaShop 1.6 through 9; legal points are dated where the date matters.

This is general information, not legal advice. The withdrawal right is the merchant's own responsibility. The back-office settings below help present the required information consistently on every order, but they don't replace getting your wording, exemptions and cross-border obligations right for your business. When you ship into several countries or sell digital goods, have the text reviewed by a lawyer who does e-commerce.

If you sell to consumers anywhere in the EU, the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU) hands your customers a 14-day right of withdrawal: they can return almost anything, for any reason or no reason, within 14 days of receiving it. That much most merchants know. What trips them up is everything around it, when the clock actually starts, what counts as "informing" the customer, the refund deadline that runs against you, and the penalty that quietly turns 14 days into a full year. This guide is about owning that one obligation precisely on a PrestaShop store: the law, the deadlines, and the exact back-office settings, emails and documents that make you compliant instead of merely well-intentioned.

The right of withdrawal sits inside a wider web of EU rules. For the full map, information duties, contract formation, dispute resolution, see our store owner guide to EU e-commerce law. This post drills into the withdrawal right specifically.

Right of withdrawal vs returns policy. Don't confuse them

These two words get used interchangeably and it causes real trouble. The right of withdrawal is a legal minimum you cannot remove: 14 days, EU-wide, for distance B2C sales. A returns policy is the broader, voluntary thing you build on top, 30-day returns, free return labels, exchange-instead-of-refund. You can be more generous than the law; you can never be less. This post is about the legal floor. For the commercial layer, what smart stores offer beyond the minimum and how to make the workflow painless, see returns policy: law vs extras and making returns and refunds painless.

When the 14-day clock actually starts

This is the detail that decides whether you're calculating deadlines correctly. The window starts when the customer (or a third party they nominate, other than the carrier) physically takes possession of the goods. Not when the order is placed, not when it ships, not when payment clears. A few specifics worth getting right:

• Single item: the day of delivery.
• Multiple items in one order, delivered separately: the day the last item arrives.
• Regular recurring delivery (e.g. a subscription box) over a defined period: the day the first delivery arrives.
• Services and digital content: the day the contract is concluded (with a major exception for digital downloads, covered below).

The customer must declare their withdrawal within those 14 days. They then get a separate 14 days to physically ship the goods back. So from your side, a return can legitimately land on your doorstep up to 28 days after delivery, build your inventory and accounting expectations around that, not around a tidy two-week assumption.

What you must show the customer, before they buy

The directive doesn't just require that the right exists; it requires that you inform the customer of it, clearly, before the order is placed. Miss this and the penalty is severe (see below). Pre-purchase, the customer must be told:

• That the right of withdrawal exists and that the window is 14 days.
• The conditions, time limit and procedure for exercising it.
• That a model withdrawal form is available (you must supply one, the directive provides a standard template in Annex I).
• Who pays return shipping. You may push this onto the customer, but only if you say so up front; silence means you pay.
• Any products that are exempt from the right.

"Clearly" means not buried on page 47 of your terms. In practice, three surfaces carry this in PrestaShop: a dedicated CMS page, a link in the checkout, and the order-confirmation email. The next sections map each to a real back-office location.

Setting it up in the PrestaShop back office

1. The withdrawal/returns CMS page

Go to Design → Pages (the CMS controller, AdminCmsContent; on 1.6 it lived under Preferences → CMS). Create a page that states the 14-day right, the procedure, who pays return shipping, the exemptions, and a link to the model form. Then surface it where the law expects it: add it to your footer via Design → Link Widget (the ps_linklist module, edit the "Information" block and tick your new page) so it appears on every page including the checkout. Don't rely on it being findable; the obligation is that it's prominent.

2. Show the right at checkout

PrestaShop already enforces a "terms of service" acknowledgement at checkout. Under Shop Parameters → Order Settings → General, the Terms of service option (the PS_CONDITIONS configuration flag, with PS_CONDITIONS_CMS_ID pointing at the CMS page) makes the customer tick a box linking to your terms before they can place the order. Point that at a terms page that includes the withdrawal information, or reference your withdrawal page alongside it. This checkbox is rendered in the payment step of the checkout (the core CheckoutPaymentStep, which pulls the conditions via ConditionsToApproveFinder) and is your evidence that the customer was shown the terms before contract formation. For the full structure of that terms document, see what your terms and conditions must include.

3. Put withdrawal info in the order-confirmation email

The directive also wants the customer to receive confirmation of the contract, including withdrawal information and the model form, on a "durable medium," which the order-confirmation email satisfies. Edit it under Design → Email Theme (or the raw templates in mails/<lang>/order_conf.html and .txt). Include the withdrawal information and the full model-form text in the email itself, or attach a stable downloadable document (e.g. a PDF) to it. A mere link to a CMS page is not enough on its own: a website page can be changed or removed at any time, so it does not meet the "durable medium" requirement, which is precisely why the information and form text must travel with the email or as a fixed attachment. Because PrestaShop sends this transactional email automatically on a confirmed order, once it's in the template every customer is covered without manual effort, so the required information reaches every customer automatically.

4. The model withdrawal form as a downloadable document

You don't have to write the form, the directive supplies the wording in Annex I, and the customer is free to use their own words instead. Here is the model text, ready to embed on your withdrawal CMS page (fill in your own details where bracketed). It's the EU template, not a draft you need a lawyer to bless:

Model withdrawal form

(Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract.)

To: [your trading name], [registered address], [email address]:

I/We hereby give notice that I/We withdraw from my/our contract of sale
of the following goods / for the supply of the following service:

  Ordered on / received on: ______________________
  Order reference: ________________________________
  Name of consumer(s): ____________________________
  Address of consumer(s): _________________________

  Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper): __________
  Date: ______________________

Translate this per shipping market, a German customer expects the Muster-Widerrufsformular in German, and keep the text identical across the CMS page, the order-confirmation email and any downloadable file, so there's no mismatch a customer can point at.

PrestaShop has no native "attach a PDF to a CMS page" workflow, so make the model form available another way: upload it through your file/media manager (or via FTP/server) to a known path and link to it, embed the full form text directly on the withdrawal CMS page, or use a dedicated attachment/file-management module. PrestaShop also has a native Merchandise returns feature (AdminReturn controller) that lets customers request a return from their account. Enable it and set the allowed return period under Customer Service → Merchandise Returns (the underlying flags are PS_ORDER_RETURN and PS_ORDER_RETURN_NB_DAYS; the exact menu location can vary slightly between PrestaShop versions). It's useful as the procedural channel, but note it doesn't replace the legal information duty, and its return window should be set to at least 14 days.

The refund, what, how much, and by when

Once the customer declares withdrawal, the obligations flip to you:

• Refund the full price plus the original outbound delivery cost, but only at the rate of your cheapest standard delivery option. If the customer paid extra for express, you don't have to refund the premium.
• Within 14 days of being notified of the withdrawal.
• Using the same payment method the customer used, unless they explicitly agree otherwise, and at no extra cost to them.
• You may withhold the refund until you receive the goods back or the customer provides proof of return shipment, whichever is earlier.

In PrestaShop, refunds are issued from the order page (Orders → the order → Standard refund / Partial refund); for orders paid via a gateway, the actual money-movement depends on the payment module's refund support. The "cheapest standard delivery" rule matters at the carrier-config level: if you offer one cheap and one express carrier under Shipping → Carriers, a manual partial refund lets you reimburse the standard rate rather than the express one the customer chose.

"Reasonable use" and the diminished-value deduction

The customer is allowed to handle the goods as they would in a physical shop, try on a jacket, switch on a kettle, check a phone turns on. They are not allowed to use the item beyond what's needed to establish its nature and function. If they go further, you may deduct the diminished value from the refund.

In practice this is a grey area, and it's where most return disputes live. A dress worn to an event and returned with makeup on the collar is plainly abuse; shoes tried on indoors for two minutes are not. Our consistent advice: err toward generosity. Fighting a customer over a partial deduction usually costs more in reputation, review damage and support time than the salvage value of the item. Document the condition on receipt (photos against the return in your records) so that when you do deduct, it's defensible, but pick those battles rarely.

The exemptions, which products fall outside the right

The right of withdrawal does not apply to certain categories. If you sell any of these, your job is to flag the exemption clearly before purchase:

• Custom or personalised goods, made to the customer's specification (engraving, custom sizing, made-to-order).
• Sealed goods unsealed after delivery for hygiene/health reasons. Cosmetics, underwear, earrings, where the seal is broken.
• Perishables, food, fresh flowers, anything that deteriorates quickly.
• Sealed audio/video/software once the seal is broken.
• Newspapers, periodicals and magazines, except subscription contracts.
• Goods inseparably mixed with other items after delivery.
• Digital content not on a tangible medium, covered separately below.

A clean way to handle this in PrestaShop is a dedicated product feature or category note that prints an exemption line on the affected product pages, so the disclosure is automatic rather than something you remember to add. For physical goods with safety/labelling obligations layered on top, see product safety and CE marking.

Digital products: the consent waiver you must capture

Downloaded or streamed digital content is exempt from the withdrawal right, but only if you do two things before delivery: obtain the customer's express prior consent to immediate performance, and get their acknowledgement that they thereby lose the right of withdrawal. Skip either and the exemption evaporates, leaving you owing a 14-day refund on a file the customer already has.

If you sell virtual products in PrestaShop (product type "virtual," delivered via the customer's account or a download link), your checkout must capture that consent explicitly, typically a second mandatory checkbox at checkout worded along the lines of "I request immediate access and acknowledge I lose my 14-day right of withdrawal." That's a checkout customisation, not a default PrestaShop toggle, so plan for it if digital goods are a meaningful share of your catalogue.

The penalty for getting the information wrong

Here's the clause that should make you fix your pages this week: if you fail to inform the customer about the right of withdrawal before purchase, the 14-day window doesn't just stay 14 days, it extends to 12 months and 14 days. A customer could return an item nearly a year later and you'd owe a full refund. Once you do provide the information (even belatedly), a fresh 14-day clock starts from that point. The asymmetry is deliberate: the cost of poor disclosure is enormous, the cost of getting your CMS page and emails right is an afternoon. This single rule is why the back-office setup above is worth doing properly the first time.

Country-specific wrinkles

The directive harmonises the baseline, but national implementations and language expectations differ, relevant the moment you ship across borders:

• Germany. The Widerrufsrecht is deeply familiar to consumers; a properly worded Widerrufsbelehrung and Muster-Widerrufsformular in German is effectively expected, and German competitors/associations are notably quick to issue warnings (Abmahnungen) over defective wording.
• France. The droit de rétractation is 14 days, layered with additional French consumer-protection requirements.
• UK (post-Brexit), outside the EU now, but the Consumer Contracts Regulations retain an equivalent 14-day right, so the practical obligation for UK consumers is unchanged.

If you serve multiple countries, your withdrawal CMS page, terms and order-confirmation email all need translating per language in PrestaShop's multi-store/multi-language fields, not just the storefront chrome. The legal mechanics of cross-border returns (which country's rules, who pays, VAT on refunds) get their own treatment in cross-border returns: the legal side.

VAT and invoicing when an order is withdrawn

A withdrawal reverses the sale, which means the VAT and the invoice have to be reversed too, not left dangling. When you refund in PrestaShop, issuing a credit slip (from the order page, alongside the refund) produces the corrective document your accountant needs, showing the reversed VAT. The credit slip documents the correction; the actual VAT reversal in your books still depends on how the refund is handled and on your accounting exports and bookkeeping, so make sure that credit slip flows through to your accounting/VAT reports so the reversal is properly recorded. Get this wrong and your VAT returns overstate liability. For how VAT is calculated across EU borders in the first place, see VAT in the EU: OSS and IOSS; for making the credit slip and invoice documents themselves compliant, see invoice customization and legal requirements.

Your distance-selling compliance checklist

• CMS page stating the 14-day right, procedure, return-cost responsibility and exemptions. Live and linked in the footer (Design → Pages + Link Widget).
• Model withdrawal form available as a download and referenced on that page.
• Checkout terms acknowledgement enabled (PS_CONDITIONS) and pointing at content that includes the withdrawal information.
• Order-confirmation email carries the withdrawal info + form on a durable medium (order_conf template).
• Refund process tested, including refunding the cheapest standard delivery and issuing a credit slip for VAT.
• Exemptions flagged on the relevant product pages before purchase.
• Digital products capture express consent + withdrawal-waiver at checkout.
• Translations of all of the above per shipping market.

FAQ

When exactly does the 14-day clock start?

When the customer (or a third party they nominate, not the carrier) physically takes possession of the goods, not at order, not at dispatch, not at payment. For a single item it's the delivery day; for several items in one order delivered separately, the day the last item arrives; for a recurring delivery over a defined period, the day the first delivery arrives; for services and digital content, the day the contract is concluded. The customer then declares within 14 days and has a further 14 days to ship the goods back, so a return can legitimately reach you up to 28 days after delivery.

What's the penalty if I don't tell customers about the withdrawal right?

It's the rule that should make you fix your pages this week: fail to inform the customer before purchase and the 14-day window stretches to 12 months and 14 days. A customer could return an item nearly a year later and you'd owe a full refund. Once you do provide the information, even belatedly, a fresh 14-day clock starts from that point. The asymmetry is deliberate: poor disclosure is enormously expensive, getting your CMS page and emails right is an afternoon.

Do I have to refund the original shipping cost too?

Yes. The full price plus the original outbound delivery cost, but only up to your cheapest standard delivery option. If the customer paid extra for express, you don't refund the premium. You must refund within 14 days of being notified, using the same payment method the customer used unless they agree otherwise, and you may withhold the refund until you receive the goods back or the customer proves they've sent them, whichever is earlier. In PrestaShop, a manual partial refund lets you reimburse the standard rate rather than the express one the customer chose.

Are digital downloads exempt from the withdrawal right?

Only if you capture two things before delivery: the customer's express prior consent to immediate performance, and their acknowledgement that they thereby lose the right of withdrawal. Skip either and the exemption evaporates, leaving you owing a 14-day refund on a file the customer already has. For virtual products that means a second mandatory checkbox at checkout worded along the lines of "I request immediate access and acknowledge I lose my 14-day right of withdrawal", a checkout customisation, not a default toggle.

How do I handle VAT when an order is withdrawn?

A withdrawal reverses the sale, so the VAT and invoice have to be reversed too. Issuing a credit slip from the order page produces the corrective document your accountant needs, showing the reversed VAT, but the credit slip documents the correction; the actual reversal in your books still depends on the refund handling and your accounting exports. Make sure the credit slip flows through to your VAT reports, or your returns overstate liability. If you sell cross-border and want VAT numbers validated against VIES before they ever reach an invoice, Automatic EU VAT Checker handles that at checkout; for credit slips and invoices that carry the legally required fields, Invoice Number keeps the sequence intact and Financial Revolution produces the documents with the full field set.

The right of withdrawal feels like pure overhead until you frame it correctly: it's the same anxiety-reducer that a generous, visible return policy is. Customers buy more readily when they know they can change their mind, and the merchants who treat the 14-day right as a floor, not a ceiling, to a clear, fast, no-drama returns experience tend to see that confidence show up at the top of the funnel, not just the bottom. Get the disclosure right once in your PrestaShop back office, and it helps present the required information consistently on every order from then on.