Distance selling

There is a 14 day cancellation right that covers the vast majority of products, and during that time you can cancel the deal without giving any particular reason. The right of cancellation does not apply to all products subject to distance selling, and cancellation rights vary according to country, so it is always worth reading the terms and conditions of sale carefully.

You can try a product, but not use it

You can try out and examine a product delivered through distance selling in the same way as you can in a shop without losing your right to cancel. For example, you can open the package and read the operating instructions. You can also try on shoes and clothes. The company cannot disallow your cancellation right just because the package has been opened.

Using is not the same thing as trying. If you use the product you lose your cancellation rights.

Calculation of cancellation time

The date of arrival of the goods or the date of ordering of a service are not included in the cancellation period.

• For goods, the 14 day cancellation period is calculated from the day after you receive the goods and the confirmation of the main terms and conditions of the order.
• For services, the 14 day cancellation period is calculated from the day after you have placed the order and received confirmation of the main terms and conditions of the order.

If the 14^th day of the cancellation period is a Saturday, Sunday, Independence Day, May Day, Christmas or mid-summer eve, you can still cancel your purchase on the next working day.

Limits to cancellation rights

A company cannot arbitrarily restrict the cancellation rights for a product group or for products that are on special offer or in a sale. Product groups for which there are no cancellation rights are listed in the legislation.

Cancellation rights for goods do not apply for example to:

• CD/DVD disks where the seal has been broken
• customised goods
• newspapers and magazines if they have not been sold by telephone on the initiative of the salesperson
• rapidly perishable goods
• individually ordered groceries that have been delivered to your home

Cancellation rights for services does not apply for example to:

• services which have started to be delivered electronically before the end of the cancellation period with the permission of the buyer and where the lack of cancellation rights has been communicated in the order confirmation (e.g. mobile content services, pay-TV services as well as telephone and broad-band connections). The cancellation right is annulled when a subscription is set up and used for example.
• accommodation, transport and leisure services which have been agreed for a specified period (for example, renting a summer cottage, ordering concert or plane tickets). It is worth checking the cancellation period of these services in the terms and conditions.
• betting and lottery services

Financial services and package holidays have their own rules regarding cancellation rights.