Your rights

• When you shop on-line in your own country, you are covered by the usual laws.
• When you buy something on-line from a company in another EU country, you have these rights:

1. The company should say who it is, give details of how to contact it (postal address, e-mail address etc) and state that it is trying to sell something¹  & ⁹.
2. The selling price and (where appropriate) the price per unit must be clear².
3. You must be told on paper or by email when and where you can cancel an order. You have at least seven working days, a 'cooling off' period, to change your mind for any reason. Once you let the seller know in writing or by e-mail that you wish to cancel he must refund your money. Normally you cannot cancel purchases of perishable goods like food, unwrapped cds, videos etc or computer software.
   
   If you buy in your own country, you may have more time to change your mind.
4. You can report and appeal against anything unfair in your contract³ or in the advertising⁴.
5. When advertising or direct marketing by e-mail the company has to make it clear it is advertising. You have the right to stop such e-mails by putting
   yourself on what is called an opt-out register⁹.
6. Any product you buy in the EU should be safe⁵.
7. If something is wrong with a product you bought in the EU, and it causes harm or damage, you may be able to get compensation⁶.
8. You have at least two years to point out faults that were there when you bought it. If a fault appears in the first six months, the retailer has to prove it was in good condition when sold. First of all you will be offered repair or replacement. If these are not practical, or not given quickly enough or you have had a lot of trouble, you can get some or all of your money back⁷.
9. Personal details can only be used if you agree or if really needed (for example, to sort out your order)⁸. See also our page on Privacy.

If something goes wrong

First, use points 1 - 8 above to ask to ask the retailer to put things right. If that does not work, check on the company's website to see if they belong to a trustmark scheme. If the company does, it has agreed to deal with any complaint quickly. If this does not happen, then you can go to the organisation which is running the scheme. In UK, this may be TrustUK.

Also you can go to your European Consumer Centre and the EEJ-net, to help you sort out complaints about goods or services you bought from a trader in the UK or another country. There is an EU complaint form which you can get from them. It may help to fill it in and send it to your supplier.

EU and National Laws on e-commerce across borders

Often national consumer law is better than EU shared law. For example, you may have longer to change your mind after buying on-line. So it may be worth checking if your own country's law or the country's where you bought can be used to protect you.

EU Directives

¹ Distant selling directive
² Directive on price indications
³ Unfair contract terms directive
⁴ Misleading advertising directive
⁵ General product safety directive
⁶ Product liability directive
⁷ Directive on the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees
⁸ Data processing directive
⁹ E-commerce directive