Cooling-off period

The cooling-off period is a timeframe during which your customer can cancel an online purchase without providing a reason. In Dutch e-commerce, there is a statutory minimum cooling-off period of 14 days after receipt of the product.

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After your customer has used the right of withdrawal to register a return, they have at least another 14 days to send the purchase back, which is known as the return period.

Is a 14-day cooling-off period mandatory?

Offering a 14-day cooling-off period is mandatory for e-commerce under the Distance Selling Act, but not when it concerns custom-made items or when you have established certain reasonable return conditions , such as for used lingerie or fresh produce.

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This obligation does not apply to in-store purchases, so it is up to you as a retailer to consider a return policy that encourages purchases while keeping returns as low as possible.

What does "return within 30 days" mean?

If you state as a webshop that customers can return items "within 30 days," it means that customers can send the purchased product back within 30 days of receipt.

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This is a cooling-off period that you set yourself as an online store, and it is not the same as the statutory 14-day cooling-off period for online purchases.

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This is separate from the 14-day return period that begins once a return is registered.