The situation
The webshop’s returns policy and order confirmation, uploaded
A furniture and lighting webshop based in Wrocław is launching a German-language shop. Its returns policy grew over the years: original packaging required, refunds within 30 days, store credit only for sale items, no returns on lamps once assembled. The German launch partner has asked for the policy to be checked before go-live.
Counsel knows the headline rule. The time goes into each line of the policy: which restrictions are allowed, whether the exception for custom-made goods really covers sofas, who pays to send back a bulky item, and what the order confirmation must say. A missing notice can extend the withdrawal period by a year.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Fourteen days, from receipt of the goods
- For distance contracts for goods, the consumer can withdraw within 14 days of receiving the goods, without giving a reason. Where items in one order arrive separately, the period runs from receipt of the last one.
- Refund in full, within 14 days
- The trader must refund all payments, including standard delivery costs, within 14 days of being told of the withdrawal, using the same means of payment unless the consumer expressly agrees otherwise. It may hold the refund until it gets the goods back or proof they were sent.
- The exceptions are narrow
- Goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised are excluded, as are some sealed goods once unsealed. A standard lamp the customer has assembled is not excluded; the consumer is liable only for any loss in value from handling beyond what was needed to check the goods.
- Missing information has consequences
- If the consumer was not told of the right of withdrawal, the period is extended by up to twelve months. If the consumer was not told they bear the cost of returning the goods, the trader bears it.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Attached is our returns policy. We are a Polish webshop selling furniture and lamps to consumers in Poland and, from next month, Germany. Which clauses conflict with the right of withdrawal, does the custom-made exception cover sofas in a fabric the customer chose from our range, and who pays return shipping?
You start with
The webshop’s returns policy and order confirmation, uploaded
- 01
Upload the policy and confirmation
Add the returns policy, the order confirmation email and the withdrawal form. azta reads them and points to the passage behind each issue.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the rules in both countries
Ask how each clause fits the Consumer Rights Directive and the German and Polish implementing law. azta cites both.
Cited research· Free - 03
Find the decisions on the exceptions
Ask how courts have applied the exception for goods made to specification. azta summarises the decisions it holds, with links to the full text.
Case-law search - 04
Draft the corrected wording
Ask for a mark-up clause by clause, with replacement wording. Edit it in Canvas and translate passages into German or Polish.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A marked-up policy with each issue tied to the rule it breaks
What you get
A marked-up policy with each issue tied to the rule it breaks
Policy mark-up · draft
Returns policy: changes needed before the German launch
Clause 2, original packaging. The right of withdrawal cannot be made conditional on returning goods in their original packaging. Replace the requirement with a request, and rely on the consumer’s liability for any loss in value from handling beyond what was needed to check the goods.
Clause 4, refunds. Refunds must be made within 14 days of the withdrawal notice, by the payment method used, including the standard delivery charge. Store credit can be offered as an option but cannot replace the refund. The 30-day period and the sale-item rule should go.
Clause 6, assembled lamps and sofas. Assembled lamps cannot be excluded from withdrawal. Sofas made in a fabric the customer chose from our range need the separate analysis in the annex before we rely on the exception for goods made to specification.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
14 minutes a month
At €120 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 25
- Capacity at your rate
- €3,024
- More returns-policy reviews a quarter
- 1.4
- Return on Pro
- 9.3×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
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Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- Gesetze im Internet
- Dziennik Ustaw
- Rechtsprechung im Internet
What stays with you
- Deciding what goodwill to offer beyond the legal minimum.
- The final wording in German and Polish.
- Approving the policy and the order-confirmation templates.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the right of withdrawal apply in our stores?
- Not to ordinary sales in a shop. It applies to distance and off-premises contracts. Many retailers accept store returns as goodwill on their own terms.
- Can azta draft the German version?
- Yes. Ask for the clauses in German in Canvas, then have a German-qualified reviewer check them before they are published.
- Does it check the withdrawal form?
- Upload your form and ask. azta compares it with the model form in the Directive and the national implementing law, and cites both.
