FTC 30-Day Shipping Rule (2026): Your Auto-Refund Right

When an online order does not ship on time, most shoppers assume their only recourse is the retailer's goodwill — a customer-service chat, a polite request, maybe a chargeback if the seller stops responding. Federal law says otherwise. The FTC Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule — better known as the "30-Day Rule" — turns shipping deadlines into legally enforceable refund rights. If a seller cannot ship within the time it advertised (or within 30 days when no time was stated), it must, without prior demand, offer you the option to consent to a delay or cancel the order for a prompt refund. The rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 435, is one of the most consumer-favorable trade regulations on the books, and almost no one uses it. This is the 2026 guide to what the 30-Day Rule actually says — every deadline, definition, and refund timeline quoted verbatim from the regulation — and exactly how to put it to work.

Table of Contents

1. TL;DR: The 30-Day Rule in One Glance
2. What the Rule Actually Is
3. The 30-Day Default Shipping Deadline
4. The 50-Day Exception for Credit Applications
5. What Counts as "Shipment"
6. What Counts as a "Properly Completed Order"
7. The "Reasonable Basis" Standard and the Rebuttable Presumption
8. When the Seller Misses the Deadline: Your Three Options
9. The "Definite Revised Shipping Date" Rule
10. The 30-Day Extended-Delay Cancellation Right
11. What Counts as a "Prompt Refund"
12. Refund Timelines by Payment Method
13. What the Rule Does NOT Cover
14. How State Laws Layer on Top
15. Common Seller Violations to Watch For
16. How to Enforce Your Refund Right Step-by-Step
17. How This Differs from FCBA Chargebacks
18. How Purchy Helps You Track Shipping Deadlines
19. Frequently Asked Questions

TL;DR: The 30-Day Rule in One Glance

Question	Answer under 16 CFR Part 435
How long does a seller have to ship my order?	The time the seller clearly and conspicuously stated in its solicitation — or, if no time was stated, 30 days after receipt of a properly completed order.
What if I apply for credit to pay?	If you apply to the seller for credit to pay for the order in whole or in part, the seller has 50 days instead of 30.
What if the seller can't ship in time?	The seller must, without prior demand, offer you the option to consent to a delay or cancel for a prompt refund — and the offer must be made before the original deadline expires.
What is a "prompt refund"?	7 working days by first-class mail when you paid cash, check, or money order; 1 billing cycle for a credit-card or credit-account purchase.
Does the rule cover online and phone orders?	Yes. The rule expressly covers sales made by mail, via the Internet, or by telephone, regardless of payment method.
What's not covered?	Magazine and serial subscriptions after the first shipment, seeds and growing plants, C.O.D. orders, and negative-option plans governed by 16 CFR Part 425.

What the Rule Actually Is

The FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 435, is a federal trade regulation. It does not give the buyer a private right to sue, but it gives the Federal Trade Commission — and, in many states, the state attorney general — enforcement authority to obtain civil penalties, refunds, and injunctions against non-compliant sellers. The substantive rule is found in § 435.2, which lists, in plain regulatory language, every conduct that "constitutes an unfair method of competition, and an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a seller" in connection with covered orders.

The rule has existed in some form for decades. It was originally adopted as the Mail Order Merchandise Rule and has been amended over the years to add telephone and, ultimately, Internet sales — which is why the same federal rule that historically governed catalog purchases does cover today's e-commerce purchases. The current title in the Code of Federal Regulations is "Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise," and the scope language in § 435.1(a) is explicit on this point.

The conceptual structure of the rule is unusual and worth understanding. It is not a "promised delivery date" rule. It is a "shipment representation" rule: it polices the time the seller represents — or implicitly represents through the 30-day default — that the merchandise will be shipped. Once a seller cannot ship within that time, the rule's machinery clicks on: notice duties, cancellation options, refund deadlines, and a rebuttable presumption against the seller if it cannot document a reasonable basis for its original shipping representation.

The 30-Day Default Shipping Deadline

Section 435.2(a)(1) is the trigger. It makes it an unfair or deceptive act for a seller "to solicit any order for the sale of merchandise to be ordered by the buyer through the mail, via the Internet, or by telephone unless, at the time of the solicitation, the seller has a reasonable basis to expect that it will be able to ship any ordered merchandise to the buyer" within one of two windows:

• Within the time clearly and conspicuously stated in the solicitation — the "ships within 5 business days" or "delivery in 2–3 weeks" representation that appears on the product page, in the email confirmation, or in the order form itself; or
• If no time is clearly and conspicuously stated, within 30 days after receipt of a properly completed order from the buyer.

The 30-day default is a backstop, not a free pass. If the seller advertises "Ships within 7 days," that 7-day window is the seller's representation and that is the deadline the rule enforces. The 30-day clock applies only when the seller never made a specific shipping representation in the first place. The rule does not let sellers say "30 days" out one side of the mouth and then choose any earlier number for marketing copy on the other.

The 50-Day Exception for Credit Applications

The proviso at the end of § 435.2(a)(1)(ii) creates one — and only one — extension to the 30-day default. The verbatim text:

"Provided, however, where, at the time the merchandise is ordered the buyer applies to the seller for credit to pay for the merchandise in whole or in part, the seller shall have fifty (50) days, rather than thirty (30) days, to perform the actions required in this paragraph (a)(1)(ii)."

The trigger is specific: the buyer must apply to the seller for credit, at the time of the order, to pay for the merchandise in whole or part. The most common modern fact pattern is a private-label store credit card application processed at checkout — the buyer signs up for "save 20% today, no payments for 12 months" financing, and the underwriting decision adds days the seller could not control. Using an existing credit card you already have, or financing through a third party that is not the seller, does not extend the 30-day window to 50.

What Counts as "Shipment"

Section 435.1(e) defines shipment narrowly: "the act by which the merchandise is physically placed in the possession of the carrier." That single sentence has practical implications most buyers miss.

The deadline is not when the package arrives at your door. It is not when you receive a tracking number — a printed label is not yet in the carrier's possession. It is the moment the package is handed off to UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, or any other carrier. A seller can satisfy the rule by getting your box onto a carrier truck on day 30 even if you do not see it for another week. This is also why "preparing your order" or "label created" status alerts from sellers do not, by themselves, prove compliance — the package has to actually be in the carrier's hands.

The practical upshot for buyers: if you are tracking your seller's compliance, the relevant data point is the first carrier-acknowledged scan (an "Origin Scan" or "Acceptance Scan" in carrier terminology), not the seller's internal status updates.

What Counts as a "Properly Completed Order"

The 30-day clock does not start the second you click "Place Order." It starts when the seller has received what § 435.1(c) defines as a properly completed order: payment in the proper amount (or valid authorization to charge an account) and all the information the seller needs to process and ship the order.

If the buyer's payment is dishonored — a check bounces, a card is declined — or the buyer does not qualify for the credit applied for, the rule says receipt of a properly completed order is deferred until the seller actually receives notice that payment has been honored or that the buyer qualifies for the credit sale. So a "your card was declined, please update payment" email legitimately pauses the shipping clock until the new payment instrument is accepted.

What the rule does not let a seller do is invent unilateral pauses — "we are out of stock and will ship when we restock" is not a missing piece of information from the buyer's side; it is a seller-side fulfillment problem and the clock keeps running.

The "Reasonable Basis" Standard and the Rebuttable Presumption

One of the rule's most powerful enforcement levers is the burden-shifting provision in § 435.2(a)(4):

"In any action brought by the Federal Trade Commission, alleging a violation of this part, the failure of a respondent-seller to have records or other documentary proof establishing its use of systems and procedures which assure the shipment of merchandise in the ordinary course of business within any applicable time set forth in this part will create a rebuttable presumption that the seller lacked a reasonable basis for any expectation of shipment within said applicable time."

Translated: a seller that advertises "ships in 3 days" but has no internal documentation — inventory records, fulfillment lead-time data, carrier pickup schedules — proving it could have actually shipped in 3 days is presumed to have lied. The FTC does not need to prove subjective intent. The seller has to come forward with records, or it loses. This is the provision that has powered virtually every multi-million-dollar enforcement action under the rule.

When the Seller Misses the Deadline: Your Three Options

Section 435.2(b) is the operative consumer-protection section. When a seller learns it cannot ship within the applicable time, it must — "clearly and conspicuously and without prior demand" — offer the buyer an option:

• Consent to the delay until a specific, definite revised shipping date the seller provides; or
• Cancel the order and receive a prompt refund.

Three things about this provision are non-obvious and matter:

1. "Without prior demand." The seller cannot wait for the buyer to chase. The offer is affirmative; it is the seller's duty to communicate it.
2. Timing. The notice must arrive "within a reasonable time after the seller first becomes aware of its inability to ship," and "in no event later than" the original applicable time. A notice sent on day 31 of a 30-day window is already non-compliant.
3. Right-to-cancel framing. The notice has to "fully inform the buyer regarding the buyer's right to cancel the order and to obtain a prompt refund." A vague "your order is delayed" email that buries the cancellation right or does not mention a refund is not the notice the rule requires.

The "Definite Revised Shipping Date" Rule

If the seller can offer a specific new ship date that is 30 days or less later than the original deadline, § 435.2(b)(1)(ii) lets it use what is effectively a deemed-consent mechanism. The notice must "expressly inform the buyer that, unless the seller receives, prior to shipment and prior to the expiration of the definite revised shipping date, a response from the buyer rejecting the delay and cancelling the order, the buyer will be deemed to have consented to a delayed shipment on or before the definite revised shipping date."

In other words: silence equals consent, but only when the new date is within 30 days of the original, and only when the notice expressly explains that silence equals consent. If the notice fails to spell that out, deemed consent does not attach and the buyer keeps a live cancellation right.

The 30-Day Extended-Delay Cancellation Right

Section 435.2(b)(1)(iii) handles the opposite scenario: the seller cannot provide a definite revised shipping date within 30 days, or cannot provide a revised date at all. In that case the deemed-consent default flips:

"…the offer of said option shall also expressly inform the buyer that the buyer's order will automatically be deemed to have been cancelled unless: (A) The seller has shipped the merchandise within thirty (30) days of the applicable time set forth in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, and has received no cancellation prior to shipment; or (B) The seller has received from the buyer within thirty (30) days of said applicable time, a response specifically consenting to said shipping delay."

This is the cleanest, strongest consumer right in the rule. If your original deadline was day 30 and the seller cannot give you a firm new date within day 60, your order is automatically cancelled on day 60 unless you affirmatively opted in to a longer delay. The seller does not need to do anything; the cancellation happens by operation of the rule. And once the order is cancelled, the prompt-refund duty kicks in.

For sellers that simply ghost a delayed order — no notice at all — the same § 435.2(b)(1)(iii) default applies. A seller cannot escape the deemed cancellation by failing to send the required notice; it can only fail to provide the option, which itself violates § 435.2(b).

What Counts as a "Prompt Refund"

Section 435.1(b) defines "prompt refund" in two parts depending on how you paid:

• If you paid by cash, check, money order, or "any means at least as fast and reliable as first class mail" tendered directly: the refund must be sent "within seven (7) working days of the date on which the buyer's right to refund vests."
• If you paid by credit card or credit account (i.e., a credit sale where the seller is or used the third-party creditor): the refund must be sent "within one (1) billing cycle from the date on which the buyer's right to refund vests."

The right to refund "vests" — that is, the clock starts — on whichever event made the buyer entitled to a refund: an express cancellation, a deemed cancellation under § 435.2(b)(1)(iii), or a renewed-option cancellation under § 435.2(b)(2). Notably, the rule pegs the refund to sending, not to the buyer receiving funds back. Banking processing time after the seller initiates the refund is outside the rule's strict deadline.

Refund Timelines by Payment Method

How You Paid	"Prompt Refund" Deadline	CFR Citation
Cash, check, or money order	7 working days by first-class mail (or faster, more reliable means) from the date the right to refund vests	§ 435.1(b)(1)
Credit card or store credit account	1 billing cycle from the date the right to refund vests, by credit memorandum to the issuer (and a copy to you)	§ 435.1(b)(2), § 435.1(d)(2)
"Other means" (e.g., gift card credit, PayPal balance, ACH bank transfer)	Instructions to the entity that transferred payment or a 7-working-day cash/check/money-order refund directly to you	§ 435.1(d)(3)

Note that § 435.1(b)(1) has an important fallback: if the seller cannot provide a refund by the same method as the original payment, "prompt refund" then means "a refund sent in the form of cash, check, or money order, by any means at least as fast and reliable as first class mail, within seven (7) working days of the date on which the seller discovers it cannot provide a refund by the same method as payment was tendered." Sellers do not get to substitute store credit unilaterally and call it compliance — the rule contemplates a real, fungible refund.

What the Rule Does NOT Cover

Section 435.3(a) carves out a short, specific list of exemptions. Memorize them, because anything outside the list is in:

• Subscriptions, such as magazine sales, ordered for serial delivery — after the initial shipment is made in compliance with this part. The first shipment of a subscription is covered; the recurring deliveries that follow are not. (§ 435.3(a)(1).)
• Orders of seeds and growing plants. A long-standing carve-out reflecting growing-season uncertainty. (§ 435.3(a)(2).)
• Orders made on a collect-on-delivery (C.O.D.) basis. The buyer is not yet out of pocket until delivery, so the refund-on-non-shipment machinery does not apply. (§ 435.3(a)(3).)
• Transactions governed by 16 CFR Part 425 — the FTC's Prenotification Negative Option Rule (book-of-the-month clubs and the like). (§ 435.3(a)(4).)

Notable non-exemptions: digital downloads, custom or made-to-order goods, drop-shipped third-party fulfillment, marketplace sales (Amazon third-party, eBay, Etsy), pre-orders, and "ships when available" items. All of those remain covered. A pre-order is one of the most common fact patterns and one of the highest-risk for sellers: if the seller takes payment and cannot ship within the represented time, every duty in § 435.2 applies.

How State Laws Layer on Top

Section 435.3(b) confirms the federal rule is a floor, not a ceiling. It "does not annul or diminish any rights or remedies provided to consumers by any State law, municipal ordinance, or other local regulation, insofar as those rights or remedies are equal to or greater than those provided by this part." It does, however, supersede weaker state provisions that do not give buyers rights equal to or greater than the federal rule.

Several states have their own mail-order or e-commerce-order statutes that overlay the federal rule with analogous shipping deadlines, refund timelines, or additional disclosure duties. More broadly, every state has an unfair-and-deceptive-acts-and-practices (UDAP) statute that mirrors section 5 of the federal FTC Act (15 U.S.C. § 45) and wraps deceptive shipping representations into a state-law cause of action — and many state UDAP laws allow private rights of action with statutory damages and attorney's fees, which is a sharper enforcement tool than the federal rule alone. When evaluating a non-shipment fact pattern, always check both your state's consumer-protection statute and any state-specific mail-order law in addition to 16 CFR Part 435.

Common Seller Violations to Watch For

Reported violations and consumer complaints under the rule consistently fall into a recurring set of fact patterns. If any of these have happened to you, the seller is likely out of compliance:

• "Estimated ship date" pushed back by email with no cancel-or-consent option. A delay notice that does not affirmatively offer the cancellation right and refund is non-compliant under § 435.2(b)(1)(i).
• Indefinite-delay notices with no "auto-cancel" language. If the seller cannot give a definite revised date, the notice has to expressly tell you your order auto-cancels under § 435.2(b)(1)(iii) absent affirmative consent. Most don't.
• Store credit as a refund. A unilaterally issued store credit is not a refund under § 435.1(d). The buyer is entitled to a refund in the form of the original payment unless the seller cannot do that, in which case cash/check/money order is required.
• Delays past the 50-day mark for orders not involving a credit application to the seller. The 50-day window only opens when the buyer applied to the seller for credit. Using your existing credit card does not unlock it.
• "Label created" status used to argue compliance. Compliance turns on physical possession by the carrier, not label generation.
• Slow refunds beyond the 7-working-day or 1-billing-cycle limits. The clock runs from when the right to refund vests, not from when the seller "approves" or "processes" the cancellation.

How to Enforce Your Refund Right Step-by-Step

The FTC rule does not give buyers a private right to sue, but the practical path to a refund usually involves layering federal-rule arguments onto faster, more direct enforcement mechanisms. Here is the workflow:

1. Pin down the deadline. Find the represented ship time on the product page, in the confirmation email, or in the order receipt. If none exists, the 30-day default (or 50-day with a credit application) applies.
2. Confirm the order was properly completed and payment was honored. Pull your card statement or bank record to show when payment posted; that is the earliest the shipment clock could start (subject to the "properly completed order" definition).
3. Document non-shipment. Save tracking screenshots showing no carrier acceptance scan as of the deadline. "Label created" is not shipment.
4. Make a written demand citing § 435.2(b). Email the seller, name the rule, state that the deadline has passed without notice of delay, and demand a prompt refund per § 435.1(b). A specific citation often resolves the matter immediately because customer-service teams escalate any message that names the rule.
5. If you used a credit or debit card, file a dispute. "Merchandise not received" is one of the most clearly successful chargeback reason codes. Your card issuer applies its own timelines, but a federal-rule violation makes the merchant's response unwinnable. See our deep-dives on how to dispute a credit card charge and debit vs. credit card disputes for the procedural mechanics.
6. Report the violation. File a complaint at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC aggregates complaints to identify enforcement targets; reporting both contributes to broader cases and creates a paper trail you can attach to a chargeback dispute or state attorney general complaint.
7. State attorney general for repeat violators. State AGs frequently pursue mail-order violations under both the federal rule (via concurrent jurisdiction in many states) and state UDAP statutes that allow restitution orders.

How This Differs from FCBA Chargebacks

If you paid by credit card and your order never arrived, you actually hold two overlapping rights: the FTC Mail Order Rule's refund right against the seller, and the Fair Credit Billing Act's billing-error and unauthorized-charge rights against the card issuer (15 U.S.C. § 1666 and related Reg Z provisions). The two are complementary, not duplicative:

Right	FTC Mail Order Rule (16 CFR Part 435)	FCBA Chargeback (15 U.S.C. § 1666 et seq.)
Against whom	The seller (merchant)	The card issuer (your bank)
Trigger	Seller cannot ship within the represented or 30-day default time	Goods or services not delivered, billing error, or unauthorized charge
Buyer's deadline to act	No statutory deadline on the buyer; rule operates on the seller's clock	60 days from the first statement showing the disputed charge
Enforcement	FTC and state attorneys general; chargeback-via-card-issuer in practice	Card issuer must investigate; binding on the issuer if the rules are followed

In practice, the FCBA chargeback is the faster path to your money back; the FTC rule supplies the substantive argument that the seller had no right to retain payment in the first place. Pair them.

How Purchy Helps You Track Shipping Deadlines

The 30-Day Rule is a quiet, structural protection. It runs on the seller's clock, not yours, and the entire enforcement model assumes you know when the clock should have ended. That is harder than it sounds when you have multiple orders open, ship-time representations buried in different places, and seller communications scattered across email folders.

That is precisely the problem Purchy solves. Purchy reads your purchase-confirmation emails as they arrive and surfaces the deadlines that actually govern each order: the stated ship time, the 30-day federal default if none was stated, the carrier acceptance scan as the compliance event, and the prompt-refund clock if you cancel. You see a clean list of your active orders with the dates that matter highlighted, so the moment a seller misses § 435.2(a)(1), you know — instead of finding out three weeks later when a stranger's "where is my order" search confirms it.

For more on the deadlines that govern your other purchases:

• The FTC Cooling-Off Rule: the real 3-day right to cancel
• How long does a refund take in 2026?
• The DOT airline refund rule: when airlines must pay you back
• How to dispute a credit card charge
• Debit vs. credit card disputes: your 2026 consumer rights
• The FTC Junk Fees Rule, one year later
• Refund vs. store credit: know your rights
• How to get a refund from a store going out of business

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the FTC's 30-Day Rule cover online orders, or only mail?

It covers online orders. The rule was amended in 2014 and renamed "Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise" expressly to cover Internet sales. Section 435.1(a) defines its scope as "sales in which the buyer has ordered merchandise from the seller by mail, via the Internet, or by telephone, regardless of the method of payment or the method used to solicit the order."

What if the seller never represented any shipping time?

Section 435.2(a)(1)(ii) supplies a 30-day default. If no shipping time was clearly and conspicuously stated in the solicitation, the seller has 30 days from receipt of a properly completed order to ship.

Does the rule apply to pre-orders for products that haven't released yet?

Yes. A pre-order is still a solicited order for merchandise. The seller's pre-order representation — "ships on or around October 1" — is its representation under § 435.2(a)(1)(i), and the rule's machinery attaches the moment that date passes without shipment.

Does the rule apply to digital downloads, software, or licenses?

The rule's text speaks to "merchandise" being "shipped" and physically placed in a carrier's possession (§ 435.1(e)). The FTC has consistently applied the rule to physical goods. Purely digital downloads with no physical fulfillment fall outside the rule's natural scope, although deceptive shipping representations about hybrid products (digital-plus-physical bundles, for example) remain covered.

What if I applied for the seller's store credit card to pay for the order?

Then the 50-day window in § 435.2(a)(1)(ii) proviso applies — but only for that order, only because you applied for credit, and only to the extent the credit is being used to pay for the merchandise. Existing credit cards you already have do not extend the 30-day window to 50.

If the seller emails me a delay notice, am I required to respond?

That depends on what the notice says. If it offers a definite revised shipping date within 30 days of the original deadline and clearly states that silence equals consent, then § 435.2(b)(1)(ii) deems your non-response a consent to the new date. If the revised date is more than 30 days later, or no definite date is provided, the default flips — your non-response means your order is automatically cancelled at the 30-day mark beyond the original deadline (§ 435.2(b)(1)(iii)).

My order is two months late and the seller has gone silent. What now?

The seller has violated § 435.2(b) by failing to provide the required notice. Under § 435.2(b)(1)(iii), your order is automatically deemed cancelled, and the seller's prompt-refund duty has vested. Send a written demand citing the rule, file a chargeback with your card issuer for "merchandise not received," and file a complaint with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and your state attorney general.

What is a "working day" for the 7-working-day refund clock?

The rule itself does not separately define "working day," but the FTC has consistently interpreted it to mean any day other than Saturday, Sunday, and federal legal public holidays. A right to refund that vests on a Friday gives the seller a deadline that runs roughly through the following week and a half on the calendar.

Can the seller substitute a store credit for a cash refund?

Generally, no. Section 435.1(d) defines a "refund" by reference to the payment method tendered, with a fallback to "a return of the amount tendered in the form of cash, check, or money order" when same-method refund is not possible. A unilateral store-credit substitution is not a refund under the rule.

Does the rule apply to marketplace sellers, like Amazon third-party or Etsy shops?

Yes. The rule applies to any seller of merchandise via mail, Internet, or telephone — the underlying technology and the platform are irrelevant. A third-party Amazon seller that takes payment and cannot ship in 30 days is subject to the same shipping and refund duties as a standalone e-commerce site. (Marketplace platforms may also have their own buyer-protection programs that operate independently of the rule.)

Is there a private right of action under the rule?

No. Enforcement is through the FTC and, by concurrent jurisdiction, state attorneys general in many states. In practice, however, a rule violation is the predicate for a credit-card chargeback under the FCBA and is often actionable under state consumer-protection (UDAP) statutes, which do allow private suits with damages and attorney's fees in many jurisdictions.

Does the rule cover services, like an online course or a subscription box?

The rule's text speaks to "merchandise" — physical goods. Pure services typically fall outside its scope. A first shipment of a physical subscription box is covered (because the exemption for subscriptions in § 435.3(a)(1) applies only "after the initial shipment is made in compliance with this part"). Recurring subscription shipments after that first one are outside the rule. Services and digital subscriptions are governed by other consumer-protection rules — most notably the FTC's Junk Fees Rule and various subscription-cancellation laws.

The Bottom Line

The FTC's 30-Day Rule is a federal trade regulation that has been on the books, in some form, for half a century — and it remains one of the most consumer-favorable protections in U.S. e-commerce. It does not require the buyer to do anything special at the time of purchase. It binds the seller to the shipping representation it made, gives the buyer an automatic refund right when the seller cannot deliver on it, and imposes a strict prompt-refund deadline measured in working days, not weeks.

The reason the rule is underused is not legal complexity. It is invisibility. The buyer does not know the deadline. The seller does not volunteer it. The carrier acceptance scan, the actual compliance event, is buried in a tracking page nobody reads carefully. Track the deadlines and the rule does the rest. Miss them, and a powerful federal right quietly expires while you are waiting on a customer-service reply that, in many cases, the seller already knows it cannot honor.

This article is informational, not legal advice. All thresholds, deadlines, and quoted provisions were verified verbatim against 16 CFR Part 435 (§§ 435.1, 435.2, and 435.3) as published by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School on May 15, 2026. State mail-order and consumer-protection statutes vary; for guidance on a specific transaction, consult an attorney admitted in your state or contact your state attorney general's consumer-protection division. To report a seller that violated the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, file a complaint at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.