What is a distance selling regulation for online sellers?

A distance selling regulation is a law that protects customers who buy without meeting the seller face to face, such as online, by phone or by mail order. The current UK law is the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which has applied to every contract made since 13 June 2014.

If you sell anything online, this law affects you. It doesn’t matter whether you run a big warehouse operation or build bespoke garden cabins one order at a time. The rules are the same.

Here’s what you need to sort out right now, before you read another word:

Tell customers exactly who you are, what they’re buying, and the full price including tax before they pay.
Give them a 14 day cooling-off period to change their mind, no questions asked.
Refund cancelled orders within 14 days of getting the goods back, or proof they’ve been sent back.
Deliver within a reasonable time unless you’ve agreed something different with the buyer.
Confirm all of this in writing, by email or another durable format they can keep.

We’ll walk through each of these in plain terms below, plus what happens if you get it wrong and how bespoke items like custom garden buildings are treated differently. For the official wording, Gov is worth bookmarking.

Key takeaways

Sellers must give clear pre-contract information, honour the 14 day cooling-off period, refund within 14 days of return, and keep durable records to avoid extended liability.

Point	Details
Current law	The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 govern distance sales, not the older 2000 Regulations
Cooling-off period	Customers get 14 days to cancel without giving a reason
Refund deadline	Refunds are due within 14 days of goods being returned or proof of return
Pre-contract information	Business identity, price, delivery and cancellation terms must be disclosed before payment
Bespoke exception	Custom or made-to-measure goods can be exempt from cancellation rights if properly documented

Use the checklist above this week, and host your cancellation form directly inside your order confirmation email so it’s never missing when a customer needs it.

What counts as a distance sale and who does it cover?
What information must you give before someone orders?
How does the 14 day cooling-off period actually work?
When does the right to cancel not apply?
Delivery timing and who carries the risk in transit
How do you build a compliant checkout?
What happens if you don’t comply?
A ten-point checklist you can action this week
Where to check the rules yourself
Turning compliance into a better customer experience
Frequently asked questions
Sources

What counts as a distance sale and who does it cover?

A distance contract is any sale made without you and the customer being in the same room. That covers online orders, phone sales, mail order catalogues, text message orders, and even purchases made through interactive TV. If your customer never physically visits your premises before buying, you’re almost certainly in distance selling territory.

Tablet and tea cup on garden table with log cabin blurred background

This is different from an “off-premises” contract, which covers situations like a salesperson visiting someone’s home or a stall at a temporary market. Both types of contract carry similar consumer protections, but the practical detail differs slightly. For most online retailers, distance selling is the one that matters day to day.

The rules only protect consumers, meaning people buying for personal use, not other businesses. If a customer orders a garden building for their own home, they’re covered. If a landscaping company orders ten units to resell, that’s a business-to-business deal and the regulations don’t apply in the same way.

Common scenarios that fall squarely inside scope include:

A customer ordering a garden cabin through your website checkout.
A buyer filling in a bespoke order form online and submitting it without ever visiting a showroom.
Someone phoning your sales team to place an order after browsing your site.

The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 used to govern all this, and you’ll still see the phrase “distance selling regulations” used loosely to describe the whole area of law. But the 2000 Regulations were largely replaced back in 2014. If you’re checking your current obligations, the 2013 Regulations are the ones that count.

What information must you give before someone orders?

Before a customer clicks “buy”, you’re legally required to give them a set list of facts. This is sometimes called the Schedule 2 information, and it’s not optional extra detail, it’s the law. Miss it out and you risk extending the customer’s right to cancel by months.

Here’s what has to be there:

Your business identity and contact details (name, address, phone number).
A clear description of the product or service.
The total price, including any taxes.
Delivery costs, or a note that they can’t be calculated in advance.
How and when payment and delivery will happen.
The customer’s right to cancel, and how to do it.
How to make a complaint.
Confirmation of all this sent in a durable format, such as email.

The tricky part isn’t knowing what to say, it’s knowing where to put it. Spreading this information across the right pages stops customers feeling ambushed later and keeps you on the right side of the Regulations.

Requirement	Where to place it
Business identity and contact details	Footer, “About Us” page, and order confirmation email
Product description and specification	Product page (see our log cabin information page as an example)
Total price including tax	Order summary at checkout
Delivery costs and timing	Delivery pane on the product page and checkout
Cancellation rights	Terms link near the order button, plus confirmation email
Complaint handling process	Terms page and confirmation email

If you sell bespoke or made-to-measure items, such as a garden cabin built to a customer’s own design, make sure your product pages clearly explain what’s customisable. Our optional items for your garden cabin page shows one way to lay this out so buyers know exactly what they’re choosing before they commit.

You should also make the model cancellation form (set out in Schedule 3 of the Regulations) available somewhere easy to find, such as a link on your terms page or attached to the confirmation email.

How does the 14 day cooling-off period actually work?

Every distance sale gives the customer 14 days to change their mind, no reason needed. This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the law, so it’s worth being precise about timings.

For goods, the 14 days starts from the day the customer (or someone they’ve nominated) receives the item. For services, it starts from the day the contract is agreed. If an order involves multiple deliveries, such as separate parcels of parts for a multi-room build, the clock starts when the last item arrives.

Refunds must be paid within 14 days of getting the goods back, or receiving proof they’ve been sent back, whichever comes first. That’s the rule set out clearly in GOV.UK’s guidance on returns and refunds, and it’s one sellers frequently get wrong by waiting until stock physically arrives back at the warehouse before starting the clock.

Here’s the timeline in full:

Step	Who acts	Deadline
Customer notifies cancellation	Customer	Within 14 days of receiving goods
Customer returns the goods	Customer	Within 14 days of telling you they’re cancelling
Seller processes refund	You	Within 14 days of receiving goods back, or proof of return

A few practical points worth knowing:

Customers usually pay for return postage unless you’ve said otherwise, or the goods are faulty.
You must refund the cost of standard delivery if the customer paid for it, even if they chose a premium shipping option.
Ask customers to keep proof of postage to protect both sides.
You can deduct from the refund if the item is used beyond inspection, but you cannot refuse a refund outright.

One detail catches out more sellers than anything else: if you fail to tell the customer about their right to cancel, the cancellation period doesn’t stay at 14 days. It can extend by up to 12 months. That’s a long time to leave an order open to cancellation, and it’s entirely avoidable with one clear paragraph in your confirmation email.

Sample wording you can adapt for your website: “You have 14 days from the day you receive your order to change your mind. Just let us know in writing, and we’ll refund you within 14 days of receiving the item back.”

When does the right to cancel not apply?

Not everything can be sent back, and the law recognises that. A handful of exceptions exist specifically because some goods lose all commercial value the moment they’re made or opened.

The most common exemptions are:

Goods made to the customer’s own specification, or clearly personalised.
Perishable goods, such as fresh food.
Sealed audio, video or software items that have been unsealed after delivery.
Newspapers, periodicals and magazines (except subscriptions).
Digital content downloaded immediately, where the customer has given consent and acknowledged they lose their cancellation right.

This is where bespoke garden buildings need special attention. If a customer orders a cabin with custom dimensions, a unique layout, or made-to-measure parts designed specifically for their garden, that order is likely to count as bespoke and fall outside the standard cancellation right. A cabin from your standard range, ordered with no changes, is a different matter entirely, and the normal 14 day right applies.

To rely on the bespoke exemption safely, document your process properly:

Include a contract clause that clearly flags when an order becomes bespoke or made-to-measure.
Get explicit written acknowledgement from the customer at the point of order, not buried in general terms.
Keep records of the customisation request itself, whether that’s a completed form or an email trail.

Explore our bespoke cabin design options to see how a made-to-order specification is typically presented, and take a similar approach on your own product pages if you offer any degree of customisation.

Delivery timing and who carries the risk in transit

Unless you’ve agreed a different date with the customer, goods must be delivered within 30 days of the order being placed. That’s the default set out in the BIS guidance on the Regulations, and it matters more than most sellers realise once lead times stretch during busy seasons.

For a garden cabin, a 30 day window can be tight if you’re building to order. It’s far better to agree a realistic delivery date with the customer upfront, in writing, than to rely on the default and risk breaching it.

Risk generally passes to the consumer once the goods are in their possession, or the possession of someone they’ve nominated to receive them. Before that point, if a delivery is lost or damaged in transit, that’s your problem to sort out, not the customer’s.

A few examples worth knowing:

Single order, split delivery: if a multi-room build arrives in several lots, the cancellation clock only starts once the final part has been delivered.
Regular deliveries over a set period: subscription-style orders have their own start point for cancellation, generally the first delivery.
One large item, one delivery: risk passes the moment it’s handed over, so make sure your delivery partner gets a signature or photo evidence.

If you sell products across several ranges, from a compact garden summer house to a larger multi-room log cabin, it’s worth setting different, honest delivery estimates for each rather than using one blanket figure across your whole catalogue.

How do you build a compliant checkout?

Your checkout page is where most compliance failures actually happen, not because sellers don’t know the rules, but because the page was built before anyone thought about them. A few structural fixes solve most problems.

Your checkout needs:

A clear price breakdown, including tax and delivery, shown before the customer confirms payment.
Delivery costs and estimated timing stated plainly, not hidden in a linked page.
Cancellation rights visible near the order button, not just buried in a terms and conditions link nobody clicks.
An explicit “order with obligation to pay” style button. Vague wording like “continue” doesn’t meet the legal standard.
No pre-ticked boxes for optional extras, insurance, or add-ons. Customers must actively choose to add anything.
Clear, separate consent if a service (such as installation) will begin during the 14 day cooling-off period, since starting it changes the customer’s cancellation rights.

A durable medium simply means something the customer can keep and refer back to, most commonly an email confirmation, though a PDF attachment or account portal message also qualifies. It is not a page that disappears once they close the browser tab.

Sample confirmation email wording: “Thank you for your order. You have the right to cancel within 14 days of receiving your item, without giving a reason. To cancel, contact us at [email] or use the attached cancellation form. Refunds are processed within 14 days of us receiving the returned goods.”

Pro Tip: Attach the model cancellation form directly to your order confirmation email rather than making customers hunt for it on your site. It costs nothing to include and closes off any argument that you failed to provide it.

If you’re reviewing your whole online sales journey, our timber cabins shop page is a useful reference point for how pricing, delivery and product detail can sit together clearly on one page.

What happens if you don’t comply?

Getting this wrong isn’t a paperwork slip, it carries real consequences. GOV.UK’s guidance for businesses is blunt about the range of outcomes: courts can order you to fulfil the contract as promised, award compensation to the customer, and in serious or repeated cases impose unlimited fines or even criminal penalties.

Enforcement generally comes from two directions: the Competition and Markets Authority for wider patterns of unfair trading, and local trading standards teams for individual complaints. Most disputes never reach that level, they get resolved directly between seller and customer, but a pattern of complaints is exactly the sort of thing that draws regulatory attention.

Protect yourself with good recordkeeping:

Save every order confirmation and its exact wording, dated.
Keep proof of postage for anything you send, and ask customers to do the same for returns.
Log customer acknowledgements of bespoke or made-to-order terms.
Keep a simple record of cancellation requests and how quickly you refunded them.

If you’re facing a pattern of disputes with a supplier over defective goods or repeated late deliveries, or a customer dispute escalates beyond a straightforward refund, get proper legal advice rather than guessing. The cost of an hour’s advice is far lower than an unlimited fine.

A ten-point checklist you can action this week

Add your full business identity and contact details to your footer and confirmation emails.
Check every product page states the full price including tax, with delivery costs shown separately.
Add a clear cancellation rights statement near your checkout button, not just in a terms link.
Remove any pre-ticked boxes for extras, insurance, or add-ons from your checkout.
Attach the model cancellation form to your order confirmation email template.
Set a realistic delivery estimate per product range and confirm it in writing with the customer.
Add a bespoke order clause and consent tick-box for any customised or made-to-measure products.
Update your warehouse or returns process to log the date goods are received back.
Set a calendar reminder for refunds, aiming to process within days, not waiting until the 14 day deadline.
Brief your customer service team on the “no reason required” cancellation rule so nobody asks for one.

Sellers who get compliance right rarely think about it again, it becomes part of the order process rather than a separate task. The businesses that struggle are usually the ones treating it as paperwork to catch up on after a complaint, rather than something built into the checkout from day one.

Sample refund confirmation you can adapt: “We’ve received your returned item and processed your refund of [amount] to your original payment method. This includes your standard delivery charge. Please allow 3 to 5 working days for it to appear in your account.”

If you offer custom builds, check our custom build log cabins page for an example of how bespoke terms and delivery expectations can be set out clearly before a customer commits to an order.

Where to check the rules yourself

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 — the full current statutory text.
The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 — historical context, largely superseded.
Gov — practical guidance and enforcement warnings.
Gov — refund timing and delivery cost rules.
Which?: Consumer Contracts Regulations explainer — plain-English consumer-side explanation, useful for anticipating customer questions.

For refund timing questions, start with the GOV.UK returns guidance. For exemptions and bespoke goods, the full legislation text gives the precise wording you’ll need if a dispute ever escalates.

Turning compliance into a better customer experience

Most sellers treat distance selling rules as a box-ticking exercise, something to survive rather than use. That’s a missed opportunity. Clear pre-contract information and an easy, well-signposted cancellation process do more for customer trust than almost any other single change you can make to a checkout page.

Think about it from the buyer’s side. Ordering a garden building online is a bigger decision than most online purchases, there’s real money involved and no chance to see the actual item beforehand. A customer who can see exactly what happens if they change their mind, in plain language, before they pay, is far more likely to complete that order than one facing a vague or hidden returns policy.

There’s a quieter benefit too. Sellers who set clear expectations upfront, particularly around bespoke or made-to-order items, tend to field fewer confused calls after delivery. When a customer has already acknowledged in writing that their cabin was built to a custom specification and isn’t eligible for standard cancellation, there’s no argument to have later. The clarity does the work before the dispute ever starts.

Hands pointing to cabin customization on tablet in garden

If you supply bespoke or made-to-measure garden buildings, adapt the templates in this article directly into your order process, and consider practical Garden Resource Shed guidance for delivery and product types. A short paragraph explaining what “bespoke” means for that specific order, placed right where the customer configures their build, saves more disputes than a lengthy terms and conditions page ever will. Pair that with a properly worded confirmation email, and you’ve covered the two areas where most complaints originate. For a look at how a fully custom order can be presented clearly from the outset, our apex roof cabins range shows one practical approach to laying out specification choices before checkout.

Frequently asked questions

What is a distance selling regulation, in one sentence? It’s a UK law protecting consumers who buy without meeting the seller in person, requiring clear pre-contract information and a 14 day right to cancel, currently set out in the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

Do distance selling rules apply to bespoke garden buildings? Standard-range products are covered by the normal 14 day cancellation right. Genuinely bespoke or made-to-measure orders can be exempt, provided you’ve documented the customisation clearly and the customer acknowledged it before ordering.

How long do I have to refund a cancelled order? Within 14 days of receiving the goods back, or receiving proof they’ve been returned, whichever happens first.

What happens if I forget to tell a customer about their cancellation rights? The cancellation period can extend by up to 12 months from what it would otherwise have been, so this is one detail worth getting right every time.

Is the 2000 Distance Selling Regulations law still in force? No. It was largely replaced by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 for contracts made from 13 June 2014 onwards.

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified lawyer. Consult a qualified legal professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

What Is A Distance Selling Regulation For Online Sellers?

Learn how distance selling regulations protect online customers and what sellers must do to comply with UK law. Ensure your business is ready!