Returns in online shops:Swiss law and the EU button.

What Swiss law provides

The Swiss Code of Obligations does know a right of withdrawal, but it attaches to how the contract was formed and not to the channel. Article 40b CO lists the cases: an offer made at the customer’s workplace or in residential premises, on public transport or in public streets and squares, at a promotional event tied to an excursion, and, since the revision of 19 June 2015, by telephone or comparable means of simultaneous oral telecommunication.^[2] An order placed through a web form is not on that list.

Where the right does apply, it covers only movable goods and services intended for the customer’s personal or family use, where the supplier acts in a professional or commercial capacity and the customer’s consideration exceeds CHF 100.^[1] The period is 14 days and starts only once the customer has offered or accepted the contract and has learnt of the mandatory information. Withdrawal requires no particular form, but the customer carries the burden of proof.^[3]

Warranty instead of withdrawal

The missing right of withdrawal is often mistaken for missing consumer protection. For defective goods the opposite is true. Warranty claims become time barred two years after the goods were delivered to the buyer, even if the buyer discovers the defect later. What matters for online retail is paragraph 4 of the same provision: an agreement shortening the limitation period is invalid if it goes below two years, below one year for second hand goods, where the item is intended for the buyer’s personal or family use and the seller acts commercially.^[5] A one year guarantee clause on new goods sold to private customers is therefore unenforceable.

Set against this is a strictly framed duty on the buyer. They must inspect the goods as soon as feasible in the normal course of business and give notice of defects immediately. If they fail to do so, the goods are deemed accepted, except for defects not detectable on a customary inspection. Latent defects must be notified immediately upon discovery.^[4]

Overview for sales to private customers. In sales to businesses the consumer provisions do not apply.

The EU button since June 2026

Deliveries into the EU follow a different set of rules, and those rules changed this year. Directive (EU) 2023/2673 inserted an Article 11a into the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU: traders who offer distance contracts through an online user interface, that is a website or an app, have to provide a withdrawal function there. Transposition was due by 19 December 2025 and the provisions have applied since 19 June 2026.^[8] The duty is not limited to financial services, it covers every distance contract that carries a right of withdrawal.

In Germany the implementation sits in section 356a of the Civil Code, published in the Federal Law Gazette on 5 February 2026 and in force since 19 June 2026.^[9] The function works in two steps: a control labelled “Vertrag widerrufen”, meaning cancel contract, or unambiguous wording to the same effect, then a form that asks only for the name, details identifying the contract and an electronic means of contact, and finally a confirmation labelled “Widerruf bestätigen”. You may not ask for more than that, not even a reason for the withdrawal.^[14]

The function has to be permanently available throughout the withdrawal period, prominently placed and easy to reach, on mobile devices and for guest orders without a login as well. Once the customer confirms, you owe them an acknowledgement of receipt without delay, on a durable medium, carrying the content of the declaration together with the date and time it arrived. Withdrawal by email or letter remains available alongside the button.^[9]

The consequence you will feel is not the fine but the period. If the information on the existence and placement of the withdrawal function is missing, the withdrawal period does not start and the right expires only twelve months and 14 days after the contract was concluded.^[10] A year of open withdrawal on every order is the real exposure.

What Swiss shops actually offer

Carpathia reviewed the shipping and returns conditions of 49 of the 50 largest Swiss B2C shops in September 2026. Across the 43 shops that state a returns period, the mean is 42 days and the median 30 days, with individual retailers granting up to 365 days. Six shops grant no right of return at all. On shipping, 65.3 per cent deliver free above a minimum order value, on average from CHF 66.28, 12.2 per cent always deliver free and 22.5 per cent always charge.^[12]

What has to be in the shop

Quite apart from returns, competition law requires four things: clear and complete details of your identity and contact address including an email address, a reference to the individual technical steps leading to the conclusion of the contract, adequate means of detecting and correcting input errors before the order is placed, and immediate electronic confirmation of the order. A trader who omits any of these acts unfairly.^[6] Intentional unfair competition is a criminal offence on complaint.^[13]

• an imprint with company name, address and email address, not merely a contact form
• a page describing the ordering process, including the step at which the contract comes into being
• a correction option in the final step, such as a summary with a route back to the basket
• an automatic order confirmation by email, immediately and not only when the goods ship
• returns period, who bears the cost and the refund route in the terms, worded exactly as on the service page
• for deliveries into the EU, additionally the withdrawal notice, the model form and the withdrawal function with a reference to where it sits^[10]

Credit notes and VAT

A return is not only a logistics event, it changes a completed transaction. For VAT purposes unwinding a sale is a correction of the consideration: where the consideration paid by or agreed with the recipient is corrected, the output tax liability is adjusted at the point when the correction is recorded or the corrected consideration is received.^[15] The credit note therefore belongs in the period in which it is booked, not retroactively in the period of the original invoice.

The errors arise where two systems hold the same transaction:

• the credit note is raised in the shop but not in the accounting software, and the open item stays open
• the goods come back into the warehouse, stock is corrected by hand and drifts away from the books
• refunds through a payment provider arrive as a net payout after fees, while a single matching entry is expected

What automation takes over

Returns are a good candidate for automation because the sequence is always the same and the mistakes always happen at the same handovers. Worth automating:

• registering the return through a form that checks order number and item and measures the period against the delivery date
• the return label and the notification, with a log of what was sent when
• status tracking from registered through to refunded, visible to customer service
• the credit note in the accounting software derived from the inspected return, including the stock correction
• the refund over the same payment route, reconciled against the net payout
• for EU orders, the acknowledgement of the withdrawal declaration with content, date and time
• analysis by item and reason, as input for product photos, size charts and descriptions

The limit lies in judging condition. Whether a returned jacket can be sold as new is a decision for a person. Automation makes sure that decision is captured and that every following step can be derived from it. Introduce the process in this order:

1. settle the promise: period, who pays for the return, what condition you accept, how you refund
2. write the promise down in one place and refer to it from the terms, the service page and the confirmation email
3. check the four duties under art. 3 para. 1 let. s UCA in the ordering process and close the gaps^[6]
4. establish whether you target consumers in the EU, and if so add the notice, the model form and the withdrawal function, and have the wording reviewed^[8]
5. connect shop, warehouse and accounting so that the credit note grows out of the inspected return, carrying order, item, quantity, reason, condition, decision and credit note number
6. run it for two weeks with a log, compare shop, warehouse and books, and only then switch on the automatic refund

Frequently asked questions