Consumer Rights Act 2015

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) is the UK statute that codifies a consumer's rights when goods, digital content or services don't conform — the legal frame the DMCC Act 2024 page repeatedly defers to for general retail returns and refunds. For ecommerce it sets the faulty-goods remedy ladder (a 30-day right to reject → one repair/replacement → price reduction or final rejection). It works in parallel with the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which add the separate 14-day "change-of-mind" cancellation right for distance/online sales. The recurring practical question this page resolves — who pays return postage — turns on which of the two regimes applies: faulty = trader pays; change-of-mind = consumer pays (if properly disclosed).

Firewall: every claim here is what a source reports. See ../../CONTEXT.md Rule 1.

Two parallel regimes (don't conflate them)

	CRA 2015	Consumer Contracts Regs 2013
Triggered by	Goods faulty / not as described / unfit	Change of mind (distance sales)
Core right	30-day short-term right to reject → repair/replace → price reduction / final right to reject	14-day cooling-off to cancel + further 14 days to return
Who pays return postage	Trader	Consumer (if the trader disclosed it)
Refund includes delivery	Full refund	Refund incl. standard outbound delivery

Per House of Commons Library, the CRA came into force 1 Oct 2015 and applies to goods, digital content and services; goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Faulty-goods remedy ladder (CRA)

Per House of Commons Library and GOV.UK (2026-06-12):

• 30-day short-term right to reject a faulty good for a full refund.
• If the consumer agrees to a repair within that window, the 30-day clock pauses, with a final right to reject if still faulty after.
• The consumer need accept only ONE repair or replacement before moving to the final remedies of price reduction or rejection-and-refund.
• Within 6 months the retailer must repair/replace unless it can prove the item was not faulty at purchase; after 6 months the burden shifts to the consumer.
• Claim window is up to 6 years (5 years in Scotland).
• A manufacturer's guarantee does not replace or limit statutory rights against the retailer Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Deduction for use (CRA s.24, as-of 2026-06-28)

On the final right to reject, the refund may be cut by a "deduction for use" — but no deduction is allowed if the final right is exercised within the first 6 months; motor vehicles are the exception (deduction can apply even inside 6 months) — legislation.gov.uk s.24 Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Change-of-mind cancellation (Consumer Contracts Regs 2013)

Per Business Companion (2025-04) and Which? (2025-07-17):

• 14-day cooling-off running from the day after the goods reach the consumer's possession (last item for multi-item orders), then a further 14 days to send goods back.
• Trader must reimburse everything paid incl. standard outbound delivery within 14 days of being informed — or within 14 days of receiving the goods back / proof of return, whichever is earlier.
• Only the basic delivery cost need be refunded if the consumer upgraded delivery.
• A diminished-value deduction is allowed where goods were handled beyond what is reasonable in a shop — but no restocking/cancellation fees, and no deduction at all if the trader never gave the cancellation information Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Fashion/hygiene exemptions

There is no change-of-mind right for bespoke/personalised goods, perishables, unsealed audio/video/software, and sealed goods unreturnable for health/hygiene reasons once unsealed (GOV.UK example: underwear). Consumers may still try on / inspect goods as in a shop without losing rights Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Who pays return postage (the apparel-policy split)

Per Which? (2025-07-17):

• Unwanted (change-of-mind): consumer pays return delivery unless the retailer offers free returns; a reasonable returns charge in T&Cs is enforceable. (See Serial Returners — the legal basis under which ASOS-style return fees sit.)
• Faulty / unfit / not as described: consumer should not be charged.
• Equality Act 2010 overlay: free in-store but charged postal returns require reasonable adjustments for disabled customers who can't reach a store Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

[!unverified] More than half of online fashion retailers no longer offer free postal returns — Which? internal-link headline, not deep-fetched, undated Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Trader information & risk duties (distance contracts)

Per Business Companion: the checkout order button must make the obligation to pay explicit (else the consumer isn't bound); if the trader doesn't disclose that the consumer pays return costs, the trader bears them; delivery must be within 30 days absent agreement; and risk stays with the trader until goods reach the consumer (in-transit loss is the trader's) Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Digital content (CRA Part 4)

Paid digital content carries implied satisfactory quality / fitness / conformity / right to supply; remedies are repair or replacement, then price reduction — there is no right to reject for a full refund as with goods. A price reduction can be up to the full amount paid; the one true refund-style case is where the trader had no right to supply (e.g. pirated content) — House of Commons Library Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Relationship to the DMCC Act 2024

The DMCC Act 2024 consumer regime (in force 6 Apr 2025) layers checkout-transparency, fake-review and pricing-display duties on top of the CRA/CCR — the fetched sources do not show it altering the 30-day right to reject or the 14-day cooling-off. It is illegal to restrict/remove or mislead about statutory rights (e.g. a "no refunds" sign), now under the DMCC unfair-practices regime — GOV.UK Web — Consumer Rights Act 2015 2026-06-28.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Short-term right to reject	30-day window to reject faulty goods for a full refund (CRA)
Final right to reject	Reject-and-refund after one failed repair/replacement (CRA)
Deduction for use	Refund reduction on final rejection — barred in first 6 months (CRA s.24)
Cooling-off period	14-day distance-selling change-of-mind cancellation (CCR 2013)
Diminished value	Deduction where goods handled beyond shop-reasonable use (CCR 2013)
Obligation to pay	Order button must signal a payment obligation or the contract isn't binding

What practitioners report

Not captured this run — the Reddit and YouTube source agents returned nothing because their backends (reddit-research MCP, Apify transcript actor) were not connected. Five candidate UK explainer videos (Hampshire Trading Standards, Martin Lewis on return rights, This Morning, two CRA-expert interviews) were logged for a future transcript pass.

Contradictions

None recorded this run — the fetched sources (GOV.UK, Business Companion, House of Commons Library, Which?, legislation.gov.uk) are mutually consistent. The only friction is the common conflation of the two regimes, not a genuine source disagreement.