Returns and refund update texts for online shops

An online return runs on three clocks, and the customer can't see any of them. GOV.UK sums up the law in a few lines: a shop must refund customers who've "told you within 14 days of receiving their item that they want to cancel", they "have another 14 days to return the item once they've told you", and "You must refund the customer within 14 days of receiving the item back." No reason needed. Each of those steps ends with the customer waiting, and waiting customers phone and email. Returns and refund update texts close each gap with one short message, sent the moment something changes.

The texts are easy to write. The harder part is putting the right date in them, because the regulations are precise about when each clock starts, and a text that gets the date wrong is worse than no text.

The three clocks, from the regulations

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 cover anything sold online, by phone or by post. For goods, the cancellation period "ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which the goods come into the physical possession of" the customer (regulation 30(3)). If one order arrives in several deliveries, it's 14 days after the last of them. And if the shop never told the customer about the right to cancel, regulation 31 stretches the period by up to 12 months, which is worth knowing before you text anyone "sorry, your return window has closed".

The customer then has to send the goods back "without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days after the day on which the consumer informs the trader" (regulation 35(4)). They pay the postage unless you agreed to, or didn't tell them they would have to.

The refund clock is the one customers watch. Regulation 34(5) says the refund is due by "the end of 14 days after (a) the day on which the trader receives the goods back, or (b) if earlier, the day on which the consumer supplies evidence of having sent the goods back". Note the "if earlier". A customer with a proof of postage receipt starts your 14 days the day they show it to you, not the day the parcel turns up in your warehouse.

Faulty goods run on a separate track. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives a short-term right to reject that lasts until "the end of 30 days", counted from the day after the customer has the goods (and, where installation is part of the deal, after it's done) under section 22, and a refund under it "must be given without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days beginning with the day on which the trader agrees that the consumer is entitled to a refund" (section 20(15)).

Why it's worth texting

The CMA's Microeconomics Unit published an analysis of the 2024 Consumer Detriment Survey on 8 May 2025. It found that 35% of detriment incidents, the times people lost out from a purchase that went wrong, involved products bought "Online from the seller or retailer's website or app". That was the largest channel, ahead of in-person shopping at 31%.

The CMA is careful to say the split "may simply reflect purchasing patterns", since more is bought through some channels than others. Another finding is more useful to a shop: "across all channels, consumers typically took the most common action of contacting the seller directly". A text that answers the question before it's asked saves that contact on both sides.

Text 1: we've got your return request

If the customer cancels through a form on your website, regulation 32(4) says you "must communicate to the consumer an acknowledgement of receipt of the cancellation on a durable medium without delay". The regulations define a durable medium as "paper or email", or anything else that is addressed personally to the recipient, lets them store it for long enough, and "allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored". An email does that job. A text alongside it is the version people read on the bus.

Fernley Tea: we've got your return request for order 1042 (glass teapot). Please post it back by Fri 20 Nov. Details are in your email. Reply here with any questions.

The date in that text is regulation 35's 14 days, counted from the day the customer told you. Put the actual date in the text; people can act on a date, and "within 14 days" leaves them counting.

Text 2: it's arrived, or we've seen your proof of postage

This text matters because it marks the day the refund clock starts, and that's the day the customer cares about. Send it when the parcel is booked in, or when the customer sends proof of posting, whichever comes first.

Fernley Tea: your return for order 1042 has arrived and we're checking it now. Your refund will be with your bank by Thu 3 Dec at the latest.

A two-way number helps at this stage. If the customer can reply with their tracking number or the post office reference, you have the "evidence of having sent the goods back" in writing, with a timestamp, in the same thread as everything else. (Replies come in as plain text, so ask for the reference number, or for an email if all they have is a photo of the receipt.)

Text 3: refund sent

Regulation 34 has more in it than the 14 days, and the refund text is where it shows. The refund goes back "using the same means of payment as the consumer used", unless they agreed otherwise. You can't charge a fee for refunding. You must refund the original delivery charge, up to the cost of your cheapest standard delivery option. And if the goods were handled "beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods" (the regulations compare it to what "might reasonably be allowed in a shop"), you can deduct the loss in value, so long as you told the customer about the right to cancel in the first place.

So say what was refunded, and if anything was held back, say why, in the text and in the email.

Fernley Tea: we've refunded £34.50 to the card you paid with, including the original postage, for order 1042. Thanks for sending it back.

Fernley Tea: we've refunded £28.00 for order 1042. We kept £6.50 because the teapot came back used; the email explains how we worked it out. Reply if you'd like to talk it over.

Say when you sent it. Don't promise when it'll appear on their statement, because that part is up to the bank.

When the answer is no

Some returns you don't have to take. GOV.UK lists the items where a shop "only" has to refund if they're faulty, including "personalised or custom-made items", "perishable items, for example frozen food or flowers", and "sealed items that for health or hygiene reasons cannot be returned once they have been opened". It also says "You only have to accept returns from the person who bought the item."

A refusal is the text most likely to start an argument, so it needs the reason and a person to talk to. Write it as the decision and the route to a human, and keep the detail in the email:

Fernley Tea: we can't take back the personalised mug from order 1042, as made-to-order items can only be returned if faulty. If something's wrong with it, reply here and we'll sort it.

If you're refusing because the 14 days are up, check that your checkout told the customer about the right to cancel. If it didn't, regulation 31 may have kept the window open for months.

Faulty items and exchanges

A faulty item is a different conversation, and the text should say which kind of return the shop thinks it's dealing with. Under the short-term right to reject, the 14 days start from the day you agree the customer is entitled to a refund, so the "we agree" text doubles as the start of the clock.

Fernley Tea: sorry the teapot arrived cracked. We've agreed a full refund of £34.50 for order 1042 and it'll be with you by Wed 25 Nov. No need to send it back.

Exchanges have no fixed legal timeline, so the texts can follow whatever the shop promises: received, replacement packed, replacement posted with tracking.

Keep them as service messages

Every text above is a service message under the ICO's guidance, which describes messages "for administrative or customer services purposes" as outside the direct marketing rules. That holds only while the text sticks to the return. The ICO is clear that a service message with marketing in it "will count as direct marketing", even when that isn't the main purpose. "Your refund's on its way, why not treat yourself with 10% off?" turns the refund text into a marketing text, and unless that customer is on your marketing list through consent or the soft opt-in, it breaks PECR in about the most irritating way possible.

Sending them

Most returns systems can either call an API or send an email when a return changes state, and either works. With CaptiFi Connect, the API route is POST /messages with the number and the text, a client_ref set to the return number so delivery reports come back tied to it, and an Idempotency-Key such as return-1042-refunded so a status saved twice can't text twice. Our post on order and delivery updates has the dispatch side.

Smaller shops with no developer can use email to SMS: email the customer's number at sms.captificonnect.co.uk from a verified address, and the body goes as a text. Replies come back to the two-way inbox, which is where "can I return it to the shop instead?" should land.

Common questions

How long does a shop have to refund an online return?

Fourteen days after it gets the goods back, or after the customer shows proof of sending them, whichever is earlier. That's regulation 34(5) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, for orders where the shop hasn't offered to collect the goods.

When does the 14-day cancellation period start for online orders?

For goods, it ends 14 days after the day the goods reach the customer or someone they named to receive them. Where one order comes in several deliveries, the 14 days run from the last delivery.

Can a shop deduct money from a refund for a returned item?

Only for loss in value caused by handling the item more than was needed to see what it was and how it worked, and only if the shop told the customer about their right to cancel. It can't charge a fee for processing the refund.

Do I need consent to text customers about their returns?

No, as long as the text is only about the return or refund. The ICO treats administrative and customer service messages as outside the direct marketing rules, but adding an offer or a discount makes the whole text marketing.