Returns and the right of withdrawal in Italy

Fourteen days — starting when

For goods the fourteen days start when you receive the item, not when you order it: if delivery takes two weeks, your time to think begins after that. If one order contains several items delivered separately, the count starts from the last one. For a service, it starts when the contract is concluded.

Within those fourteen days you only need to tell the seller you are withdrawing — an email or the shop’s form is enough. The parcel can leave afterwards: from that point you have another fourteen days to send it back.

In practice this means the real window is longer than most people assume. Discovering on day fourteen that the shop is closed costs you nothing, as long as the notice has gone out.

If the shop never told you, the deadline stretches

The seller must inform you of the right of withdrawal before the purchase. If they do not, the deadline is not fourteen days: it extends up to twelve months. If the information arrives in the meantime, the fourteen days restart from then.

Which is why, on a site you do not know, it is worth checking whether a returns page exists at all. Its absence does not remove the right — it lengthens it.

Who pays for the return shipping

The cost of sending the parcel back falls on the buyer, but only if the shop said so clearly before the purchase. If it did not, that cost stays with the seller. Many shops offer free returns anyway: that is a commercial choice, not an obligation, and it can change from season to season.

The refund, on the other hand, includes the outbound delivery you paid — but only up to the cheapest standard option the shop offers. If you chose express delivery, the difference is yours.

When the refund must arrive

The seller has fourteen days from your notice to refund you, using the same payment method you used, unless you agree otherwise. A store credit instead of a card refund cannot be imposed on you.

There is one protection for the shop: it may hold the refund until it receives the goods, or until you show proof that you sent them. Keeping the courier’s receipt is therefore the simplest way to start that clock earlier.

Where there is no right of withdrawal

The exceptions are few and tightly drawn. The ones you meet in everyday shopping:

• made-to-measure or personalised goods;
• sealed goods that cannot be returned once opened for reasons of hygiene or health protection;
• goods that spoil quickly, such as fresh food;
• sealed audio, video or software, once you have broken the seal;
• individual newspapers and magazines (subscriptions are different: those can be withdrawn from);
• accommodation, transport, car hire and leisure activities tied to a specific date — a concert ticket or a hotel night;
• digital content downloaded or streamed immediately, where you gave express consent and acknowledged losing the right.

Withdrawal and guarantee are not the same thing

They are two different protections, and mixing them up leads to asking for the wrong thing. Withdrawal is second thoughts: fourteen days, no reason required, the item is fine and you simply do not want it. The legal guarantee covers a faulty item, lasts two years and has nothing to do with the fourteen days.

If the parcel arrived broken or the item does not work, the guarantee is your ground — there is a separate guide for it — and the timescales are far more generous.

This is general information about the rules that apply to online purchases between a professional seller and a consumer in Italy, not legal advice: for a specific case, and especially if the shop refuses, the next steps are customer service in writing and then a consumer association.