Returns on online purchases: what your rights really are in Spain
Franclau · 10 September 2026 · 5 min read
There are two rights that almost everyone mixes up, and most of the bad experiences come from that confusion. People who accept a voucher when they were owed their money. People who write off a product that was still covered.
One is the right of withdrawal: you can change your mind about a distance purchase without saying why. The other is the legal guarantee: if the product doesn't work as it should, the seller is liable. Different deadlines, different conditions, different consequences.
Withdrawal: changing your mind for no reason
When you buy online you have fourteen calendar days to withdraw from the contract without giving a reason. The product doesn't have to be faulty. You don't have to explain why you changed your mind. You just have to say so.
The period starts when you receive the product, not when you buy it. If the order has several items that arrive separately, it counts from the delivery of the last one. For services, from the date you signed up.
Some cases have a longer period, such as purchases made at the consumer's home or on organised excursions, where it is thirty days.
Once you give notice, the seller has fourteen calendar days to refund you, using the same payment method you used. The refund covers everything you paid, with nothing held back, including what you paid for shipping. With one reasonable caveat: if you chose a delivery option more expensive than the standard one available, that difference may be left out.
The cost of sending the product back is usually paid by the buyer, unless the seller chooses to cover it or didn't tell you about that obligation before the purchase.
And here is what almost nobody knows. If the seller didn't tell you that you had a right to withdraw, the period isn't fourteen days. It is extended by twelve months from delivery.
When you can't withdraw
The right has exceptions, and they are set out in law. The main ones include services that have already been fully performed, personalised items or items made to your specifications, perishable goods, items sealed for health or hygiene reasons that have been unsealed, alcoholic drinks under certain conditions, daily newspapers and periodicals, digital content whose delivery has started with your consent, and accommodation, transport and leisure contracts for a specific date.
None of those exceptions leaves you stranded if the product turns out to be faulty. That's what the other right is for.
Guarantee: when the product isn't what it should be
The guarantee covers lack of conformity, in other words, a product that isn't as promised or doesn't work as it should.
Since 1 January 2022, the minimum legal guarantee for new products in Spain is three years. It used to be two. It applies to purchases made from that date.
During the first two years there is a presumption in your favour: if a defect appears, it is presumed to have been there from the start, and it is up to the seller to prove otherwise if they want to refuse. After that the burden of proof switches sides, but the cover continues until the three years are up.
For second-hand products, buyer and seller can agree on a shorter period, which can never be less than one year.
Services and digital content have a two-year guarantee.
And there is a related right that almost nobody claims: manufacturers must guarantee spare parts for ten years after the product stops being made. It used to be five.
What a shop can't do to you
With that framework in mind, there are practices worth recognising.
They can't make you accept a voucher or store credit instead of money when you exercise your right of withdrawal. The refund goes to the same payment method you used.
They can't keep handling fees out of the price of the product.
They can't demand that you explain why you are withdrawing. The right exists precisely so you don't have to explain.
They can't send you to the manufacturer when you claim under the guarantee. Your contract is with the seller, and the seller is liable.
They can wait until they receive the returned product, or until you show that you have sent it, before issuing the refund. That is legitimate.
Where Spaidoo fits in
Everything above happens after you buy. The most useful part happens before.
Most returns don't come from a faulty product. They come from a purchase that wasn't thought through. People buy in a hurry, in the middle of a sale, without comparing and without reading the delivery or returns conditions. The problem shows up when the parcel arrives.
That's where a wishlist does more than it seems. Saving instead of buying on the spot gives you time to do what hardly anyone does: compare the same item across several shops, check who pays for returns and read the conditions before paying.
The usual obstacle is that this work gets scattered. Every shop has its own favourites list, so the products you are weighing up end up spread around and comparing them becomes a task nobody finishes.
Spaidoo brings products from different shops together in a single list. Having all the options you are considering in front of you at once is what lets you decide with good judgement. And deciding with good judgement is the best returns policy there is, because it's the one you never have to use.