Written for online stores in the US selling on their own site or on marketplaces: direct-to-consumer brands, private-label and FBA sellers, dropshippers and subscription sellers.
The short version
- Promise only shipping times you can meet.Each needs a reasonable basis. If stock slips, send a delay notice before the promised date offering the choice: wait, or a prompt refund.
- Post a clear refund policy before purchase.State the window, condition, any restocking fee, who pays return shipping, and how and when you refund. Then refund on that policy.
- Check your warehouse's liability cap against your stock.Your 3PL warehouse can cap what it pays far below your stock's value. Negotiate a value-based limit or insure the stock yourself.
In the US the promises you make online are regulated. Shipping times, refund terms and warranties all have rules behind them, and the contracts you sign with your 3PL and suppliers decide who pays when something goes wrong.
Shipping times
Ship when you said, or offer a refund
Have a reasonable basis to ship within the time you state, or within 30 days if you state none. If you cannot, send a delay option notice before the promised date, offering the customer the choice to consent to the delay or take a prompt refund. A prompt refund is within 7 working days, or one billing cycle for card payments. As of Oct 2026.
FTC Mail, Internet or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, 16 CFR 435.1 and 435.2
For example, you promised 3 to 5 day shipping on a $160 order and the supplier is 4 weeks late. Before the promised date, send the delay option notice with the new date or a refund. If the customer cancels, refund within 7 working days, or one billing cycle for a card charge.
The rule asks for a reasonable basis when you make the promise, not just a parcel that turns up eventually.
Your refund policy and warranties
- State the window, the condition required, any restocking fee (disclosed before purchase), who pays return shipping, and the refund method and timing.
- In California, post the policy conspicuously if you do not give full refunds within 7 days (Cal. Civ. Code §1723). As of Oct 2026.
- Grade each return on arrival (resell, discount, refurbish, write off) and refund on the policy you stated.
Written warranties
A written warranty on a consumer product over $15 must be available before purchase, including on the product page, and a warranty cannot be voided for using third-party parts or service unless those are provided free. As of Oct 2026.
Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 USC 2301 et seq. and 2302(c); 16 CFR Part 702
Subscriptions and auto-renewal
Consent before you charge, and an easy way out
For online subscriptions, disclose all material terms before taking billing information, get express informed consent before charging, and give a simple way to stop recurring charges. The FTC's click-to-cancel amendments were vacated by the Eighth Circuit on July 8, 2025, so this statute and state laws are what apply. As of Oct 2026.
ROSCA, 15 USC 8401 to 8405 (§8403)
California's Automatic Renewal Law, as amended from July 1, 2025, adds affirmative consent to the renewal terms, an acknowledgment, cancellation online in the same medium the customer used to sign up, notice before a free trial converts and before a price change, and an annual reminder (Bus. & Prof. Code §17600 to §17606). Build to California's rules as a baseline, then check New York (GBL 527-a) and the other states you sell into. As of Oct 2026.
Red flags in the contracts you sign
Warehouses can cap liability and hold your goods
A warehouse may limit its liability in the warehouse receipt or contract, often far below the stock's value, and has a lien on goods covered by its receipt for its charges. As of Oct 2026.
UCC §7-204(b) and §7-209
| Paid by the 3PL: a $0.50 per lb cap on a 400 lb pallet | $200 |
| Loss you carry yourself | $11,800 |
| Value of the pallet | $12,000 |
Worked example. Negotiate a value-based limit or insure the stock yourself.
- A lien over all goods for any unpaid charge: limit it to the goods the charge relates to, and add a termination right for service failure.
- Monthly minimums, rate increases at the 3PL's discretion, and exit fees.
- Supplier terms with no lab reports, CPC or GCC, Prop 65 warranty or country-of-origin statement: make compliant documents a condition of payment.
- No products liability indemnity: ask the manufacturer for one, backed by insurance naming you as additional insured.
- Retailer vendor agreements with chargebacks for routing, labeling and late delivery, markdown allowances and return-to-vendor rights: price them into the wholesale margin.
- Click-through platform and software terms: unilateral changes, auto-renewal, and limits on exporting your data when you leave.
Carriers cap their liability too: UPS and FedEx cover $100 per package unless you declare and pay for a higher value. As of Oct 2026.
Asked in Greymill
Today: change the listings to a time you have a reasonable basis to meet, with the stock 4 weeks late.
Before the date you promised: send all 14 a delay option notice with the new ship date, letting them agree to the delay or take a prompt refund.
If anyone cancels, the $160 order included: refund within 7 working days, or one billing cycle for a card charge (As of Oct 2026).
Where sellers slip: the FTC rule asks for a reasonable basis when you make the promise. A parcel that turns up eventually does not fix a promise you had no basis to make.
I can draft the delay notice now so it goes out today. Then send me your 3PL contract: its liability cap is worth checking next.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Contracts & Disputes works it through for your business.
I run an online shop in [state], in the US. Review my shipping promises, refund policy and warranty wording, and the liability, lien and fee clauses in my 3PL contract. Refund policy: [paste]. Shipping times I show: [list]. 3PL clauses: [paste]. Typical value of a pallet I store: [$]. If I sell subscriptions, here is my sign-up and cancellation flow: [describe].
More for online retail and ecommerce in the US
- Knowing what an order earns after landed cost, tariffs, free shipping and returnsWork out contribution margin per order with duty in your landed cost, the ROAS you need to break even, and what a tariff change does to both.Read the lesson
- Paying for inventory and ads weeks before the platforms pay youBuild a 13-week cash flow on real payout timing, plan for reserves, holds and chargebacks, and turn any revenue-based advance into an APR before you sign.Read the lesson
- Sales tax when Amazon collects some of it and your stock sits in other statesHow economic and inventory nexus work for an online seller, what marketplace facilitator laws do and do not cover, the state income tax and tariff refund traps, and why to clean up past exposure before you sell.Read the lesson
- Proving the products you import or private-label are legal to sellIf you import or private-label, you are in the chain the law holds responsible: the certificates, testing, warnings and reports your products need before they go live.Read the lesson
- Paying packers, an overseas assistant and a freelance designer the right wayOnline sellers lean on packers, virtual assistants and freelancers: how classification works for each, which tax form each one needs, and the wage rules that bite at peak.Read the lesson
- Reviews, creators, texts and 'Made in USA': selling harder without a penalty or a lawsuitThe federal and state rules that govern how online stores win customers: reviews, influencer disclosure, origin claims, pricing, email, texts and marketplace verification.Read the lesson
- A Prop 65 notice or a website accessibility demand letter has arrivedWhat to do in the first days after a Prop 65 60-day notice or an ADA website demand letter, and how to make the next one less likely.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every online retail and ecommerce lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- 16 CFR 1.98(d) and (e) as adjusted on Jan 17, 2025 (90 FR, FR Doc. 2025-01361) (FTC rules: advertising, reviews, shipping and made in USA)
- 16 CFR Part 465 (FTC rules: advertising, reviews, shipping and made in USA)
- 16 CFR Part 255 (FTC rules: advertising, reviews, shipping and made in USA)
- 16 CFR 435.1, 435.2 (FTC rules: advertising, reviews, shipping and made in USA)
- 16 CFR Part 323 (FTC rules: advertising, reviews, shipping and made in USA)
- BPC §17533.7(b), (c) (FTC rules: advertising, reviews, shipping and made in USA)
- BPC §17600 to §17606 (Auto-renewal, drip pricing, email, texts and privacy)
- GBL §527-a (Auto-renewal, drip pricing, email, texts and privacy)
- Civ. Code §1770(a)(29) (Auto-renewal, drip pricing, email, texts and privacy)
- 47 USC 227(b)(3) (Auto-renewal, drip pricing, email, texts and privacy)
- 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) (Auto-renewal, drip pricing, email, texts and privacy)
- Fla. Stat. §501.059 (Auto-renewal, drip pricing, email, texts and privacy)
- H&S Code §25249.7(d) (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- 16 CFR 1115.14(e); 15 USC 2064(b) (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- 21 USC 364a (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- 37 CFR 2.11(a) (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- BPC §17200; Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §17.41; NY GBL §349; Fla. Stat. §501.201 (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- CBP de minimis guidance; Executive Order of Jul 30, 2025; 2025 reconciliation act (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- What changed (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Threshold (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC (8th Cir. Jul 8, 2025) (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- 16 CFR Part 464 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287, slip opinion; CBP CSMS #67834313 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- UCC §7-204(b) (Operations, systems and 3PL)
- UPS Tariff/Terms, declared value (Operations, systems and 3PL)
- 49 USC 14706 (Operations, systems and 3PL)
- Civ. Code §1798.82; NY GBL §899-aa; Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §521.053; Fla. Stat. §501.171 (Operations, systems and 3PL)
- UCC §7-209 (Contract red flags)
- 17 USC 204(a) (Contract red flags)
- §25249.11(b); §25249.7(b)(1), (d), (f); §25249.12 (Hard cases: demand letters, consumer rules and products)
- 42 USC 12188(a) (Hard cases: demand letters, consumer rules and products)
- 81 Cal. App. 5th 1026 (2022) (Hard cases: demand letters, consumer rules and products)
- BPC §17602, §17603 (Hard cases: demand letters, consumer rules and products)
- Insurance requirements (Hard cases: demand letters, consumer rules and products)