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Whether you shop online or in-store, seasonal sales can be a great opportunity to save money. But while the bargains can be tempting, it’s important to shop carefully, know your consumer rights and be wary of potential scams.
We’ll explain what your rights are when it comes to shopping in the sales, whether you change your mind or something goes wrong.
What’s on this page?
You can get the most out of the sales if you plan your purchases. Before you buy anything, compare prices across several retailers, set price alerts, and check historical pricing, to give you a sense of whether a deal is actually as good as it looks. CamelCamelCamel is a website which will show you previous prices on Amazon for specific items. PriceSpy hunts for prices at a range of retailers and can also show you previous prices.
And don't forget to ask yourself whether you really want and will use the item - it isn't saving you money if you wouldn't have bought it otherwise.
Be careful when using AI – whether that’s a tool like ChatGPT, or even just AI-generated answer that now often appears at the top of Google search results. Bear in mind that AI can sometimes produce incorrect or misleading information. It may overlook important details, such as delivery costs, or link to fake reviews. Double-check any AI recommendations, and remember to be wary of any retailers you don’t recognise.
Paying by credit card (and ideally paying it off in full to avoid charges) is the best option for giving you legal rights. If you pay by credit card, and the specific item (not necessarily the total cost of all items in that transaction) costs between £100 and £30,000, you have stronger protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This makes the credit card company jointly liable with the retailer. This can be useful if you do fall victim to a scam, or there’s some other issue which the retailer can’t or won’t resolve.
The catch is that you have to be paying directly with your credit card (PayPal can be a grey area, as we'll explain) and directly from the supplier. So purchases from third parties like Amazon Marketplace, eBay, and some travel and hotel booking sites may not be covered.
If you paid by debit card, or if the item is less than £100, you can ask your bank to use the ‘chargeback’ scheme, which allows it to try to reclaim the funds from the retailer’s bank. It isn’t a legal right, but banks will usually help if the goods never arrived or the seller was fraudulent.
If you use ‘buy now pay later’ schemes like Klarna or Clearpay, be aware that these don’t offer the same Section 75 protection as buying with a credit card. Even if you use the Klarna ‘pay now’ option and it’s linked to your credit card, it is still not covered by Section 75. You should raise a dispute on the payment provider's website instead. It's also worth asking your bank to use the chargeback scheme instead, although they don't have to agree.
Payments with PayPal sometimes are and sometimes aren't covered by Section 75. If PayPal is only being used as the payment processor (which some sites do), or if you use PayPal credit, you should be covered. But be careful if you are logged into your PayPal account at the time, as it's then harder for your credit card company to tell if PayPal was acting as an intermediary. So log out of PayPal first if you want to keep Section 75 protection. If you pay with your PayPal balance, you won't be covered by Section 75 at all. You can raise a dispute with PayPal instead, but again this doesn't give you the same legal rights as Section 75.
Sales and promotions don’t change your consumer rights. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, items must be of a satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and match the original description. These rules stand whether you buy a product in-store or online, or in a sale.
If the item you buy turns out to be faulty, or doesn’t match how the seller described it, you have 30 days to request a full refund. If the fault appears after 30 days, the seller must offer a repair or replacement, and if that doesn’t work, you can still request a refund.
You will need proof of purchase to get your money back. This might be a receipt, a bank statement or an order number.
If you buy something in-store and later change your mind – or the gift recipient doesn’t want it – you’re not automatically entitled to a refund.
However, many retailers offer voluntary returns policies that let you bring back unwanted items within 14 or 30 days, or occasionally longer. But it’s important to note that the clock starts ticking on the day of purchase – so if you're buying a gift, it's not from when the gift is opened.
The rules are different if you buy something online (or by phone or mail order). Here, the Consumer Contracts Regulations give shoppers a 14-day ‘cooling-off’ period to cancel an order for a full refund.
You usually have up to 14 days to inform the retailer that you want to return the product, and then a further 14 days to send it back. The 14 days begins the day after the item is delivered.
These rules apply to most goods, except for personalised products, perishable goods, or sealed items that can’t be returned for hygiene reasons once opened.
Vix Leyton, consumer expert at Think Money, warns that this can cause issues if you're buying a gift that won't be opened immediately: “Beyond the 14 day ‘cooling off period’ there is no automatic legal right to take it back just because the recipient doesn’t like it, so if you’re not completely certain they’ll love it, think twice before going rogue in a flash sale.”
Again, some retailers do have more generous returns policies. For example, Marks and Spencer has a 35-day return window for full-price items (as long as they are not perishable), starting from when you receive the item.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, sellers must deliver goods within 30 days unless you’ve agreed to a different timeframe. The retailer is legally accountable if something goes wrong with the delivery, even if they have used a third-party courier.
Leyton says: “If your order is late, don’t fall into the trap of chasing the courier round the internet. Your agreement is with the retailer, and the courier’s agreement is with them; not the person in the van doing laps of your postcode, and pursuing them is a waste of your time. It’s the retailer’s job to sort delays, replacements or refunds – and they can’t shrug it off by blaming the delivery company.”
If you’re on the receiving end of a gift you don’t want, neither you nor the giver has an automatic right to return it to the shop (unless the goods are faulty).
But many retailers offer more generous return policies, which may allow a gift to be returned for a refund, exchange, or store credit. These policies are voluntary goodwill gestures rather than legal obligations, and they usually apply to the buyer of the gift, not the recipient.
Some major retailers have longer return windows for the Christmas period which run into January.
John Lewis, for example, has an extended Christmas returns policy. Typically any gift bought between 1 October and 24 December can be returned up until 23 January, if it’s unwanted or unsuitable.
At Marks & Spencer, any full-price items bought after 9 October can be returned until 25 January. But M&S has a much stricter returns policy for sale items, giving shoppers only 14 days to return items. For online purchases, that means you have 14 days from purchase to notify them which items you want to return, and then a further 14 days to actually return them.
Marty Bauer, e-commerce expert at Omnisend, says: “Before making a purchase, check the retailer’s return policy. A good retailer should have a clear and fair return policy, especially during sales events. If it’s difficult to find or overly restrictive, think twice before purchasing.”
Online sales are now seen as key opportunities for scammers. With the rise of generative AI, scammers can now create realistic-looking fake retailers or product offers in minutes.
Leyla Bilge, director of scam research at Norton, says: “Scammers thrive on pressure, distraction, and emotional decision-making, and the holiday season delivers all three in spades. They’re counting on you to be busy, stressed, and in a rush... Nowadays with the sophistication of scams, even if your guard is up, they’re ready.”
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