Ask a lawyer on the topic of Contract law

Return policy for fabric by the meter

November 8, 2012 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Bernhard Müller

Dear Sir or Madam,

I sell meter goods through my online shop, which are rolls of material made to customer specifications.

You can see a similar product on the following sales platform:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/270877796961?hlp=false

In my cancellation policy, I have excluded the following:
The right of withdrawal does not apply to distance contracts for the delivery of goods that are made to customer specifications or clearly tailored to personal needs, or that are not suitable for return due to their nature, or that can quickly spoil or whose expiration date would be exceeded, for the delivery of audio or video recordings or software, if the delivered data carriers have been unsealed by you, or for the delivery of newspapers, magazines, and periodicals, unless you have made your declaration of contract by telephone.

Now, a customer has complained about the item and demands a return. They insist that it is not a custom-made product because we use a dropdown menu in our offer (as in the example).

However, we actually cut the items from the roll to length, so if we were to grant every customer the right to return, it would only be feasible for us with significant additional costs (i.e. we would need a storage space for the return for every size, and with over 200 designs and 30 sizes that we produce, that's about 600 spaces for returns...), which would force us to abandon this business area.

What is the legal situation here?

Am I as a seller really required to take back the goods if I use a dropdown menu in my offer for meter goods?

Bernhard Müller

Dear inquirer,

In this regard, your revocation instructions are not clear. One could interpret them as a custom-made product because the goods are tailored to the customer's specifications, but also as not a custom-made product, as it gives the impression that you have a warehouse with all sizes already cut. The fact that there are no intermediate sizes supports this second interpretation. For example, the menu dimensions provided are 250*140 cm and 300*140 cm, but you cannot order 257.8*140 cm or 287.3*140 cm.

These doubts are to your disadvantage according to § 305c II BGB, as you are the user. This means you must take back the goods.

For future cases, you should include the following sentences in your disclaimer:
"Wares ordered via the dropdown menu will be tailored to the dimensions selected by the customer after ordering. Therefore, they are custom-made products for which the right of revocation is excluded."

You should modify your dropdown menu so that this warning notice is clearly visible and the customer is only directed to the actual dropdown menu after confirming that they have read and agreed to it.

This way, it is clear and you will not have to take back the goods for future orders, only for orders placed before the changes to your website.

Kind regards,

Bernhard Müller Attorney