How New York Refund Policy Law Works for Consumers

New York’s refund policy law, General Business Law 218-a, does not force any store to give refunds. It forces stores to tell you their refund policy before you pay. If a retailer skips that step, the law gives you a 30-day right to return unused merchandise for a full cash refund or a credit to your account, whichever you prefer.¹

The Posting Rule

Retailers in New York can set almost any return policy they want. They can refuse refunds entirely, limit you to exchanges, offer only store credit, impose short time limits, or exclude sale items. None of that breaks the law. What breaks the law is hiding the terms until after the sale.

GBL 218-a requires every retail store and online retailer to conspicuously post its refund policy before you complete the purchase. Printing it on the receipt does not count, because you only see the receipt after you have paid. Making customers ask a cashier does not count either. The policy has to be visible first.¹

Acceptable locations include the point of sale, a sign attached to the merchandise, a clearly visible spot inside the store, or each store entrance. Online retailers have to display their return policies in a place a shopper can reach before checkout.

The 30-Day Default When No Policy Is Posted

This is the part most shoppers do not realize they have. When a store has not posted any refund policy, or has buried it where a reasonable customer would miss it, New York treats that silence as a promise. You get 30 days from the purchase date to return the item for a full cash refund or an account credit. The choice is yours, not the store’s.¹

Two conditions apply. The merchandise cannot be used or damaged, and you need a receipt or other proof showing the purchase fell within the 30-day window.

If the clerk tries to push store credit, hold your ground. When the default rule applies, you can insist on cash. If the store did post a clear policy, even an unfriendly one like “all sales final,” that policy controls and the default does not kick in.

What a Valid Posted Policy Has to Cover

A sign that just says “returns accepted” is not enough. GBL 218-a lists the terms a policy has to address so you can judge whether the store actually met its obligation:

Whether refunds apply to sale and “as-is” merchandise
Whether a receipt is required
Any time limit for making a return
Whether you get cash, store credit, or an exchange
The dollar amount or percentage of any restocking fee

If the posted policy is silent on any of these points and the store later tries to enforce an unwritten rule against you, that is the same problem as not posting a policy at all.¹

Restocking Fees

New York allows restocking fees, but only if the amount is disclosed in the posted policy before you buy. A retailer that announces a 15% restocking fee at the return counter, without ever having posted it, has not met the disclosure requirement. In that situation the 30-day default kicks in and you are entitled to a full refund with no deduction.

When Advertising Contradicts the Policy

A store that advertises “full refunds on all purchases” and then refuses returns on certain items has a second problem. That mismatch can trigger liability under GBL 349, New York’s broader prohibition on deceptive business practices, which lets you sue on your own and recover your actual damages or $50, whichever is greater. If the court finds the violation was willful, it may triple the actual damages up to a $1,000 cap and award reasonable attorney’s fees.²

Defective Goods: Rights the Store Policy Cannot Override

Return policies govern voluntary returns. You changed your mind, the color was wrong, the fit was off. Defective merchandise is a separate matter, and your rights there do not depend on what any sign says.

Under the Uniform Commercial Code, every merchant who sells goods makes an implied promise that those goods are fit for their ordinary purpose. A blender that will not blend, a jacket with a seam that splits the first time you wear it, shoes that fall apart in a week — all of these violate the implied warranty of merchantability, and you have the right to reject them regardless of the posted return policy.³

To keep that right, you have to act within a reasonable time after discovering the defect and notify the seller. Reasonable is not a fixed number of days. A laptop battery that dies after two months is still within a reasonable window. A sweater worn for a year before you complain probably is not. Put the complaint in writing as soon as the problem shows up.

Door-to-Door and At-Home Sales

If someone comes to your home and sells you something, or you buy at a temporary location like a hotel conference room or trade show, you get a cooling-off period to cancel for any reason.

The federal Cooling-Off Rule applies to door-to-door sales of $25 or more at your home, and $130 or more at temporary locations. You can cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing the contract.⁴ New York’s Door-to-Door Sales Protection Act matches that three-business-day window and extends it to seven business days for personal emergency response services. After you cancel, the seller has 10 business days to return any payments.⁵

The seller must give you a written notice of your cancellation rights at the time of sale. If they do not, your cancellation window may run longer than three days. No store policy can override this.

Online, Mail, and Phone Orders

When you order online, by phone, or by mail, the FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule adds timing protection on top of whatever return policy the seller has. The seller must ship within the time stated in the ad, or within 30 days if no shipping date was promised. If the seller applied for credit on your behalf at the time of order, the window is 50 days.⁶

Miss that deadline and the seller has to notify you and offer a choice: wait or cancel for a full refund. If the revised shipping date is more than 30 days past the original or the seller cannot give any revised date, the order is deemed cancelled unless you specifically agree to wait. After cancellation, the refund must go out within seven working days, or one billing cycle for credit card purchases.⁶

Separately: if a company sends merchandise you never ordered, federal law lets you keep it as a free gift. You owe nothing and you do not have to return it.⁷

Credit Card Disputes as a Backup

When a retailer refuses a refund you are entitled to, your credit card issuer can step in. The Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute charges for goods not delivered as agreed and for billing errors. Send the dispute in writing within 60 days of the billing statement that first shows the charge.⁸

For disputes based on the quality of goods or the merchant’s refusal to honor its return policy, the law adds conditions: the purchase must have been more than $50, it must have been made in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address, and you must have first tried to resolve the dispute with the seller. If you meet those criteria, you can withhold payment on the disputed amount while the investigation runs, and the issuer cannot report you as delinquent during that period. The issuer has to acknowledge your dispute within 30 days and resolve it within 90.⁸

Chargebacks are particularly useful for online purchases, where the geographic restriction rarely creates a problem.

If the Store Refuses

Start at the store. Bring your receipt, point to the posted policy or its absence, and ask for a manager. Take a photo of any sign the store does have, or document that you could not find one. If no policy was posted and the store refuses your return within 30 days, cite GBL 218-a by name. Managers often know the statute even when front-line staff do not.

If that fails, the NYS Division of Consumer Protection within the Department of State mediates consumer marketplace complaints.⁹ Inside New York City, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection also mediates refund disputes and can take enforcement action.¹⁰ The Attorney General’s Office investigates deceptive business practices and can pressure businesses to comply, though it will not represent you in a personal lawsuit.¹¹

Small claims court is built for this kind of dispute. You do not need a lawyer, filing fees in New York run between $10 and $20, and the dollar limit is $10,000 in New York City small claims court, $5,000 in city courts outside NYC, and $3,000 in town and village courts.¹²¹³

1
NYS Division of Consumer Protection. Consumer Alert: NYS Division of Consumer Protection Reminds Consumers of New York State’s Refund Policy Protections
2
New York State Senate. New York General Business Law 349
3
Legal Information Institute. UCC 2-602 – Manner and Effect of Rightful Rejection
4
Federal Trade Commission. Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Home or Other Locations
5
eCFR. 16 CFR Part 429 – Rule Concerning Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Home or Other Locations
6
eCFR. 16 CFR Part 435 – Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise
7
Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You’re Billed for Things You Never Got, or You Get Unordered Merchandise
8
Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
9
Department of State. Division of Consumer Protection
10
NYC.gov. File Complaint – DCWP
11
New York State Attorney General. Consumer Issues
12
NYCOURTS.GOV. In General – NY Small Claims
13
NEW YORK STATE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM. A Guide to Small Claims and Commercial Small Claims in the New York State City, Town and Village Courts