Virginia Automatic Renewal Law: Disclosures, Cancellation, and Penalties

Virginia’s automatic renewal law, found at Va. Code §59.1-207.45 through §59.1-207.48, requires any business that sells a subscription, membership, or continuous service to disclose the renewal terms clearly before charging, get the customer’s affirmative consent, send an acknowledgment, and offer an easy way to cancel. When a renewal runs longer than 12 months and kicks in after more than 30 days, the business also has to send a reminder before it charges again. Skip the consent step and ship physical goods anyway, and Virginia treats those goods as a free gift to the customer.

Who and What the Law Covers

The statute reaches two arrangements: automatic renewals, where a paid subscription rolls into a new fixed term, and continuous service offers, where the service runs until the customer cancels. Either way, the law only applies when the renewal or continuation period is longer than one month. A week-to-week plan sits outside it.¹

“Consumer” is defined more broadly than most people expect. It covers individuals buying for personal, family, or household use, and it also covers small businesses with 250 or fewer employees or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less. A small restaurant paying monthly for point-of-sale software gets the same protection as someone signing up for a streaming service. Only larger commercial buyers are outside the statute.¹

What the Business Must Disclose Before You Agree

Before taking payment information, the seller has to present the renewal terms in a clear and conspicuous way. Under the statute, that means larger type than the surrounding text, contrasting font or color, or a visible mark that draws the reader’s eye. A dense terms-of-service page with the renewal buried inside does not qualify.¹

Five items have to appear in the disclosure:

That the subscription will keep running until the customer affirmatively cancels.
How to cancel.
The recurring charge amount, notice that it may change, and the new amount if it is already known.
The length of each renewal period, unless the customer picked the term.
Any minimum purchase the customer has to make before canceling, if there is one.

Those five items must be presented before the customer submits payment. The seller then has to obtain affirmative consent to the renewal terms and send an acknowledgment that repeats the renewal details and explains how to cancel.²

When a Renewal Notice Has to Go Out

Not every renewal triggers a reminder. The pre-renewal notice is required only when two conditions are both true: the renewal begins after more than 30 days, and it extends the agreement for more than 12 months. When those thresholds are crossed, the seller has to send a notice between 30 and 60 days before the cancellation deadline or the end of the current term.²

That notice has to be clear and conspicuous and cover three points: that the subscription will renew automatically unless canceled, the method and deadline to cancel, and whether any terms have changed. A price increase or a change to the billing cycle has to be spelled out.

There is a separate obligation for any material change to an existing agreement, regardless of the renewal length. Before implementing the change, the seller must notify the customer and explain how to cancel. Quietly raising a monthly rate from $9.99 to $14.99 without prior notice violates this provision.²

How Cancellation Has to Work

Every seller must give customers a cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use way to cancel, and that method has to be described in the acknowledgment sent at sign-up. Acceptable channels include a toll-free number, an email address, or a postal address, though postal cancellation is only allowed when the seller bills the customer directly.²

For subscriptions sold through a website, Virginia adds a further requirement: a conspicuous online cancellation option. A customer who signed up in a few clicks should be able to cancel the same way. Forcing a phone call or a mailed letter after an online sign-up does not comply.²

The Federal Click-to-Cancel Overlay

Virginia sellers also have to satisfy the FTC’s amended Negative Option Rule. That rule says cancellation must be available through the same medium the customer used to sign up. Online sign-up cannot be paired with phone-only cancellation. Phone sign-up cannot force in-person cancellation. The rule also prohibits requiring a live or virtual representative to cancel unless the sign-up required one.³

For phone cancellations, the FTC bars extra charges and requires the business to answer calls or take messages during normal business hours, with a prompt response to messages. The state and federal rules overlap heavily. A Virginia business has to satisfy both.

What Happens When a Business Breaks the Rules

Shipped Goods Become Unconditional Gifts

This is the part of the law with real teeth. If a seller ships goods under an auto-renewal or continuous service agreement without first obtaining affirmative consent as the statute requires, those goods are treated as an unconditional gift. The customer can keep them, give them away, or discard them with no obligation to pay or return anything, and no responsibility for return shipping.⁴

The remedy targets the consent requirement specifically. A subscription-box company that auto-renews a customer without making the required disclosures or getting proper consent is, under Virginia law, giving its products away.

Consumer Protection Act Damages

Violations are enforceable under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. An individual customer can sue for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater. If the court finds the violation was willful, it can award treble damages or $1,000, whichever is greater. The Virginia Attorney General can investigate and bring enforcement actions, and courts can issue injunctions ordering the business to change its practices. Across a large subscriber base, the exposure adds up.

Agreements the Law Does Not Reach

Several kinds of recurring agreements sit outside this statute because other laws already govern them. Insurance policies are regulated under Title 38.2 of the Code of Virginia, which sets its own renewability rules and grounds for nonrenewal.⁵ Banking products and credit cards fall under federal and state banking law. Public utilities like electricity and water are overseen by the State Corporation Commission. Employment and collective bargaining agreements are labor matters, not consumer matters. Protections still exist in each of these areas; they just come from different statutes.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 59.1-207.45 – Definitions
2
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia Chapter 17.8 – Automatic Renewal Offers and Continuous Service Offers
3
Federal Trade Commission. Click to Cancel: The FTC’s Amended Negative Option Rule and What It Means for Your Business
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 59.1-207.47 – When Goods, Wares, Merchandise, or Products Deemed Unconditional Gift
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 38.2-3514.2 – Renewability of Coverage