Review Your Returns Terms for Fairness and Clarity

The CMA has refreshed its unfair contract terms guidance, giving UK ecommerce teams a timely reason to check every returns rule customers see and staff apply.

Use the CMA update as a practical review point

The Competition and Markets Authority updated its unfair contract terms guidance on 22 July 2026 following consultation. The guidance is intended to help businesses understand what can make consumer terms and notices unfair, and how to make them fair and transparent. For an ecommerce operator, this is a sensible prompt to review returns wording across the whole customer journey, rather than treating the policy page as the only place where terms live.

Returns rules can also appear on product pages, at checkout, inside confirmation emails, in a portal, on downloadable labels and in customer-service templates. A statement that looks reasonable in isolation may be contradicted by another surface or applied differently by staff. Build a simple inventory showing each customer-facing rule, its location, its owner and the approved wording. That makes inconsistencies visible before they become complaints. This article offers operational suggestions, not legal advice; obtain suitable advice where the effect of a term is uncertain.

Test substance as well as presentation

Section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says an unfair term in a consumer contract, or an unfair consumer notice, is not binding on the consumer. It describes unfairness by reference to good faith and a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the consumer's detriment. Fairness depends on the subject matter, the circumstances when the term was agreed and the other relevant terms. A tidy layout cannot rescue a rule whose practical effect is one-sided.

Start with clauses that give the retailer broad discretion or place every risk on the customer. Examples worth reviewing include blanket statements that all returns are refused, that the retailer alone decides whether an item is faulty, or that any parcel lost after dispatch is automatically the customer's problem. Do not assume these examples determine the legal result in every case. Instead, ask what the rule permits, what evidence the business considers, which statutory rights sit alongside it, and whether the process gives the customer a workable route to challenge a decision.

Make each operational rule plain and specific

Section 68 requires written consumer terms and notices to be transparent, meaning plain and intelligible language that is also legible. Apply that test to the details people need to complete a return: the applicable window, how to notify you, where an item must go, who arranges carriage, what condition evidence may be requested and when a refund decision will be communicated. Put important qualifications next to the instruction they change instead of hiding them in a distant page or an expandable panel with an unclear label.

Avoid labels that only make sense inside the business. Customers should not need to understand warehouse status codes, carrier contract names or internal definitions of an authorised return. Replace vague phrases such as 'reasonable condition' or 'subject to approval' with a clear explanation of the assessment and its purpose. Where different routes apply to a change-of-mind return, faulty goods, damaged delivery or a product recall, identify those routes separately. That helps customers choose correctly and helps agents avoid applying the wrong workflow.

Remove ambiguity from decisions and staff scripts

Section 69 provides that, where a consumer contract term or notice could have different meanings, the meaning most favourable to the consumer prevails, subject to the exception stated in that section. Look for words that different agents could interpret differently: 'unused', 'original packaging', 'promptly', 'proof of purchase' and 'return accepted' are common candidates. Define the operational evidence required and make sure the policy does not blur a customer's statutory rights with any additional goodwill policy the retailer chooses to offer.

Finish the review by testing real scenarios with support and warehouse colleagues. Give them a faulty item, an unwanted item, a damaged inbound parcel and a return outside a goodwill window, then compare the answers produced from the public terms and internal scripts. Record disagreements, approve corrected wording and set a review date. Keep a dated copy of each published version so the team can establish which wording a customer saw. The aim is not a longer policy; it is a consistent rule set that customers can understand and staff can apply.

Practical next steps