Guides
How to check a sale price, work out the real cost of an order, send things back and get your money back when something goes wrong. Each guide links to the law or regulator guidance it’s based on, for the EU, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia.
Prices and deals
How to tell if a sale price is real
What a crossed-out ‘was’ price has to mean in the EU, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia, and how to check a discount yourself.
How to find the cheapest shop once delivery is added
Why the lowest price on the page often isn’t the cheapest order, and what a shop has to show you before you pay.
Black Friday and the other big sales: are the deals real?
This year’s dates, what several years of price tracking found about Black Friday, and how to use a sale without overpaying.
Your rights
Returning something you bought online: how long you have and who pays
Your right to change your mind in the EU, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia, what it costs to send things back, and the items you can’t return.
When something you bought breaks: repair, replacement or refund
The rights the law gives you for faulty goods, how they differ from the maker’s warranty, and how long they last in each country.
Which ways of paying online protect you if something goes wrong
Credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, bank transfers and buy now, pay later compared, with the deadlines for getting your money back.
Buying well
Ordering from another country: customs, VAT and delivery fees
What you might pay on top when a parcel crosses into the EU, the UK, the US, Canada or Australia, and how to know before you order.
Buying on a marketplace: how to tell who you’re really buying from
Why the seller matters more than the platform, what the marketplace has to tell you about them, and the checks worth doing first.
Reading a product listing: model numbers, unit prices, energy labels and reviews
The details that decide whether two offers are really for the same thing, and how to spot reviews you shouldn’t rely on.
Buying refurbished: what the grades mean and what to check
What ‘refurbished’, ‘renewed’ and ‘used’ mean in practice, which legal rights you keep, and the checks to do the day it arrives.