How Canadian refund rules work and how to set your policy in Lumtry

No. Canada does not give online shoppers a general right to cancel a purchase because they changed their mind, the way the EU's 14-day withdrawal right does. What can cancel a Canadian online sale is a failure on the merchant's side: required disclosure missing before the sale, no contract copy sent afterward, or goods that never arrive. Source: Consumer Protection Act (Quebec), CQLR c P-40.1, ss. 54.1, 54.8-54.9; Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sch. A, ss. 37-40.

Quebec treats an online sale as a distance contract whenever the merchant and consumer are not both present when it is made. Before the sale, the merchant must disclose prescribed details such as identity, description, price, delivery, and cancellation and return terms, then send a copy of the contract within 15 days. Source: Consumer Protection Act (Quebec), CQLR c P-40.1, ss. 54.1, 54.4, 54.7. A consumer can cancel within 7 days of receiving that copy if the disclosure or copy rules were not met, or before delivery if the goods do not arrive within 30 days of the agreed date. Source: CQLR c P-40.1, ss. 54.8-54.9. After a valid cancellation, the merchant must refund every sum paid within 15 days, and the consumer returns the goods at the merchant's expense. Source: CQLR c P-40.1, s. 54.13. If the merchant does not refund, a consumer who paid by credit card can ask the card issuer to reverse the charge. Source: CQLR c P-40.1, ss. 54.14-54.16.

Ontario's internet agreement rules follow the same shape: disclosure before the agreement, an express chance to accept, decline or correct it, and a copy afterward, with cancellation available when those rules are not met. Source: Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sch. A, ss. 37-40. After a valid cancellation, the supplier must refund within 15 days, and a consumer who paid by credit card can ask for a chargeback if it does not. Source: S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sch. A, ss. 96, 99. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador each have their own distance or internet sales rules built on the same disclosure, copy and cancellation pattern; New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have no internet-sales-specific statute. Source: Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act (British Columbia); Consumer Protection Act and Internet Sales Contract Regulation (Alberta); Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act (Saskatchewan); Consumer Protection Act (Manitoba); Consumer Protection Act and Internet Sales Contract Regulations (Nova Scotia); Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act (Newfoundland and Labrador).

Yes. Federal law treats a representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material respect as reviewable conduct, and making one knowingly or recklessly as an offence. A posted refund or return policy is such a representation, so a no-refunds or final-sale claim you do not honor, or a right you misstate, is what creates the exposure, not the policy itself. Source: Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34, ss. 52, 74.01(1)(a).

Quebec's Charter of the French Language requires the information supplied with a product, commercial documents such as catalogues and brochures, which Quebec's language authority applies to business websites, and contracts of adhesion with their related documents to be available in French. Source: Charter of the French Language, CQLR c C-11, ss. 51, 52, 55. Lumtry's shopper returns portal and customer email templates are available in French (Canada), so a Quebec-facing storefront can meet its shopper communications in French.

Lumtry's statutory floor templates ship for the EU, UK, California and New York only, so the rules above are yours to encode as your own policy, not something Lumtry applies for you. In a policy version, set a return window and a proof-of-purchase level that match what you disclose to Quebec, Ontario and other provincial shoppers, and add a rule that sends a case to manual approval in the dashboard or Slack when it needs a person's judgment. Every decision the policy makes is written to the append-only audit trail, so you have the record if a customer, a card issuer or a regulator ever asks what your policy said.

1. 1

   Write your return-window and proof-of-purchase rules

   In a policy version, set the return window and the proof-of-purchase level that fit the disclosures you make to Quebec, Ontario and other provincial shoppers. Lumtry's floor templates ship for the EU, UK, California and New York only, so Canadian terms are rules you write, not a template Lumtry applies for you.

2. 2

   Route exceptions to a person

   Add a rule that sends a case to manual approval when it needs a person's judgment, for example a high-value refund or one your policy is not sure about. Approvers decide in the dashboard or from a Slack message, and the decision is checked against the case before anything runs.

3. 3

   Turn on French (Canada) for Quebec shoppers

   Lumtry's shopper returns portal and customer email templates are available in French (Canada), so a Quebec-facing storefront can meet its shoppers in French without a separate tool.

4. 4

   Keep every decision on the record

   Every policy decision, approval and processor call writes to the append-only audit trail, so you have a record of what your policy said and who decided a case if it is ever questioned.

5. 5

   Publish the version and review it with counsel

   Publish the policy version once it is ready; cases already in flight keep the version they started with. Because Canadian rules are your own policy, not a Lumtry floor, have your own counsel review the wording before you rely on it.