# Canadian refund rules for online merchants

> What Quebec and Ontario require for online sales, why a posted refund policy can create legal exposure, and how to set these rules as your own policy in Lumtry.

- Canonical URL: https://lumtry.com/guides/canadian-refund-rules-for-merchants
- Last updated: 2026-09-27

Canada has no general cooling-off or change-of-mind right for online purchases. What a shopper can rely on comes from each province's distance-contract or internet-agreement rules, which turn on disclosure, a contract copy and delivery, plus a federal law against misleading claims about your own refund policy. This guide explains those rules and how to turn them into a policy in Lumtry; it is general information, not legal advice.

## Is there a cooling-off period for online purchases in Canada?

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.

## What does Quebec require for online (distance) sales?

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.

## What do Ontario and the other provinces require?

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).

## Can a posted refund policy create legal exposure?

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).

## What French-language rules apply to selling in Quebec?

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.

## How do you express these rules as a policy in Lumtry?

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.

## Set up a Canada-ready refund policy in five steps

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. **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. **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. **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. **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.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Lumtry apply Canadian law automatically?

No. Lumtry's statutory floor templates cover the EU, UK, California and New York only. Canadian rules are the policy you write yourself, using the return-window, proof-of-purchase and approval rules you configure.

### Do I have to refund a change-of-mind return in Canada?

Not by statute. No general Canadian law requires refunding a shopper who simply changed their mind about an online purchase; that comes from your own return policy, not a cooling-off right the shopper can invoke. 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.

### How fast must I refund after a valid cancellation in Quebec or Ontario?

Within 15 days of the cancellation in both provinces. Source: Consumer Protection Act (Quebec), CQLR c P-40.1, s. 54.13; Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sch. A, s. 96.

### Do I need my return policy in French for Quebec shoppers?

Quebec's Charter of the French Language requires product information, commercial documents and contracts of adhesion to be available in French. Source: Charter of the French Language, CQLR c C-11, ss. 51, 52, 55. Lumtry's shopper portal and customer email templates support French (Canada) for that.

## Related

- [Home](https://lumtry.com/index.md): Decide refunds by a versioned policy, send the exceptions to your team in Slack or the dashboard, and keep every step on the record. Start free.
- [Guides](https://lumtry.com/guides.md): Answer-first guides to refunds, returns, chargebacks, approvals and audit trails for Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce merchants.
- [Slack approvals for Stripe](https://lumtry.com/guides/slack-refund-approvals-for-stripe.md): How to route Stripe refunds that need a person to Slack, approve them from the message, and keep the dashboard as the source of truth.
- [Voice approvals](https://lumtry.com/guides/voice-refund-approvals.md): How outbound phone calls let an approver confirm a held refund when they are away from Slack and the dashboard, with the answer recorded.
- [Return abuse screening](https://lumtry.com/guides/return-abuse-screening.md): How to score refund requests on claim history, missing returns and unusual values, and hold risky cases for a person without slowing honest customers.
- [Chargeback evidence](https://lumtry.com/guides/chargeback-evidence-automation.md): How to assemble dispute evidence from orders, policy and the refund audit trail so every chargeback response starts from a complete file.
- [Refund audit trail](https://lumtry.com/guides/refund-audit-trail.md): What a refund audit trail should record, why it must be append-only, and five steps to build one that holds up in disputes and audits.
- [Refunds for AI agents](https://lumtry.com/guides/mcp-refunds-for-ai-agents.md): How AI assistants can look up refund cases and propose refunds over the Model Context Protocol while policy and people keep the final say.
- [Retention offers](https://lumtry.com/guides/retention-offers-before-refund.md): When to offer store credit, an exchange or a partial refund before paying money back, and how a policy decides which offer fits a case.
- [Marketplace refunds](https://lumtry.com/guides/multichannel-marketplace-refunds.md): How to bring store and marketplace refunds from Amazon and eBay into one queue, with a policy per channel and every decision in one audit trail.
- [AI decisions and contests](https://lumtry.com/guides/ai-decision-record-and-contest.md): How Lumtry records every AI-assisted refund decision and lets a shopper contest it, with a person reviewing and deciding the outcome.
- [Simulate a policy](https://lumtry.com/guides/simulate-a-policy-before-publishing.md): How to replay a draft policy against recent decisions with no model call, and how an explainer's suggestion can land in a draft without ever publishing it.
- [Pricing](https://lumtry.com/pricing.md): Lumtry plans by case volume and seats, from Free to Enterprise, with add-ons and capped outcome fees. Start free or hear when billing opens.
- [MCP server](https://lumtry.com/developers/mcp.md): Connect an AI assistant or your own agent to your refund workspace through the Model Context Protocol. Read cases and propose actions, never move money.
- [Trust](https://lumtry.com/trust.md): How Lumtry secures merchant data, keeps AI inside a deterministic refund policy, lists every sub-processor and explains data flow and retention. Review it.
- [llms.txt](https://lumtry.com/llms.txt)