Bought from an online shop in another EU country and it never arrived or came faulty: how to get your money back from Spain
You live in Spain and ordered trainers from a German shop, a mattress from France or a car part on eBay from an Italian seller. The parcel never arrives, the wrong thing arrives, or the seller "approves the return" and goes quiet. The good news: inside the EU you have the same rights as in a Spanish shop, plus a free mediator and a court you can use without a lawyer. The bad news: half the advice online is out of date. Here is the ladder that works in September 2026.
This is for you if:
• you bought as a private person (not for a business);
• the seller is a company or sole trader in another EU country, Norway, Iceland or the UK;
• you live in Spain (the delivery address is in Spain);
• the dispute is about money or goods, not a payment made with a stolen card (that goes to the bank and the police).
Which refund route is yours
Three answers and a date, and you know which step you are on, how many days are left and what you can get back.
Step 1. A written demand to the seller, with a deadline
Calls and chat do not count. Write to the seller's e-mail or web form so there is a trail: date, order number, what is wrong, what you want (delivery, replacement, refund) and a deadline to reply. If the shop targets Spain, Spanish law obliges the trader to answer a complaint within 15 days; otherwise 15 days is a reasonable period that you set yourself.
The delivery and withdrawal periods below are common EU rules for shops in EU countries and for any shop targeting Spain; the guarantee periods for defects are Spanish-law rules, marked as such. Seller in the UK, Norway or Iceland that does not target Spain: those periods apply only if its country's law grants them (in the UK, after Brexit, not automatically); check them before relying on them; in NAVI we do that.
What to ask for:
- Not delivered. The law gives the seller 30 days to deliver unless the site promised another date. Once it has passed, set an additional period in writing, appropriate to the circumstances (in practice 7 days is commonly given). No delivery by then: you cancel the contract and claim everything back, shipping included. If the date was essential (a gift for a date, and you said so when ordering), you can cancel at once. If they drag out the refund after cancellation, Spanish law (where it applies: a shop targeting Spain) lets you claim double.
- Changed your mind. 14 days from delivery to withdraw, no reason needed. Send the notice, return the goods within 14 days (you pay return shipping unless the seller said otherwise), and the money comes back within 14 days by the same payment method. Exceptions: made-to-order items, opened hygiene seals, perishables, downloaded content.
- Faulty or not as described. Under Spanish law the guarantee is 3 years for goods, 2 years for digital content. For the first 2 years the fault is presumed to be original unless the seller proves otherwise. You choose repair or replacement, free and within a reasonable time; if that fails, a price reduction or a refund. The 3 years and the 2-year presumption are Spanish rules: they apply if the shop targets Spain (Spanish-language site, prices in euros, delivery to Spain). If not, the periods are those of the seller's country's law; the common EU minimum is 2 years of seller liability and a presumption of an original fault for at least one year.
- Keep everything: order and payment screenshots, tracking, photos of the item and packaging, the correspondence. That is also your file for the next steps.
Step 2. The European Consumer Centre: a free mediator for disputes inside the EU
If the seller refuses or stays silent for more than 15 days, go to the Centro Europeo del Consumidor España (CEC, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs). It is the Spanish node of ECC-Net: it contacts the centre in the seller's country, which contacts the seller. Free, with an online form on the portal; you need the documents from step 1.
What the CEC can do: explain your rights, get a reply and a settlement; in practice they recover money and related costs too (see real cases). What it cannot do: force the seller, or act if a court case is already running or there are signs of fraud (then, police and bank). Timing: months. The CEC itself says that, because of case volume, it takes about 30 days to check competence and documents and about 3 more months before a legal adviser is assigned to negotiate.
Watch out: the EU's online ODR platform, still linked from many sites and even some official pages, is closed: it stopped taking new complaints on 20 March 2025 and ceased to exist on 20 July 2025. A seller pointing you to ODR is using an outdated template, not a route.
NAVISort out my refund — how to get it the right way
NAVI will prepare the refund demand.
Step 3. The bank: a card or PayPal dispute
Run this alongside steps 1 and 2, without waiting. If you paid by card, ask your bank to dispute the transaction for non-delivery or goods not as described (chargeback). This is not law but Visa/Mastercard scheme rules, so the bank will ask for evidence (e-mails, tracking) and has its own deadlines: you usually need to open the dispute within about 120 days of the payment or the expected delivery. PayPal and similar services have their own buyer protection with its own windows (PayPal: 180 days).
A payment you never authorised is different: there the law applies, the bank must refund by the end of the next business day, your liability is capped at €50, and you have up to 13 months to report it.
If you paid by bank transfer, Bizum to an account or cash on delivery, the bank cannot help: the dispute is with the seller only (steps 1, 2 and 4).
Step 4. The European Small Claims Procedure: court without a lawyer, judgment enforced in the seller's country
Up to €5,000 (excluding interest and costs) and a seller in another EU country (except Denmark, which does not take part in this procedure): that is the European Small Claims Procedure. You take Form A from the e-Justice portal (it exists in every EU language, but it is filled in and filed in the court's language: Spanish in Spain), file it with the court of first instance where you live in Spain (a consumer may sue at home) and attach your file. It is written: the defendant has 30 days to reply; then within 30 days the court either gives judgment or asks for further details and evidence or summons a hearing, and then gives judgment within 30 days after that. Private individuals pay no court fee in Spain. The judgment is enforced in the seller's country without a separate recognition step, using Form D.
Traps: translations the court asks for are at your cost; if the defendant does not reply, the court still decides on your papers, so the file matters more than eloquence. Over €5,000: two routes. If the seller does not dispute the debt (it agreed to refund and simply does not pay), the European Order for Payment: a form on the e-Justice portal, no lawyer required; if the seller objects, the case moves to ordinary proceedings. If the dispute is about substance, an ordinary claim in Spain or in the seller's country, and there you will usually need a lawyer.
Three common cases, in short
Not delivered, seller keeps saying "tomorrow". Letter with an additional period (in practice, 7 days) → cancellation and refund demand → card dispute now → CEC if the seller is in the EU. Do not give months to the chat.
Arrived faulty, they blame you. For the first 2 years the burden is on them (under Spanish rules; the common EU minimum is one year). Demand repair or replacement with photos; if refused, price reduction or refund. Written refusal or 15 days of silence → CEC → small claims.
You returned it, no refund. They have 14 days from your withdrawal notice (they may hold it until they receive the goods or proof of posting). Overdue: letter with a short deadline (in practice, 7 days), card dispute, CEC.
If the seller is outside the EU, or a private person on a marketplace
Seller in China, the US or Turkey. If the shop clearly directs its business at Spain or the EU (Spanish-language site, prices in euros, delivery to Spain), your Spanish consumer rights formally remain: that is how the EU rule on applicable law works. But enforcing them outside the EU is close to impossible, and the CEC does not handle these disputes. The practical lever is the platform's buyer protection (AliExpress, Amazon Global, eBay), a card dispute and PayPal; if the shop does not target Spain, your rights follow the general rules on applicable law (usually the seller's country's law) and a consumer living in Spain may still sue before a Spanish court, but enforcing outside the EU is hard, so in practice it comes back to the platform, the card and PayPal. So outside the EU, pay only by card or PayPal.
A private seller on Vinted, Wallapop or eBay: no statutory consumer guarantee and no consumer right of withdrawal (they are not a trader), and the CEC does not handle disputes with private individuals; but ordinary contract law remains: under Spanish law, for hidden defects you may claim rescission or a price reduction within six months of delivery. What works: the platform's rules, a card dispute and small claims against the individual if they are in another EU country. The CEC comes in only when the claim is against the platform itself as a company, for example over its paid "buyer protection" (that was the Vinted case below).
Traps
- The ODR platform closed on 20 July 2025. Any guide saying "complain on the EU platform" is out of date.
- A marketplace is not the seller. Check who is listed as seller on the order; the claim goes to them, and to the platform in parallel.
- A ".es" shop may be Polish or Dutch. The seller's country is in the legal notice, not the domain.
- "Support approved the return" in chat is not a document. Ask for confirmation by e-mail.
- Bank deadlines are shorter than legal ones. The legal period for defects runs for years (3 in Spain, an EU minimum of 2); a card dispute about 120 days. Open it early.
Real cases: four Court of Justice rulings that work in the buyer's favour
A buyer ordered a 5×6 m tent by phone, it turned out faulty, and the seller neither collected it nor said where to send it. Mr Fülla bought a tent at a distance from the German company Toolport. On finding the defect he asked for it to be fixed at his home; the seller called the complaints unfounded, named no place to send the goods and did not offer to advance the transport cost. The buyer demanded cancellation and a refund, and the German court asked the Court of Justice who must move a bulky item, and where.
What was not obvious. National law sets the place where the consumer makes goods available for repair, but that place must allow the repair to be free of charge, within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience, given the nature of the goods. The seller need not advance transport costs unless the advance would be a burden that deters the consumer from asserting their rights. And if the seller takes no adequate step at all — not even naming a place — a consumer who made the goods available at home may cancel the contract.
Outcome: the Court recognised the buyer's right to cancel the contract and recover the price where the seller named no place for repair and did nothing to bring the goods into conformity. The final decision on the facts was for the German court.
The case was decided under Directive 1999/44, replaced from 1 January 2022 by Directive 2019/771: the rule "free of charge, within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience" now sits in its art. 14(1), and the consumer's duty to make the goods available plus the seller's duty to take back replaced goods at its own expense in art. 14(2). In Spain the same rules live in TRLGDCU arts. 117–121.
Court of Justice of the European Union, First Chamber · 23.05.2019 · ECLI:EU:C:2019:447
A second-hand car burned out four months after purchase, and the Dutch courts never checked that the buyer was a consumer. Ms Faber bought a used car from the Hazet garage; four months later it caught fire while being driven and was destroyed. Through two instances the case was run as if she were an ordinary contracting party rather than a consumer, and she was required to prove the cause of the defect. The Dutch court asked the Court of Justice whether a judge must apply consumer rules of their own motion and what exactly a buyer must prove in the first six months.
What was not obvious. A court must check of its own motion whether the buyer is a consumer, even if the buyer never relied on that status, as soon as it has the facts. The presumption that the defect existed at delivery applies once the consumer proves two things: the goods do not conform and the lack of conformity became apparent within six months. The consumer need not prove the cause or the seller's responsibility; only the seller can rebut the presumption by proving the cause arose after delivery.
Outcome: the Court lifted the burden of proving the cause of the fire from the buyer and required national courts to apply the presumption of their own motion; the case went back to the Netherlands to be decided under those rules.
Since 1 January 2022 the EU minimum presumption period is one year (Directive 2019/771, art. 11) and Member States may extend it to two; Spain did (TRLGDCU art. 121). What the consumer proves — only the defect and the timing — remains the Court's reference reading.
Court of Justice of the European Union, First Chamber · 04.06.2015 · ECLI:EU:C:2015:357
A garage sold a used car for €4,000 and, when the engine failed three months later, said the seller had been a private individual. In 2012 Ms Wathelet paid the Belgian garage Bietheres €4,000 for a second-hand car; she received no receipt and no invoice. In July the car broke down, the garage repaired it and billed €2,000. When she refused to pay, relying on the seller's guarantee, she was told for the first time that the car had belonged to a private person and the garage had merely acted as intermediary.
What was not obvious. The concept of "seller" also covers a trader acting as intermediary for a private individual if it did not duly inform the consumer that the owner of the goods was a private person. Whether the intermediary was paid for its role is irrelevant. In other words, "we are only the platform" works only when the buyer was clearly told so before the sale.
Outcome: the Court held that such a garage counts as a seller with the full consumer guarantee if it failed to duly inform the buyer that the owner was a private person; whether that was the case was for the Belgian court, to which the dispute over the €2,000 repair bill returned.
Directive 1999/44 was replaced by Directive 2019/771 (from 1 January 2022), but the logic is unchanged: a seller is whoever acts for purposes relating to their trade, including through other persons (art. 2(3)). For marketplace purchases from private individuals this means: check who is named as seller in the order confirmation and ask for an invoice before paying.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Fifth Chamber · 09.11.2016 · ECLI:EU:C:2016:840
The shop replaced a defective stove set and then demanded €69.97 "for the use" of the old one. In 2002 the German retailer Quelle sold Ms Brüning a stove set; in 2004 it proved defective, repair was impossible and it was replaced with a new one. For the year and a half of use of the first set the seller demanded €69.97 in compensation. German law allowed such a charge, and the Federal Court of Justice asked the Court of Justice whether that was compatible with EU law.
What was not obvious. Replacement of defective goods must be free of charge in the full sense: the seller may not charge the consumer for having used the defective item until replacement. A national law allowing such a charge is contrary to the Directive.
Outcome: the €69.97 claim was held unlawful; the rule "use is not charged for" became common to the whole EU.
Today it is written down expressly: the consumer is not liable to pay for normal use of the replaced goods before replacement (Directive 2019/771, art. 14(4)). If a shop withholds "depreciation" on replacement or refund, that is a direct breach.
Court of Justice of the European Union, First Chamber · 17.04.2008 · ECLI:EU:C:2008:231
All four disputes were fought in other EU countries — Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium — but the rule is the same across the Union and a Spanish court is bound to follow it. We check which one closes your case.
Check my purchaseHow RightNOW helps
We check your documents and build the file (doccheck), draft the letter to the seller with the right deadline (burofax or e-mail) and put together the plan: bank, CEC, Form A. Start with the tool above or open NAVI, which picks up your answers.
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FAQ
The shop says "under German law" there is no return.
Inside the EU the minimum rights are the same: 14 days of withdrawal and a 2-year guarantee everywhere; Spain's 3 years apply when Spanish law governs (a seller directing its activity to Spain). That is exactly what the CEC sorts out.
Can I sue in my own language?
Form A is filled in the court's language, Spanish in Spain; the form exists in every EU language, so it is easy to follow. The court may ask for translations of attachments.
How long does it take?
Letter: 15 days; CEC: about 30 days to check and about 3 months until an adviser is assigned; card dispute: 1–2 months; small claims: usually several months including enforcement.
What if the seller is in the UK?
CEC España takes disputes with UK sellers; the European Small Claims Procedure no longer works against them after Brexit.
Sources
- TRLGDCU — Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, arts. 66 bis y 66 ter (entrega en 30 días, riesgo), 102–108 (desistimiento 14 días, reembolso 14 días), 117–121 (garantía: 3 años bienes / 2 años digital, presunción 2 años), 21 (respuesta a reclamaciones).
- Reglamento (CE) 861/2007 (proceso europeo de escasa cuantía, ≤ 5 000 €; no se aplica a Dinamarca), consolidado.
- Reglamento (UE) 1215/2012, art. 18.1 (el consumidor puede demandar en su propio domicilio).
- Reglamento (CE) 1896/2006 (proceso monitorio europeo; art. 24: representación por abogado no obligatoria).
- Ley Orgánica 6/1985 del Poder Judicial, art. 22 quinquies d) (competencia de los tribunales españoles en contratos de consumo cuando el consumidor tiene su residencia habitual en España).
- Convenio de Lugano de 2007, arts. 15–16 (consumidor puede demandar en su domicilio frente a un vendedor de Noruega o Islandia que dirige su actividad a España).
- Directiva (UE) 2019/771, arts. 10–11 (mínimo europeo: 2 años de responsabilidad del vendedor, presunción de al menos 1 año).
- Código Civil, arts. 1484–1490 (saneamiento por vicios ocultos en ventas entre particulares: rescisión o rebaja del precio, seis meses desde la entrega).
- Reglamento (CE) 593/2008 «Roma I», art. 6 (contratos de consumo: ley del país de residencia del consumidor cuando el vendedor dirige su actividad a ese país).
- Reglamento (UE) 2024/3228 (cierre de la plataforma ODR: sin nuevas reclamaciones desde el 20.03.2025, supresión el 20.07.2025).
- Centro Europeo del Consumidor en España (Ministerio de Consumo).
- Real Decreto-ley 19/2018, arts. 43–46 (pagos no autorizados: 13 meses para avisar, devolución al día siguiente hábil, franquicia 50 €).
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