Christmas and sales returns in Spain: the rules and the replies

From about 20 December to mid-January, the question that lands most often in any shop's WhatsApp is some version of "can I return this?". It usually arrives in a hurry: the present wasn't a hit, the size is wrong, or it was bought in the sales and the customer isn't sure. This piece is for you if you run a shop in Spain (on the high street, online or both) and want to answer those messages quickly without getting it wrong. By the end you'll know what Spanish consumer law requires, what's your call, and you'll have a handful of replies ready to use or to hand to an agent.

One caveat up front: this is a practical summary, not legal advice. When a specific case gets complicated, your local consumer office (OMIC) or your adviser should have the final word.

First question: did they buy in the shop or at a distance?

Most of the confusion comes from mixing up two situations the law treats very differently.

In a physical shop you don't have to accept returns unless the product is faulty. The European Consumer Centre in Spain says so plainly in its 2025 sales note. Taking something back because "I don't like it" is a commercial decision. The catch: if you advertise a returns policy, you're bound by it. If the sign at the till says "30 days for exchanges with a receipt", those 30 days are a promise.

Distance sales (website, phone, WhatsApp, email) come with a legal right of withdrawal: the customer can send it back without giving a reason. The basics, from the official Consumo Responde summary and Spain's consumer protection act:

• 14 calendar days from the moment the customer (or someone they nominate) receives the goods.
• You must refund within 14 calendar days of being told, using the same payment method unless they agree otherwise at no cost to them.
• You can hold the refund until the goods come back, or until they show proof of sending.
• The customer pays return postage, but only if you told them before they bought.
• If you never told them about the right of withdrawal, the window stretches by up to 12 extra months.

Worth knowing: if you close a sale over WhatsApp, take payment by Bizum and post the order, that's a distance sale too. "I sold it over the phone" doesn't get you out of these rules.

The sales: same rights, one newer rule on prices

Discounted items don't come with fewer rights. If your policy allows exchanges within 15 days, that applies in the sales as well, unless you clearly say otherwise before the purchase. And if something turns out faulty, the legal guarantee is unchanged: three years for new goods since 2022.

What has changed is how you advertise the discount. Next to the sale price you have to show the previous price, and that reference price must be the lowest you charged in the last 30 days. If you nudged the coat up in November to "cut" it in January, the customer who messages "wasn't this cheaper a fortnight ago?" has a fair point.

The Christmas trap: early-December orders

This is the practical headache every year. A customer orders a present on your site on 2 December, it arrives on the 4th, and it sits in a cupboard until Three Kings' Day on 6 January. Their legal withdrawal window closed on 18 December. On 7 January, when the nephew opens it and it doesn't fit, there's no legal right left to lean on.

Plenty of shops fix this by voluntarily extending the window: "orders placed between 15 November and 24 December can be returned until 15 January". It's a good move, but only if you:

• Write it with specific dates, not "over the holidays".
• Put it on the website, the receipt or the order confirmation, not just in the head of whoever is on the till.
• Say whether it means a refund or an exchange only, and whether a gift receipt is needed.

Gift receipts aren't mandatory either. They're another promise of yours, so spell out what they allow: a different size? store credit? until when?

Six replies you'll send forty times

Once the policy is written down, the replies more or less write themselves. These are the questions that come up most in January and one way to answer each. Adapt them to your actual terms.

"Hi, I was given this from your shop, can I exchange it without a receipt?"

Without a receipt or gift receipt there's no way to know when it was bought or at what price. If you want to be flexible, offer an exchange at today's price. If not, say so kindly: "For exchanges we need the receipt or gift receipt. If you find it, we'll swap it, no problem, until 15 January."

"I ordered it online on the 1st and they don't like it, am I still in time?"

The delivery date and any Christmas extension decide this. Ask for the order number before promising anything.

"It arrived broken"

That isn't a return, it's a faulty product, and it's a different conversation: ask for photos, apologise, and offer a repair, replacement or refund. Never answer a defect with your exchange policy.

"Can I return sale items too?"

Same as the rest of the year, unless you've stated otherwise.

"Do I get my money back or a voucher?"

In the shop, whatever your policy says (a voucher is fine if that's what you advertised). For online orders within the withdrawal window, the refund goes back to the original payment method.

"Who pays to send it back?"

The customer, if you told them before they bought. If you didn't, you do.

Where an agent fits (and where it doesn't)

A WhatsApp agent suits this season well because the questions repeat and the answers hinge on a few facts: where it was bought, when, what kind of product, and whether there's a receipt. Give it your written policy and it replies straight away, including at eleven at night on Boxing Day, instead of someone on your team typing the same answer between customers at the till.

Some things shouldn't be left to it, though:

• Faulty products: let it collect photos and details and pass them to you. The decision is yours.
• Out-of-window or no-receipt cases where you might want to bend: the agent shouldn't invent exceptions.
• Angry customers, or anyone mentioning a formal complaint: to a person, always.
• Items with no right of withdrawal (personalised, perishable, unsealed cosmetics or hygiene products): better for the agent to say someone will check than to answer a flat "no".

And the precondition: if your returns policy isn't written down anywhere, the agent has nothing to answer from. Writing it is the real work, and it pays off even if you never automate a thing.

If you'd like someone handling these WhatsApp questions while you're busy on the shop floor, have a look at how our receptionist agent works: it answers by your rules and passes you anything that needs your sign-off.