Consumer resource

If goods you bought online are different from the photos or description

Online you buy on trust. When what lands on the doorstep is nothing like what you were shown — wording, pictures or both — trader sales fall under statutory requirements that trump most bespoke “returns policies”.

Photo: Pexels (stock) — law book and scales of justice.

Jurisdiction & nature of this page

This page is general information only, not legal advice. We are not a law firm. It is drafted for England and Wales. Consumer statutes and official guidance diverge elsewhere in the UK — see for example Advice Direct Scotland or Advice NI.

Online shopping means buying on trust. You cannot handle the product, check the stitching, or see the colour in natural light before you commit. You rely on what the seller shows you and what they say. When something arrives and it is plainly not what was advertised, feeling misled is reasonable — and in many cases the law backs you, provided you contracted with a trader, you are in England and Wales, and your facts satisfy the statutes (confirm details on GOV.UK or take advice where the stakes are serious).

Why this matters legally

When a trader sells you goods, those goods normally have to match their description. That obligation comes from the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If what turns up ignores the advertised description — whether wording, photographs or both — it may fail to conform. That engages statutory remedies and sits above unfriendly internal “returns policies”. Outline material appears on GOV.UK — Consumer Rights Act.

On a private sale your rights are thinner, though active misrepresentation can still matter in contract. For mixed retail and social selling, our marketplace article on traders versus private sellers may help you place yourself.

What counts as not matching the description?

The gap does not have to be theatrical. Everyday examples include:

a colour genuinely different from the photos, not only a modest screen-variation excuse;
size or measurements that plainly miss the listing;
material sold as X but objectively not X;
features promised in marketing that the article does not possess;
condition described as new or unused when it clearly is not.

Trading standards and judges look at ordinary expectations. Tiny colour shifts every buyer tolerates across displays are unlikely to qualify; packaging that contradicts the main gallery almost always will.

What are your rights?

If the goods do not match their description you generally keep a short-term right to reject and claim a full refund during the first 30 days after you take physical possession. Beyond 30 days the automatic refund route falls away in many cases, but you can usually press for repair or replacement; if that path blocks, you still have scope for a price reduction or a final rejection that can end in a refund (sometimes reduced for use you have already had). Traders cannot simply hide behind a returns policy if the goods never matched in the first place.

What about distance selling rules?

Shopping online from a trader also triggers the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. They usually give you about 14 days from delivery to cancel for almost any reason, then about another 14 days to return the goods (watch who pays carriage and check express carve-outs for bespoke pieces, opened hygiene products and other exceptions that applied to your order).

That cooling-off option is separate from a Consumer Rights Act mismatch claim: you could cancel because you simply changed your mind within the window even without arguing misdescription. Where description is wrong you may have both routes. In practice CRA claims often stay useful after 14 days, and return postage for non-conforming goods should fall on the seller in a way that mind-change cancellations may not — double-check the rules that govern your payment and contract.

What should you do?

Photograph what arrived and compare it with the preserved listing screenshots.
Archive the seller’s page promptly — listings mutate once complaints accumulate.
Write to the trader: summarise what was offered, where reality diverges and the remedy sought; keep a timetable.
Retain every outbound message and proof of posting or tracking.

If diplomacy fails, use your rails: qualifying credit card payments may activate section 75 remedies (black-letter text at legislation.gov.uk), whereas debit cards and PayPal often support chargeback-style complaints on their own timelines. Our card and PayPal guide walks through escalation. For eligible sums beneath the habitual small claims limit, county court paperwork remains realistic — introduction here.

What if the seller says it is your fault for misreading the listing?

The issue is ordinarily what an everyday buyer would glean from how the trader presented itself — captions, thumbnails, headings and body copy altogether. A hero gallery in navy that ships as black seldom collapses beneath small print insisting “dark” covered both palettes.

The short version

If goods look nothing like the advert, you typically enjoy strong grounds to unwind the deal provided you acted within the relevant periods and contracted with a trader. Document ruthlessly first, escalate politely in prose, exploit card or wallet protections deliberately, and escalate to court proportionately. Nothing below is personalised legal counsel.

Nothing on this page is legal advice for your specific situation.

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