What Britain knows about the returns law

Method

The question, as asked

“As far as you know, if you buy a sex toy online in the UK, open the sealed packaging, and then change your mind, do you have a legal right to return it for a refund - assuming the product is not faulty?”

Reproduced verbatim as put to respondents. The right the question tests is the change-of-mind refund right; faulty-goods rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are a separate matter and were outside the question, which is why it specifies an item that is not faulty.

Findings

• 70.7% of GB adults either don’t know or are wrong about whether opening a sealed intimate product ends the change-of-mind refund right.
• 55.5% said they didn’t know. 15.2% believed the law still protected them. 29.3% answered correctly.
• 78.2% of over-65s don’t know or are wrong. It’s 70.3% at 45–54 and 72.4% at 55–64 — knowledge falls with age.
• 19.9% of men believed the law still protected them, against 10.8% of women — nearly twice as likely.

The rule

Once the seal is broken on goods that are not suitable for return on health or hygiene grounds, the 14-day change-of-mind right to cancel and claim a refund no longer applies — that is the exemption at regulation 28(3)(a) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Faulty-goods rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are unaffected by the seal and apply regardless.

The second question

“To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘Sexual wellness products are marketed at people younger than me.’”

Topline, this question splits evenly: 17.98% agree, 18.43% disagree, and 63.6% express no view. Of those expressing a view, agreement rises with age — 18.3% at 18–24, 85.0% at 65+. As a share of all respondents in each band the same movement runs from 9.3% to 32.7%.

Download the tables

• Full data tables (XLSX) Find Out Now · all crossbreaks · Q1 and Q2
• Topline (CSV) Derived from the data tables · Q1 and Q2 with base sizes

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