14 day returns of "print on demand" t-shirts

Keldin

Is it possible to reurn shirts that have been ordered within 14 days if the shirts were produced by the seller using "print on demand" process?
They are claiming they do not accepts returns as the shirts are printed when you order them and are therefore personalised and custom-made and not returnable. However these are just ordered as you would any other item - select the shirt and size. There's no customisation and they have chosen to produce these after being sold rather than holding stock so as I understand it they are not classed as customised.
Has anyone encountered this before and managed to return them?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Yes you can return if the shirts are just off the shelf with standard pick for size, colour, brand.

If you ask them to print a red T-shirt when they only do blue or ask for Keldin printed on then this is where the right to cancel doesn't apply.

Sadly too many places seem to think (or hope you believe) made upon order being placed or even ordered from supplier upon order being placed has no right to cancel but it isn't the place. 

Getting them to agree might be the hard part, which website was it OP?

kinger101

It's print on demand so being customized, the 14  day distance selling regulations do not apply.

You'll only have the right to return with refund if there is some other issue that cannot be resolved by them sending you a replacement.

ThumbRemote

kinger101 said:

It's print on demand so being customized, the 14  day distance selling regulations do not apply.

You'll only have tfd right to return with refund if there is some other issue that cannot be resolved by them sending you a replacement.

This is absolutely not the case. Print on demand does not mean customised. 

Print on demand refers to WHEN the item is printed
Customised refers to WHAT is printed

DullGreyGuy

kinger101 said:

It's print on demand so being customized, the 14  day distance selling regulations do not apply.

Not if it's selecting options from a drop down. 

If you can upload your own graphics, free text enter words to be printed etc then you are into the area of customisation 

kinger101

"Not if it's selecting options from a drop down"

"This is absolutely not the case. Print on demand does not mean customised."

That's nice, but can you point me to the text in the 2013 Statutory Instrument where that is a reasonable interpretation?  

Print on demand doesn't mean it's not customized either.  But taken together with the fact the t-shirt would not have been manufactured if OP had not ordered it (because there's little chance of resale), I'd say in this case, the vendor is justified in applying the exemption to the 14-day cooling off period.  

eskbanker

kinger101 said:

"Not if it's selecting options from a drop down"

"This is absolutely not the case. Print on demand does not mean customised."

That's nice, but can you point me to the text in the 2013 Statutory Instrument where that is a reasonable interpretation?  

Print on demand doesn't mean it's not customized either.  But taken together with the fact the t-shirt would not have been manufactured if OP had not ordered it (because there's little chance of resale), I'd say in this case, the vendor is justified in applying the exemption to the 14-day cooling off period.

The legislation exempts "goods that are made to the consumer's specifications or are clearly personalised" from cancellation rights, and the resultant government guidance gave an example of football shirts:

I sell premier league football shirts online. Customers can order a shirt with their own name on it or that of a premier league team player. Can the consumer change their mind after they have ordered?

13. Items made to a particular, often unique specification are exempt from cancellation rights on the basis that a trader might otherwise be left with a product so specific to a particular consumer’s needs that there is no other market for it once the consumer has cancelled the contract. Judgements of what is truly bespoke will, therefore, inevitably be on a case by case basis. In the above case, the customer should be able to cancel a shirt bearing a team player name on it. However, a shirt bearing their own name would be likely to constitute a personalised item to which cancellation rights do not apply.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a817b92ed915d74e33fe73a/bis-13-1368-consumer-contracts-information-cancellation-and-additional-payments-regulations-guidance.pdf

molerat

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a817b92ed915d74e33fe73a/bis-13-1368-consumer-contracts-information-cancellation-and-additional-payments-regulations-guidance.pdf

I sell premier league football shirts online. Customers can order a shirt with their own name on it or that of a premier league team player. Can the consumer change their mind after they have ordered?

13. Items made to a particular, often unique specification are exempt from cancellation rights on the basis that a trader might otherwise be left with a product so specific to a particular consumer’s needs that there is no other market for it once the consumer has cancelled the contract. Judgements of what is truly bespoke will, therefore, inevitably be on a case by case basis. In the above case, the customer should be able to cancel a shirt bearing a team player name on it. However, a shirt bearing their own name would be likely to constitute a personalised item to which cancellation rights do not apply.

14. An item made up following a consumer order does not necessarily make it a bespoke item which is exempt from cancellation rights. An item, for example a sofa or computer, can be assembled following an order but the component parts may be made up of parts offered from a standard range. So, for instance, a sofa where the consumer chooses a fabric and colour from a range on offer will not be bespoke for the purposes of these Regulations. However, if the consumer asks the trader to source a special finish and which is not in the range generally offered by the trader, that is likely to be a bespoke item.

kinger101

But neither of these are law. They're guidance that put a non-legally binding interpretation of the SI.
It's an important distinction because government departments do sometimes get it wrong. 

A retailer is free to ignore guidance if they think it is wrong. Or think hat the fact they offer say 100 designs in 5 sizes and 6 colours means they have no possible buyer for the XXL neon yellow t-shirt with Big Daddy printed on it means this guidance supports their view.  Many POD business models are based on saturating the market with thousands of variations such that many of their theoretical SKUs will have 0 sales.

Just saying, there's plenty of grey on this one, and it's probably not worth pursuing further 

ThumbRemote

kinger101 said:

But neither of these are law. They're guidance that put a non-legally binding interpretation of the SI.
It's an important distinction because government departments do sometimes get it wrong. 

A retailer is free to ignore guidance if they think it is wrong. Or think hat the fact they offer say 100 designs in 5 sizes and 6 colours means they have no possible buyer for the XXL neon yellow t-shirt with Big Daddy printed on it means this guidance supports their view.  Many POD business models are based on saturating the market with thousands of variations such that many of their theoretical SKUs will have 0 sales.

Just saying, there's plenty of grey on this one, and it's probably not worth pursuing further 

The law says "clearly personalised" items are excluded. If the consumer has selected from a range of options presented by the retailer, it's not personalised, nor is it "clearly" personalised. 

You can't say there's plenty of grey in this area, when the use of the word "clearly" in the legislation indicates it has to be well beyond a shade of grey. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

kinger101 said:

But neither of these are law. They're guidance that put a non-legally binding interpretation of the SI.
It's an important distinction because government departments do sometimes get it wrong. 

A retailer is free to ignore guidance if they think it is wrong. Or think hat the fact they offer say 100 designs in 5 sizes and 6 colours means they have no possible buyer for the XXL neon yellow t-shirt with Big Daddy printed on it means this guidance supports their view.  Many POD business models are based on saturating the market with thousands of variations such that many of their theoretical SKUs will have 0 sales.

Just saying, there's plenty of grey on this one, and it's probably not worth pursuing further 

Everything is guidance, question with guidance is what is credible. 

In this case something made to order (or printed on demand) isn’t made to the consumer’s specification, it’s made to the trader’s specification merely at the consumer’s request.

In terms of personalised the EU guidance states 

goods, for which the consumer has requested specific personalised features, such as a particular design for a car that is made to order or a specific component for a computer, which has to be individually procured for that particular order and which was not part of the trader’s general offer to the public

as well as noting the limit is to be interpreted narrowly, going on to explain:

In contrast, where the consumer simply makes up the goods by picking from the standard (pre-set) options provided by the trader, it should not be possible to speak of either ‘specification’ or ‘personalisation’ in the narrow sense of this provision.

The intention is clear that the product should be heading towards unique.

The point at which the product is produced isn’t reflected in the limit and indeed EU case law stipulated that the limit is inherent so if something is custom/personalised and the trader hasn’t begun making it the consumer may not cancel regardless. 

I do agree there is some grey area, if I buy a blank shirt and upload a picture of my cat to go on it that is unique, if I upload a straight copy of a popular album cover, is that unique, probably not but it was made to my wishes without  inspiration from the trader and I think most would expect to lose the right to cancel.

In comparison, with regards to of thousands of SKUs, if the trader wishes to instead give inspiration to the consumer in the form of pre-set options then they bear the burden of change of mind being applied, if they wish to avoid this they can simply allow the consumer to make a unique choice to their wishes by uploading their own design.