The Withdrawal Button Is Here: What Online Retailers Need to Know and Do Now

Since 19 June 2026, it's mandatory: the withdrawal button (Widerrufsbutton). With it, German lawmakers have created a new, standalone way for consumers to withdraw from online contracts – quickly, easily, and at the click of a button. For retailers, this means more than just a technical update to the shop: it also brings new obligations in day-to-day business, from correctly designing the form, to reviewing incoming withdrawals, to handling unclear or unassignable declarations. 

How we got here: Lawmakers tighten the reins

The new obligation is based on the Act Amending Consumer Contract Law and Insurance Contract Law and Amending Treatment Contract Law (Gesetz zur Änderung des Verbrauchervertrags- und des Versicherungsvertragsrechts sowie zur Änderung des Behandlungsvertragsrechts), passed by the Bundesrat on 30 January 2026. It transposes several EU directives into national law and brings noticeable changes for e-commerce. 

The core point for retailers: online shops must provide an easily findable and easy-to-use function through which contracts can be withdrawn. The idea behind it: withdrawing should be just as straightforward as concluding the contract in the first place. Anyone who can buy online in a few clicks should also be able to withdraw in a few clicks. 

The law also brings other changes that, while not central to the withdrawal button debate, are still relevant: providers of financial services must in future explain their products and the associated risks clearly and understandably, without unnecessary jargon, and be personally reachable on request. The withdrawal period for financial services contracts is capped at a maximum of 12 months and 14 days, provided the withdrawal notice was correctly given. And there are changes outside e-commerce too: patients will in future be entitled to a free copy of their treatment records. 

What exactly is the withdrawal button – and what does it involve?

As of 19 June 2026: shops must provide a clearly labelled button or comparable function – for example, labelled "Withdraw from contract" or an equivalent wording. This button must lead directly to an electronic withdrawal form that customers can fill out and submit online. 

Importantly: the new button does not replace existing ways of withdrawing, but is added as an additional channel alongside existing options such as email or post. And:

Businesses must confirm the withdrawal without delay on a durable medium – in practice, usually via an automated email with the option to save the confirmation as, say, a PDF.

What data may be requested in the form?

One of the most common practical questions around the withdrawal button concerns the electronic withdrawal form: what information may retailers actually require here? The law explicitly names: 

• the consumer's name, 
• information to identify the contract being withdrawn from (such as an order, job, or contract number), 
• information about the electronic means of communication through which the confirmation of receipt is to be sent – in practice, usually an email address. 

An important limitation applies here: consumers are not required to provide the email address originally used to make the purchase. The form must not impose any such restriction. 

Mandatory field or not? An area of tension

At first glance, it seems logical to make the order number a mandatory field in the form – after all, it's explicitly intended to identify the contract. At the same time, however, a core principle of withdrawal law applies: exercising the right of withdrawal must not be made unnecessarily difficult. With other withdrawal channels, such as email or letter, an order number is generally not required – the withdrawal is already effective as soon as it's clearly recognisable that the consumer wants to end the contract. 

How the courts will ultimately assess this mandatory-field question is still an open matter. Those who want to play it safe can make the order number an optional field and instead require, as a mandatory field, which product or order is specifically affected. This makes matching easier without adding extra hurdles to the withdrawal process. 

A withdrawal comes in: What to do now

As soon as customers click the button, an automated chain of events starts in the background: the law requires an electronic confirmation of the withdrawal, which in practice is usually sent fully automatically via the shop system. Especially in the early stages, it's worth checking carefully whether these confirmations are actually being reliably delivered. 

Once the confirmation is secured, the real substantive work begins. Because a withdrawal received via the button doesn't automatically mean it's valid. Alongside checking the deadline, retailers must, in the same step, check whether any exclusion grounds apply – for example, for sealed goods or products made to the customer's individual specifications. 

Checklist: Incoming withdrawal via the button

Basic technical check

• Does the shop system or ERP automatically send an electronic confirmation of receipt immediately after the click? 
• Is all necessary information – order number, name, date – correctly transferred from the button's form into the system? 

1. Reviewing the withdrawal

• Matching: Can the submitted data (name, email address, customer number) be clearly matched to a specific purchase contract? If the system can't automatically match the click – for example due to typos – comparing the payment provider's transaction ID or the delivery address can help. Does the withdrawal concern the entire order or only individual items? 
• Calculating the deadline: Is the withdrawal within the deadline? For goods, the deadline generally starts when the customer, or a designated recipient, receives the goods – not on the order date. What matters is the time the button was clicked; that is sufficient to meet the deadline. 
• Exclusion grounds: Does an exception to the right of withdrawal apply, for example for goods that spoil quickly or products made to individual specifications? 

2. Processing and refund

• Return of goods: Have the goods already been sent back, and is there proof of shipment? 
• Refund: Is there a claim for compensation in value, for example due to use that goes beyond simply checking the item's properties? The purchase price, including standard delivery costs, must be refunded no later than 14 days after the day of withdrawal. For a consumer goods purchase, the business may withhold the refund until it has received the goods back or the consumer has provided proof of return shipment.
• Rejection or goodwill gesture: If the withdrawal is late, cannot be matched, or an exclusion ground applies, the rejection should be clearly and comprehensibly justified. 

Conclusion

The withdrawal button doesn't change the substantive right of withdrawal, but it does change the process around it. For retailers, this means: designing forms that require identifiable but not unnecessarily restrictive information; systematically reviewing incoming withdrawals for deadline, validity, and exclusion grounds; and actively following up on matching problems rather than waiting them out. Anyone who cleanly integrates these points into existing returns processes takes most of the sting out of the new button. 

Our solution: Implementation and protection from a single source

Händlerbund supports its members in implementing the withdrawal button in two ways. 

First, a code snippet is available for integration into your own shop, including a handout and information sheet in the Händlerbund customer centre. This affects all retailers who offer contracts to consumers – pure B2B shops, as well as presentation pages or social media presences without a sales function, are not affected. A withdrawal button is also required on marketplaces, though implementation there lies with the respective platform. Important: once the button is integrated, the withdrawal notice and privacy policy must also be updated – the matching legal texts are likewise available in the customer centre. 

Second, Händlerbund has developed the Withdrawal Button Check, an automated review process that provides a legal assessment of the withdrawal process in your own shop. Simply installing the button is often not enough: individual theme settings or incorrect placement can unknowingly undermine the function. After the review, retailers receive a detailed report listing all identified risks along with concrete recommendations for action; the evaluation generally takes up to two weeks. The check is already included for one shop project in the Unlimited package, while it can be booked as an add-on in the Basic and Premium tariffs.