Your Rights When Buying Ex-Display in the UK

Ex-display is often where the sensible money is. A showroom kitchen, a clearance sofa or a display cabinet can give you the look you want without making your bank account lie down in a dark room. Our complete ex-display guide explains the showroom terms. Here, we’re looking at the other half of the bargain, because your rights change depending on who sold the item and how you bought it.

That sounds dry. It needn't be. Get the seller and the condition clear before you pay, and you'll know what you can do if the lovely cabinet arrives with a wonky door or the bargain appliance refuses to switch on. This is general information, not legal advice. For help with a real dispute, contact Citizens Advice.

First, work out who is selling it

A shop, showroom or business website is usually a trader. So is a business selling through a marketplace. If you buy goods from a trader, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you protections around satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and description. Ex-display does not switch those off. If it did, every dented showroom kitchen in Britain would be sold with a wink and a shrug.

Ex-display does change what a reasonable person might expect. A scratch, assembly mark, faded patch or missing bit of packaging can be part of the deal, especially if the seller points it out and the price reflects it. The important phrase is “before you buy”. A fault that's specifically drawn to your attention is treated differently from one discovered later.

There is a showroom catch, mind you. If you examine the goods before the contract and that examination ought to reveal a problem, satisfactory quality does not cover that particular issue. So have a proper look, but don't assume looking means you've signed away everything. The seller still has to describe the goods honestly and mustn't hide a fault behind the phrase “you saw it”.

Buying in person also doesn't give you a general change-of-mind refund. If the colour looks different at home or the sideboard is larger than your eye told you, that's usually your problem. If it's faulty, misdescribed or doesn't do what it was meant to do, that's different. The current GOV.UK refunds guidance explains the split rather neatly.

Online buys come with a useful escape hatch

Buy from a trader online and you normally get a 14-day cancellation period for a distance contract, even if the goods are perfectly fine. The clock starts when you take physical possession. Tell the trader you’re cancelling within those 14 days, then you normally have another 14 days to send the goods back. You don't need to give a reason.

The trader normally refunds the goods and the basic delivery charge. You may have to pay the return cost if that was made clear before you bought, and the trader can reduce the refund if you've handled the item more than you needed to in order to inspect it. With a large ex-display wardrobe, I’d take photographs, avoid assembling it and keep every bit of packaging I can. Bulky returns are a faff at the best of times.

The cooling-off right is separate from your rights over faulty goods. It also has exceptions. Personalised or made-to-measure goods, things that deteriorate quickly and certain sealed goods can be excluded once unsealed. A standard ex-display dining table is not automatically exempt just because it has lived in a showroom. If a seller says the 14-day right doesn't apply, ask which exception they’re relying on.

Thirty days can make all the difference

If goods from a trader are faulty, misdescribed or otherwise don't conform to the contract, the short-term right to reject normally lasts 30 days. The period starts with the relevant delivery or possession point, with special rules where installation is part of the deal. If you want to reject, say so clearly. “This isn't right” may start a conversation, but “I am rejecting these goods because they don't conform to the contract” is much harder to misunderstand.

The trader must bear reasonable return costs. For a huge kitchen island, that matters. So does keeping evidence of the condition when it arrived. Photograph the fault, the packaging and the listing before anything gets moved around too much.

After the 30 days, repair or replacement is usually the next route. The trader must do it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience, and must cover necessary costs. A one-off display unit may have no identical replacement sitting in a warehouse, so repair could be the realistic option. If repair or replacement is impossible, takes too long, causes significant inconvenience or fails, you may move on to a price reduction or the final right to reject under section 24.

For a final rejection, a refund can be reduced to reflect use. No deduction for use can be made in the first six months, unless the goods are a motor vehicle or another type specified by order. After six months, ordinary goods can have a deduction too. That's one reason not to leave a clear fault drifting around while you hope it sorts itself out.

Here’s the six-month bit I’d want in big letters on every receipt. Under section 19, for repair, replacement, price reduction and final rejection, if the goods fail to conform within six months of delivery, the law generally treats them as having been faulty at delivery. That presumption doesn't apply if the seller establishes they did conform then, or if it doesn't fit the nature of the goods or the way they failed.

After six months, the general position becomes harder for the buyer because you’ll usually need to show the problem was there when the goods were delivered. That doesn't mean your rights vanish on day 181. Citizens Advice says legal rights can last up to six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland, but that is a time limit for bringing a claim, not a six-year promise of a refund.

“Sold as seen” is not a legal invisibility cloak

“Sold as seen” sounds wonderfully final. It isn't magic. A trader can't use a sign, listing or receipt to exclude or restrict the statutory liabilities for quality, fitness and description. Section 31 of the Consumer Rights Act is the useful one to quote if a seller tries it on.

It still matters what you were shown and told. If the listing says “small chip to the front edge” and you buy after seeing that chip, you can't later complain about that same disclosed mark as if it were a surprise. If the fridge doesn't cool, the sofa isn't the size stated, or the cabinet is missing a fitting that was promised, sold as seen doesn't turn the problem into your fault.

Private sellers give you less cover

Buying from someone selling a personal item is not the same as buying from a trader. In a genuine private sale, you don't get the Consumer Rights Act's trader protections around satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 still matters: the seller must have the right to sell the goods, and goods sold by description must match that description.

So I’d ask more questions before paying a private seller. Does it work? What is missing? Are the marks shown in the photographs? Is that fitting included? Save the answers. If somebody says the display oven has never been connected, or the cabinet includes its shelves, keep that message. You generally don't get a 14-day change-of-mind right just because the item looks less charming in your own hallway.

Do check that “private” really means private. Someone regularly buying and selling goods may be acting as a business, even if the listing has a friendly first name and a photograph of a dog. The facts matter.

Auctions have a slightly awkward wrinkle

The Consumer Rights Act has a specific exception for second-hand goods sold at a public auction where individuals have the opportunity to attend in person. In that situation, the buyer isn't treated as a consumer for most of the Act's goods protections. Some protections remain, including rules about description and title.

An online auction isn't automatically the same thing. Look at who is selling, the auction terms, whether it was genuinely open for people to attend and what inspection was offered. Read the catalogue notes properly, including collection arrangements. A cheap display unit that needs a specialist courier can eat the saving before it reaches your front door.

And what about eBay?

eBay's platform rules sit alongside the law. The first question is still the seller's status. On the listing, look for business seller information, a business address or VAT details, a returns policy and signs of regular trading. eBay’s selling practices policy says business-seller goods must be of satisfactory quality, as described and fit for purpose. It says goods from a private individual must be as described, but don't have the same quality and fitness requirements.

A business seller on eBay must deal with faulty or misdescribed goods, and an online consumer purchase may also have the 14-day cancellation right. A “no returns” line cannot take away statutory rights. eBay’s own returns and buyer-protection routes can be useful, but they are platform processes with their own deadlines. Contact the seller promptly and keep the listing before it changes.

Our site is a marketplace too, so check the actual listing and follow the link through to the seller. We don't hold the stock or process the order. That seller is the one you need to contact about delivery, condition and a remedy.

If the bargain goes wrong, keep it tidy

1. Save the listing, photographs, condition notes, messages, receipt and delivery details. Take your own photographs as soon as the goods arrive.
2. Write to the seller who sold the goods. State the problem, the purchase date and the remedy you want.
3. If you are within 30 days and want to reject faulty or misdescribed goods, use clear words and ask about collection or return costs.
4. If repair or replacement is the sensible route, give the trader a reasonable opportunity and keep notes of dates, missed arrangements and inconvenience.
5. Don't repair, modify or throw away the goods before agreeing the next step. You may make the fault harder to assess.
6. If the seller refuses, use the relevant marketplace process and then get guidance from Citizens Advice. A card provider or PayPal may have a separate process, but the seller remains the other party to your contract.

Before you buy, I’d pin down the seller, the condition that's actually been disclosed and what happens if the item fails. It takes five minutes and can save a great deal of back-and-forth later.

For more money-saving inspiration, have a look through our ex-display furniture, appliances and white goods, kitchen displays, bathroom displays, garden furniture and home interiors. If you’re planning a fitted room, our ex-display kitchens buyer’s guide is a useful next stop. A bargain should leave you with more money for the bits of life that are actually fun.