Rules for selling goods with a promise to refund the price

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law applies to companies that sell goods such as stamps, artworks, jewelry or antiques while offering to refund later all or part of the price paid, with or without a promise of added value. This is not a financial activity.
2. Advertising and commercial communications cannot confuse the consumer with financial activities: words like investment, savings or profitability are banned. They must also clearly state that the goods have no guaranteed market value.
3. Before signing, the company must provide complete written information: total price with taxes, costs, the refund offer, guarantees and risks. The offer is binding and must be kept for at least fifteen calendar days, a period in which no contract can be signed and no advance payments can be collected.
4. The contract must be signed in a public deed before a notary, who checks that the pre-contractual information was given and that the guarantees exist. Before signing, the consumer can review the deed for five days.
5. Before formalizing the contract, the company must have taken out a surety insurance, bank guarantee or other guarantee securing the amount promised back to the consumer. If the guarantee disappears, the consumer can seek to have the contract declared void.
6. Breaching the rules on advertising, information, deeds or guarantees is a very serious offense. The burden of proving compliance with the law falls on the company, not the consumer.

Who it affects

• Consumers who buy goods such as stamps, artworks, jewelry or antiques with a promise of getting their money back.: They receive mandatory information before signing, a fifteen-day reflection period, a public deed and a guarantee backing the refund.
• Companies and professionals that sell these goods.: They must give written information, keep the offer for fifteen days, use a public deed, take out guarantees and face sanctions if they fail to comply.
• Notaries.: They must check the validity requirements, certify that pre-contractual information was given and include the guarantees in the deed.
• People affected by the Fórum Filatélico and Afinsa insolvency proceedings.: The Government must present reports and a support plan, including an improved ICO advance credit line for people in special economic hardship.

Words worth knowing

Restitución del precio

Refunding the buyer all or part of the money paid.

Escritura pública

Official document signed before a notary that records what was agreed.

Seguro de caución

Insurance that guarantees the company will meet its payment obligations if it cannot.

Aval bancario

A bank guarantee: if the company does not pay, the bank is liable.

Nulidad

The contract is treated as if it never existed and has no effect.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries