A few clicks on the couch at home and you've made your purchase. Nowadays more and more people are opting for online shopping, but what if the sweater doesn't fit, the food processor doesn't work properly or the new chairs aren't as comfortable as they look on the internet? No problem: the right of cancellation applies to almost all goods ordered online. In principle, you have 14 days from receipt of the products to return your orders to the retailer. DPD tells you what you should look out for so that there are no nasty surprises in the end.

Check the cancellation conditions before you place your order

Anyone who does a lot of online shopping knows that the rules for returns can vary from shop to shop. Sometimes a return label is included, at others you first have to click through all the service pages to print out the return label yourself. And by no means all online shops will pay the return costs for you: smaller retailers in particular are increasingly leaving returns to their customers in order to keep their sales prices as low as possible and thus remain competitive. Foreign shops hardly ever offer free returns because of the higher shipping costs and possible customs duties.

The cancellation policy will tell you who is responsible for the costs of returns and who is not. Good, reputable shops do not hide such information, but communicate it very clearly. If not on the home page, then at least in the FAQs or on a separate help page. You should find out about the relevant conditions for a possible return before you place your first order - and if in doubt, choose another shop from the very beginning.

Make sure you have evidence of proper shipping

It can be particularly annoying if you are told afterwards that the returned goods reached the retailer incomplete or damaged - for example, because you failed to adequately protect the items in the parcel. Consumer advice centres therefore recommend collecting appropriate evidence before returning an order. Especially in the case of expensive products, it can be worthwhile to record the proper dispatch of the return. For example, take photos of the parcel and the complete contents, record a video of how you put the undamaged goods into the parcel and seal it, or pack everything in the presence of another person who can serve as a witness in the event of doubt! This will ensure that you are on the safe side if the worst comes to the worst.

Printing out return labels is a thing of the past

Once everything is well packed, take the parcel to a parcel service provider you can trust and ask for a return receipt, which you should keep in a safe place. DPD offers a particularly fast and smooth way to send your returns: retailers that ship with DPD have integrated a returns button either in the order confirmation or directly in the shop itself, which you can use to return the goods. When you click on the button, a return label is created which you can print out and stick on the parcel. But it even gets a bit easier than this: in the myDPD app you can also order a mobile returns label even faster. It only requires two taps on the display screen. After that you take the parcel to one of the 7,500 DPD parcel shops in your area, where the shop employee simply scans the QR code created for the return and your return shipment is done!