Your returns page says “email us,” and customers do. That used to feel like a reasonable setup. Since 19 June 2026, though, an EU shop selling through its website may also need an online withdrawal button customers can actually find and use.
If you run WooCommerce, there’s now a built-in starting point: Order Withdrawal in WooCommerce 11.1. Starting point is the key phrase. Switching it on won’t put a button in your footer, check your translated labels or deal with a return after the request arrives.
What does the EU withdrawal button have to do?
Article 11a, inserted by Directive (EU) 2023/2673, applies to distance contracts made through an online interface where the customer has a statutory right of withdrawal. It doesn’t give customers a new right to return everything. The usual exceptions still apply, including perishable food and made-to-measure items.
For contracts covered by the rule, your online function needs to work like this:
- Show a prominent, easily accessible function labelled “withdraw from contract here” or a clear equivalent in your shop’s language. Keep it available throughout the withdrawal period.
- Let the customer easily give or confirm their name, details identifying the order, and an electronic contact address for the acknowledgement.
- Give them a second step labelled “confirm withdrawal” or an equally clear equivalent. An accidental first click shouldn’t submit the request.
- After submission, send an acknowledgement without undue delay on a durable medium, such as email. It must include what the customer submitted and the date and time of submission.
A request submitted before the withdrawal period ends counts as on time. And if someone’s already logged in, they shouldn’t have to identify themselves again just to use the function. Don’t make them download an app to find it, either.
Turn on WooCommerce 11.1 Order Withdrawal
WooCommerce 11.1.0 includes Order Withdrawal, but it’s disabled by default. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Features, tick Order withdrawal, then save. The form lives at /my-account/withdraw-order/. If that slug looks odd in your shop’s language, change the Order withdrawal field under WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Page setup. You don’t need to re-save permalinks.
Both guests and logged-in customers can use the form; it doesn’t require a login. It asks for first and last name, email twice, and an order number. The customer can request withdrawal from the whole order or describe specific items in Additional details. They get a review step before submitting, then a confirmation screen.
Two emails sit under WooCommerce > Settings > Emails: Order withdrawal request goes to the shop (the site admin email is the default recipient), and Order withdrawal request received acknowledges the customer. You can preview and enable or disable each. Check where the merchant email goes. An enabled email that fails to send prevents the request from completing, which makes email delivery part of the setup, not a later tidy-up.
The gaps WooCommerce leaves to you
The form isn’t linked anywhere by default. You’ll need to add your own clearly labelled link or button – “withdraw from contract here,” or an unambiguous local-language equivalent. A visible footer link is a sensible baseline because customers can reach it across the site. You might add it to My Account and order emails too, but an email link can’t replace the function on the website. Check that your chosen route remains available throughout the withdrawal period, including if that period is extended.
Next, open the customer acknowledgement email. Check that it contains the submitted content and the submission date and time; don’t assume the default template covers everything your shop needs. Preview it and edit its additional content if needed. Check the review step as well: does its final button clearly say “confirm withdrawal” in your shop’s language? A clumsy translation here is more than a cosmetic nuisance.
Your terms or returns page should tell customers that the function exists and where to find it. Keep the model withdrawal form available too – the online function adds a way to withdraw; it doesn’t replace the form. If you sell exempt products, explain the applicable exception before purchase.
Finally, decide who handles requests. Order Withdrawal doesn’t cancel an order, change its status or issue a refund. Your team still has to review the request and handle the return, refund or status change. If your shop takes payments, our guide to securing a WordPress shop that takes payments covers the wider housekeeping around that workflow.
Test it before customers do
Use a fictional order and an inbox you control on staging. If you don’t have a copy to test on, start with our guide to setting up a WordPress staging environment. Then walk through the customer journey, not just the settings screen:
- Open the withdrawal link while logged out. Submit a request for a guest order, and check the review step and confirmation screen.
- Check both emails arrive. Does the customer’s message contain the submitted details, date and time? Does the merchant copy reach the person who will act on it?
- For a matching order number and billing email, check for an order note and a notification on the WooCommerce home screen.
- Try details that don’t match an order. The request should still be accepted; the merchant email should flag manual review, without an order note or inbox item.
- Open the form on a phone. Can you spot the footer link without hunting? Check that caching or redirect rules on account pages don’t turn the form into a not-found page.
WooCommerce allows one request per order; a second attempt tells the customer to contact the shop. It also limits submissions to one per 30 seconds per email or IP. Those are useful behaviors to know before somebody asks why their second try didn’t work.
Don’t mistake the 14-day warning for a decision
If an order is more than 14 days old by its creation date, WooCommerce adds a warning to the merchant email. That’s information, not a refusal. For goods, the withdrawal period usually runs from delivery, so check the delivery date before you tell a customer they’re too late. I wouldn’t let a warning in an inbox make that call for me.
Check the rules in your country
EU countries had to transpose the directive by 19 December 2025 and apply the rules from 19 June 2026, but national timing and details differ. Estonia’s version, for example, took effect on 1 September 2026. Check your own country’s rules and consumer authority rather than copying another shop’s policy. This isn’t legal advice.
WooCommerce says its feature doesn’t guarantee compliance. Fair enough: software can collect a request, but it cant inspect your footer, your wording or your returns process.
Make the button part of the shop, not just a setting
If you’d rather have us wire up the form, links and customer journey, that’s the kind of work we do through our WooCommerce shop service. After launch, WordPress maintenance helps keep plugin updates and email delivery from quietly breaking the path customers rely on.
For today? Open your shop’s footer on your phone and look for the withdrawal link. If you have to search for it, your customer probably will too.