The EU sets checkout rules in law, one framework for every member state; the US mostly doesn't, leaving it to the FTC's general ban on deception, a patchwork of state laws, and the credit card networks. The differences that matter most: EU buyers have a legal right to return an online purchase within 14 days for any reason and US buyers don't; EU prices must include VAT while US prices add sales tax at checkout; and the EU requires opt-in consent for marketing emails where the US only requires a working unsubscribe link.
The rules differ, but so does the way they are enforced. In the EU, a regulator can fine you and a court can release a customer from the contract. In the US, the risk is more often a lawsuit, a state attorney general, or a chargeback. A US store can do things an EU store can't - and a US store can still get sued for things no US statute spells out.
This is a comparison, so it stays at the level of what differs. For the full EU requirements, see our guide to EU checkout rules. None of this is legal advice: EU directives are written into each country's own law, US rules vary by state, and a store with serious volume in either should have a lawyer look at it.
At a glance
| European Union | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Return for any reason | Legal right, 14 days | No federal right; store policy |
| Refund policy disclosure | Required before purchase | Required in some states (e.g. New York) |
| Final button wording | Must say the customer is paying | No rule |
| Tax in displayed price | VAT included | Sales tax added at checkout |
| Mandatory fees in price | Always | Some states (e.g. California) |
| Pre-ticked paid add-ons | Customer can reclaim the payment | No specific federal ban |
| "Was" price on sales | Lowest price in the last 30 days | "Reasonably substantial period" (California: 3 months) |
| Online cancellation button | Required for all online contracts | Subscriptions only, some states |
| Default delivery deadline | 30 days | 30 days |
| Product safety info on listing | Required for all products | Only for some products and states |
| Website accessibility | Regulation with a named standard | Enforced through lawsuits |
| Marketing email | Opt-in consent | Opt-out (unsubscribe link) |
| Card surcharges | Banned for most consumer cards | Allowed in most states |
| Geo-blocking | Restricted | No equivalent |
The biggest difference: returns
EU: consumers have 14 days to withdraw from an online purchase without giving a reason. You have to tell them before they buy; if you don't, their window extends by twelve months. Since 19 June 2026 you must also provide an online withdrawal button. And you must refund within 14 days of being told.
US: there is no federal right to return an online purchase. The FTC's "Cooling-Off Rule" is often cited, but it covers sales made at the buyer's home or a temporary location such as a hotel room or fair - not online orders. Whether you accept returns is your policy.
Some states do regulate how you disclose that policy. New York requires online retailers to show their refund policy near the item or before asking for billing details; if they don't, customers can return unused goods for up to 30 days. California requires stores whose policy is stricter than a full refund within 7 days to display it - on the order form counts - or customers can return goods within 30 days.
The real US safety net is the card. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, a credit cardholder can dispute a charge for goods that weren't delivered as agreed within 60 days of the statement. A customer the law gives no right to return can still take their money back through their bank.
If you sell to both: show your returns policy before checkout everywhere. You don't have to offer EU terms to US buyers, but one clear policy is simpler to run than two.
Prices, taxes and fees
EU: the displayed price must include VAT and all mandatory fees, and delivery costs must be shown before the customer commits.
US: prices are normally shown before sales tax, which is calculated at checkout from the delivery address. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 Wayfair decision, states can require out-of-state sellers to collect their sales tax once they pass a sales threshold.
Mandatory fees are where the US is moving. The FTC's 2025 rule on junk fees is often reported as a general ban, but it only covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging. For everything else, states are acting. California's Honest Pricing Law (July 2024) makes it illegal to advertise a price that leaves out mandatory fees, apart from government taxes and shipping. Minnesota and Virginia have similar laws, and Colorado and Connecticut follow in 2026.
If you sell to both: VAT-inclusive prices for your EU markets, tax-exclusive for the US is normal and expected. What works in both: no mandatory fee that first appears at checkout.
Pre-ticked boxes and add-ons
EU: any extra payment needs the customer's express consent. If you add it through a box they had to untick, they are entitled to get that payment back.
US: there is no federal rule specifically banning pre-ticked add-ons on a one-off purchase. The FTC can still pursue sneaking charges into an order as a deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act, and for subscriptions, federal law requires the customer's express informed consent before you charge them.
If you sell to both: leave paid add-ons unticked. It is required in the EU and it removes a deception argument in the US. Watch shipping-protection and insurance apps that switch themselves on by default.
Sale prices
EU: a "was" price must be the lowest price you charged in the 30 days before the reduction, and the EU Court of Justice has ruled that the advertised percentage off must be calculated from that price.
US: the FTC's pricing guides require a former price to be a genuine one, openly offered "for a reasonably substantial period of time" - with no fixed number of days. California is more precise: a former price must have been the prevailing market price within the three months before the advertisement, unless you state when it applied.
If you sell to both: the EU's 30-day rule is the stricter and simpler one to apply everywhere. Put the 30-day low in your compare-at price field, not the RRP.
Subscriptions and cancellation
EU: every online contract, subscriptions included, must now come with an online withdrawal function - a "withdraw from contract here" button and a confirmation step.
US: the FTC's federal "click-to-cancel" rule was struck down by the Eighth Circuit on 8 July 2025, days before it took effect. The FTC restarted the process in March 2026 with an advance notice - the earliest stage of rulemaking - so no federal click-to-cancel rule is in force.
What does apply is the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA): disclose the terms clearly before taking billing details, get express informed consent, and give a simple way to stop recurring charges. States go further. California's automatic renewal law, amended from July 2025, requires express affirmative consent, annual reminders, and - if people could sign up online - the ability to cancel online.
If you sell to both: let people cancel the way they signed up. That satisfies the spirit of both, and the letter of California and the EU.
Delivery
Here the two systems line up. EU: deliver within 30 days unless you agreed another time; if you miss it, the customer can set a further deadline and then cancel. US: under the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, ship within the time you state, or 30 days if you state none; if you'll be late, you must ask the customer to agree to the delay and offer to cancel with a prompt refund.
If you sell to both: state a realistic dispatch time, and tell customers proactively when you'll miss it.
What goes on the product page
EU: the General Product Safety Regulation requires every online listing to show the manufacturer's name and address, an EU responsible person for products made outside the EU, product identifiers, and any warnings in a language customers understand.
US: there is no general equivalent. The rules are product-specific: federal law requires the choking-hazard warning for toys and games with small parts to appear on the online listing, and California's Proposition 65 requires warnings for products containing listed chemicals to be shown to California buyers before they complete the purchase.
If you sell to both: build the product page to carry structured safety information, and fill it in for EU products. The same block can carry US warnings where they apply.
Accessibility
This is where the enforcement difference is sharpest.
EU: the European Accessibility Act has applied to e-commerce since 28 June 2025, with a harmonised standard aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA. There is a narrow exemption for micro-enterprises - fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million in turnover.
US: the Americans with Disabilities Act does not mention websites, and there is no federal rule setting a standard for private businesses' sites. But courts have widely applied it to them, WCAG 2.1 AA has become the benchmark in practice, and there is no small-business exemption in the statute. More than 3,100 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in federal court in 2025 alone.
If you sell to both: WCAG 2.1 AA is effectively the target on both sides. On a Shopify store, the checkout is Shopify's; your theme is yours.
Marketing emails
EU: you generally need opt-in consent before sending marketing emails, and a pre-ticked box is not consent. The EU Court of Justice settled that in Planet49 (2019) - a case about cookies, but the consent standard it applied is the same one that governs marketing emails. There is a narrow "soft opt-in" for existing customers: you can email people who bought from you about similar products, provided you gave them a clear chance to refuse when you collected their address, and in every email.
US: the CAN-SPAM Act is opt-out. You can email buyers without prior consent, as long as every email identifies you, includes a valid postal address, has a working unsubscribe, and you honour unsubscribes within 10 business days.
If you sell to both: leave the checkout's marketing checkbox unticked for EU customers. An opt-in list is compliant in both places; an opt-out list is compliant in only one.
Card surcharges
EU: surcharges on the most common consumer cards are banned, and no payment fee can exceed your actual cost.
US: credit card surcharges are legal in most states. Connecticut and Massachusetts ban them; elsewhere, the card networks cap them at 3% and require you to disclose them before the customer enters card details. Surcharging debit cards isn't allowed anywhere.
If you sell to both: most stores don't surcharge at all, and that is the simplest answer for a single checkout serving both.
Where the US has no equivalent at all
Three EU requirements have no US counterpart for ordinary retail:
- Button wording. The EU requires the final button to say the customer is paying ("Pay now", not "Complete order"). The US has no such rule. "Pay now" works in both.
- Geo-blocking. The EU restricts blocking customers from other member states or force-redirecting them to another country store. A US store is free to limit where it sells.
- Business identity. The EU requires your name, address, phone number, email and VAT number to be easy to find. The US has no general rule to publish these on your site - though every marketing email must carry a valid postal address.
If you sell to both: build to the stricter rule
For almost every item above, the EU rule is the stricter one, and meeting it also satisfies the US - or removes a US argument against you. A single checkout built to EU standards is simpler than two, with a few genuine exceptions:
- Tax display is market-specific by design: VAT-inclusive for EU buyers, tax at checkout for US buyers.
- The withdrawal right and button are EU obligations. You can offer the same terms to US customers, but you don't have to.
- Marketing consent is the one where building to the EU standard costs you something: a smaller list. It's the trade most stores selling into Europe have already made.
On Shopify, several of these are settings rather than code - markets, tax display, the marketing checkbox default. The rest live in your theme: product-page safety information, how sale prices and "-X%" badges are calculated, and whether pop-ups and menus work with a keyboard. That is theme work, and it is what Clyro does: describe the change and it edits your Shopify theme to match.
FAQ
Does EU law apply to a US store? Generally, yes, when it sells to consumers in the EU and directs its store at them. Where your business is based doesn't change that.
Is there any US federal right to return an online purchase? No. Returns are store policy, although some states regulate how that policy must be disclosed, and credit card holders can dispute charges for goods not delivered as agreed.
Did the FTC's click-to-cancel rule take effect? No. It was vacated in July 2025 before it came into force. The FTC restarted rulemaking in 2026, but the federal rules that apply today are ROSCA and the FTC Act, plus state automatic-renewal laws.
Which is stricter overall? The EU, for almost everything that happens at checkout. The US is stricter in effect in one place: accessibility, where the volume of lawsuits makes an inaccessible store a more immediate risk than in most of Europe.
Sources
European Union - see the full source list in our EU checkout rules guide, plus:
- Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 18 (delivery)
- EU Court of Justice, Planet49 (C-673/17) - pre-ticked boxes are not consent
United States
- FTC Cooling-Off Rule, 16 CFR Part 429 - door-to-door and temporary locations only
- FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 CFR Part 464 and the FTC's FAQ on its scope
- FTC Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule
- FTC Guides Against Deceptive Pricing, 16 CFR 233.1
- California Business and Professions Code § 17501 - former prices
- California Attorney General on SB 478 - the Honest Pricing Law
- California Civil Code § 1723 and New York General Business Law § 218-a - refund policy disclosure
- California AB 2863 - automatic renewal amendments
- Eighth Circuit vacates the click-to-cancel rule and the FTC's 2026 restart
- CPSC on choking-hazard warnings and Proposition 65 internet warnings
- FTC CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide
- Fair Credit Billing Act billing-error rules (Regulation Z, § 1026.13) - disputes within 60 days
- Federal website accessibility lawsuits in 2025
This article is general information, not legal advice. EU directives are written into each member state's own law, and US rules vary by state.