2026: the new rules on the table
The amendment package published on 24 May 2025 entered into force on 1 January 2026 and moved three cornerstones of distance selling: return shipping costs now fall on the seller as a rule; devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers returned to the scope of the right of withdrawal; and information on mediation as a precondition to litigation was added to the preliminary information. Most of the texts in the field still date from the 2022–2025 period — visibly outdated.
Practical guidance
If the wording “return shipping costs are borne by the buyer” still appears in your site’s text, it was written before the 2026 amendments — the un-updated text is itself a finding.
Let us bring your text set into 2026
We rebuild your distance sales contract, preliminary information, withdrawal and return policy as a single set aligned with Turkish and EU rules.
The mandatory anatomy of the preliminary information
Seller identity and contact details; the essential characteristics of the goods; the total price including taxes; payment and delivery; the conditions, period and procedure of the right of withdrawal; the carrier designated for returns; exceptions to the right of withdrawal; the mediation notice; complaint channels. This set must be provided before the order, its acceptance must be logged, and it must be confirmed on a durable medium. The log of the “I have read and accept” checkbox is the first piece of evidence requested in a dispute.
The withdrawal regime
The 14-day period starts upon delivery; the withdrawal notice must be given in writing or on a durable medium. The consumer may use the form in the Annex or make a clear statement instead; sending the form is mandatory for sales concluded by voice communication, and on platforms the intermediary service provider must set up a system through which the form can be completed. Where withdrawal is notified within the period, the refund must be made within 14 days. In the 2026 setup, the critical operational decision is the contracted carrier: for returns made via the carrier indicated in the preliminary information, the cost is borne by the seller; if no carrier is indicated, no cost whatsoever may be charged to the customer.
For those selling on platforms
The marketplace is jointly and severally liable with the seller for the pre-contract information being given; where the marketplace entered the data, it alone is responsible for defects in the mandatory items. The seller profile, the return policy and category exceptions do, however, remain within the seller’s domain. For stores running their own site and a marketplace in parallel, the texts of the two channels must not contradict each other — a contradiction is the first piece of adverse evidence in complaint files.
A parallel setup for EU sales
If you also sell to EU consumers, Directive 2011/83 applies: 14-day withdrawal, a model withdrawal form, pre-delivery information and the lowest price of the previous 30 days rule introduced by Omnibus. Producing the Turkish and target-market-language texts from a single master is the right approach for both consistency and maintenance cost. For the additional layer specific to Germany (Impressum, Widerrufsbelehrung, Button-Lösung), see our Abmahnung guide.
Checklist
(1) Remove leftover “return shipping costs are borne by the buyer” wording; (2) state the contracted carrier in the preliminary information; (3) drop the assumption that device categories are exempt from withdrawal; (4) add the mediation sentence; (5) verify your acceptance logs; (6) align your marketplace profile with your site. All six items are the standard deliverable of our distance sales service; for legislative detail, see the record on Law No. 6563 (Turkish E-Commerce Law).
