The EU withdrawal button, explained for Shopify stores

What changed in June 2026

Since 19 June 2026, Directive (EU) 2023/2673 requires EU member states to give consumers a withdrawal function: a way for a customer to withdraw from a purchase during the withdrawal period, right on the website. A directive binds member states to legislate, not shops directly, so what actually applies to your store is your own country’s transposing law — this page is our reading of the source texts, not legal advice.

Germany’s transposition, § 356a of the Civil Code (BGB), is in force; we read it in full, and our paraphrase is below. We’ve also checked five more countries and found real gaps: as of our check, no transposing measure had been notified for Spain or Poland, and France, Italy and the Netherlands each have a notified measure whose scope for ordinary goods (rather than only financial services) we couldn’t confirm; we haven’t checked the remaining 20 EU member states. See our EU withdrawal button guide for the country-by-country detail. It isn’t EU/EEA law yet in Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein either: as of our check on 25 September 2026, the directive hadn’t been incorporated into the EEA Agreement for those three countries, per EFTA’s EEA-Lex tracker.

What the German rule asks for

Paraphrased from § 356a BGB (read the statute itself, or ask a lawyer, before relying on this):

• A clearly labelled functionLabelled “Vertrag widerrufen” (“withdraw from contract”) or equally clear wording, continuously available, prominently placed and easy to reach for the whole withdrawal period.
• Three pieces of informationThe customer’s name, details that identify the contract or the part being withdrawn from, and where the acknowledgement should be sent.
• A separate confirmation stepA second button labelled “Widerruf bestätigen” (“confirm withdrawal”) or equally clear wording.
• An acknowledgement without delaySent on a durable medium, such as an email, with at least the content of the declaration and the date and time it was received.

What about guest checkout?

Neither § 356a BGB nor Article 11a’s own text mentions customer accounts. Recital 37 of the directive mentions logging in only as one way a customer might already be identified, not as a requirement: “a consumer who has already identified himself or herself, for example by logging in, should be able to withdraw from the contract without the necessity of providing once more their identification.” Our reading — not legal advice — is that a function gated behind sign-in isn’t “easily accessible” to a guest with no account to sign in to. Shopify’s native self-serve returns and cancellations feature requires customers to sign in. Comeback’s form needs no login, so it works for guest orders and signed-in customers alike.

How Comeback’s withdrawal form works

1. After you switch on the app embed in your theme editor, a footer link labelled “Withdraw from contract here” (German: “Vertrag widerrufen”) appears on every page for visitors in the EEA.
2. The customer enters their name, order number and email, and chooses the items. All items are selected by default. No reason is asked for.
3. On a review screen they press “Confirm withdrawal” (German: “Widerruf bestätigen”).
4. They see a confirmation with the date and time we received the declaration and a reference, and we send the same details to their email address.
5. For items that have shipped, a return request appears in your Shopify admin. For items that haven’t, the order is tagged withdrawal-requested and you’re alerted so you can cancel before shipping.

If the order number and email don’t match an order, the declaration is still accepted and acknowledged, and it reaches you marked as unmatched so you can follow up. A declaration is never turned away. Your final-sale tags never block a withdrawal either; which items the law exempts is a separate question that the app can’t decide for you.

Every declaration is kept in a withdrawal log in the app, which you can export as CSV on every plan. On stores with New Customer Accounts, the confirmation also invites the customer to sign in and choose an exchange instead. That’s optional and doesn’t affect the withdrawal.

What stays your responsibility

Comeback helps you provide a withdrawal function. It doesn’t make your store compliant on its own. You still need your own withdrawal policy (in Germany, the Widerrufsbelehrung), terms and other legal notices, and your settings have to match how you actually sell. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

What it costs

Nothing extra. The withdrawal form, the log and the CSV export are unlimited and free on every plan, including Free, and withdrawals never count toward your plan’s monthly requests. See pricing.

More detail for merchants: The EU withdrawal form in the help center.