If You Sell at Their Door, They May Get Three Days to Cancel
Sources last read 2026-10-28.
Short answer
Sometimes, yes. A federal rule covers sales you make in person at the buyer's home when the price is 25 dollars or more. The buyer can cancel until midnight of the third business day. You have to give them a receipt and a cancel form, and tell them out loud. Under 25 dollars at their home, the rule does not apply.
The short version
There is a federal rule about selling at people's doors. The Federal Trade Commission calls it the Cooling-Off Rule.
It gives some buyers three business days to change their mind. They do not need a reason.
Most small teen sales never hit it. A sale at someone's home has to be 25 dollars or more. But plenty of jobs and orders cost more than that, so it is worth knowing.
When it applies to you
Three things have to be true.
You asked them to buy, in person. They said yes at their home, or at a place that is not your own shop. And the price is high enough.
At their home, that line is 25 dollars. Somewhere else, like a rented hall, a fairground or a restaurant, it is 130 dollars.
It also covers services, not just things. It covers stuff bought mainly for personal, family or household use. A lesson or training course counts too, whatever it is for.
When it does not apply
The rule leaves out some sales by name. Here are the ones most likely to matter to you:
- The deal was done all by mail or phone, with no other contact before delivery.
- The buyer called you first and asked you to come repair or maintain their own things.
- You sold arts or crafts at a fair or a similar place.
- The buyer had a real emergency, and wrote and signed a note in their own handwriting saying so and giving up the right to cancel.
The repair one has a catch. If you sell them something extra on that visit, the extra sale is covered.
What you have to hand over
If the rule applies, you owe the buyer three things at the time of the sale.
A receipt or a copy of the deal. It shows the date, your name and your address. It carries the cancel sentence in bold.
Two copies of a cancel form. It is titled "Notice of Cancellation" or "Notice of Right to Cancel". You fill in your name, your address, the date of the sale, and the last day they can cancel. The rule prints the exact form word for word. Copy it from the official text rather than from a template site.
A spoken heads-up. You have to tell them out loud that they can cancel.
You also cannot put anything in the deal that takes this right away. And you cannot tell them anything untrue about it.
If they cancel
You have 10 business days from getting their notice. In that time you refund every payment. You give back anything they traded in. And you tell them whether you will collect what you delivered.
If you do not pick it up within 20 days of their notice, they can keep it. That is in the form itself.
So take that into account. Do not spend money from a covered sale until the three days are up.
A worked example
An example, to show the shape of it
Wendell is 15 and builds wooden planter boxes. On a Saturday he goes door to door on his own street with his mum. A neighbor orders two boxes for 40 dollars and pays at the door.
That is a sale at the buyer's home, for 25 dollars or more. So the rule applies.
Wendell hands over a receipt with the date, his name, his address and the cancel sentence in bold. He gives two copies of the cancel form, filled in. He tells the neighbor out loud that they can cancel. Sunday is not a business day, so the last day is Wednesday, at midnight.
He waits until Thursday to buy wood with that money.
The safety part
Going to strangers' doors means standing at houses you do not know. Take an adult with you. Do not go inside. Stick to streets where someone knows where you are.
What this page is not saying
It is not saying every sale needs paperwork. Most small sales at a door are under 25 dollars.
It is not the full list of your state's rules. Some states and towns have their own rules on door-to-door selling. The federal rule says it does not cancel those.
And it is not legal advice. The official text is linked below. Read it before you print a form.
What counts as a door-to-door sale
A sale, lease, or rental of consumer goods or services in which the seller or his representative personally solicits the sale, including those in response to or following an invitation by the buyer, and the buyer's agreement or offer to purchase is made at a place other than the place of business of the seller ... and which has a purchase price of $25 or more if the sale is made at the buyer's residence or a purchase price of $130 or more if the sale is made at locations other than the buyer's residence, whether under single or multiple contracts.
Federal Trade Commission, Cooling-Off Rule, Code of Federal Regulations title 16, section 429.0(a)
You ask someone to buy, in person. They say yes somewhere that is not your shop. At their home, the line is 25 dollars. At places like a rented hall or a fairground, it is 130 dollars. It still counts if they invited you over. And the price is counted across single or multiple contracts, so two small receipts for one deal do not change the total.
Who the rule calls a seller
Any person, partnership, corporation, or association engaged in the door-to-door sale of consumer goods or services.
Federal Trade Commission, Cooling-Off Rule, Code of Federal Regulations title 16, section 429.0(c)
Any person. The wording has no age in it and no exception for kids. If you sell this way, the rule is written about you too.
The sentence the receipt has to carry
You, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction. See the attached notice of cancellation form for an explanation of this right.
Federal Trade Commission, Cooling-Off Rule, Code of Federal Regulations title 16, section 429.1(a)
The receipt has to show the date, your name and your address. Near where they sign, or on the front, it has to say this in bold type at least 10 point. It must be in the same language you used to make the sale.
What a business day is
Any calendar day except Sunday or any federal holiday
Federal Trade Commission, Cooling-Off Rule, Code of Federal Regulations title 16, section 429.0(f)
Saturday counts. Sunday does not. Federal holidays do not. So a sale on a Saturday can be cancelled until midnight on Wednesday, if no holiday falls in between.
Handmade things at a fair
The requirements of this part do not apply for sellers of arts or crafts sold at fairs or similar places.
Federal Trade Commission, Cooling-Off Rule, Code of Federal Regulations title 16, section 429.3(b)
If you make crafts and sell them at a fair, the rule does not apply to those sales. The wording names fairs or similar places. It does not name the buyer's home.
Questions people actually ask
Does this apply to a 10 dollar candle I sell at a neighbor's door?
No. At the buyer's home, the rule starts at a price of 25 dollars or more. A 10 dollar sale is under that line.
What if they asked me to come over?
It can still count. The wording covers sales made after "an invitation by the buyer". There is a separate exception for when the buyer called you first to repair or maintain their own things. Extra things you sell on that visit are not part of that exception.
Does it cover sales online or by phone?
Not when the whole deal is done by mail or phone with no other contact before delivery. The rule leaves those out by name.
If they cancel, how fast do I pay them back?
Within 10 business days of getting their cancel notice. You refund every payment. You also tell them in that time whether you will pick up anything you already delivered.
Can my state or town add its own rules?
Yes. The federal rule says it does not cancel state laws or local rules about door-to-door sales, unless they give buyers less than it does. Some towns also have rules about selling door to door at all. Ask your city or county office before you start.
Where this came from
Federal Trade Commission, Buyer's Remorse: The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule May Help
consumer.ftc.gov