For subscription-based SaaS services, EU consumer protection rules require a clear and explicit “checkbox” confirmation when a user waives their right of withdrawal during the purchase process. A simple reference to the terms and conditions is not sufficient.
Without a dedicated opt-in mechanism, this waiver may be considered invalid in the event of a dispute.
I request you add this to Stripe checkout some how as soon as possible, since this is legally required.
It´s not a must have as it´s a massive conversion tanker! I agree if yearly subscriptions but not for monthly ones as financial risk is super low and you financial damage to having it is far greater than the potential “damage” of a refund…
So yeah implement it but please make it OPTIONAL not mandatory for everyone…
This is not a question of “tanking conversions” but a MUST HAVE set by EU law. Even Steam / Epic and other big platforms have this explicitly shown on their checkouts.
Thanks for raising this. Do you have a source or specific regulation that explicitly mentions the checkbox requirement? As far as I can tell, we’re currently compliant, and I haven’t been able to find a clear reference to the checkbox requirement. Would appreciate it if you could share one.
@hurmuli,
Thanks for sharing. I went through the link, but I still couldn’t find a specific mention of a checkbox requirement or where it is explicitly stated as a legal requirement under EU law. Could you please point me to the exact section that mandates this?
Please note: the 14-day cooling-off period does not apply to:
online digital content, such as a song or movie, that you started downloading or streaming after you expressly agreed to lose your right of withdrawal by starting the performance
Notice the wording - “you expressly agreed” meaning you (the user) needs to agree explicitly to lose the 14 day cooling-off period or else the user can cancel the subscription and request a full refund in 14 days.
To put it in simple terms, you are compliant, but without separate approval the user is entitled to a full refund if they request it in 14 days.
Laws in EU are written more in a way to protect the consumers and users and not the companies like in the US.
If this is standard, then it should be available from Stripe directly. Please take a look at your Stripe configuration, you can add many things to your checkouts from there, it should not require a change from us.
We don’t manage the checkout for you, Stripe does! Let us know what you find!
Checked Stripe and adding custom areas like check boxes is only available through the API, so not sure how we would handle this and add a checkbox with text like “I expressly agree to waive my 14-day right of withdrawal and acknowledge that, by accessing the product immediately, I lose this right.”
Hi @hurmuli, thanks for following up! Nathaniel is correct that we do not manage any part of the checkout process directly; everything is handled via your Stripe account. If you need to add a checkbox or line of text for waiving this standard, you will have to adjust your settings in Stripe! I found some resources on Stripe about this (here is the page on Germany, for example), but you might have to reach out to them if you can’t set it up - or ask some of our other European users (like @easydeutsch!) for more info on their setup. Sorry to not be of more direct help, but I hope this is at least clarifying!