Late stock does not reset the customer’s shipping promise

Shipment is not the same as arrival

The federal rule covers covered merchandise ordered by mail, internet or telephone, regardless of payment method. Shipment means physically placing the merchandise with the carrier. It is not a general rule promising arrival by a particular day, or a timetable for completing a service.

At solicitation, you need a reasonable basis for shipping within the clearly stated time. If you state no shipping time, the ordinary default is 30 days after a properly completed order, and you still need a reasonable basis for meeting it. That no-stated-time branch becomes 50 days under the specified conditions when the buyer applies to the seller for credit when ordering; it is not a general extension for any credit-card purchase.

Sources: Federal Trade Commission: Complete §§435.1–435.3

Tell the buyer before the applicable deadline

Fictional example: a U.S. seller advertises that an equipment kit ships within ten days. Replenishment stock is delayed at the port and the seller cannot ship the customer’s kit by that date. The supplier problem does not itself create a new customer deadline. Offer the required choice of delay or cancellation with a prompt refund, within a reasonable time after learning of the problem and no later than the applicable deadline.

Give a definite revised shipping date only with a reasonable basis. If no date can be supported, say that and explain the delay. Give the buyer an adequate way, at the seller’s expense, to exercise the option.

Sources: Federal Trade Commission: Complete §§435.1–435.3

Silence works only in the rule’s narrow first-delay branch

For a first definite delay of 30 days or less beyond the original deadline, the prescribed notice may explain that silence counts as consent to shipping by the revised date, unless the buyer rejects the delay and cancels before both shipment and that revised date.

If the first revised date is more than 30 days beyond the original deadline, or you cannot give a definite date, the notice must explain automatic cancellation. The order is cancelled unless you either ship within 30 days after the original deadline without receiving a cancellation before shipment, or receive the buyer’s specific consent to the delay within those 30 days. A buyer who agrees to an indefinite delay keeps the right to cancel after the original deadline by notifying you before actual shipment. A required cancellation means a prompt refund.

A further missed revised date normally requires a renewed choice and specific consent by the relevant revised deadline; do not carry the first short-delay silence rule into every extension. The rule separately addresses an already-consented indefinite extension. If required consent is absent or the buyer validly cancels before shipment, apply the applicable cancellation and prompt-refund requirements.

Refund routes depend on payment. Defined routes generally use seven working days; where the seller itself is the creditor, the account-credit route uses one billing cycle. The rule also treats a failed same-method refund separately. This is not one universal seven-calendar-day rule.

Sources: Federal Trade Commission: Complete §§435.1–435.3