A Georgian shop should separate consumer and business purchases, distance and in-store contracts, withdrawal and defect remedies. Eligible ordinary withdrawal uses three distinct clocks: fourteen calendar days for notice, seven for dispatch after notice, and fourteen for reimbursement after the trader is informed, with permitted withholding. Exceptions, the chapter’s price threshold, missing information and secondhand goods require further assessment. Audit the confirmation, staff responses, logistics and payment records alongside the public policy. Use the official Georgian text as the starting point.
Legal support for this matter: E-Commerce Terms for a Georgian Business
Short answer: a returns policy needs a decision process
A Georgian online shop should classify a request before calculating a deadline. Who bought the item, how was the contract concluded, and is the customer changing their mind or reporting a defect? A single promise that everything can, or cannot, be returned within fourteen days creates avoidable mistakes. Statutory withdrawal, remedies for nonconforming goods, and a voluntary exchange promise have different conditions. A foreign owner should therefore audit the customer journey as well as the policy copied from an overseas business.
The useful output is an operational decision process: request type, exception, relevant dates, receiving address, payment treatment and escalation owner. This guide concerns policy review for shops operating in Georgia. It does not determine an individual dispute, foreign jurisdiction, or the rules of every payment provider. Keep the actual transaction and contractual records available when an unusual order requires separate advice.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
First filter: private consumer or business purchase
Articles 2 and 4 of the consumer law focus on a natural person buying for private purposes. Company procurement, resale stock and professional purchases need a different contractual assessment. Mixed-purpose contracts are covered where private consumption predominates, and ambiguity about that priority is resolved for the consumer. The account label, invoice request or cardholder alone may not establish the actual purpose. Do not let a checkbox replace consideration of a disputed mixed-purpose transaction.
Separate retail and wholesale terms while retaining order quantity, correspondence, invoice recipient and any relevant explanation of intended use. Neither the owner’s foreign nationality nor the customer’s foreign passport decides whether the transaction is business-to-consumer. Record the facts supporting the classification and direct uncertain requests to the responsible reviewer. A clear business channel can improve administration, but it should not become an artificial barrier to rights arising from the actual purchase.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Second filter: distance sale or an in-store contract
The statutory definition requires an organised distance-selling scheme and conclusion exclusively through distance communication. Article 4 excludes a contract whose terms were negotiated at business premises and only later concluded remotely. Seeing a product online and buying it in a shop therefore differs from concluding the purchase online and collecting it there. The decisive question is when and how agreement occurred, rather than the location of payment or delivery alone.
Review the reservation screen, confirmation message and staff interaction. If the website creates only a reservation and the sale happens in the shop, describe that arrangement accurately. An in-store change of mind does not automatically attract the distance withdrawal rule; defects and voluntary promises still require separate consideration. Off-premises transactions also have their own definition and requirements. A policy audit should test each sales channel instead of issuing the same scripted refusal to every customer.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Pre-order information and Georgian language
Article 5 requires reliable, complete and understandable pre-contract information in Georgian. English or Chinese versions can help foreign customers, but should supplement the required Georgian information. Identify the trader, address, price, additional charges, delivery conditions and complaint process before purchase. Articles 10 and 12 add distance-contract information and confirmation requirements. The ordering process must clearly acknowledge the payment obligation; a hidden charge is not cured by an attractive returns page.
Test the journey on a phone: product page, basket, payment button, confirmation and returns page. Compare language versions and preserve the version actually supplied to the customer. A changeable web link is a weak evidential starting point. Also check the express limitation in Article 10(3): the requirements of that chapter do not apply to goods or services priced at GEL 30 or below. Do not apply a blanket policy without assessing that specific scope issue.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
First clock: sending the withdrawal notice
For an eligible distance or off-premises contract without an applicable exception, Article 13 provides fourteen calendar days to withdraw without giving a reason. Services run from contract conclusion; goods generally run from possession by the consumer or their designated person, excluding the carrier. Orders delivered in parts and regular deliveries have specific starting points. Do not automatically start every period on the order date.
The consumer must send the form or another unambiguous withdrawal statement in time and bears the evidential burden of exercising the right. Provide a workable communication channel and the required durable acknowledgement for electronic receipt. Asking whether a return is possible may not convey a final decision. Clarify ambiguous messages promptly while preserving their original timestamps. The statutory form information is limited; do not turn unnecessary explanations or excessive personal documents into compulsory conditions for an ordinary withdrawal request.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Second clock: dispatching the goods back
Article 15 requires goods to be sent back without undue delay and no later than seven calendar days after notification of withdrawal, unless the trader has offered collection. This is a separate clock from the initial fourteen-day notice period. Record notice, dispatch and warehouse receipt independently. Instructions should name an actual recipient and usable return address, rather than sending the customer between a website, courier and unidentified supplier.
Explain practical packaging requirements without treating them as automatic cancellation of statutory rights. Encourage retention of dispatch evidence. If the shop collects, record the appointment and handover. Investigate whether a delivery problem came from the courier, address or internal logistics before refusing a claim. Foreign owners using an overseas warehouse should test whether their proposed return process can genuinely be performed by a consumer in Georgia and who handles a failed collection.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Third clock: making the refund
The trader must reimburse without undue delay and within fourteen calendar days after being informed of withdrawal. Use the same payment method unless the consumer agrees to another without additional cost. For a sales contract, reimbursement may be withheld until the goods are received or dispatch evidence is supplied, whichever happens first, unless the trader offered collection. That limited withholding rule is not an open-ended permission for internal processing.
Preserve the refund date, amount, method and processor confirmation. Explain the difference between initiating reimbursement and its appearance on an account; processing time is not an invented new statutory period. Do not automatically replace money with store credit. For partial orders or split payments, identify the disputed amount and trace its treatment. Any deduction should have an intelligible calculation and a reason that the customer and reviewer can check against the applicable rule.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Delivery costs, condition and deductions
Original standard delivery and direct return costs are separate questions. Article 15 addresses reimbursement of the payment and applicable standard delivery, while the premium for a more expensive delivery choice need not automatically be repaid. Direct return costs can fall on the consumer when properly disclosed, unless the trader agrees to bear them. Off-premises goods delivered to the home and not normally returnable by post have a specific trader-funded collection rule.
Article 13 distinguishes inspection needed to establish nature, characteristics and functioning from use causing diminished value. A fixed deduction for every opened package cannot replace that assessment. Photograph condition, missing parts or damage and preserve the customer’s explanation. Incomplete withdrawal information affects liability for diminished value. Defect-remedy costs have a separate basis: do not transfer the postage rule for an ordinary change-of-mind return into a repair process without checking the applicable obligation.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Match exceptions to the product and consent
Article 14 lists exceptions including genuinely personalised goods, rapid perishables and sealed goods unsealed after delivery that are unsuitable for return for health or hygiene reasons. A discount is not a universal exception. A standard item ordered in advance is not necessarily customised. Identify the actual personal specification and keep its evidence instead of describing all catalogue items as special orders.
The list also includes specified dated services, sports or cultural tickets subject to their terms, fully performed services with the required prior consent and acknowledgement, and certain digital content. Georgian Article 14(2)(მ) concerns content supplied on a non-tangible medium with conditions for commencement and loss of withdrawal; the English translation differs here. Review that product separately. An exception to withdrawal without a reason does not itself eliminate the need to assess defective goods or inadequate performance.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Defective goods follow a different route
Articles 16 and 17 address conformity with descriptions, samples, agreed purpose and relevant representations. Repair or replacement is the priority remedy, subject to impossibility and disproportionate cost. Necessary compliance costs fall on the trader, and performance must occur within a reasonable time without significant inconvenience. Price reduction or withdrawal has further conditions; an insignificant defect does not justify withdrawal by itself. Record the requested outcome and explain why a particular remedy is being assessed.
Do not close this route merely because the change-of-mind period expired, packaging was opened or the item was discounted. Preserve the original listing, serial number, delivery photographs and diagnostic material. Investigate transport, installation, instructions and subsequent use rather than relying on a warehouse comment. Tell the consumer what inspection will occur and where the item will go. A written result should distinguish the repair promised, the work completed and any unresolved problem.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Defect periods and a commercial guarantee
Article 20 changes the burden of proof: a defect found within six months of possession is presumed to have existed at delivery, where the nature of the goods and defect allows, unless disproved. Afterwards the consumer bears that delivery-time burden. Rights under Articles 17–19 are linked to discovery within two years of delivery. This does not promise unconditional protection against any damage for two years. Keep delivery, discovery and complaint dates distinct.
Georgian Article 20(3) specifically treats secondhand goods: the two-year paragraph does not apply, and responsibility in that situation is a matter of individual agreement. Check the condition record and agreement separately. Article 19 allows an additional commercial guarantee but prohibits restriction of statutory rights. A manufacturer’s warranty card is not automatically identical to the shop’s obligations. Align advertised promises with the stated duration, territory, responsible party and claim procedure.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Missing information can alter the withdrawal timeline
Article 13(8) permits return within twelve months after the ordinary period expires when withdrawal information was not supplied. Paragraph 9 provides a seven-day period from receipt if the trader supplies that information within twelve months of the original starting point. Check this Georgian rule precisely rather than importing another country’s fresh fourteen-day period. Later disclosure needs evidence tied to the earlier order, not merely a policy now visible online.
Record the revision date and identify orders affected by the old version. Updating today’s website does not resolve what an earlier customer actually received. Look for confirmation emails, attachments and delivery logs. If service performance began or an exception may apply, review those conditions too. A refusal citing several incompatible deadlines worsens the problem. Base the response on the particular timeline and information connected with that consumer’s contract.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Worked hypothetical: three different orders
Imagine a foreign-owned shop in Tbilisi. One private buyer orders an ordinary jacket online and changes their mind about the size after receipt. Another order purchases ten work monitors for a company. A third buyer reports a technical defect several months after delivery. The first may use withdrawal if the chapter’s scope and exceptions are satisfied; the second calls for commercial-contract review; the third requires a defect assessment. One form cannot decide all three.
For the jacket, examine receipt, notice, dispatch evidence and disclosed costs. For the monitors, read the commercial contract, acceptance and agreed guarantee. For the defect, preserve description, discovery date, diagnosis and repair history. This hypothetical is not a client case or promised result. It shows how operational steps change. Record the selected route, unresolved fact and next action so that the consumer receives an intelligible answer instead of an unrelated standard refusal.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text
Build the audit file and complaint evidence
Prepare the product categories, retail and business channels, complete ordering journey, language versions, notice form and logistics instructions. Include staff response templates and the actual reimbursement process. A transaction file should locate the invoice, payment, delivery, withdrawal statement, dispatch evidence and correspondence together. A defect file additionally needs description, photographs, diagnosis and repair records. Request material relevant to the selected route rather than demanding every possible document from every customer.
Assign responsibility for classification, communication, warehouse handling and payment confirmation. Record missing evidence and how it will be obtained. Compare translations while preserving originals. Opening a complaint ticket does not restart an existing statutory clock. Collect material necessary for the issue and restrict access to customer records appropriately. Organised documentation makes a withdrawal, repair or reimbursement decision explainable and helps the owner discover where the policy differs from everyday practice.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text · GCCA — consumer legislation directory
Agency route, individual dispute and currentness
Start with a written request to the trader identifying the order, legal basis, chronology and desired result. GCCA’s official pages provide legislation, explanatory material and an application route. Check competence and group-consumer interests separately; regulatory involvement does not automatically decide every individual payment dispute. Court or other proceedings depend on the actual claim and applicable rules. An agency application period is not a substitute for every deadline affecting a court claim.
Sources were checked on 3 October 2026. The Georgian consolidated law on Matsne is the legal starting point; the English text assists comparison but contains material wording differences. GCCA lists a December 2025 e-commerce guideline, although its title alone does not verify the entire document. Recheck the policy when products or sales channels change. Provide the complete file and any disputed deadline for review; an initial enquiry does not guarantee acceptance, a fixed fee or recovery.
Official sources: Consumer Protection Law — Georgian consolidated text · Consumer Protection Law — English translation · GCCA — consumer legislation directory · GCCA — official FAQ
Important noteThis material is general information, not personalised legal advice. Recheck current law, official practice, fees and deadlines against your facts before acting.