Selling online in Quebec: what you must disclose before the customer pays

A customer clicks pay on your website, and the transaction goes through. Technically, everything works. But Quebec's Consumer Protection Act sets out obligations that have to be met before that exact moment, not just when the order ships. A business selling online to Quebec customers that skips these steps risks an extended cancellation right, and sometimes a chargeback, long after the sale seemed settled.

Who this applies to

The rule covers any sale made at a distance: through a website, but also by phone or email, whenever the customer isn't standing in front of you when the deal is made. An online order, a phone reservation taken with a deposit, or an invoice sent for remote payment all fall into this category. Where the business is located doesn't matter. What triggers the obligation is that the customer is in Quebec. A beauty salon that takes a deposit by phone to hold an appointment, or a garage that emails an invoice for a repair down payment, follows the same rules as an online shop, even without a storefront website as such.

What to show before payment

Quebec's consumer protection office, the Office de la protection du consommateur, requires certain information to reach the customer before they complete the purchase, not in a confirmation email sent afterward. It has to appear on the payment page itself, or right before it.

• The business name, address, phone number and email address
• A detailed description of the good or service, including its features
• The price of each item, delivery charges and any applicable taxes
• The delivery method, carrier and expected timeframe or date
• The cancellation, exchange or refund policy, if the business has one

This information has to be easy for the customer to keep and print. A return policy link buried in the site footer isn't enough if the customer can't see it before paying.

What the return policy actually says is up to the business; the law doesn't force anyone to accept returns. But a business that has one has to follow it exactly, and show it before the purchase rather than only apply it if a customer asks afterward.

A confirmation step, not just a pay button

Before the transaction closes, the customer has to get an explicit chance to accept the order as it stands, correct it, or cancel it. In practice, that means a summary screen between the cart and payment, where the customer sees what they're buying, at what price, with what fees, and can still change a quantity or address before confirming. It isn't just a formality: this step gives the customer one last chance to catch a mistake, like the wrong size or an incomplete delivery address, before the card is charged.

Many online storefronts send the customer straight from the cart to the card form, skipping that summary step. A site set up that way doesn't meet this requirement, even if the payment itself goes through cleanly.

The contract copy, within 15 days

Once the sale is complete, the business has 15 days to send the customer a copy of the contract they can keep and print easily. A confirmation email that repeats the same information required before the purchase, meaning the description, price, fees, delivery timeframe and applicable policy, satisfies this in most cases.

What happens when something's missing

When a business leaves out one of these disclosures, or doesn't make them available before payment, the customer gets a 7-day right to cancel the contract starting from when they receive their copy. They can cancel for any reason, at no cost and no penalty. The business then has to refund everything paid within 15 days of the cancellation, and cover reasonable return shipping costs.

The risk that reaches back to the bank

If a business refuses or delays refunding after a valid cancellation, the customer has a recourse that touches payment processing directly: a chargeback. They can ask their card issuer to reverse the transaction, a process that runs through the customer's bank, not the business, often weeks after the money was deposited.

A business that skipped the required disclosures at the start ends up defending a chargeback for a reason that has nothing to do with card validity or fraud. Keeping timestamped proof that this information was actually displayed at the time of the sale, such as an archived screenshot or a record of site changes, gives you something solid to point to if a customer invokes this window long after the fact.

Worth checking this week: open your own payment page the way a customer would, and confirm the business name, full price, delivery charges, expected timeframe and return policy all appear before the pay button, not only in the email sent after the sale.