I ordered a shirt but accidentally got two – do I have to send one back? DEAN DUNHAM replies

By DEAN DUNHAM

Updated: 09:01 BST, 7 May 2025

I ordered a shirt online, but the shop accidentally sent two. Do I have to tell them?

R. E., via email.

Dean Dunham replies: When you receive goods that you did not order, they are classed as either ‘unsolicited goods’ or ‘goods sent by mistake’.

The distinction is very important as this will dictate the legal position.

Items that firms send to you, but you didn’t order, are classified as unsolicited goods. In these circumstances, the law, The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, says you have a right to keep them.

You, therefore, have no legal obligation to send unsolicited goods back to the company or to pay for them. 

Cuffed: A reader is worried they might be breaking the law if they keep a shirt sent to them by mistake

If you receive a demand for payment for unsolicited goods or services, you can ignore it – sending one is a criminal offence.

But it’s a different story altogether if items are sent to you by mistake, which is the case here with the extra shirt.

In these circumstances the law recognises a mistake has been made and the goods remain the sole property of the trader.

This means you will have no legal right to keep the extra shirt you have received and have to either pay for it or send it back. 

However, the trader’s mistake should not leave you out of pocket, so the onus is on it to arrange and pay for the goods to be returned.

So, when you receive goods in error, my advice is to notify the trader as soon as possible in writing and ask it to arrange for them to be collected from you. 

You should provide a reasonable deadline for the collection to take place, say seven to 14 days, and tell it that after this date you will dispose of the goods or charge it storage. At this stage, depending on the value of the goods, some traders will tell you to keep the goods.

Finally, a word of warning. If you decide to ignore my advice and simply keep the goods regardless of the trader’s wishes, it will be able to use a principle called ‘unjust enrichment’, which occurs when one party unfairly benefits at another’s expense, and the law requires restitution to correct the imbalance. 

It typically arises in situations where a person receives money, services or goods mistakenly or without a valid legal basis, and in these situations the courts nearly always side with the trader.

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I ordered a shirt but accidentally got two – do I have to send one back? DEAN DUNHAM replies

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