Returns and refunds

Last updated: 2 November 2026

ClearanceFood is an online marketplace. Each lot is sold by the UK business that listed it, and your contract for the goods is with that seller. ClearanceFood takes card payments for consumer purchases and pays any refund back on the seller's behalf. This page explains your rights if you change your mind or something is wrong. Nothing on this page takes away your legal rights.

If you bought as a consumer

This covers auctions, Buy It Now and offers on consumer lots, paid for by card on ClearanceFood.

Changing your mind

  • Before an auction ends, you can withdraw a bid: email support@clearancefood.com or use our contact page, and say which lot. We remove your bid, or, if the auction ends first, cancel the order it made and refund anything you paid. You cannot bid on that lot again. Once the auction has ended, a bid you have not withdrawn makes the contract if it wins, and the rules below apply.
  • Your contract is made when you win an auction, when your Buy It Now order is accepted, or when an offer is accepted (the seller accepts yours, or you accept the seller's counteroffer). From then until 14 days after the day you, or someone you name, receive the goods, you can cancel without giving a reason. If an order arrives in separate deliveries, the 14 days run from the last one. If the seller did not give you the cancellation information the law requires before you bought, you have up to 12 months longer.
  • To cancel, tell us clearly: email support@clearancefood.com with your order number, or use our contact page. You can use the cancellation form below, but you do not have to.
  • The right to cancel does not apply to goods that go off quickly. On ClearanceFood that means chilled lots, frozen lots and lots with a use-by date. Every consumer listing says, above its bid, buy and offer buttons, whether you can cancel it, and a counteroffer says so before you accept it. A best-before date, or a lot being short-dated, does not on its own remove the right.
  • You also cannot cancel goods sealed for health or hygiene reasons, such as a food or drink pack, once you have broken that seal after delivery. Opening an outer case or shrink-wrap does not count.
  • After you cancel, we tell you where to send the goods. Send them back without undue delay, and no later than 14 days after you told us. You can check the goods as you could in a shop.
  • You pay the direct cost of sending the goods back. If a lot is too large to send back by post and the listing did not say what returning it would cost, the seller pays.
  • We refund everything you paid, including delivery up to the cost of the cheapest standard delivery offered, to the card you paid with and without any fee. The refund is made within 14 days of the seller getting the goods back or you showing us that you have sent them, whichever is sooner, or within 14 days of you telling us if the goods have not yet been sent to you.
  • If you handled the goods more than you would need to in a shop, and that reduced their value, the refund may be reduced by that amount. No deduction can be made if the seller did not give you that cancellation information before you bought.

Faulty, damaged, wrong or missing goods

  • Goods must match the listing, including its stated dates and condition, be of satisfactory quality, be safe and be fit for purpose. A short date shown clearly on the listing is part of what you agreed to buy, but it does not remove these rights.
  • You can reject goods that are faulty or not as described for a full refund, including delivery, normally for 30 days from the day after you receive them. For food that would not be expected to last that long, the period is as long as it could reasonably be expected to last.
  • After that, you can ask for a repair or a replacement. If neither is possible, one attempt fails, or it is not done within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you, you can have a price reduction or a refund.
  • Goods are the seller's responsibility until you, or someone you name, take possession of them, including while they are with a courier the seller offered or arranged. If you collect the goods, or arrange your own carrier that the seller did not offer, they become your responsibility when they are handed over.
  • If goods arrive damaged, the rights above apply. If they do not arrive, tell us: you can end the contract if the seller refuses to deliver or delivery by an agreed date was essential, and otherwise once the seller has had a reasonable extra time to deliver.
  • The seller pays the reasonable cost of returning goods that are faulty, damaged or not as described, unless you collected them and take them back to the same place yourself.
  • Tell us as soon as you can. Photos of the goods, the packaging and the delivery label help us sort it out quickly, but your rights do not depend on them.

How refunds are paid

  • Card payments for consumer purchases are made to ClearanceFood, which holds the payment until you confirm the order arrived. The seller is responsible for any refund you are owed, and ClearanceFood pays it back to the card you paid with on the seller's behalf.
  • If the stock runs out before you pay, the order is cancelled and you are not charged. Your legal rights are not affected.

If you bought as a trade buyer

This covers lots bought with a business account.

  • Business purchases carry no legal cooling-off right, so a return for a change of mind depends on what the seller agrees.
  • Goods must still match the contract. Check deliveries when they arrive and report any visible shortage, damage or difference to us within 48 hours of delivery or collection, with any photos and delivery documents. This keeps the evidence fresh; it does not take away your rights over hidden defects, or where reporting within 48 hours was not reasonably possible.
  • Trade lots are invoiced by the seller and paid to the seller by bank transfer, so the seller issues any credit note or refund. If you cannot agree with the seller, contact us and we will help.

Direct lots (offer rounds)

Lots bought through an offer round follow the offer terms for direct lots, which ask you to report any discrepancy within 24 hours of collection or delivery, so it can be checked while the evidence is fresh.

Contact us

Email support@clearancefood.com with your order number, what is wrong and any photos, or use our contact page. Delivery methods and costs are explained on our delivery page, and the rest of our terms are in our terms and conditions.

Cancellation form (consumers)

Complete and return this form only if you want to cancel. Copy it into an email to support@clearancefood.com, or send it by post. You do not have to use it.

To: the seller of the lot, care of Clearance Food Ltd (ClearanceFood), Unit 6 Mayfields Farm, Sheering Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0JP, support@clearancefood.com

I/We hereby give notice that I/We cancel my/our contract of sale of the following goods: [lot title and order number]

Ordered on [date] / received on [date]

Name of consumer(s): [name]

Address of consumer(s): [address]

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is sent on paper)

Date: [date]