Your right to cancel
If you signed at your kitchen table, on your porch or at a seller's pop-up stand, federal law gives you three business days to cancel — no reason needed, no penalty, everything you paid back within ten business days. Some states give longer. Find the date you signed, pick your state, and see exactly what you have and how to use it.
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How this works
- The federal floor is the same in every state. Under the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule, 16 CFR Part 429, a sale of $25 or more made at your home can be cancelled until midnight of the third business day after you signed. At a seller's temporary location — a hotel room, a fairground, a restaurant — the threshold is $130.
- The rule also puts work on the seller, and that part is where most cancellations are won: the seller has to give you two copies of a dated Notice of Cancellation, has to give you a copy of the contract in the same language the sale was pitched in, and has to tell you about your right to cancel out loud at the time you sign. If they did not, say so when you cancel.
- Business days do not include Sundays or federal holidays, and the day you signed does not count. Count from the next business day.
- Cancel in writing. Keep a copy and proof of when you sent it. The rule turns on when you send the notice, not when the seller gets round to reading it.
- The "what this state adds" column is filled in only where we have opened a state source and read it. A blank there means we have not verified an additional state right — it does not mean your state has none. Several states have their own home-solicitation-sales or home-improvement acts that give longer windows or extra requirements, and we add them as we verify them.
- The "who to call" column for every state comes from the federal directory of state consumer-protection offices at usa.gov/state-consumer, read on 2026-09-18. That office is free and it is the right first call if a seller will not honour a cancellation.
- This is information, not legal advice. Exemptions exist — for example sales made entirely by mail or telephone, and some real-estate, insurance and securities transactions — and your own contract may give you more than the law requires.
Sources
- eCFR: 16 CFR 429.1 — The Rule (three business days; the Notice of Cancellation the seller must give you)
- eCFR: 16 CFR 429.0 — Definitions ($25 or more at your residence; $130 or more elsewhere)
- eCFR: 16 CFR Part 429 — Rule Concerning Cooling-off Period for Sales Made at Homes or at Certain Other Locations
- FTC: Cooling-off Period for Sales Made at Home or Other Locations (the rule's landing page)
- FTC consumer advice: Buyer's remorse — the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule may help
- FTC: Penalty offenses concerning home improvement
- USA.gov: State consumer protection offices (the directory every "who to call" row comes from)
- Alaska Department of Law: Home improvement (five business days)
- California Civil Code §1689.6 (three business days, five for a senior citizen)
- Expert review
- Not yet reviewed
- Last verified
- September 18, 2026
Information, not legal advice. Exemptions exist and your own contract may give you more than the law requires. The "what this state adds" column is filled in only where we have read a state source; a blank there means we have not verified one, not that your state has none. If a seller will not honour a cancellation, your state consumer-protection office is free.
Common questions
How do I count three business days?
Start with the day after you signed. Skip Sundays and federal holidays. Saturdays count. So a contract signed on Tuesday can be cancelled until midnight on Friday; one signed on Friday can be cancelled until midnight on Tuesday.
What if the salesperson never mentioned cancelling?
The rule requires the seller to hand you two copies of a dated Notice of Cancellation and to tell you about the right out loud when you sign. A seller who did neither has not complied with 16 CFR 429.1, and that is worth putting in writing when you cancel and worth telling your state consumer-protection office.
Does this apply if I asked them to come?
The rule covers sales at your home whether or not you invited the seller, with exemptions — for example, where you asked the seller to come to repair or maintain something and the sale is limited to that, or where the sale was made entirely by mail or phone. Read your own contract and ask your state office if you are not sure.
Do I have to give a reason?
No. You do not have to explain, and the seller cannot charge you a penalty or a restocking fee. Anything you paid comes back within ten business days of them receiving your notice.
What if work has already started?
The right to cancel does not disappear because someone turned up early. Cancel in writing inside the window and say so. Arrangements for anything already delivered are dealt with under the rule, and your state consumer office can tell you what applies where you live.
Does my state give me longer than three days?
Some do. We list a state's own rule in the table only once we have read a state source that says so — Alaska gives five business days, and California gives five if the buyer is 65 or older. A blank in that column means we have not verified one for your state yet, so check with your state consumer-protection office before you assume three days is all you have.
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