How to Cancel a Door-to-Door Sale Within Three Days

The salesperson left, the contract is on the kitchen table, and the price looks worse by the hour. The wrong assumption is that a signature ends the matter. Under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, many sales made at home or at a temporary venue can be canceled for a full refund, but only by a written notice sent before a hard deadline.

Check that the sale is covered

The FTC Cooling-Off Rule page covers sales made at your home, workplace or dorm, and at a seller's temporary location such as a hotel room, convention center, fairground or restaurant. As of October 2026 the floor is $25 for a sale at home and $130 for a sale at a temporary location. It does not cover sales made entirely online, by mail or by phone, sales finished at the seller's permanent store, real estate, insurance, securities, emergency repairs you asked for, or motor vehicles sold by a dealer with a permanent lot.

Count the deadline

You have until midnight of the third business day after the sale. Saturday counts as a business day; Sunday and federal holidays do not. A sale signed on a Monday with no holiday can be canceled until midnight Thursday. Write the date on the contract now.

Find the cancellation form

The seller must give you a receipt or contract showing its name, address and the sale date, plus two copies of a cancellation form, in the language used during the pitch. 16 CFR 429.1 also requires the seller to tell you about the right out loud. If there is no form, that does not shorten your time; write your own letter naming the seller, the sale date and that you are canceling.

Sign, date and send the notice

Sign and date one copy of the form and keep the other. Mail it to the address on the form by certified mail with return receipt requested, so the envelope is postmarked before midnight of the third business day. You can also hand deliver it. Keep photos of the signed notice and the mailing receipt.

Watch for the refund and the pickup

Once the seller receives the notice, it has 10 business days to refund all payments, return any trade-in, and cancel any check or note you signed. It must also say whether it will collect the goods. Keep them in the condition you got them. If the seller does not pick them up within 20 days, the rule lets you keep or dispose of them.

If the seller ignores you. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general, found through the NAAG attorney general directory. Attach the contract, the notice and the certified mail receipt.

If you paid by card. Keep the same records; they are the evidence for a credit card dispute if the refund never comes.

Sources. FTC, Buyer's Remorse: The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule May Help, 16 CFR 429.1, seller duties and the cancellation notice, 16 CFR 429.3, exemptions, ReportFraud.ftc.gov, NAAG, Find My AG.