Returns, refunds and Singapore's Lemon Law on Shopify

Information checked as of 6 October 2026

Every online shop gets return requests. In Singapore, two separate things decide how you handle them. One is the law: the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, including the part usually called the Lemon Law, sets minimum rights for customers who receive faulty goods. The other is your own return policy, which can be as generous as you like on top of that, but can't take those rights away. This guide covers both, then shows how to set up returns, exchanges and refunds in Shopify, and what GST-registered businesses need to do when they refund.

This is general information, not legal advice. It summarises the law and official guidance as of the date above. For a specific dispute, or before you rely on a policy wording, speak to a lawyer. CASE can also tell you how it treats a particular kind of complaint.

The short version

• Faulty goods: the law decides. If goods you sold to a consumer don't match their description, aren't of satisfactory quality, or aren't fit for a purpose the customer told you about, the Lemon Law lets the customer ask for a repair or replacement first, and then a price reduction or refund.
• The first six months favour the customer. A defect that shows up within six months of delivery is presumed to have existed at delivery, unless you can show otherwise.
• Change of mind: you decide. The Lemon Law doesn't cover a customer who simply no longer wants the item. Accepting those returns is your choice, on the terms you set.
• "No refunds" doesn't override the law. A policy or notice that claims to remove a consumer's rights for faulty goods doesn't take effect against consumers, and a misleading statement about consumer rights can be an unfair practice.
• Disputes go to CASE first, then possibly to the Small Claims Tribunals, which hear claims up to S$20,000, or S$30,000 if both sides agree.
• In Shopify, write your policy under Settings > Policies, set return rules there too, and turn on self-serve returns if you want customers to request returns online.
• GST-registered? Refunding a tax-invoiced sale means issuing a credit note and adjusting your GST return.

Two layers: the law and your policy

It helps to keep two questions apart.

1. Was the item faulty or not as described when it was delivered? If so, the customer has legal rights, whatever your policy says.
2. Was the item fine, but the customer wants to return it anyway? Wrong size, changed their mind, found it cheaper elsewhere: Singapore law doesn't require you to accept these returns. Many shops do anyway, because an easy return policy helps sell to people who can't try things on. That's a commercial decision, and your policy sets the conditions.

Most of the mistakes in Singapore return policies come from mixing the two up, for example by applying change-of-mind conditions such as a return window, a restocking fee or "unworn with tags" to a faulty item.

The Lemon Law: what it covers

Singapore's Lemon Law is Part 3 of the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003, sections 13 to 18 in the current revised edition. It took effect on 1 September 2012 and applies to contracts made on or after that date.

When it applies

The Lemon Law applies when the buyer deals as a consumer, and the goods don't conform to the contract at the time of delivery. Goods don't conform if they breach an express term of the contract, or a term the Sale of Goods Act implies into every sale: that goods match their description, are of satisfactory quality, and are fit for any particular purpose the buyer made known.

CASE and Singapore's trade ministry (METI, formerly MTI) explain the scope in their guidance:

• It covers general consumer goods, such as clothes, electronics, furniture and cars, including second-hand, discounted and perishable goods. For second-hand goods, "satisfactory quality" takes the item's age and price into account.
• It doesn't cover services, land or property, or rental goods.
• It doesn't cover business-to-business sales, or sales between two private individuals.

The six-month presumption

If goods turn out not to conform at any time within six months after delivery, the Act treats them as not having conformed at delivery. You can rebut that by showing the goods did conform when delivered, or that the presumption doesn't fit the nature of the goods or the defect. METI's example is perishable goods, which aren't expected to last beyond their normal shelf life. After six months, it's for the customer to prove the defect existed at delivery.

In practice, keep evidence of the condition goods left in: batch records, photos for high-value items, and courier proof of delivery. If you think the customer caused the damage, METI's guidance suggests evidence such as an expert assessment.

The remedies, in order

1. Repair or replacement. The customer can ask you to repair or replace the goods. You must do it within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to the customer, and at your own cost. The Act specifically mentions labour, materials and postage. For an online shop, that means you pay to get a faulty item back and the repaired or replacement item out.
2. Unless that's impossible or disproportionate. The customer can't insist on a remedy that's impossible, or that costs you unreasonably more than the alternative. METI's example is a S$50 table that would cost S$75 to repair: you could offer a replacement instead, or a refund or discount if you have no replacement.
3. Then a price reduction or a refund. If neither repair nor replacement is possible, or you don't do it in a reasonable time, the customer can ask for an appropriate reduction in price, or rescind the contract, meaning return the goods for a refund. The refund can be reduced to account for the use the customer has had of the goods. METI says that if the item never worked, a full refund should be made.

The customer must give you a reasonable time to repair or replace before moving on to another remedy. What's reasonable depends on the goods and why they were bought.

When the customer isn't entitled to a remedy

CASE and METI list the same exclusions. The Lemon Law doesn't help a customer who:

• damaged or misused the item and caused the fault;
• tried to repair it, or had someone else try, and damaged it in the process;
• was told about the fault before buying;
• simply changed their mind; or
• has a fault that is ordinary wear and tear.

That's why it pays to describe known flaws clearly before the sale. METI suggests documenting defects and limitations, for example on the invoice or packaging. On a product page, put it in the description where the customer will see it, not in small print.

What your policy can't say: unfair practices

Three pieces of law work together here.

• Exclusion clauses don't work against consumers. Under section 6(2) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, a seller can't exclude or restrict its liability to a consumer for the Sale of Goods Act terms on description, quality and fitness for purpose by any contract term.
• A notice doesn't remove Lemon Law rights. METI's guidance says retailers can't deny consumers their remedies, for example by displaying a notice saying "we do not give refunds under any circumstances" or that an item is "sold as it is". Auctions and competitive tenders are the exception.
• Misleading claims about rights are unfair practices. Section 4 of the CPFTA makes it an unfair practice to do or say anything that might reasonably deceive or mislead a consumer, or to make a false claim. The Second Schedule's list of specific unfair practices includes representing that a transaction involves or doesn't involve rights, remedies or obligations where that's deceptive or misleading. It also includes using terms so harsh, oppressive or one-sided that they're unconscionable, and using small print to conceal a material fact.

Marketplaces apply similar rules. Shopee's listing policy, for instance, treats a "no return" or "no refund" statement that doesn't match its platform policy as a misleading listing.

So a returns page shouldn't say, or imply, any of these:

• "All sales final. No refunds or exchanges under any circumstances."
• "Defective items must be reported within 3 days or we can't help." A short window for change-of-mind returns is fine. A short window that claims to end statutory rights for defects isn't.
• "Faulty items can only be exchanged for store credit."
• "Customer pays return shipping on all returns," if it's applied to faulty goods. The Act puts necessary costs, including postage, on you for repairs and replacements.
• "Sale items cannot be returned," without making clear that this doesn't apply to faulty goods. METI's guidance says discounted goods are covered.

What a good Singapore returns policy says

Shopify's policy generator gives you a starting template, but it's generic and English-only, and Shopify reminds you that you're responsible for following whatever you publish. Rewrite it for Singapore. A clear policy usually covers:

• Faulty, damaged or wrong items. How to report them (an email address or your order page), what to include (order number and photos), and what happens next: repair, replacement, or a refund where those aren't possible. Say that you cover return postage for these.
• A plain statement that statutory rights aren't affected, for example: "This policy doesn't affect your rights under Singapore law, including the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act."
• Change-of-mind returns, if you offer them. The window (for example, 14 days from delivery), the condition items must be in, who pays return shipping, any restocking fee, and whether you refund to the original payment method or as store credit.
• Items you can't take back for change of mind, such as earrings, underwear, cosmetics once opened, perishables, or made-to-order items. Explain why, and note that faulty items are handled separately.
• How and when refunds are paid. To which payment method, and roughly how long it takes to arrive.
• Exchanges. Whether you swap sizes or colours, and how price differences are handled.
• Contact details and how quickly you reply.

Write it in plain language, link it from your footer and product pages, and make sure what your staff do matches what it says.

Setting it up in Shopify

Your written return and refund policy

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Policies and open Return and refund policy under Written policies. Enter your own text, or click Insert template and edit it. Shopify links the policy in your checkout footer automatically. It's worth adding it to your store menu or footer too. Shopify notes that the generated template doesn't automatically include the return rules you set up, so make sure the two match.

Return rules

Return rules live on the same Settings > Policies page, under Return and cancellation rules. According to Shopify's Help Center, you can set:

• A return window of 14, 30 or 90 days, unlimited, or a custom number of days, starting from each item's delivery or from delivery of the last item in the order. You can extend the window when it ends on a weekend or holiday.
• Return window overrides that give specific products or collections a longer or shorter window.
• Return shipping costs: free returns, a flat return shipping fee, or customers buying their own label.
• A restocking fee as a percentage of the return.
• Final sale items, chosen by product or collection, which customers can't request to return.
• Cancellation rules for items that haven't shipped yet, and different rules for different markets.

Two Singapore-specific cautions. First, these rules describe your change-of-mind terms. They don't change what you owe for faulty goods. A customer with a faulty final-sale item, or one past your return window but within the law's reach, still has rights, so handle those cases from the order in your admin. You can edit the return fees on an individual return, and you can refund without creating a return if you need to. Second, changes to return rules apply only to future orders, so update them before a sale, not during it.

Self-serve returns

If you turn on self-serve returns and cancellations, customers can request a return of delivered items, or cancel items that haven't shipped, from their order status page. Only items eligible under your return rules can be requested. You get a notification, approve or decline each request, and can add exchange items, send shipping instructions or a return label. The request form can collect return reasons and the product's condition, which helps you separate faulty items from change-of-mind returns.

If you sell in person too, using return rules in Shopify POS needs POS Pro. Our Shopify POS guide covers returns and exchanges at the counter.

Returns and exchanges from the admin

To create a return yourself, open the order in Orders and click Return. Shopify works out the financial outcome, applying any return fees and exchange items against the returned items, so you can see whether you owe a refund or the customer owes a balance. Create the return before refunding, because Shopify only records a return reason when there's a return, and you can't create a return for items you've already refunded. For carrier options for return parcels, see our Singapore shipping guide.

Issuing the refund

From the order, click Refund, choose quantities, decide whether to restock and whether to refund shipping, then choose the original payment method, store credit or both. Some points from Shopify's Help Center:

• Return fees aren't deducted automatically. If you charge a restocking fee, reduce the refund amount yourself. Don't do this on faulty goods.
• Refunds can't be cancelled or reversed once issued, so check the amount first.
• Store credit can carry an expiry date, but Shopify says to check local law first. For a faulty item where the customer is entitled to their money back, the law talks about a refund, so don't make store credit the only option.
• With Shopify Payments, the refund comes out of your next payout and shows as pending for up to 2 business days. It can take up to 10 business days to reach the customer's account. The original card processing fee isn't returned to you. If refunds push your Shopify Payments balance negative, Shopify's refunds page says that for Singapore stores the negative balance is cleared by future sales.
• Other payment providers. If the customer paid through another provider, such as a PayNow gateway, the refund goes through that provider, on its terms.

GST on refunds

If you're not GST-registered, there's no GST to adjust: just refund the customer and keep a record. If you are registered, IRAS sets out what to do. Our GST guide for Singapore Shopify stores covers registration and tax settings.

• Refund against a tax invoice: issue a credit note that refers to the original tax invoice. IRAS lists what it must contain: a serial number, date, your name, address and GST registration number, the customer's name and address, the reason (for example "returned goods"), a description and quantity of the goods, the amount credited before tax, the GST rate and amount, and the total including tax.
• Refund against a receipt to a customer who isn't GST-registered: IRAS's retail guide says to cancel the original receipt, make the refund, and keep a record of the cancelled receipt.
• Adjust your GST return. Reduce your standard-rated supplies (Box 1) and output tax (Box 6) in the GST F5 return for the period in which you issue the credit note. A credit note that corrects a wrong GST treatment can follow different rules.
• Replacements: if you replace a returned item with a similar one for free, IRAS says you can keep the original tax invoice. Replacing it with something cheaper or dearer means a credit note or an extra tax invoice for the difference.

Shopify's refund notification isn't a credit note in IRAS's sense. Check that your invoicing app or accounting software produces credit notes with the required details.

Personal data in returns

Return requests collect personal data: names, addresses, phone numbers, sometimes photos. The PDPA applies as usual. Collect what you need to handle the return, use it for that purpose, and don't keep it once it no longer serves a legal or business purpose. That's the retention rule in section 25 of the PDPA. Our PDPA guide for Singapore Shopify stores covers the rest.

When a customer complains: CASE and the Small Claims Tribunals

Most disputes are settled between shop and customer. If not, here's how it usually goes.

• CASE first. The Consumers Association of Singapore is the first point of contact for local consumers (the Singapore Tourism Board for tourists). According to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore, CASE helps consumers get redress, such as a refund, repair or replacement, through negotiation or mediation. It may also ask a business that keeps using an unfair practice to sign a Voluntary Compliance Agreement.
• The Commission handles persistent offenders. It doesn't get redress for individual consumers. It investigates suppliers who persist in unfair practices, usually after CASE refers them, and can apply to court for an injunction. Breaching an injunction is a criminal offence.
• The Small Claims Tribunals hear claims about contracts for the sale of goods and disputes over unfair practices under the CPFTA. The limit is S$20,000, or S$30,000 if both parties sign a Memorandum of Consent, and claims must be filed within 2 years. METI's older Lemon Law advisory still quotes lower limits. The Judiciary's figures above are current.

If a complaint reaches you through CASE, respond promptly, with your order records and evidence. A clear written policy that matches the law, followed consistently, is the best preparation.

A quick checklist

1. Rewrite Shopify's policy template for Singapore, with separate sections for faulty items and change-of-mind returns.
2. Remove any "no refunds under any circumstances" wording, and add a line saying statutory rights aren't affected.
3. Set return rules (window, return shipping, restocking fee, final sale) to match the written policy.
4. Decide how staff handle faulty items outside those rules: repair, replace, refund, and who pays postage.
5. Turn on self-serve returns if it suits you, and ask for photos or condition details in the request form.
6. If you're GST-registered, make sure refunds produce proper credit notes and are adjusted in your GST return.
7. Keep proof of delivery and product condition, and delete return data you no longer need.

If you also sell on a marketplace, its own return rules apply to orders there. Our comparison of Shopee and Lazada vs Shopify for Singapore sellers explains how marketplace returns and payouts differ from your own store.

FAQ

Do I have to accept returns when a customer changes their mind?

No. Singapore's Lemon Law doesn't cover a customer who simply no longer wants an item that was fine when delivered. Accepting change-of-mind returns is your choice, on the terms in your policy, such as a return window, item condition and who pays return shipping. Faulty or wrongly described items are different: the customer has legal rights whatever your policy says.

Can my Shopify store say "no refunds"?

Not for faulty goods. Under the Unfair Contract Terms Act, a seller can't exclude its liability to consumers for goods that don't match their description, aren't of satisfactory quality or aren't fit for purpose. METI's guidance says a notice such as "we do not give refunds under any circumstances" doesn't deny consumers their Lemon Law remedies, and misleading claims about consumer rights can be an unfair practice under the CPFTA. You can say that you don't accept change-of-mind returns.

What does the Lemon Law's six-month rule mean for my shop?

If goods turn out to be faulty or not as described within six months of delivery, they're presumed to have been that way at delivery, unless you can show they weren't or the presumption doesn't fit the goods, such as perishables past their shelf life. After six months, the customer has to prove the defect existed at delivery.

Who pays return shipping for a faulty item?

You do, for repairs and replacements. The CPFTA says the seller must repair or replace non-conforming goods within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and bear the necessary costs, including labour, materials and postage. Charging customers return shipping is fine for change-of-mind returns if your policy says so.

Do I need to issue a credit note when I refund a customer?

Only if you're GST-registered. IRAS says to issue a credit note referring to the original tax invoice, then reduce your standard-rated supplies and output tax in the GST return for the period the credit note is issued. For a refund to a non-registered customer who got a receipt, IRAS's retail guide says to cancel the original receipt and keep a record of it. If you're not GST-registered, simply refund and keep a record.

If you're setting up a new store, a Shopify trial lets you write your return policy, set return rules and test a return and refund on a practice order before your first real customer.

Start a Shopify trial →

References

Laws, guidance and features change, so check the live page before you act on anything here.

1. Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003, Part 3 (sections 13 to 18), Singapore Statutes Online. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
2. Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003, section 4 (Meaning of unfair practice), Singapore Statutes Online. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
3. Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003, Second Schedule (Specific unfair practices), Singapore Statutes Online. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
4. Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, section 6 (Sale and hire-purchase), Singapore Statutes Online. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
5. Sale of Goods Act 1979, section 14 (Implied terms about quality or fitness), Singapore Statutes Online. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
6. Personal Data Protection Act 2012, section 25 (Retention of personal data), Singapore Statutes Online. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
7. CPFTA & Lemon Law, Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE). Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
8. General Advisory on Amendments to the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act and Hire Purchase Act (Lemon Law), Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry (METI, formerly MTI). Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
9. FAQs: Consumer Protection, Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
10. Cases eligible for a small claim, Singapore Courts (Judiciary). Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
11. Small claims, Singapore Courts (Judiciary). Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
12. Avoiding listing violations, Shopee SG Seller Education Hub. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
13. Returned goods, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
14. Invoicing customers, IRAS. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
15. GST: Guide for Retailers, IRAS. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
16. Adding store policies, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
17. Returns and exchanges, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
18. Setting up return and cancellation rules, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
19. Self-serve returns and cancellations, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
20. Creating returns and exchanges, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
21. Refunding orders, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.
22. Shopify Payments refunds, Shopify Help Center. Accessed 6 Oct 2026.