Shipping promises for health products: the FTC mail order rule

A practice that sells supplements from its website, a supplier that ships braces and monitors, or a company that mails at-home test kits all make a promise when they take an order: the product will go out. The FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, 16 CFR part 435, sets what that promise must rest on and what happens when it cannot be kept. It is short, it has been in force for decades, and it applies whether the seller is a large retailer or a single clinic with an online shop.

This guide covers shipping and refunds. The claims you make about the product itself are a separate question: see selling supplements in a medical practice, DME supplier marketing, direct-to-consumer lab testing marketing and online pharmacy advertising rules. When a product you ship is recalled or corrected, see marketing during a product recall. For free samples you mail and free trials that turn into shipments, see our guide to free samples and trial offers for health products. Where a California Prop 65 warning goes on an online product page is covered in our guide to Prop 65 warnings for health products sold online.

The short version

• The rule covers merchandise a buyer orders by mail, over the internet or by telephone, whatever the payment method and however the order was solicited, under 16 CFR 435.1(a).
• Before you advertise, you need a reasonable basis to expect you can ship in the time you state. If you state no time, the default is 30 days from a properly completed order, or 50 days when the buyer applies to you for credit to pay, under 435.2(a)(1).
• If you learn you cannot ship on time, you must offer the buyer, without being asked, the choice to accept the delay or cancel for a prompt refund, no later than the original shipping deadline, under 435.2(b)(1).
• A prompt refund is generally due within seven working days, or within one billing cycle when you are the creditor, under 435.1(b).
• Shipment means the product is physically handed to the carrier, under 435.1(e). The rule measures when you ship, not when the buyer receives it.
• Services are not covered, and the rule exempts serial deliveries after the first shipment, seeds and plants, C.O.D. orders and negative option plans under 16 CFR part 425, under 435.3(a).

Who the rule reaches in health care

The trigger is how the buyer orders, not what kind of business sells. Section 435.1(a) defines mail, internet, or telephone order sales as sales in which the buyer has ordered merchandise from the seller by mail, via the Internet, or by telephone, regardless of the method of payment or the method used to solicit the order. Section 435.1(f) adds that telephone means any direct or indirect use of the telephone to order merchandise, whether a person or a machine takes the call.

For practices and health companies, that takes in common setups:

• A dermatology or med spa practice that sells skin care products through an online store and ships them.
• A chiropractic or physical therapy office that takes phone orders for supports, pillows or home exercise equipment and mails them.
• A durable medical equipment supplier that ships monitors, braces or supplies ordered online or by phone.
• A company that sells at-home test kits or supplements on its website.

A patient who buys a bottle of supplements at your front desk and takes it home is not a mail, internet, or telephone order sale. The FTC guide also says the rule does not cover services, giving mail order photo finishing as its example. A telehealth visit, a lab draw or a consultation booked online is a service, so the rule’s shipping duties do not attach to it, although the FTC Act’s ban on deceptive practices still applies to anything you say about timing. Products that also need a prescription or a pharmacy license bring their own rules on top of this one, which our online pharmacy guide covers.

Shipping claims need a reasonable basis

Section 435.2(a)(1) makes it an unfair or deceptive practice to solicit an order unless, at the time of the solicitation, the seller has a reasonable basis to expect that it will be able to ship any ordered merchandise within the time clearly and conspicuously stated in the solicitation, or, if no time is stated, within 30 days after receipt of a properly completed order. Where the buyer applies to the seller for credit to pay for the order, the default becomes 50 days.

A properly completed order, under 435.1(c), is received when the seller has both the payment, or the buyer’s authorization to charge an existing account or other payment, and all the information it needs to process and ship the order. The FTC guide adds that it is irrelevant when you post or deposit the payment or when your bank credits your account. If a payment by means other than cash or credit is dishonored, or the buyer does not qualify for credit, the clock starts again when the problem is resolved.

The guide gives two examples of implied shipping claims. If you say you ship in 48 hours “most of the time,” reasonable consumers will infer that you will ship their orders in 48 hours. If you say “in-stock items ship immediately,” then unless you tell the buyer at ordering that the item is not in stock, you are required to ship, give a delay notice or cancel the order immediately. A product page that says “ships same day” or “order by 2 p.m. for next-day dispatch” is a shipping claim under the rule, and you need records showing you usually meet it.

Records matter because of 435.2(a)(4). In an FTC action, a seller that cannot show records or other proof that its systems and procedures assure shipment in the ordinary course of business within the applicable time faces a rebuttable presumption that it lacked a reasonable basis. Section 435.2(d) sets the same presumption for the delay notice and refund duties. If your shop runs on a drop shipper or a fulfillment partner, ask what records it keeps and how you will get them.

When an order is late: the delay option notice

Section 435.2(b)(1) requires a seller that cannot ship within the stated or default time to offer the buyer, clearly and conspicuously and without prior demand, an option either to consent to a delay in shipping or to cancel the order and receive a prompt refund. The offer must come within a reasonable time after the seller first learns it cannot ship on time, and in no event later than the original deadline. The notice must tell the buyer about the right to cancel and get a prompt refund, and give a definite revised shipping date, or, if the seller has no reasonable basis for one, say that it cannot say how long the delay will be. Under 435.2(a)(3), a seller that says it cannot predict the delay must have a reasonable basis for saying so and must give the reason for the delay.

What silence means depends on the length of the delay:

1. Revised date 30 days or less past the original deadline. Under 435.2(b)(1)(ii), the notice may say that unless the buyer cancels before shipment and before the revised date, the buyer will be treated as consenting to the delay.
2. Revised date more than 30 days past the deadline, or no date at all. Under 435.2(b)(1)(iii) and 435.2(c)(2), the order is treated as cancelled unless the seller ships within 30 days of the original deadline without a cancellation, or the buyer expressly consents to the delay within that time. If neither happens, the seller must refund without being asked.
3. A second delay. Under 435.2(b)(2), if the seller then misses the revised date, it must offer a renewed option to consent or cancel before the revised date expires. Unless the buyer expressly consents to the further delay, the buyer is treated as having cancelled if the seller cannot ship by the old revised date.
4. An indefinite delay. If the buyer agrees to wait with no date, the notice must say the buyer keeps a continuing right to cancel at any time before shipment, under 435.2(b)(1)(iii) and (b)(1)(iv).

Under 435.2(b)(3), the seller must give the buyer an adequate means, at the seller’s expense, to answer the notice or cancel. The FTC guide says the notice may go by telephone, fax, mail or email, as long as it reaches the buyer quickly enough to make a meaningful decision, and that you can send it to the buyer’s email address. Under 435.2(b)(4), a seller may also decide to cancel a late order itself, as long as it tells the buyer within a reasonable time and makes a prompt refund.

Refunds: how fast and how much

Section 435.2(c) requires the seller to treat an order as cancelled and make a prompt refund when the buyer cancels under any option, when silence counts as cancellation under the rules above, when the seller decides not to ship, or when the seller failed to send a required delay notice and did not ship on time.

Under 435.1(b), a prompt refund is one sent by a means at least as fast and reliable as first class mail within seven working days after the buyer’s right to a refund vests. Where the seller itself extended the credit, it is due within one billing cycle. Section 435.1(d) says what counts as a refund for each payment method: money back for cash, check or money order; a credit memo to a card issuer or other third-party creditor, with a copy to the buyer; or, for other methods, instructions to the payment provider to return the amount, with a statement to the buyer.

The FTC guide adds the amounts. If you cannot ship anything, you refund everything the buyer tendered, including shipping, handling and insurance. If you ship part of the order, you refund the difference between what the buyer paid and what the buyer would have paid for the items actually shipped. The guide also says you cannot substitute store credit, vouchers or scrip for a rule-required refund. A practice that likes to offer account credit should offer it only as an option the buyer chooses, and still pay cash refunds when the rule requires them.

Subscriptions and auto-ship plans

Monthly supplement shipments and replenishment plans are common in practice shops. Section 435.3(a)(1) exempts subscriptions ordered for serial delivery, but only after the initial shipment is made in compliance with the rule, so the first box is covered. Section 435.3(a)(4) exempts transactions governed by the FTC’s prenotification negative option rule, 16 CFR part 425. Auto-renewal and continuity plans have their own disclosure and cancellation rules, which our guide to membership and auto-renewal rules covers. If your plan ships product, read both.

State laws

Section 435.3(b) says the FTC rule does not preempt state or local laws that give buyers equal or greater rights, and that it supersedes state provisions only to the extent they give buyers lesser rights or require a different form of notice for the same right. We did not read any state’s mail order or refund law for this guide. If you sell into several states, ask your attorney which state laws add to the federal rule.

What a violation can cost

The rule was issued under 15 USC 57a, which makes it a trade regulation rule. Under 15 USC 45(m)(1)(A), a knowing violation of such a rule can bring a civil penalty of up to 10,000 dollars per violation as written in the statute. The FTC adjusts that figure for inflation each year: 16 CFR 1.98(d) sets 53,088 dollars for penalties assessed after January 17, 2025, which is the figure the FTC guide gives for this rule. The guide also says the FTC can seek injunctive relief and consumer redress, with a three year limit for consumer redress and five years for civil penalties.

An illustration

This example is invented. [Practice name], a functional medicine practice in [city], sells a private label magnesium supplement in its online shop, with “ships in 1 to 2 business days” on the product page. Its supplier misses a delivery, and the practice will not have stock for three weeks. Twenty orders are waiting.

Because the stated time is two business days, the delay notice has to go out before that deadline passes. The office manager emails each buyer the same day: the product is delayed because the supplier missed a shipment, the new shipping date is a specific date three weeks out, the buyer may cancel for a full refund by replying to the email or using a link, and if the buyer does nothing the order will ship by that date. Since the new date is less than 30 days past the original deadline, silence can count as consent under 435.2(b)(1)(ii). Two buyers cancel, and their card refunds go to the processor within seven working days, including shipping. The practice changes the product page to say “temporarily out of stock” until the supplier delivers, and saves the notices and refund records.

Checklist

• List every product you sell by mail, internet or phone, and note which are covered and which fall under an exemption.
• Review every shipping statement on product pages, carts, emails and ads, including words like “usually” and “in stock”, and remove any you cannot back with records.
• If you state no shipping time, make sure you can ship within 30 days of a properly completed order, or 50 days for orders paid with credit you extend.
• Track for each order the date it was properly completed, the date it shipped and any delay notice sent.
• Write delay notice templates for the three cases: a short delay, a long or open-ended delay, and a second delay.
• Give buyers a free way to cancel, such as a reply email, a link or a toll free number.
• Refund within seven working days, in the original payment form, including shipping when nothing ships, and never force store credit.
• Get shipping and refund records from any drop shipper or fulfillment partner you use.
• Have an attorney review your order terms and any state law that applies.

How we help

We build websites, local and organic search, Google Ads and lead generation and an AI front desk for independent practices. For a practice shop, that means product pages whose shipping lines match what you can actually do, and order emails with the delay and refund wording ready before it is needed. We are not a healthcare provider and we do not give legal or medical advice. Read our guide to healthcare marketing rules for the wider picture.

Sources

• 16 CFR part 435: Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise (eCFR, up to date as of October 29, 2026)
• FTC: Business Guide to the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (read in an Internet Archive capture of September 14, 2026)
• 15 USC 45: Unfair methods of competition unlawful (subsection (m)(1)(A))
• 15 USC 57a: Unfair or deceptive acts or practices rulemaking proceedings
• 16 CFR 1.98: Adjustment of civil monetary penalty amounts

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