Can I cancel a personal China order?
You may be able to cancel ordinary goods bought online under UK consumer rules, including before delivery. Genuinely made-to-measure or personalised goods usually fall outside that change-of-mind right. A separate agent's service needs its own check. Confirm your contract and dates with Cambridge China Bridge.
Find your seller and how you ordered
Start with the accepted quote, invoice and order confirmation. Explain that the purchase is for yourself, your home or your family. Identify who sells you the goods and whether another company supplies a separate sourcing service. Our seller or agent guide explains the role distinction; its business-contract rules should not be used to decide your personal cancellation rights.
Record whether you ordered online, by phone, at the seller's premises or during a home visit. Online and phone purchases can carry change-of-mind cancellation rights; an ordinary purchase at the seller's premises does not automatically carry the same right. If buying directly from a Chinese factory or through a platform, ask which contract and cancellation policy apply. Do not assume this UK guide settles an overseas seller's position. Check the proposed role when buying through a UK company.
Check stock goods and the relevant dates
For an ordinary goods order covered by UK distance-selling cancellation rules, you can cancel before delivery. The usual deadline is 14 days after the day you receive the goods. Where different goods in the same order arrive separately, the period runs from the day after the last item arrives. Keep the contract date, delivery records and cancellation notice together. Our cancellation-period guide covers the timing in more detail.
Find the cancellation information supplied before you ordered and the confirmation you can save. If the seller failed to tell you about an applicable cancellation right, the period can be extended. Send a clear cancellation notice promptly and keep proof of sending it. For goods already received, the usual return deadline is another 14 days after notifying the seller. Ask for the return address and check who pays for return delivery before arranging an overseas return.
Ask what makes the goods genuinely bespoke
Goods made to your specifications or clearly personalised are excluded from the usual change-of-mind cancellation right. For curtains cut to your measurements, ask the seller to identify the agreed measurements and explain the exception it relies on. Do not assume you have a cooling-off right simply because cutting or production has not started.
Making an item after you order does not automatically make it bespoke. Official guidance distinguishes a sofa assembled using fabric and colours from a standard range from a special finish outside that range. Save the product listing and your choices, then ask what differs from the standard offer. Our guide to cancellation exceptions covers other excluded goods. If no change-of-mind right applies, request an agreed cancellation or alteration.
Check a separate agent's service
For a separate service contract covered by UK distance-selling cancellation rules, the usual cancellation period runs for 14 days from the day after the contract was entered into. Check the service agreement separately from the goods order. Ask for the contract date, cancellation information, your request to start work early and a record of work supplied before your cancellation.
If you expressly requested an early start and received the required information, cancellation can leave a proportionate charge for the service already supplied. Without that request or the required cancellation and cost information, you bear no cost for service supplied during that period. A fully completed service loses its cancellation right only where the required early-start request and acknowledgement of losing that right were obtained. Ask how cancelling the service affects any factory order already placed.
Send the notice and keep faults separate
Write: “I am cancelling my personal order for [item], order reference [reference]. Please confirm receipt, the return arrangements and the refund calculation. Please also identify any separate service contract or bespoke-goods exception you rely on.” If cancellation needs agreement, ask what can still be stopped and request a written proposal. Our UK seller cancellation guide explains the practical cost checks; use those checks without treating business settlement terms as your consumer rights.
If the goods are faulty, wrongly sized against the agreed measurements or different from the description, describe that problem separately and keep photographs and the specification. The bespoke exception concerns changing your mind; faulty or misdescribed goods involve separate rights. Before another personal purchase, use our small-order service to discuss stock alternatives, measurements and cancellation arrangements before approving the order.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cancel my China order before it arrives?
Yes, if the order falls within UK distance-selling cancellation rights and no exception applies. You do not have to wait for delivery. Send a clear notice and keep proof.
Can I cancel made-to-measure curtains?
Genuinely made-to-measure curtains are usually excluded from change-of-mind cancellation. Ask for an agreed cancellation. If they do not match the agreed measurements, raise that as a separate complaint.
Does choosing a standard colour make my order bespoke?
Not automatically. Official guidance says a sofa made using fabric and colours from a standard range is not bespoke for these cancellation rules. Ask what was specifically made for you.
Can an agent charge me if I cancel?
For a covered service started during the cancellation period, a proportionate charge can apply if you expressly requested the early start and received the required information. Check the service agreement and work record.