Definition
A customer buys a refurbished electric bike from your online shop for €900. Several months later, the battery no longer holds a charge.
She writes to you, and you answer what almost every beginner seller answers: that the manufacturer's warranty has run out and she should take it up with the brand.
The answer is wrong, and it is you it binds.
The garantie légale de conformité, the legal guarantee of conformity, requires every professional seller to deliver a consumer goods that match what was promised, and to answer for defects that appear afterwards.
It is not taken out, not invoiced and not negotiated: article L217-3 of the code de la consommation, the French consumer code, creates it on every sale, purely because you sell to a private individual.
The one who owes this guarantee is the seller, never the manufacturer. The micro-enterprise scheme changes nothing here: your status decides your contributions, not what consumer law places on your shoulders.
It covers physical goods, including those carrying software, and a twin regime written into the same code covers digital content and digital services: a template sold as a download, an online course or a subscription to a tool all follow the same principle.
What the customer can demand, and in what order
The consumer first chooses between repair and replacement, and that choice belongs to them.
You can only set it aside where the requested solution is impossible or clearly more expensive than the other, and any refusal must be justified in writing or on a durable medium.
Bringing the goods into conformity then happens within the time limit set by the text, at no cost whatsoever to the customer: no parts, no labour, no return postage.
If nothing works out, they move up a step and obtain a price reduction or termination of the sale, meaning a refund, through the payment method used to buy.
Two limits frame that last step: termination is off the table where the defect is minor, but it is again for you to prove it, and a serious enough defect lets the customer skip the repair stage altogether.
The point that decides everything lies elsewhere: the burden of proof.
For a period set by the code, shorter for second-hand goods, a defect that shows up is presumed to have existed since delivery.
It is for you to prove it was not there, not for the customer to prove it was. A repair then extends the guarantee, and a replacement starts a full new one: articles L217-8 onwards, gathered in the section on enforcing the guarantee, set out the whole sequence.
€900 refunded, and the contributions that stay paid
Back to the bike, sold in mainland France by a trader under the sale of goods category, paying the full rate with no Acre relief.
| What happens | What your declaration records |
|---|---|
| €900 collected in March 2026 | €110.70 of contributions, at the 12.3% rate for sale of goods in 2026 |
| What that rate does not cover | In 2026, the trader's vocational training contribution (0.1%) and the chamber of commerce levy (0.015%), so €1.04 |
| €900 refunded in February 2027 | A reduction of 2027 turnover, never of 2026 turnover |
| What is left at the end | €111.74 paid for 2026 on a sale that no longer exists |
Under the micro scheme, the Cash receipt rules, never the invoice: the €900 are declared because the money arrived, and they come back out on the day it leaves again.
Refunded within the same quarter, the amount simply drops out of your Turnover declaration, which then carries only the net figure.
Refunded the following year, it lands in the year of the transfer, with the Credit note as supporting evidence, and the 2026 contributions stay paid.
Three useful caveats. The vocational training contribution is only due if you declared turnover in the previous calendar year.
The chamber levy is only due from the second year of activity and above €5,000 of turnover.
And those same €900 also served as the basis for income tax, after the 71% allowance that applies to sale of goods in 2026.
The line "no returns, no exchanges" is worth nothing against a consumer: a clause setting aside or limiting these rights before any claim is deemed unwritten, and displaying it in your Terms and conditions adds the risk of a misleading commercial practice.
The trap costs a second time, on cash flow: a refund is never deducted as an expense, it merely reduces future turnover.
If your activity slows down or stops in the meantime, there is nothing left to deduct it from.
And a customer who gets satisfaction nowhere will turn to a mediator, since joining a Consumer mediation scheme is compulsory as soon as you sell to private individuals.
Three guarantees that get mixed up constantly
| Guarantee | Who owes it, and on what basis |
|---|---|
| Legal guarantee of conformity | The seller, as of right: the goods do not match what was promised, or do not work normally |
| Legal guarantee against hidden defects | The seller as well, but under the civil code, for a hidden defect that makes the goods unusable. The customer keeps the choice between the two |
| Commercial guarantee, the manufacturer's warranty | Nobody, unless it was promised: it is contractual, sometimes paid for, and its contract must state that the legal guarantees still apply |
Two further confusions deserve clearing up. The right of withdrawal is not a guarantee: it covers a customer who changes their mind after a distance sale, not a faulty product.
And the Ten-year building warranty only concerns construction work.
An intellectual service falls under none of these guarantees: your liability there rests on the contract, which is the ground covered by Professional liability insurance.
This page is up to date as of 5 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Are second-hand goods covered?
Yes, as soon as a professional sells them: refurbished and second-hand items stay inside the scheme.
Only the period during which the burden of proof falls on you is shorter than for new goods. A private individual reselling their own equipment, on the other hand, is never concerned.
Can I send my customer to the manufacturer?
No, and this is the most common mistake. The customer deals with whoever sold them the goods, and you cannot point them at your own supplier.
Once the customer has been dealt with, however, article L217-31 of the consumer code opens a recourse action for you against the producer or any intermediate party upstream.
Do I have to mention it anywhere before the sale?
Yes. The existence of the legal guarantees and how to enforce them are part of the information owed to a consumer before they order, in a shop as well as online.
They belong in your terms and conditions, and staying silent on the point is penalised independently of the defect itself.
I sell a file or an online subscription, does this concern me?
Yes, through the twin regime for digital content and digital services, applicable since 1 January 2022.
A downloadable template that will not open, an online tool that does not do what the sales page announced: the customer can demand conformity, then a refund if it never comes.