Does Denmark's 14-Day Right of Withdrawal Change for Influencer Discount Code Sales?

Short answer: no — a discount code changes nothing about the withdrawal right

When a consumer buys a product online using an influencer's discount code, it's legally still just an ordinary distance sale. The general 14-day withdrawal right under forbrugeraftaleloven (Denmark's Consumer Contracts Act) applies exactly as it would to any other webshop purchase — whether the price was DKK 899 or DKK 719 after the discount. The law doesn't distinguish between a price reduction that comes from a general sale, an influencer's personal code, or an ordinary seasonal discount. The one place the discount genuinely matters is the refund amount if the consumer withdraws — covered in its own section below.

Why this question comes up at all

The myth that discounted or campaign items can't be returned almost certainly comes from physical retail, not from online shopping. Buy a product in a physical store — even if an influencer's discount code is redeemed at the till — and there is, as a starting point, no statutory withdrawal right at all. Denmark's withdrawal right applies only to distance sales (typically online) and off-premises sales (such as doorstep selling) — not to an ordinary in-store purchase. When a physical shop posts a sign saying «no exchange or return on sale items», that's a voluntary, contractual return policy the shop itself has chosen to limit — not a statutory right being restricted. That's almost certainly where the confusion originates when the same assumption gets carried over to an online purchase, where the rules are materially different.

The withdrawal right's exceptions — and why price isn't one of them

Section 18(2) of forbrugeraftaleloven sets out an exhaustive list of the cases where the withdrawal right does not apply. None of them have anything to do with a product's price, a discount code, or a campaign:

A discount code doesn't make an ordinary product «custom-made» or «sealed for hygiene reasons» — it only changes the price, not the product's legal character. See a full comparison of how these exceptions (and the auction exception specifically) play out in practice in consumer withdrawal rights for live-shopping purchases in Denmark.

The case that already tested exactly this

This isn't only a theoretical question — Forbrugerombudsmanden has already dealt with it directly. In case 09/01111 (2009), an internet business had stated in its terms that there was no withdrawal right on discounted goods. Forbrugerombudsmanden found that «the withdrawal right is a statutory right, which cannot be restricted beyond what follows from the Consumer Contracts Act» (fortrydelsesretten er en lovbestemt rettighed, som der ikke kan fastsættes begrænsninger i, ud over hvad der fremgår af forbrugeraftaleloven) — the company removed the term and received reinforced guidance on its disclosure obligations. The case concerned a general sale discount, not specifically an influencer's code — but the principle is identical: no contract term can narrow the withdrawal right beyond what the law itself allows, regardless of how the discount arose or was distributed.

What actually does change: the refund amount

There's exactly one place the discount makes a real difference: the amount the consumer gets back. Forbrugerombudsmanden's own guidance on refunds is unambiguous: the trader must refund «all amounts the business has received from its customer — typically the purchase price plus the cost of sending the goods to the consumer» (alle beløb, som virksomheden har modtaget fra sin kunde — dvs. typisk købesummen + beløbet for at sende varen til forbrugeren), no later than 14 days after the business receives notice of withdrawal, and using the same payment method the consumer used to pay. «Amounts the business has received» is the price the consumer actually paid — that is, after the discount code was applied — not the product's normal price before the discount. A consumer who paid DKK 719 for a product with a normal price of DKK 899 is entitled to get DKK 719 back plus standard delivery, not DKK 899.

Can a campaign state «no exchange or return» when a discount code is used?

No, not with any legal effect on the consumer. As case 09/01111 shows, a term like this cannot restrict the statutory withdrawal right — whether it sits in the general terms and conditions or specifically in a discount-code campaign's own terms. A term claiming otherwise simply has no legal effect; the consumer can disregard it and withdraw from the purchase as normal.

What this means for an influencer discount-code campaign

• Never write «no exchange or return when using this code» into campaign material. The term has no legal effect, and stating it risks misleading the consumer about a right she actually has.
• Build the return risk into the campaign's economics from the start. A discount code that already puts pressure on margin doesn't become less risky because some of those sales are later withdrawn from — see do influencer discount codes cannibalise your margin for how discount and commission together hit the bottom line.
• Remember that a withdrawal normally reverses the commission too. If the consumer withdraws from the purchase, the commission the influencer would otherwise have earned on that sale is normally reversed — see commission clawbacks: what happens when a customer returns the product for how that's handled in practice, both on an open network and in a direct deal.

Worked example (hypothetical, illustrative only)

The figures below are invented purely to illustrate the calculation — this is not a real Make Influence customer case.

An influencer shares a code for 20% off a product with a normal price of DKK 899. A customer uses the code and pays DKK 899 × 0.80 = DKK 719.20. The customer withdraws from the purchase 10 days later.

• Correct refund: DKK 719.20 (the amount actually paid) plus any standard delivery cost, no later than 14 days after the withdrawal is notified.
• A mistaken assumption some webshops make: that the customer is only entitled to store credit because the item was bought «on sale» — that has no basis in the law.
• A mistaken assumption the other way: that the customer should get the full DKK 899 normal price back — no, only the amount she actually paid.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a «sale» or a discount code automatically means no right to return. That only applies to the voluntary exchange policy common in physical retail — not the statutory withdrawal right for an online purchase.
• Writing «no withdrawal when a discount code is used» into the terms and conditions. The term has no legal effect, per case 09/01111.
• Assuming a time-limited «exclusive drop» with its own SKU counts as «made to the consumer's specifications.» The exception requires genuine individual customisation for that specific customer — not merely a limited production run or a campaign name.
• Forgetting that the discount changes the refund amount. The consumer gets back exactly what she actually paid, no more and no less.

Make Influence's operational perspective

In our experience, it's rarely the influencer who ends up fielding a withdrawal-right question — it's the brand's own customer service, often days or weeks after the campaign has ended. We recommend that a brand's terms never carve out an exception for discount-code purchases, and that customer service knows precisely that a refund is calculated on the amount the customer actually paid — not the product's normal price. It's a small administrative detail, but it's exactly the kind of mistake a single unhappy customer, or a Forbrugerombudsmanden complaint, makes visible.

FAQ

Does the withdrawal right apply even if the discount code was exclusive to one influencer's followers?

Yes. How widely a code is distributed, or who shared it, has no bearing on the withdrawal right — the law doesn't distinguish between a general campaign code and a code only one influencer's followers know about.

Does the customer get the full normal price back, or the discounted price?

The discounted price — that is, the amount the customer actually paid, plus any standard delivery cost. See the refund section above.

Can a webshop write «no returns on discount-code items» into its terms and conditions?

No, not with legal effect. Forbrugerombudsmanden already established in case 09/01111 that such a term cannot lawfully restrict the statutory withdrawal right.

Does the same rule apply if the discount code is redeemed in a physical store?

No — that's actually the reverse situation. A purchase in a physical store is, as a starting point, not covered by the statutory withdrawal right at all, regardless of whether a discount code was used. Any exchange policy a physical store offers is a voluntary customer-service gesture, on terms the store sets itself.

Does a time-limited «exclusive influencer drop» count as a customised good exempt from the withdrawal right?

No, unless the product is genuinely customised to that individual consumer (for example, engraved with the customer's own name). A limited production run or a campaign name doesn't on its own make a product «made to the consumer's specifications.»

Is it the influencer or the brand who's responsible for the withdrawal right being respected?

The brand — as the trader and the selling party to the contract. The influencer is only the marketing channel and doesn't personally carry responsibility for whether the terms and conditions are lawful, the same allocation of responsibility as under the price-marketing rules — see the EU Omnibus Directive's 30-day lowest-price rule for influencer discount codes.

What happens to the influencer's commission if the customer withdraws from the purchase?

It's normally reversed, the same way it would be for any other returned product. See commission clawbacks for how that's handled on an open network versus in a direct deal.

Is this the same question as the EU's 30-day lowest-price rule?

No, these are two separate rule sets that can both apply to the same discount-code campaign. This article covers whether the customer can withdraw from the purchase. The EU Omnibus Directive covers whether the price claim itself («X% off») is correctly documented.