Black Friday in the Netherlands: sale signs and what the law says

Updated on 3 November 2026. Sources: wetten.overheid.nl and acm.nl (both in Dutch). This article explains the rules and is not legal advice. Rules can change, so check there if you are unsure.

Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November this year, and Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. In the weeks before, shops everywhere put up signs with words like op = op, 2e halve prijs and tot 70% korting. They are short, but they say exactly what you get, and sometimes also what you do not get. Behind some of those signs there is a law as well: when a discount is really a discount, and when you may send something back.

In short

If you buy something online, by phone or at the door, you almost always have 14 days to change your mind (bedenktijd), counted from the day after you receive the product (article 6:230o of the Dutch Civil Code, BW, in Dutch). In an ordinary shop you do not have that right. There, exchanging is a service and not an obligation (ACM, in Dutch).

A crossed-out "was" price (van-prijs) must be the lowest price the shop charged in the 30 days before (article 5a of the Price Indication Decree, in Dutch). Even so, in November 2025 the ACM, the Dutch consumer authority, found one or more misleading price claims at 18 of 24 large sellers (ACM, in Dutch).

And the words themselves? Tot 70% korting means at most 70%, and 2e halve prijs comes to 25% off in total. If you know that, you have done the sums before you reach the till.

What is on the signs?

Most sale words are short and fixed. You do not have to conjugate them, you only need to recognise them.

Two words deserve extra attention. In op = op, op is not a preposition but an ordinary word for "all gone", just like in De melk is op (the milk has run out) or Mijn geld is op (my money has run out). And uitverkoop and uitverkocht look alike but mean almost the opposite. During the uitverkoop (the sale) everything is cheaper, so there is still plenty to buy. Uitverkocht (sold out) means there is nothing left.

Also watch the little word tot. On a sign with tot 70% korting, a few products are 70% off and the rest less. Vanaf works the other way round: the lowest price is on the sign, and what you actually want often costs more.

How much discount is 2e halve prijs really?

Less than it looks. If a sweater costs € 40, you pay € 40 + € 20 = € 60 for two instead of € 80. That is 25% off the total, and only if you really want two sweaters. If the two products do not cost the same, check the conditions to see which one gets the discount.

With 1 + 1 gratis you get 50% off, and with 3 halen, 2 betalen about 33%. The maths is not hard. The tricky part is that you buy an extra product you may not have needed.

When is a discount really a discount?

A "was" price is not just any old price. If a shop announces a price reduction, it must state the lowest price it charged in the 30 days before (article 5a of the Price Indication Decree, in Dutch). So if a shop raises its price a week before Black Friday, the lower price from before stays the "was" price. The same article has two exceptions. If a discount grows step by step, the shop may show the price from before the first discount for up to three months. And for products that go off quickly, the price just before the discount may be the "was" price.

The ACM showed in November 2025 that this does not always go right. At 18 of the 24 large sellers it checked, it found one or more misleading price claims, online and in shops (ACM, in Dutch). Its advice fits on one line: check first, then order.

An adviesprijs (recommended retail price) also needs a careful look. It is the price the manufacturer recommends, not necessarily the price the shop itself charged. A shop may mention a recommended price, but according to the ACM it may not cross it out if it never charged that price itself (ACM, in Dutch).

May a shop put you under pressure?

Not with something untrue. The Dutch Civil Code has a list of commercial practices that are always misleading (article 6:193g BW, in Dutch). Two of them fit Black Friday exactly.

The first is the lokaanbieding (bait offer). A shop advertises a product at a low price while it already suspects it can hardly supply it, or not at all, and does not say so. Lokken means drawing someone somewhere with something attractive, the way you lure a bird with a piece of bread.

The second is the fake deadline: falsely claiming that a product is only available for a very short time, so that you decide quickly. Think of a countdown clock that simply starts again when it reaches zero. A sign with op = op, on the other hand, is fair, as long as it is true.

How does the 14-day cooling-off period work?

If you buy something online, by phone or at the door, you may cancel the purchase within 14 days without giving a reason (article 6:230o BW, in Dutch). For a product, you count from the day after you receive it. If you order several things that arrive separately, you count from the last parcel. You tell the seller with the model withdrawal form or with another clear message. Since 16 July 2026 a webshop must have a clearly visible button on its site for this (article 6:230oa BW, in Dutch). Keep the confirmation: if something goes wrong, you have to show that you were on time.

After that you have another 14 days to send the product back. The return costs are yours, unless the webshop did not tell you so beforehand (article 6:230s BW, in Dutch). You may look at the product and try it out as you would in a shop. If you use it more than that, the webshop can charge you for the value it loses as a result.

The webshop refunds you within 14 days of your message, including the normal delivery costs (article 6:230r BW, in Dutch). It may wait until it has the product back, or until you show that you have sent it. If the webshop did not inform you properly about the cooling-off period, your deadline is extended, by twelve months at most.

When is there no cooling-off period?

The 14 days do not apply to every purchase at a distance. The law lists, among others, these exceptions (article 6:230p BW, in Dutch):

• something made especially for you, such as a sweater with your name on it
• products that go off quickly
• sealed products, such as personal care products or software, once you have broken the seal
• single newspapers and magazines
• a hotel, hire car or concert on a fixed date
• a download or game that starts straight away, if you agreed to that beforehand and gave up your cooling-off period

In an ordinary shop it is different. There you have no legal cooling-off period, and a shop does not have to offer exchanges or returns (ACM, in Dutch). If a shop does, it sets its own rules, such as the deadline and whether you need to show the receipt. In a shop, exchanging is a service; online, sending back is a right.

Does the guarantee also apply to discounted items?

Yes. A product must do what you may normally expect of it, even if it was reduced (article 7:17 BW, in Dutch). As a consumer, a shop cannot take that right away from you or limit it (article 7:6 BW, in Dutch). So a sign saying geen ruilen bij afgeprijsde artikelen (no exchanges on reduced items) is allowed, because exchanging is a service. But if the product is broken, the shop must repair or replace it free of charge (ACM, in Dutch), even if it was on offer.

What the shop tells you about the product beforehand does count. If you buy a display model and the shop says it has a scratch, you cannot complain about that scratch later. About a screen that no longer turns on after a week, you can.

What do you say when you send something back?

At customer service or on a return form you only need a few sentences. Ik wil gebruikmaken van mijn bedenktijd (I want to use my cooling-off period) is the polite sentence for an email. If the product is broken, it is not about the cooling-off period but about the guarantee, and you say Het product is kapot. Ik wil het laten repareren of vervangen. (The product is broken. I would like it repaired or replaced.)

Terugsturen (to send back) is a separable verb. You say Ik stuur de jas terug, but Ik heb de jas teruggestuurd. How that works is explained in Dutch separable verbs: where does 'op' go?

Frequently asked questions

Do I also have 14 days to change my mind in a shop?
No. The legal cooling-off period applies when you buy at a distance, such as online, and to doorstep sales. In a shop you can only exchange if the shop offers that.

Does the cooling-off period start on the day I order?
No. For a product you count from the day after you receive it. If you order on Black Friday and the parcel arrives on 1 December, you have until 15 December inclusive.

Who pays for sending it back?
Usually you. If the webshop did not say beforehand that the return costs are yours, the webshop pays them.

May a webshop raise its price just before Black Friday?
It may, but that does not make the discount bigger. The "was" price is the lowest price of the 30 days before the discount, so the old, lower price stays the "was" price.

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