UK consumer law

Your rights when you pay for games in the UK

The law that sits under every store's own policy: surcharges, section 75, chargebacks, the Consumer Rights Act for digital content, the 14-day rule and buy now, pay later.

No fee for paying by card or PayPal

Since 13 January 2018 a UK seller cannot charge you extra for paying with a consumer debit or credit card. The rule is regulation 6A of the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012, inserted by the Payment Services Regulations 2017, and the government's announcement confirmed it covers services such as PayPal too. Business cards are not covered.

Section 75: credit card purchases over £100

Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, your credit card provider is jointly liable with the seller if the seller misrepresents what you bought or breaks the contract. It applies when the item costs more than £100 and no more than £30,000, and you can claim the whole price even if you only put part of it on the card.

For games this mostly matters for big purchases: a console bundle, a collector's edition, or an expensive deluxe edition. Most standard games cost less than £100, so section 75 does not reach them; chargeback does.

PayPal breaks the chain. Citizens Advice explains that paying through a third party such as a PayPal wallet usually means section 75 no longer applies, even with a credit card behind it. You rely on PayPal's buyer protection instead, which gives you 180 days to open a dispute.

Chargeback: debit, credit and charge cards

Chargeback asks your card issuer to reverse a payment when goods were not supplied, were not as described, or the payment was fraudulent. It works on debit, credit and charge cards, has no £100 minimum and is a card-scheme process run by your bank, not a legal right. Claims are usually expected within about 120 days.

Use it as a last step. Every store in reacts to chargebacks: Steam restricts the account, PlayStation suspends it until the money is repaid, and EA may lock it. Ask the store for a refund first and keep a record of the reply.

Faulty games: the Consumer Rights Act 2015

Digital content you pay for, including content bought with in-game currency you paid for, must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described (sections 34 to 36). If it is not, you can ask for a repair or replacement (section 43) and, if that fails or is not possible, a price reduction of up to 100% (section 44). A fault that shows up within six months is presumed to have been there from the start.

There is no automatic right to reject faulty digital content as you could a physical product, but these rights apply whatever a store's own refund policy says. If a game damages your device or other files through the seller's lack of care, section 46 gives you a right to repair or compensation.

The 14-day cooling-off period, and why downloads end it

Online purchases normally come with 14 days to change your mind. For digital content that is not on a disc, regulation 37 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 lets the seller start the download within that period if you give express consent and acknowledge that you will lose the right to cancel. Once the download starts, the right is gone.

That tick-box is why PlayStation stops refunds once a download begins and why Nintendo refuses change-of-mind refunds. Stores with a refund policy longer than the law requires, such as Steam, Epic, Battle.net and GOG, are offering it voluntarily.

Buy now, pay later

From 15 July 2026 the Financial Conduct Authority regulates deferred payment credit: interest-free plans of up to 12 instalments over no more than 12 months. Lenders must check affordability and treat people in difficulty fairly, complaints can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and section 75 now applies to these agreements. Plans taken out before 15 July 2026 remain unregulated.

None of the eight stores in our guide documents a pay-later option at checkout for UK accounts except GOG, whose worldwide list includes Klarna. We do not recommend borrowing to pay for games.

If a purchase goes wrong: the order to try

This page is general information about UK consumer law, not legal advice. Sources: legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, Citizens Advice and the FCA, linked below.