Do I really have to give an extra period first?

Yes, unless the shop says it will not deliver or the date was essential and known. One email with a clear date is enough, and it is exactly the evidence you will need later.

May the shop hold the refund until the parcel is back?

Not for a cancellation because nothing was delivered: there is nothing to return. The rule that lets a shop wait for the goods applies only to withdrawing from an order that was delivered.

What if the shop has gone bankrupt in the meantime?

Then the law helps little and the payment method a lot. A card payment can be charged back within your bank's deadline; with a bank transfer you queue with the administrator.

When the delivery does not come

No date agreed? Thirty days. Date missed? One email, one extra period, and then cancelling is your right, with everything refunded. And the parcel is the seller's problem until it is in your hands.

Checked 2026-09-07

Ordered, paid, and nothing comes. The rules for this are European, in force across the EU since 13 June 2014, and simpler than most shops let on. They work in three steps.

Step one is the deadline. If a delivery date was agreed, that date applies. If nothing was agreed, the shop must deliver within thirty days of the order. "Ships in 2 to 5 working days" on the product page is an agreement; a pre-order with a date beside it is too. A shop that has shipped nothing by that date is in default, and you do not even have to tell it so for that to be the case.

Step two is a second chance, which you are obliged to give unless it would be pointless. You send a message, by email so there is a record, setting a reasonable additional period: a week is reasonable for something said to be in stock. If that period passes too, you may cancel the order and the shop must refund everything you paid, delivery charges included, without undue delay.

The second chance falls away in two cases. If the shop says it will not deliver, you need not wait for it to prove that. And if the date was essential and the shop knew it, a present for a birthday you named when ordering, a dress for a wedding with a date on it, you may cancel the moment that date has passed. A delivery after the birthday is not a delivery.

What the shop may not do is pass it to the carrier. Until the parcel is in your hands, the risk is the seller's. A parcel that vanishes in transit is their problem, and "contact the courier" is an answer you may ignore. The exception is a carrier you chose yourself outside what the shop offered, which is rare. If the tracking says delivered and there is nothing there, that is a different story: It says delivered and it is not here.

On a marketplace, Amazon included, all of this runs against the seller, not the platform; who that is, you read in Who actually sells this?. And if the refund fails to come after you have cancelled, the way you paid is your next step: a card payment your bank can pull back, a bank transfer it cannot. See How you pay decides what you can get back.

Questions

Do I really have to give an extra period first?: Yes, unless the shop says it will not deliver or the date was essential and known. One email with a clear date is enough, and it is exactly the evidence you will need later.
May the shop hold the refund until the parcel is back?: Not for a cancellation because nothing was delivered: there is nothing to return. The rule that lets a shop wait for the goods applies only to withdrawing from an order that was delivered.
What if the shop has gone bankrupt in the meantime?: Then the law helps little and the payment method a lot. A card payment can be charged back within your bank's deadline; with a bank transfer you queue with the administrator.

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