When Does Your Online Store's Delivery Date Become Binding, and What Do You Do When an Order Is Late, Lost or Damaged?

What the store must say about delivery before the order and on the invoice

The E-Commerce Law distinguishes between two documents: the statement given to the consumer before the contract is concluded, and the invoice given after it is concluded. The Law's Implementing Regulation details what goes into each, and the delivery items are the following.

• In the pre-order statement: the total price including all fees, taxes or additional amounts related to delivery, if any, so that shipping fees do not appear for the first time at the last step of payment.
• Also in the statement: the payment, delivery and performance arrangements and, according to the Implementing Regulation, the price details including delivery costs, any other costs that may be charged in the future with how they are calculated and when they become due, and the shipping and delivery terms where relevant.
• On the invoice after the contract is concluded: the date and place of delivery, as the Law requires, and according to the Implementing Regulation a savable invoice that includes the shipping, transport and delivery charges, if any, the delivery date of the product, the name of the carrier handling delivery, and the delivery tracking data, if any.
• Consistency between the two: the fees and the date on the invoice must match what the customer saw before ordering, because any gap between them is the first thing raised against you in a complaint.

In practice, the product page, the cart, the checkout page and the confirmation message are all part of the delivery promise. Make the invoice your store system issues carry fixed fields for the delivery date, the carrier name and the tracking number, instead of relying on a separate message that may never arrive. If your site publishes general terms of use, see the website terms of use guide to understand how they differ from the sale and delivery terms.

When the delivery date becomes binding, and what happens when an order is late

The E-Commerce Law provides that, unless the service provider and the consumer agree on another period for delivering or performing the subject of the contract, the consumer may cancel the contract if the service provider is late in delivery or performance by more than fifteen days from the date the contract was concluded or from the agreed date, and may recover what they paid under the contract for the product or service, or other costs resulting from that delay, unless the delay is due to force majeure.

Without prejudice to that, the Law adds a separate duty: the service provider must inform the consumer of any expected delay or difficulties that have a material effect on delivering or performing the subject of the contract. Informing the customer is not a customer service courtesy but a stand-alone legal duty, and it does not remove the right to cancel when its conditions are met.

This is why the drafting matters. The period you agree with the customer and announce before the order is what sets the date against which delay is measured, and if no period is agreed, the reference is what the Law provides. So do not write a date you cannot meet just because it looks attractive in an ad, and do not leave the date vague. If an event occurs that you consider force majeure, document it, because whether something counts as force majeure depends on the facts of each case. When an order actually runs late, follow these steps:

1. Monitor orders approaching the announced date through the carrier dashboard, not after the customer complains.
2. Inform the customer in writing as soon as you expect a delay or a material difficulty arises, stating the reason and the new expected date.
3. Clearly offer the choice of waiting or cancelling, and do not make waiting conditional on giving up their rights.
4. If the right to cancel arises and the customer exercises it, return what they paid under the contract and any costs due to them that resulted from the delay without stalling, and record the date and method of the refund.
5. Keep the record of messages and tracking data, as it is your evidence of informing the customer and of the cause of the delay.

Where the delivery period starts, and why a per-product or per-city field beats a general promise

Under the Law, unless otherwise agreed, the period runs from the date the contract is concluded, which in an online store is usually the moment the order is confirmed by clicking the checkout button, a button that must make clear to the customer that clicking it concludes the contract. Many stores write 'delivery within three to five days' without setting the starting point or the kind of days, and that vagueness weakens your position in a dispute. These are the possible starting points and what each one needs:

• Order confirmation: the closest to the date the contract is concluded, and the clearest for the customer.
• Preparation or dispatch: it can be the starting point if you announce the preparation time separately before the order, so the customer sees both periods together and knows the total date.
• Carrier pickup: the customer does not know when it happened, so if you use it, tie it to an immediate message with the carrier name and tracking number.
• Working days and holidays: state whether weekends and official holidays count, and the daily order cut-off time after which an order rolls to the next day.

The sturdier solution is a delivery date field for each product or each city or region, shown on the product page and in the cart and carried unchanged onto the invoice. A made-to-order product, a product stocked by an outside supplier and an order heading to a remote area do not deliver like a ready product in a warehouse inside the city, and a single general promise makes you late in the hardest cases. A precise field makes the period genuinely agreed, not just a marketing line.

Failed delivery attempts, wrong address, partial delivery and re-dispatch

The E-Commerce Law does not name these cases, but they connect directly to two rules in the Law and its Regulation: the customer must know before ordering any costs that may be charged later and how they are calculated, and must be informed of any material difficulty in delivery. The Civil Transactions Law provides that the costs of delivering the sold item are on the seller unless otherwise agreed, so any extra fee you want the customer to bear needs to be announced and agreed in advance.

• Failed delivery attempts: set the number of attempts, how the customer is told of each one, how long the carrier holds the parcel before returning it, and who bears the cost of returning it to the warehouse.
• Wrong or incomplete address: ask the customer to confirm the address, location and mobile number when ordering, and state that changing the address after dispatch may change the date or trigger fees announced in advance.
• Partial delivery: if the order will arrive in more than one shipment, tell the customer before the order or as soon as you know, and state in the shipping message what was sent, what remains and the date of each part.
• Re-dispatch: state when you re-send free of charge, such as an error by the store or the carrier, and when the fee is on the customer, such as refusing delivery without reason or an error in the address they entered, and state the amount or how it is calculated.

When the risk of loss or damage passes to the customer

When a parcel is lost or arrives damaged, the question goes back to the sale rules of the Civil Transactions Law. The seller must deliver the sold item in the condition it was in at the time of sale, and delivery takes place by placing the item in the buyer's possession, or by the seller leaving the buyer free to take possession of and use it without obstacle, provided the seller has told the buyer so. The Law does not provide that handing the parcel to the carrier chosen by the store counts as delivery to the customer, although it allows the parties to agree that the buyer is deemed to have received the item in a particular case. So do not write a term of that kind in a store that sells to consumers before a lawyer reviews it, because its effect also touches consumer protection under the E-Commerce Law. The rules on loss before delivery are as follows:

• If the product is lost or damaged before delivery through the customer's own act, the customer is deemed to have received it and must pay the price.
• If the product or part of it is lost before delivery through the act of the seller or a third party, the customer may ask to cancel the sale, or keep it and claim compensation from whoever caused the loss, or ask to cancel only the lost part.
• If the product is lost before delivery for a cause in which neither party nor any third party had a hand, the sale is cancelled and the customer recovers the price; if only part is lost, the sale is cancelled for that part, and the customer may ask to cancel the rest and recover the full price.

The practical result is that a parcel lost or damaged in transit usually remains the store's problem towards the customer, and the store then turns to its carrier under the contract between them. So do not promise the customer what your carrier does not commit to: if the shipping contract sets an estimated delivery time, a cap on compensation for loss, or a short window to report damage, keep your store terms and internal standards consistent with it. Ask the customer to inspect the parcel on receipt and report any visible damage with photos within a reasonable period you announce, without making that a reason to strip the customer of their statutory rights.

Cash on delivery, delivery outside the Kingdom, and the mistakes that leave you answering for your carrier

Cash on delivery and international shipping add a layer of costs and risks that must appear in the pre-order statement, because the Law requires the total price to include all fees or additional amounts related to delivery, if any.

• Cash on delivery: state any extra fee for this method before the order and on the invoice, what happens if the customer refuses delivery, and the areas or order limits where the service is available, if any.
• Delivery outside the Kingdom: state the countries you ship to, the period for each region, who bears customs duties and taxes in the destination country, and that they may be collected from the customer on delivery if that is the case. Do not state customs rates or amounts you have not verified with the competent official authority.
• Advertising delivery: phrases such as 'free delivery' or 'same-day delivery' in your ads are part of your promise, so keep them consistent with your terms and review them with the E-Ads Compliance Checklist D-08.

These are the most common mistakes that leave a store answering to the customer for its carrier's failings:

• A single general period promised for all cities and products.
• A date in the ad that differs from the date on the invoice.
• No carrier name or tracking data on the invoice.
• The store staying silent about a delay instead of informing the customer.
• A term putting all risk on the customer once the parcel leaves the warehouse, without legal review.
• Re-dispatch or cash on delivery fees that were not announced before the order.

If you sell through a marketplace platform that handles delivery for you, also review the Marketplace Seller Agreement D-07 to see who bears each obligation. Sellers on social media accounts will find a wider picture of their obligations in the guide for sellers on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and WhatsApp. And remember that delay and loss are a separate matter from the consumer's right to cancel within seven days of receiving the product without needing a defect, which is covered in the returns and exchange policy guide.

The checklist: the delivery clauses your store terms must contain

1. Announce delivery fees and any extra fees for cash on delivery or international shipping before checkout, within the total price.
2. Set the delivery period for each product, city or region, its starting point, and whether it counts working days or calendar days.
3. Link the announced date to the invoice, and make the invoice savable and showing the delivery date and place and the shipping, transport and delivery charges.
4. Add the carrier name and the parcel tracking data, if any, to the invoice.
5. Write the process for informing the customer of any expected delay or material difficulty, and the channel you use to do so.
6. Reproduce the right to cancel for delay as the Law states it without narrowing it, and explain how the customer requests it and recovers what they paid.
7. Cover failed delivery attempts, wrong addresses, partial delivery and re-dispatch, and their announced fees.
8. State when the customer is deemed to have received the order, what to do if a parcel arrives damaged or incomplete, and the store's role in following up with the carrier.
9. Align your terms and ads with your contract with the shipping company, and do not promise more than the carrier commits to.
10. Review the delivery terms whenever you change carrier or shipping areas, and make any change clear to customers.

Once the delivery clauses are complete, review your whole store with the e-commerce compliance checklist guide, and start with the Online Store Terms template D-02, which contains the full set of delivery clauses in wording certified by a licensed Saudi lawyer, together with the Returns and Refund Policy D-05 and the E-Ads Compliance Checklist D-08.

Frequently asked questions