EU Right of Withdrawal- Configuring Your Order Emails for EU Shoppers

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EU Right of Withdrawal — Configuring Your Order Emails for EU Shoppers

Applies to: Merchants who sell to EU member states via Global-e Section: Legal & Compliance From 19 June 2026, EU Directive 2023/2673 (new Article 11a of the Consumer Rights Directive) requires online traders to provide EU consumers with a visible, dedicated withdrawal mechanism that is as easy to use as the original purchase process. The 14-day right of withdrawal is not new, but merchants must now make it actively and easily accessible — including from order emails. As your Merchant of Record (MOR) for EU transactions, Global-e is the “trader” under EU consumer law. This article explains how to make sure your order emails include the required Right of Withdrawal link, so EU shoppers can exercise their 14-day withdrawal right directly from the messages they receive. This guide has three parts. Complete the part(s) that apply to your setup:

Part	For	What you do
1. Policy activation	All EU-selling merchants	Turn on the pre-built withdrawal policy in your returns platform
2. Customer Email Tool	Merchants using Global-e’s Email Management tool	Add the withdrawal link to Global-e email templates
3. Shopify notification emails	Shopify merchants managing their own notification emails	Add the withdrawal link to Shopify customer notifications

Tip: You typically complete Part 1 (policy activation) plus either Part 2 or Part 3, depending on how your order emails are managed.

1 — Policy Activation

Before the withdrawal link in your emails can route shoppers into a compliant flow, activate the pre-built EU Right of Withdrawal policy. To make compliance straightforward, Global-e has pre-built a ready-to-use EU Right of Withdrawal policy in your returns platform admin. It is configured to meet all directive requirements and is inactive by default — all you need to do is turn it on before 19 June 2026.

What’s pre-built in your policy

#	Setting	Pre-configured value
1	Eligibility window	14 days from delivery, scoped to EU destinations only. The 14-day countdown starts on the day of delivery; the right exists from the moment of purchase, so consumers can also withdraw before goods arrive.
2	Return reason	”Order Withdrawal” — no follow-up questions, no media upload, no manual approval
3	Resolution	Refund to Original Payment Method only — gift cards and exchange are disabled for this reason
4	Refund composition	Item price + collected duties and taxes (DDP orders only) + original outbound shipping fee
5	Additional fees	Restocking and return handling fees are prohibited on a withdrawal. Return shipping costs may be charged to the consumer only if you clearly disclosed this before purchase; otherwise the merchant covers them.
6	Confirmation email	The legally required durable-medium acknowledgement is sent automatically when the RMA is created.

Tip: The pre-built Withdrawal policy is a new, additive rule — it runs alongside your existing return rules without modifying them.

Prerequisites

You sell to one or more EU member states via Global-e.
Admin-level permissions in your Global-e returns platform admin (ReturnGO).

Step 1: Activate the pre-built return reason

In your returns platform admin, go to Settings > Return Reasons.
Locate the return reason named Order Withdrawal.
Click the return reason to open it.
Toggle Display reason to ON.
Click the save icon.
Drag the new return reason to the top of your list of return reasons.

Step 2: Activate the pre-built policy

In your return platform admin, go to Settings > Return Policy.
Locate the rule named EU Right of Withdrawal.
Click the rule to open it and review the pre-configured settings (recommended).
Toggle Activate Policy Rule to ON.
Click the save icon.

The policy is now live. EU shoppers who select Order Withdrawal within 14 days of delivery are automatically routed through the compliant withdrawal flow.

Want to customize? The rule is fully editable, but do not remove directive-required settings (e.g. OPM-only resolution or the 14-day window). Note that “final sale” / “non-returnable” tags do not exempt items from the statutory right of withdrawal.

2 — Customer Email Tool (Email Management)

Applies to: Merchants using Global-e’s Custom Email Tool (Email Management) to send order emails. What: Add a Right of Withdrawal link to your Global-e email templates so EU customers can exercise their 14-day withdrawal right.

Prerequisites

Email Management active for your account
Basic HTML editing skills

Path: Global-e Merchant Portal → Configuration → Email Management

Email types to update

Order Confirmed
Order Dispatched
Order Dispatched Partially
Order Delivered to Store

Steps

Step 1: Open Email Management Log in to the Global-e Merchant Portal → Configuration → Email Management. Step 2: Select the email type Use the Email Type dropdown and pick one. Step 3: Download the current HTML Template (HTML) → Download Current. Save the .html file and open it in your HTML editor. Step 4: Download text resources (optional) If you want to translate the link label to other languages:

Text Resources (Excel) → Download Current
Add a new line: ResourceKey = TR_withdrawal_label, e.g. English – United Kingdom = Withdraw this order (or your preferred wording)
Add translations in the appropriate language columns.

Step 5: Edit the HTML How the link works:

The placeholder WithdrawalUrl is the URL — Global-e fills this dynamically per order.
The link text is what the shopper sees (e.g. “Withdraw this order”).
You combine them in an anchor tag.

Place the link in the footer area of the email template, using the withdrawal placeholder together with the {{TR_withdrawal_label}} text resource.

Do not: Remove MoR legal text
Do not: Use a hardcoded URL instead of the placeholder.

Step 6: Upload the HTML Template (HTML) → Upload New… → your edited file. If you changed Text Resources, Upload New… the Excel file too. Step 7: Save draft and preview Stay in Draft → Save Changes → Preview an Order using an EU ship-to Order ID. Check Desktop and Mobile previews. Step 8: Send test email Send Test → your inbox. Click the withdrawal link and verify it works. Step 9: Publish Publish / Publish Changes → confirm Published for that email type. Step 10: Repeat Repeat Steps 2–9 for all email types listed above.

3 — Shopify Notification Emails

Applies to: Shopify merchants who manage their own notification emails (not using Global-e email templates). What: Add a Right of Withdrawal link to your Shopify notification emails so EU customers can exercise their 14-day withdrawal right.

Prerequisites

Shopify Admin access
Basic HTML editing skills
Your withdrawal page URL (provided by your CSM for Global-e Retail, or from your external return vendor)

Email types to update

Order confirmation
Shipping confirmation
Shipping update
Delivery confirmation (if applicable)

Steps

Step 1: Open Shopify email templates Shopify Admin → Settings → Notifications → Customer notifications → select the email to edit. Step 2: Select email type and edit code Select the email template, then click Edit code. Step 3: Add withdrawal code at the top of the file Choose one of the two options:

Option A — Show link for ALL countries: Insert the withdrawal code block at the top of the file and replace https://YOUR-WITHDRAWAL-URL-HERE with your withdrawal page URL.
Option B — Show link only for specific countries (recommended): Insert the country-conditional code block at the top of the file. The example shows DE, FR, IT — replace with the countries you need.

EU/EEA country codes: AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LI, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, XI Replace https://YOUR-WITHDRAWAL-URL-HERE with your withdrawal page URL:

Global-e Retail solution (ReturnGO or Legacy Portal): Your CSM will provide this link.
External return vendor: Use the withdrawal link from your vendor.

To change the link text, replace Withdraw this order with your preferred label. How it works: The system checks the shipping country first. If shipping country is not available (e.g. digital orders), it falls back to billing country. Step 4: Add the link to the email footer This is the same for both options. Search for footer__cell in the template. Inside the footer, after disclaimer__subtext, add the withdrawal link code using the {{ withdrawal_label }} value. Step 5: Save and repeat Click Save. Repeat Steps 1–4 for all four email types listed above.

Testing checklist

EU ship-to order: link appears in email
Non-EU order: link does not appear (Option B) or appears (Option A)
Link opens correct withdrawal page
All four email types updated

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