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FTC Cooling-Off Rule: what it means

The Cooling-Off Rule is a federal FTC rule that gives you the right to cancel certain sales a seller makes to you in person away from its place of business, for example in your home, even if you invited the seller. You can cancel before midnight of the third business day after the purchase.

In Spanish it is

Regla de Enfriamiento (Cooling-Off Rule)

Also written as: Cooling-Off Rule · door-to-door sales rule · three-day cancellation rule

A pregnant woman takes groceries out of the car in front of her garage.

Verified on October 17, 2026

2 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

The seller must give you a contract in the same language used in the sales pitch, such as Spanish, with two copies of a cancellation notice, and tell you out loud that you can cancel. It does not cover, among others, sales of real estate or insurance, or purchases below a certain price.

An example

A salesperson visits Olga and sells her a water purifier in her living room. The next day she changes her mind: she signs and dates the cancellation notice that came with the contract and mails it before midnight of the third business day.

You will see it in…

The contract or receipt for a sale in your home, with the “NOTICE OF CANCELLATION”
Offers from contractors and door-to-door salespeople
Sales at fairs, hotels or other places that are not the seller's store

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “FTC Cooling-Off Rule”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) · 16 CFR § 429.0: definitions (Rule Concerning Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Homes or at Certain Other Locations) (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) · 16 CFR § 429.1: the Rule (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026