Mail, Internet, Or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule

We can’t speak for anyone else, but we’d estimate that we make about 95% of our life purchases over the internet. Clothes, food, furniture, plane tickets, objets d’art—it’s all there for the buying. We try to buy our cars and houses online, as well as the loans we need to afford them. What a time to be alive. In fact, the only drawback to shopping online is that we have to wait for our purchases to ship to us.

Happily, there’s a rule for that, and it’s called the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (the “Internet” part was added in 2014). It says that if we order something by mail, over the phone, or online, it has to be shipped to us within the timeframe specified. If there’s no specified timeframe, then it has to ship within 30 days. If a vendor can’t ship something within the specified timeframe, this rule either (a) prohibits them from selling it to us, or (b) forces them to contact us, tell us what’s going on, and offer us a refund.

Because let’s face it: if we order an elf costume for the upcoming holiday party, not knowing it won’t arrive until right before Valentine’s Day, we’re gonna be upset. We don't want to be an angry elf.