Supreme Court rules that the online order button is not clear enough

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that order buttons on web stores with the line "bestellen," "bestelling plaatsen," or "bestelling afronden" do not indicate clearly enough that the consumer has to pay. This verdict from the highest court may lead to the total or partial cancellation of sales agreements.

Two cases were looked at by the Supreme Court after the court in Rotterdam had asked them about it. In one case, a consumer had ordered at bol.com via the button "bestelling plaatsen" with the intention of paying afterward. However, payment was not made, which is why Bol started a case against the customer.

The Supreme Court referred to an explanation from the Court of Justice in the European Union in their verdict about the order button. "The text on the button must be unambiguous and necessarily create a connection with the creation of a payment obligation," said the Supreme Court, which ruled that the text "place order" does not meet these requirements.

Supreme Court's verdict means that the judge can annul the purchase agreement in its entirety. The consumer must then return the purchased items and receive the amount paid back. For default cases in which the consumer does not appear, the Supreme Court proposes a one-third discount on the amount to be paid.

A spokeswoman said the order button at bol.com was changed to 'order and pay' in 2022 "to make the payment obligation even clearer for consumers."

It is not yet clear whether Bol will take further action against unclear order buttons following the Supreme Court's ruling on Friday. "It is too early to say anything about that now because we are still studying the ruling at the moment."