When an online purchase never arrives, shows up smashed, or turns up weeks late, the instinct is to chase the courier. Under Spanish consumer law, that instinct is wrong. The claim belongs against the retailer that sold you the goods, not against Correos, SEUR or whichever delivery firm handled the parcel. Only in specific scenarios — where you arranged the shipping yourself, or where you are the sender — does the transport operator become your direct counterpart.
- Retailer liability: Risk of loss or damage stays with the seller until the goods physically reach you or a third party you designated, excluding the carrier.
- Delivery window: Sellers must deliver without undue delay and within a maximum of 30 calendar days unless another term was agreed.
- Burden of proof: If the store claims it delivered, it must prove it. You do not have to disprove delivery.
- Escalation routes: Consumer arbitration, regional consumer services and the Transport Arbitration Boards offer progressively formal remedies.
Who is liable when a parcel disappears or arrives broken
The governing rule sits in Article 66 ter of Spain’s General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users. When a seller dispatches goods, the risk of loss or deterioration transfers to the buyer only at the moment the buyer — or a third party designated by the buyer who is not the carrier — takes material possession. In plain terms: if the driver loses the box, leaves it in a building lobby without authorisation, or hands over a crushed package, the problem remains the retailer’s. The store chose and contracted the carrier; any recovery action against that carrier is the store’s business, not yours.
There is an exception worth reading carefully. Risk shifts to the buyer at the point of handover to the carrier if you personally commissioned the transport, or if the carrier you selected was not among those offered by the retailer. Even then, the law preserves your rights against that transport company.
The practical reading is straightforward: the exception exists for buyers who organise shipping on their own account, not for the standard “standard or express delivery” dropdown on a retail site, where the seller proposes the options. A store that charges for shipping and then directs you to fight the courier is deflecting a problem that is legally its own.
Non-delivery: deadlines and when you can cancel
Unless otherwise agreed, Article 66 bis of the same law obliges the seller to deliver without undue delay and within a maximum of 30 calendar days from the conclusion of the contract. If the seller fails, the path has two steps. First, formally request delivery within an additional period reasonable in the circumstances — in writing, by email or through the store’s contact form, so a record exists. Second, if that period also expires without delivery, you are entitled to terminate the contract.
You can skip the additional period and terminate immediately in two situations: if the retailer refuses to deliver, or if the delivery date was essential and was agreed before purchase — a gift that had to arrive before a birthday, for instance, provided that condition is documented. The same article places the burden of proof of delivery on the seller. If the store asserts the parcel was delivered, it must demonstrate that.
This is distinct from the right of withdrawal, which applies when the product does arrive and you simply no longer want it. Confusing the two weakens your position: non-delivery is a breach of contract, not a change of mind.
When you are the sender: what Correos covers
If you contract the shipping yourself, your relationship is directly with the operator, and claim windows are short and counted from the date of acceptance. Correos publishes coverage terms for domestic shipments and states one rule clearly: the beneficiary of any compensation is always the sender. A recipient who wants to collect must obtain written authorisation from the sender. That reinforces the earlier point — when a store ships to you via Correos, the sender is the store, not you.
For Paquete Estándar and Paquete Premium, the published figures as of November 2026 are as follows:
- Loss: claims can be filed from 3 days (Premium) or 4 days (Standard) after acceptance, and up to one year afterwards.
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Compensation:
€6.67 per billed kilogram plus refund of the tariff. For Paquete Premium and non-contract customers there is a minimum of €40. - Declared value or all-risk insurance: if contracted, compensation is the tariff plus the declared or insured value, with maximum coverage of €6,000.
For deterioration, damage must be reported at the moment of delivery or within the following 7 calendar days. Photographs of the packaging and contents may be requested to assess the damage and whether the packaging was adequate. For registered letters and the blue parcel service, minimum claim periods are 5 and 6 days respectively, with a maximum of six months, and compensation for loss is the tariff paid multiplied by 10 and by 4.
What to do when nobody responds
Put everything in writing first. Spain’s Postal Services Law 43/2010 obliges postal operators to handle claims for loss, theft, destruction or deterioration through simple, free procedures, to issue a receipt, and to resolve within a maximum of one month. Correos, which accepts claims via web form, telephone, post and branch offices, publishes a maximum response time of one month for domestic shipments and two months for international ones, plus up to one further month to pay compensation once the claim is resolved.
If the company — retailer or operator — fails to respond or stalls, three escalating routes exist:
- Official complaint form and a claim before the consumer services of your region or municipality.
- Consumer arbitration. Articles 57 and 58 of the consumer law describe it as an extrajudicial system, free of special formalities, with a binding and enforceable award for both parties, to which the company submits voluntarily. Law 43/2010 expressly allows postal disputes to be taken to it.
- Transport Arbitration Boards. For commercial disputes over land transport contracts, the Land Transport Organisation Law presumes acceptance of this arbitration where the amount does not exceed €15,000 and neither party has expressly objected before transport.
As a practical rule, keep the tracking number, screenshots of the shipment status, photographs of the damaged parcel before opening it fully, and every email exchanged with the store.
E-commerce has normalised the idea that buyers should chase couriers, and the law says precisely the opposite. The sensible position is to reject “claim with the carrier” as an answer when you bought from a store: cite Article 66 ter, request replacement or reimbursement, and let the seller resolve matters with its logistics provider. It is the seller’s contract, not yours — and the statutory framework, from the 30-day delivery limit to the reversed burden of proof, is built to keep it that way.