I'm a US expat living in Spain (almost a year now). I made a large purchase at an online store last week with my Visa credit card. The item has not shipped, but I have already been charged for the full purchase price.

In the US, Visa requires merchants to ship the product before fully charging the credit card. Do these rules apply in Spain/the EU? Does the EU have rules of its own that trump Visa's rules?

  • 1
    Note that in the EU credit cards are not as common as debit cards, where they withdraw the money upfront all the time. They just use the same technique when dealing with credit cards (whether it's Visa or MasterCard, etc). On the other hand I don't think this is an expat question, you might have better luck at money.stackexchange.com – SztupY Apr 14 '15 at 8:53

In the EU, most (serious) online shops will charge you only once the goods are shipped. You seem to have fallen on a not so correct one. Nevertheless, in the EU, when you buy a product online,

you have the right to return unwanted goods within 14 days from receiving the goods http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/buy-sell-online/rights-e-commerce/index_en.htm#purchase-confirmation

which gives you some means to put pressure on the seller.

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