EU Right of Withdrawal - Merchant Email Setup Instructions

From 19 June 2026, EU Directive 2023/2673 (new Article 11a of the Consumer Rights Directive) requires online traders to provide EU consumers with a visible, dedicated withdrawal mechanism that is as easy to use as the original purchase process. The 14-day right of withdrawal is not new, but merchants must now make it actively and easily accessible — including from order emails. As your Merchant of Record (MOR) for EU transactions, Global-e is the “trader” under EU consumer law. This article explains how to make sure your order emails include the required Right of Withdrawal link, so EU shoppers can exercise their 14-day withdrawal right directly from the messages they receive.

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Custom Email Tool (Email Management)

Applies to: Merchants using Global-e’s Custom Email Tool (Email Management) to send order emails. What: Add a Right of Withdrawal link to your Global-e email templates so EU customers can exercise their 14-day withdrawal right.

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Prerequisites - Email Management

• Email Management active for your account
• Basic HTML editing skills

Path: Global-e Merchant Portal → Configuration → Email Management

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Email types to update - Email Management

• Order Confirmed
• Order Dispatched
• Order Dispatched Partially
• Order Delivered to Store

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Steps - Email Management

1. Log in to the Global-e Merchant Portal → Configuration → Email Management.
2. Use the Email Type dropdown and pick one.
3. Template (HTML) → Download Current. Save the .html file and open it in your HTML editor.
4. If you want to translate the link label to other languages:
   • Text Resources (Excel) → Download Current
   • Add a new line: ResourceKey = TR_withdrawal_label, e.g. English – United Kingdom = Withdraw this order (or your preferred wording)
   • Add translations in the appropriate language columns.
5. How the link works:
   • The placeholder WithdrawalUrl is the URL — Global-e fills this dynamically per order.
   • The link text is what the shopper sees (e.g. “Withdraw this order”).
   • You combine them in an anchor tag.
   Place the link in the footer area of the email template, using the withdrawal placeholder together with the {{TR_withdrawal_label}} text resource. Code to paste:
   {{#WithdrawalUrl}}
       <p style="margin-top: 20px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; color: #333333;">
       <a href="{{WithdrawalUrl}}" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: underline;">
       {{TR_withdrawal_label}}
       </a>
       </p>
       {{/WithdrawalUrl}}
   
   If you skipped Step 4 (Text Resources), replace {{TR_withdrawal_label}} in the code above with your preferred link label (for example, Withdraw this order).
   • Do not: Remove MoR legal text
   • Do not: Use a hardcoded URL instead of the placeholder.
6. Template (HTML) → Upload New… → your edited file. If you changed Text Resources, Upload New… the Excel file too.
7. Stay in Draft → Save Changes → Preview an Order using an EU ship-to Order ID. Check Desktop and Mobile previews.
8. Send Test → your inbox. Click the withdrawal link and verify it works.
9. Publish / Publish Changes → confirm Published for that email type.
10. Repeat Steps 2–9 for all email types listed above.

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Shopify notification emails

Applies to: Shopify merchants who manage their own notification emails (not using Global-e email templates). What: Add a Right of Withdrawal link to your Shopify notification emails so EU customers can exercise their 14-day withdrawal right.

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Prerequisites - Shopify

• Shopify Admin access
• Basic HTML editing skills
• Your return page URL (ReturnGO, Global-e Returns Portal, or external vendor link)

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Email types to update - Shopify

• Order confirmation
• Shipping confirmation
• Shipping update
• Delivery confirmation (if applicable)

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Steps - Shopify notification emails

1. Shopify Admin → Settings → Notifications → Customer notifications → select the email to edit. Shopify Admin navigation to Customer notifications email templates
2. Select the email template, then click Edit code. Shopify email template Edit code button
3. Choose one of the two options: Option A — Show link for ALL countries: At the top of the file, insert this code and replace https://YOUR-WITHDRAWAL-URL-HERE with your withdrawal page
   {% comment %}
     Merchant-provided withdrawal URL
     {% endcomment %}
     {% assign withdrawal_url = 'https://YOUR-WITHDRAWAL-URL-HERE' %}
     {% assign withdrawal_label = 'Withdraw this order' %}
     {% assign show_withdrawal_link = true %}
   
   Liquid code block at top of Shopify email template Option B — Show link only for specific countries (recommended): At the top of the file, insert this country-conditional code block. The example shows DE, FR, IT — replace with the countries you need.
   {% comment %}
     Withdrawal-right countries (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2).
     Maintain as one comma-separated list.
     {% endcomment %}
     {% assign withdrawal_country_codes = 'DE,FR,IT' | split: ',' %}
     {% comment %}
     Merchant-provided withdrawal URL
     {% endcomment %}
     {% assign withdrawal_url = 'https://YOUR-WITHDRAWAL-URL-HERE' %}
     {% assign withdrawal_label = 'Withdraw this order' %}
     {% comment %}
     Prefer shipping country; fall back to billing (digital / no-ship orders)
     {% endcomment %}
     {% assign customer_country = shipping_address.country_code %}
     {% if customer_country == blank %}
     {% assign customer_country = billing_address.country_code %}
     {% endif %}
     {% assign show_withdrawal_link = false %}
     {% if customer_country != blank and withdrawal_country_codes contains customer_country %}
     {% assign show_withdrawal_link = true %}
     {% endif %}
   
   EU/EEA country codes: AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LI, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, XI Replace https://YOUR-WITHDRAWAL-URL-HERE with your withdrawal page URL:
   • ReturnGO or Global-e Returns Portal: Use your store’s return page URL.
   • External return vendor: Use the withdrawal link from your vendor.
   To change the link text, replace Withdraw this order with your preferred label. How it works: The system checks the shipping country first. If shipping country is not available (e.g. digital orders), it falls back to billing country.
4. URL.
5. Search for footer__cell in the template. Inside the footer, after disclaimer__subtext, add the withdrawal link code using the {{ withdrawal_label }} value:
   {% if show_withdrawal_link and withdrawal_url != blank %}
     <table class="link secondary-action-cell">
     <tr>
     <td class="link__cell">
     <a href="{{ withdrawal_url }}" class="small">{{ withdrawal_label }}</a>
     </td>
     </tr>
     </table>
     {% endif %}
   
   Withdrawal link added in Shopify email footer
6. Click Save. Repeat Steps 1–4 for all four email types listed above.

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Testing checklist

• EU ship-to order: link appears in email
• Non-EU order: link does not appear (Option B) or appears (Option A)
• Link opens correct withdrawal page
• All four email types updated