Consumer · Right to Cancel
Right to Cancel a Purchase in Mississippi
How long you have to cancel a door-to-door purchase in Mississippi, the longer windows for timeshares and other categories, and why there is no general three-day right to return a car. Cited to the statute.
When the cooling-off right applies in Mississippi
The door-to-door window, the categories with their own clocks, and the purchases that are not covered.
| When it applies | What it means |
|---|---|
| Three business days after signing | The buyer may cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing a complying agreement, under Miss. Code Ann. § 75-66-3(1). Cancellation notice by certified or registered mail counts when deposited. |
| Only financed sales are covered | The right reaches only a consumer credit sale solicited at your residence, under § 75-66-1. A cash, check, or own-credit-card purchase at the door is outside the statute entirely. |
| The seller may keep a 5 percent fee | Under § 75-66-7(3), the seller may retain a cancellation fee of five percent of the cash price, capped at the down payment. It forfeits the fee if it breaks any of its own obligations. |
| Ten-day refund, forty-day goods rule | The seller must tender back payments within ten days, under § 75-66-7. If it does not demand the goods within a reasonable time, they become yours, with forty days presumed reasonable under § 75-66-9. |
| When there is no right | What it means |
|---|---|
| Every cash sale | Because the statute reaches only consumer credit sales, any purchase you pay for outright is outside it, and the federal FTC rule is the only floor. |
| Buyer-initiated and utility sales | Sales you initiated, sales under a preexisting account, sales after prior negotiations at a fixed location, and sales by a utility regulated by the Public Service Commission are excluded. |
| Emergency with a substantial start | Under § 75-66-3(5) there is no cancellation where you requested emergency performance, the seller substantially began, and the goods cannot be returned in substantially as good condition. |
What you can do right now
Concrete, neutral steps to cancel a covered purchase in Mississippi. This is consumer information, not legal advice.
- Check whether you financed the purchase
Mississippi's three-day right reaches only credit-financed sales. If you paid cash or check, use the federal FTC rule instead, which covers cash and gives a full refund.
- Cancel by certified or registered mail
Mississippi gives the mailbox rule only to certified or registered mail, so send your cancellation that way before midnight of the third business day and keep the receipt.
- Watch for the 5 percent fee
A Mississippi seller may keep up to five percent of the cash price. If your sale also falls under the federal rule, invoke it, because the federal rule allows no fee.
- Complain to the Attorney General
Mississippi's UDAP law may require you to use the Attorney General's dispute program before suing, so file a complaint with the Mississippi Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division.
If a seller refuses a timely, valid cancellation, a state consumer-protection office can take your complaint and enforce the cooling-off rules.
→ Mississippi Attorney General · Consumer ProtectionThis is general consumer information, not legal advice. The category, the notice, and the deadline all matter, so confirm your right against the statute and use the complaint route if a valid cancellation is refused.
What Mississippi buyers get wrong about cancelling
Mississippi's cooling-off right exists only if you financed the purchase, which is the fact that trips up most cash buyers. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 75-66-3 you have three business days to cancel a home solicitation sale, but § 75-66-1 limits the statute to a consumer credit sale, so paying cash, by check, or with your own credit card at the door takes you outside the state law completely. Mississippi is also one of only two states in the region that lets the seller keep a cancellation fee, up to five percent of the cash price or your down payment, whichever is less, though the seller forfeits it by breaking its own obligations. That produces a genuine inversion: a cash buyer relying on the federal rule gets a full refund with no fee, while a financed buyer relying on Mississippi law can lose five percent. In Mississippi the federal rule can be the better right, so check both. Mississippi also gives the mailbox rule only to certified or registered mail. Mississippi publishes no free official code, so this page relies on a content mirror of the statute and should be checked against an official Lexis copy before relying on it.
Common questions
I paid cash at the door in Mississippi. Do I get three days?
Not under § 75-66-1, which covers only consumer credit sales. A cash buyer relies on the federal FTC rule, which gives three business days for a sale of 25 dollars or more at your residence.
Can the seller keep part of my money if I cancel?
Yes. Under § 75-66-7(3), the seller may keep up to five percent of the cash price or your down payment, whichever is less, unless it failed to meet its own obligations.
I called them first. Am I still covered?
Buyer-initiated sales are excluded, but if the seller or its agent made the first contact, the sale is not treated as buyer-initiated no matter who called back.
Do I have to complain to the Attorney General before I can sue?
Possibly. Mississippi's UDAP statute generally requires exhausting the Attorney General's informal dispute settlement program first, so filing a complaint may be a prerequisite to suit.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.