The withdrawal confirmation PDF is the legal proof of a customer's withdrawal under Article 11 bis (EU Directive 2023/2673). It is generated automatically when the request is confirmed, attached to the customer's confirmation email and stored in Cloudflare R2 (EU jurisdiction). It gathers everything an auditor would need: unique identifier, customer and order data, date in local and UTC time, the products, the next steps according to the type of contract, the legal notice and the SHA-256 hash that anchors it to the audit chain.
What does the PDF contain, section by section?
The document is made up of these blocks, in order:
- Title and store — 'Withdrawal confirmation' and your store name.
- Unique identifier — the request's
public_id, highlighted in a box, in monospace. - Customer — the customer's name and email (if the name is missing, the email is used).
- Order and date — order number and the date of the request on two lines: the time in your store's time zone and, underneath, the same in UTC.
- Reason — if the customer gave one, with its translated label; if not, it is omitted.
- Products — the list of items in the request (quantity, title and SKU if there is one).
- Next steps — numbered instructions that change according to the type of contract (see below).
- Legal notice — the reference text on the right of withdrawal (Directive 2011/83/EU + 2023/2673, with its national basis).
- Hash block — the document's SHA-256
hashand thehash_anterior, to verify the chain.
How do the next steps change according to the type of contract?
The type of contract you set during onboarding (goods, services/digital or mixed) determines the dies a quo —when the deadline starts to count— and therefore the instructions the customer sees:
| Type of contract | Next steps in the PDF |
|---|---|
| Goods | Keep the PDF; send the products within 14 calendar days; refund within ≤14 days. |
| Services / digital | Keep the PDF; nothing has to be returned; refund of whatever is due within ≤14 days. |
| Mixed | Keep the PDF; return the physical part within 14 days; refund within ≤14 days. |
If you set who pays for the return shipping, a fourth step is added with that information (except in services/digital, where there is no shipping). If you did not set it, the law applies the default criterion (the merchant assumes it).
Does the PDF change depending on my plan?
The legal content never changes; the look does adapt to your plan:
| Plan | Look of the PDF |
|---|---|
| Free | Prominent returnEasier branding and a final page inviting the reader to discover returnEasier (your customer reads it). |
| Compliance | A sober returnEasier format, with no invitation of any kind. |
| Pro and above | The footer shows your shop's name and the legal notice bar uses your primary colour. |
The primary colour is the one you set in the setup wizard; if you did not set a valid one, returnEasier's is used. The merchant's graphic logo on the PDF does not exist yet (it is in preparation). What matters for compliance —summary, identifier, dates, legal notice and hash— is identical for everyone; the customisation details are in the branding and appearance article.
What language is it generated in?
In your store's language (store.locale), the one you chose during onboarding. It is available in the 7 supported languages. Generating the PDF in the customer's language (part of the Scale+ multi-language feature) does not yet apply: the PDF always uses the store's language.
Where is it stored and how is it downloaded?
- Storage: Cloudflare R2 with EU jurisdiction (the data does not leave the EEA). The internal path is per request, and the file is kept for legal retention.
- The customer receives it attached to the confirmation email and as a temporary download link (valid 7 days, the maximum the R2 signature allows). If the link expires, they always have the email attachment.
- You obtain all the PDFs in the auditable export: inside the ZIP, in the
pdfs/folder (see 'What is the audit log and how do I export my auditable history?'). On the request detail you will see the 'sent' status of the confirmation and the button to resend it.
In summary
The PDF is self-sufficient legal proof: with its identifier, its two dates, the legal notice and the hash, it proves what was requested, when and that it has not been tampered with. Each PDF is anchored to the audit log chain, and the emails that carry it are explained in 'What emails does returnEasier send and to whom?'.