Second-hand goods bought in Spain subject to two-year guarantee

This might be of interest to some, although in practice, I not quite sure how successful a claim would really be.... :

ITEMS purchased second-hand in Spain are subject to a two-year guarantee, unless buyer and seller agree to a lesser period, according to a government consumer department.

The buyer and seller are allowed to agree either for the latter to pay for repairs if the product breaks down within the first two years, or to substantially reduce the purchase price.

This does not apply where private individuals sell goods to each other, but in these cases, the buyer has up to six months to claim for repairs, refund or a price reduction through the courts if the item is not satisfactory.

Sales of electrical appliances, furniture or clothes must come with a receipt or invoice giving the shop's details and a written guarantee if requested - if not requested, the guarantee remains valid anyway - and all products, second hand or new, must be properly labelled and show the price on them.

Buyers have the right to a 14-day cooling-off period with second-hand goods bought online from a company, meaning they can return the product and claim a full refund for any reason whatsoever, but purchasers should clarify before buying who should pay return postage and under what circumstances.

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Ian, yet again thanks for info, However i saw this on the blog page a couple of days ago and asked the question where can i get more informtion, and where can i find this law, i went eveh further by asking via the Spanish citazen advice bureo site. Outcome NOTHING  from either this site or the CAB.

Is there no control on this site or verification of what is submitted before clarificatin is correct, or is it a free for all. A important and valiuable information like this where euros and confrontation could be made and where embaresent can be avoided should be taken in to account, with out referance where such information has come from is not good enough.

I must say also i have replied to earlier posts on Blogs but never ever any answers private or public whats going on ¿¿

This message was last edited by nitram on 06/02/2015.

Ian, yet again thanks for info, However i saw this on the blog page a couple of days ago and asked the question where can i get more informtion, and where can i find this law, i went eveh further by asking via the Spanish citazen advice bureo site. Outcome NOTHING  from either this site or the CAB.

Is there no control on this site or verification of what is submitted before clarificatin is correct, or is it a free for all. A important and valiuable information like this where euros and confrontation could be made and where embaresent can be avoided should be taken in to account, with out referance where such information has come from is not good enough.

I must say also i have replied to earlier posts on Blogs but never ever any answers private or public whats going on ¿¿

Well you could try and google what you want to know, you might have an eye opener as to what comes up.

Hi, it does mention in the article it was advertised by the government consumer department "Consumo" as it is normally referred to. The citizens advice bureau may not be up to date with consumer issues. The news that is published on this site is from ThinkSpain our other site and all the news published  there comes from reliable and professional sources always and certainly is not free for all. 

As for replying to blog posts that depends on the blogger and the blog, our news blog is simply a news blog I am afraid for your general interest, when possible we reply, normally when we can offer valid information, but on many occasions the news report may not be in our area of expertise, so we would never dream of giving guidance when we do not know.

However, for your piece of mind here is a link to the official consumer's page in Madrid which advertises this exact information:

Go to official Consumer announcment

Hope this helps :-)

So this only applies to secondhand goods bought from stores?

hrespana

So this only applies to secondhand goods bought from stores?

I think this paragraph covered that:

This does not apply where private individuals sell goods to each other, but in these cases, the buyer has up to six months to claim for repairs, refund or a price reduction through the courts if the item is not satisfactory.

Well I would say any company or registered business. It applies to online companies too. I think this will be of most interest to those who buy second hand cars and white goods mainly. As I seem to recall garages only offered 12 months guarantee when buying a second hand car before. In reality between individuals I think it will always come down to his word against yours unless you write an agreement, but I can't see that happening.

If you read the full information on the consumer website, in Spanish, it states used vehicles are to be sold with 1 years garantee. This change in the rules is to comply with EU regulations which introduced these protections some years ago but are now being incorporated into Spainish law.

Yes you are quite right, I didn't read through to the following link at the bottom. Thanks for pointing that out!

This is all down to interpretation.

I was informed that in Europe it is now 2 years guarantee on electrical goods. In England It's still only a 1 year statutory guarantee, unless stated otherwise, so I checked. In Europe it is 2 years BUT in England it is better at 6 years. However, this is where the INTERPRETATION comes in. Your statutory guarantee is still only 1 year BUT your RIGHT to go to court if you think your product should have lasted longer for the cost of it IS 2 years in Europe and 6 years in England. This is hard though as the owness is on you to prove it in court, not for the shop to defend. This may be the same as in your blog. What this does seem to improve on second hand goods is that they can't be 'sold as seen' anymore.