New York’s furniture delivery law, explained for store owners
New York requires a written delivery estimate and gives customers choices when the date is missed. Here is what the sales desk and order desk need to keep straight.
The OrderPilot team·
The sofa was due in 8–10 weeks. Week 11 has arrived; the sofa has not. The customer calls, and the order desk has a revised factory estimate. For a covered New York sale, that conversation also needs to give the customer a choice about what happens next.
New York General Business Law §396-u requires an estimated delivery date or range on the customer’s contract copy, notice of a delay and revised estimate, and specified customer options. If the customer elects a refund, the statute sets a two-week deadline after the store receives the demand. GBL §396-u(2).
General information, not legal advice. Check with your attorney before relying on an exemption.
Check whether the sale falls within the statute
The statute covers furniture dealers’ sales or leases within its definitions. Furniture includes household and business furnishings such as sofas, chairs, tables, rugs, and curtains. The definition excludes articles substantially custom-made or custom finished. Mail-order merchandise is also excluded from this particular section. The label on a store’s order form does not settle whether an exclusion applies. GBL §396-u(1), (6).
Coverage follows the transaction and the law that governs it, including where the sale and delivery take place. The broader guide to furniture delivery-date laws separates the jurisdictions so the order desk can use the rule for the sale in front of it.
A standard sofa in a chosen fabric is not automatically exempt
Choosing upholstery from a standard range does not necessarily make a sofa substantially custom-made for this law. In a June 30, 2020 New York City small-claims decision, the court rejected that argument for a standard sofa model. It distinguished furniture built to measurements and specifications unique to the order from standard components offered with upholstery choices. Griffin v. Corner Furniture Clearance Outlet.
The decision is a persuasive example rather than binding precedent for every sale. The court ordered the deposit returned after a delayed delivery and deficiencies in the store’s handling of the sale. The useful distinction is between selecting from standard components and commissioning a piece built to unique specifications. See custom versus special order.
Put an estimated date or date range on the customer’s copy
An estimated range is expressly permitted. Section 396-u(2)(a) requires the disclosure to be conspicuous, written, and on the customer’s contract copy when the order is taken. A verbal estimate from the associate does not replace that written disclosure. A blank delivery-date box is a problem even when a form contains general timing language elsewhere. GBL §396-u(2)(a).
An “8–10 weeks” estimate works best with an explicit starting point and resulting calendar dates. An illustrative contract line might read: “Estimated delivery to the customer: April 1–April 10, 2025.” Naming the customer delivery date gives the associate, order desk, and buyer the same deadline to work toward.
Build the estimate from the whole job: vendor production, transit, receiving and inspection, and your delivery availability. Start the vendor’s clock at the right event. COM arrival or finish approval may come before production can begin. Add the time needed to get the finished piece from the factory into the customer’s room.
A delay notice must explain the customer’s choices
For a covered delay, the notice needs both the revised anticipated date or range and the options available when the original latest delivery date expires. The customer can choose to cancel for a full refund, cancel for credit equal to the deposit, negotiate a new date or range, or modify the contract by choosing other merchandise. GBL §396-u(2)(b)–(c).
Keep a notice ready before a delivery problem occurs, with spaces for the original deadline, revised estimate, and customer choices. Give one person responsibility for approaching deadlines and prompt notices. “The factory is delayed; thank you for your patience” leaves the customer without the information needed to decide. Offering another sofa belongs alongside the other statutory choices.
| Customer’s choice under the statute | What the order desk needs to record |
|---|---|
| Cancel and receive a full refund | The election, demand receipt date, and refund completion |
| Cancel and receive credit equal to the deposit | The customer’s choice and the credit provided |
| Negotiate a new delivery date or range | The agreed replacement date or range and the agreement evidence |
| Select other merchandise | The revised selection, price position, and updated agreement |
Record the customer’s election beside the original deadline, notice, and response. The associate answering the next call can then pick up the conversation with the customer’s decision and the vendor’s latest estimate in view.
Confirm a replacement date rather than assuming consent
A revised delivery estimate sent by the store is not necessarily a negotiated replacement date accepted by the customer. The statute makes a negotiated new date or range the operative deadline for this provision. It does not specify in this section that acceptance must use a particular written form. GBL §396-u(2)(b)(2)(c).
When the customer agrees by phone, record the conversation and send a written confirmation identifying the order and agreed dates. Ask the customer to confirm that record. Keep the actual reply with the order so the next person can distinguish an accepted date from a proposed one.
Where the revised date changes the customer-facing signed agreement, keep both versions and obtain the required fresh signature through your order process. The guide to changes and re-signing explains how to preserve the earlier agreement and carry the accepted revision forward.
Count the refund deadline from receipt of the demand
The two-week refund period starts when the dealer receives the refund demand, not when a manager approves it or the vendor returns money to the store. That is the wording of §396-u(2)(d). Record the receipt date and route the request to the person authorized to process it without adding an internal approval period to the statutory clock. GBL §396-u(2)(d).
For example, a covered refund demand received on May 1 puts the two-week deadline on May 15. An internal review starting on May 5 leaves that deadline in place. Assign the refund immediately and keep the completed payment transaction with the demand.
For a customer exercising the covered delay-cancellation right, “non-refundable deposit” language does not turn the statutory full refund into a refund less store fees. The court in Griffin rejected cancellation, restocking, and administrative deductions in its case. Griffin, June 30, 2020.
A change-of-mind cancellation follows its own agreement, facts, and legal rules. The deposit cancellation questions and restocking-fee risks explain what to examine for that different situation.
Keep the exceptions and potential damages in view
The statute contains specific delay qualifications. A strike or act of God can extend the date by the delay’s duration or 30 days, whichever is less. A delay caused solely by the customer is treated differently. An ordinary vendor backlog does not, by itself, fit those exceptions. GBL §396-u(3)–(4).
An injured customer may seek damages. The provision permits three times actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, and allows reasonable legal fees for a prevailing customer. It also includes a defense against treble damages for a qualifying unintentional, bona fide error despite reasonable prevention procedures. Those remedies are not an automatic award in every late delivery. GBL §396-u(7).
New York also has a separate refund-policy disclosure rule, §218-a. Its store-posting requirements and the disclosure of restocking fees appear in the enacted 2009 amendment. A posted policy sits alongside the delivery-delay rights discussed here. New York Senate, S3762, enacted as chapter 278 of 2009.
Keep the agreement, notice, and payment record together in OrderPilot
OrderPilot keeps the signed agreement and customer conversation on the order. Enter the agreed delivery estimate in customer-facing wording and preview the PDF before sending it for signature; template option lead times do not automatically print on the quote PDF or PO. The saved customer copy then carries the estimate everyone agreed to work from.
A custom Delayed status helps staff find affected orders. Use a branded email or the order composer to send the notice with the order’s dates and customer choices. Fixed status texts suit a short stage update; email gives the detailed notice room to do its job. The message stays with the order for the next conversation.
Keep the refund with the payment history. Process a cash refund in OrderPilot, or a card refund and return in Shopify, which syncs back. For a deposit order, refund through that deposit order. Match the completed transaction to the customer’s demand and retain it on the record.
Use a desk checklist before the date is missed
- Record whether the sale is covered, based on the transaction and the statutory definitions.
- Put a defensible estimated date or range conspicuously on the customer’s contract copy.
- Assign approaching deadlines and delay notices to a named person.
- Include the revised estimate and all statutory customer choices in the notice.
- Save the customer’s election and any negotiated replacement dates.
- Date-stamp a refund demand and track the two-week deadline from receipt.
- Keep the completed refund, agreement, notice, and response together.
Keep the packet with the order so anyone covering the desk can find it. The swatch book may wander around the showroom; the delivery paperwork needs a permanent home.
Next, review the legal distinction between custom and special-order furniture with the people who write your terms and take the orders.
Sources
- General Business Law §396-u, Merchandise delivery — New York State Senate, revision shown September 22, 2014
- Griffin v. Corner Furniture Clearance Outlet, 2020 NY Slip Op 50767(U) — Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County, June 30, 2020; official opinion published by the New York State Law Reporting Bureau
- S3762, amendment to General Business Law §§217 and 218-a, signed as chapter 278 — New York State Senate, July 28, 2009
The customer’s refund demand starts the clock; the store’s approval does not restart it.
