A package nobody ordered, followed by a bill for it, is a common way for sellers and scammers to try to get paid. The Federal Trade Commission says the law is on the side of the person who got the box: companies cannot send unordered merchandise and then demand payment, and the recipient may keep the items as a free gift.

The agency’s guidance for consumers also says the person owes nothing for the goods and does not have to send them back. That holds even when the box comes with an invoice, a reminder notice or a call from a collector.

What the FTC says about goods nobody ordered

The FTC’s consumer page on unordered products puts it plainly. Companies can’t ship unordered merchandise and then demand payment, and people who receive it are legally entitled to keep it as a free gift.

The same rule shows up in the FTC’s business guide to the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule. That guide tells sellers that sending unordered merchandise, or trying to collect payment for it or to get it back, is unlawful, and that buyers may treat unordered items as gifts.

So the burden sits with the sender. A person who did not place the order does not have to prove anything, pay a “restocking” charge or pay for return shipping.

The FTC page lists two exceptions, and both still leave the recipient free to keep what arrived. One is merchandise clearly marked as a gift or a free sample. The other is merchandise from a charity that asks for a contribution along with it.

A charity’s address labels, calendar or greeting cards can arrive with a request for money. The FTC says the recipient may still keep those items without paying. A donation is a choice, not a bill.

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For sellers who ignore the rule, the stakes are real. The FTC’s business guide says the agency can seek injunctions, consumer redress and civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation, a figure adjusted in January 2025. The Postal Service and state agencies can also act on non-delivery and other consumer protection problems.

That penalty applies to the sender, not the recipient. Nothing in the FTC’s guidance puts a deadline on keeping an unordered item or asks the recipient to notify the company first.

If a bill or a card charge follows

This is the paragraph for anyone who has a package they never asked for and a bill or a card charge to go with it. According to the FTC, the first step is to contact the seller, since most businesses will fix the problem. If the charge hit a credit card, the next step is to dispute it quickly with the card issuer.

The FTC says a charge for items a person did not accept, or that were not delivered as agreed, counts as a billing error under the Fair Credit Billing Act. A quality complaint, such as a product that disappoints, does not count as a billing error.

The dispute has deadlines. The FTC says to send a written dispute within 60 days of the first statement that shows the charge, and to mail it to the card issuer’s billing-errors address rather than the payment address. Phone or online disputes may be accepted, but the agency says to follow up in writing.

Once the dispute is in, the issuer has to acknowledge it within 30 days, unless it is resolved sooner. It must resolve the dispute within two billing cycles and no more than 90 days. During that time the cardholder does not have to pay the disputed amount or related charges, though the undisputed part of the bill is still due.

The same page warns that debit card charges carry weaker federal protections. A debit cardholder may not be able to get a refund for non-delivery or the wrong items under federal law. The FTC says to contact the bank right away, call first, then follow up with a letter. Some issuers voluntarily offer more protection than the law requires.

A person past the 60-day mark on a credit card is likely no longer covered by that law, the FTC says, though some issuers may still extend the window for delayed shipments. In that case the agency suggests sending a dispute letter with delivery-date documents and any notices the seller sent.

Keeping records and reporting the sender

The FTC tells shoppers to keep order confirmations, receipts, tracking numbers and every message with a seller. For unordered goods, that means keeping the shipping label, the box, any invoice and the date each arrived.

Suspected scams can be reported at the FTC’s ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The agency says reports help law enforcement go after scammers and warn other people.

The open question for many households is whether a notice that arrives with an unordered box is a real bill or a pressure tactic. The FTC’s answer is the same either way: no order, no obligation.

Got a package or a bill nobody ordered?

Knowing the rule is one thing. Getting a company to act on it is another, and it usually takes a phone call to a seller or a card issuer. The story’s money question is whether to pay, and the related job is the call that gets a bill removed or a fee refunded.

101 Phone Scripts to Lower Your Bills is a 23-page set of short scripts to read off the page, including 101 calls, word for word, for every company you pay. It also has a section on credit cards and banks covering lower rates, fee refunds and no-fee accounts, plus a call log for who you spoke with and the reference number.

Get the phone scripts and call log for disputing a bill for unordered goods →

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.