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Kündigungsbutton (§ 312k BGB) / Guide

Cancellation button for Ecwid: § 312k BGB guide

Do you sell continuing contracts to consumers in Germany through Ecwid? This guide explains the public cancellation route under § 312k BGB and how to implement it by hand.

Who needs the button?

§ 312k BGB applies to businesses offering consumers paid continuing contracts online, such as memberships, software subscriptions or recurring subscription boxes. The contract matters, not the shop system. Ordinary one-off purchases are outside this rule. Exceptions include financial services and contracts for which the law exclusively requires cancellation in a form stricter than text form.

The law and current BGH position

A legible “Verträge hier kündigen” button, or equally clear wording, leads directly to the confirmation page. Both buttons and the page must always be available and directly and easily accessible. Customers must be able to provide the cancellation type, reason for extraordinary cancellation, identifying details, contract, desired end date and an address for prompt electronic confirmation. The final button says “jetzt kündigen” or an equally clear equivalent.

After submission, the declaration must be savable on a durable medium with its date and time. Immediately confirm electronically in text form, for example by email, including the content, receipt date and time and the end date. Without a specified date, the earliest possible termination applies in case of doubt. A missing statutory cancellation route can allow cancellation without notice.

On 16 July 2026, the BGH held in I ZR 200/25 that retention offers, pause buttons and additional advertising do not belong on the confirmation page. The login cases I ZR 272/25 and I ZR 275/25 were heard on 5 November 2026; judgment is pending. Design a route without a password requirement.

Ecwid: manual implementation

  • First distinguish Instant Site from an Ecwid store embedded in another website. Create a public form page on the host website or your own HTTPS service. An Ecwid product description is not a form backend. A cancellation link inside a logged-in customer account does not provide a freely accessible route.
  • On Instant Site, use the website editor to place a visible footer link directly to the form address. For embedded stores, edit the global footer in the host CMS, such as WordPress. Do not rely solely on a script inside Ecwid’s product browser: it may never load on blog and information pages without the store embed.
  • Build processing in the host website’s backend or your own service. Validate and store the declaration and receipt time there; immediately send a full customer confirmation and merchant notification through a transactional mail service. Standard Ecwid order notifications do not replace it. Then show a savable receipt and internally associate the declaration with the relevant subscription.

Test before publishing

Protect processing against duplicate submissions without requiring login. Offer a downloadable or printable receipt containing the declaration and receipt time; keep sensitive form data out of public URLs. Test the entire route logged out on a phone and check the confirmation inbox. After theme updates, verify the footer link still exists. Disable retention popups on the confirmation page and check caching, cookie banners and maintenance mode. Then process the declaration in the actual subscription system; the form does not stop billing by itself.

Sources

Statute and BGH press releases; as of 6 November 2026. Not legal advice.