Skip to main content

Last updated: 13 August 2026.

Returns Policy

This policy explains when and how you can return a container to BluePort Container. It sits alongside our Refund Policy, Warranty Policy and Terms and Conditions. Nothing in it affects your statutory rights; where anything here conflicts with them, your statutory rights prevail.

Shipping containers are large, heavy industrial goods. A container cannot be returned by post or by parcel carrier. Returning one requires a specialist lorry and, in many cases, a crane, so every return is handled as a booked collection. Please read this policy before ordering so that the practical consequences are clear.

You have two separate rights, and they are not the same thing:

  • 14 days to change your mind on a distance or off-premises purchase, under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Section 1 below.
  • 30 days to reject faulty goods, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Section 2 below.

They run from different starting points, they are exercised for different reasons, and the cost of return falls differently. Neither replaces the other.

1. Consumer cancellation rights: 14 days

If you are a consumer and you bought at a distance (online, by telephone or by email) or off-premises, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give you the right to cancel within 14 days beginning the day after you receive the container, without giving a reason.

How to cancel

  1. Tell us clearly, in writing, that you are cancelling. Email info@blueportcontainer.com with your name, address, order number and order date. You may use the model cancellation form in Schedule 3 to the Regulations, but you do not have to.
  2. We will acknowledge your cancellation and confirm the return arrangements.
  3. You must make the container available for collection within 14 days of telling us you are cancelling, empty, cleared of your goods, and accessible to a suitable vehicle.

Cost of return

Under the Regulations, where we have told you in advance that you bear the cost of return, you are responsible for the cost of returning the container. Because a container cannot be returned by post, we will quote the collection haulage before it is booked, so you know the figure before you commit to it. Delivery to you is free, but that does not make the return journey free, and the cost is higher where a crane is required. You may arrange your own suitable transport instead, provided the container arrives at the depot we nominate undamaged.

Deduction for diminished value

You may inspect and handle the container as you would in a shop. If its value is reduced because you have done more than that — for example by drilling, welding, cutting, painting, fitting fixtures, storing contaminating materials in it, or siting it so that it has been damaged — we may deduct the reduction in value from your refund.

Exceptions to the cancellation right

The right to cancel does not apply to goods made to your specification or clearly personalised. This includes bespoke modified containers — for example units cut for personnel doors or windows, fitted with electrics, insulated, or repainted to your chosen colour. We make clear at the point of quotation where an order falls outside the cancellation right.

2. Faulty, damaged or misdescribed containers: 30 days and beyond

Separately from the cancellation right in section 1, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires that goods are of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.

  • Within 30 days of delivery — you have the short-term right to reject faulty goods and receive a full refund.
  • Within 6 months — if a fault appears, you are entitled to a repair or replacement. A fault appearing within the first 6 months is presumed to have been present at delivery unless we can show otherwise.
  • After a failed repair or replacement — you may claim a price reduction or exercise the final right to reject.

Satisfactory quality for a second-hand container is judged against its age, price and the grade it was sold as. Surface rust, dents, patch repairs and mismatched paint on a used container are normal characteristics of the grade and are not faults. See our Condition Guide. Containers sold As-Is are sold with their faults declared, and a declared fault drawn to your attention before purchase is not a breach.

Where goods are faulty, we bear the cost of collection and return. You are never asked to pay haulage on a genuine fault.

Warranty cover we give in addition to these rights is set out in our Warranty Policy.

3. Business customers

Business customers have no statutory cancellation right. Returns are accepted only where:

  • the container is materially different from the specification or grade ordered; or
  • we agree to a return in writing as a commercial concession.

Where we agree to a discretionary return, a restocking charge of up to 25% of the container price may apply, in addition to collection haulage, and the container must be returned in the condition supplied. Any charge is confirmed in writing before the collection is booked. Business customers must notify shortages, damage or misdescription within 7 days of delivery.

4. Cancelling before delivery

  • Before haulage is booked: we cancel and refund in full.
  • After haulage is booked but before dispatch: a cancellation charge covering our committed haulage costs may apply.
  • After the vehicle has been loaded or dispatched: our reasonable costs for the wasted journey, and any abortive charge, apply.

Consumers cancelling under the 2013 Regulations before delivery are entitled to a full refund of the price paid, subject to the exceptions above. As delivery is free, there is no separate delivery charge to refund.

5. Condition on return

Any container returned must be:

  • completely empty and swept out;
  • free of your locks, fixings, signage, shelving and modifications;
  • free of contamination, fuel, chemicals, waste and pest infestation;
  • accessible to a suitable delivery vehicle, on ground firm enough to bear it.

Costs of cleaning, decontamination or removing modifications may be deducted from your refund, and we itemise them in writing first. If the collection vehicle attends and the container is not ready, an abortive collection charge applies.

6. How to start a return

  1. Email info@blueportcontainer.com with your order number, the reason for return and, where relevant, photographs.
  2. We respond within 2 working days with next steps and, where applicable, a collection quotation.
  3. We agree a collection date. You prepare the container and ensure access.
  4. On receipt and inspection at the depot we nominate, we process any refund under our Refund Policy.

Contact us about this policy

BluePort Container
Suite 2 Mayden House, Long Bennington Business Park, Main Road, Long Bennington, Nottinghamshire, NG23 5DJ, England
Company No. 09872244 (registered in England and Wales)
Telephone and business hours: see our Contact Us page
Email: info@blueportcontainer.com