DealPulse › Subscription Rights › Unconditional Gift Rule

Auto-shipped without your consent? In four states, it’s a gift — not a bill

The answer: California, New York, Virginia and Oregon each write an "unconditional gift" provision into their auto-renewal law: if a business ships you goods under a continuous-service or auto-renewal agreement without first getting your affirmative consent to the renewal terms, the goods are legally yours — free, no bill, no return required.
StateCitationEffective
CAB&P §17603 (Stats. 2009 ch. 350) — goods sent without §17602 affirmative consent are "deemed an unconditional gift"2010-01-01
NYGBL §527-a(2) — goods sent without affirmative consent are "deemed an unconditional gift"2021-02-09
VAVa. Code §59.1-207.47 — goods sent without §59.1-207.46 affirmative consent are "deemed an unconditional gift"2018-07-01
ORORS 646A.295(5) — goods sent without subsection (1) affirmative consent are "deemed an unconditional gift"2012-01-01

The verbatim text

California (§17603): "In any case in which a business sends any goods, wares, merchandise, or products to a consumer, under a continuous service agreement or automatic renewal of a purchase, without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent as described in Section 17602, the goods, wares, merchandise, or products shall for all purposes be deemed an unconditional gift to the consumer" (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §17603)

New York (GBL §527-a(2)): "In any case in which a business sends any goods, wares, merchandise, or products to a consumer, under a continuous service agreement or automatic renewal of a purchase, without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent, the goods, wares, merchandise, or products shall for all purposes be deemed an unconditional gift to the consumer" (NY Gen. Bus. Law §527-a(2))

Virginia (§59.1-207.47): "the goods, wares, merchandise, or products shall for all purposes be deemed an unconditional gift to the consumer" (Va. Code §59.1-207.47)

Oregon (ORS 646A.295(5)): "In the event a person sends goods, wares, merchandise or products to a consumer under a continuous service agreement or pursuant to an automatic renewal of a purchase without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent as required in subsection (1) of this section, the goods, wares, merchandise or products shall for all purposes be deemed an unconditional gift to the consumer" (ORS 646A.295(5))

The gate almost everyone misses: goods only

This provision covers "goods, wares, merchandise, or products" — physical items. A digital subscription (streaming, software, a content paywall) or a service subscription does NOT qualify for the gift theory, no matter how aggressively it renewed; those cases run on the refund/parity duty theories instead. Only a shipped physical good, with no valid consent on record, triggers the gift.

States without this provision

DC, Illinois, Vermont, Hawaii, Delaware and Florida have no unconditional-gift provision encoded in their auto-renewal laws — auto-shipment cases there run entirely on the duty-violation and refund theories covered on their state pages.

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Generated 2026-07-07 by DealPulse (The Aslan Group LLC) from the same source-cited legal reference data our paid engine uses. Informational, not legal advice — rules change and every case turns on its own facts; verify with the cited instruments. Contact: info@theaslangroupllc.com