Guides / Consumer guarantees explained
Consumer guarantees explained
The rights that come with almost everything a consumer buys from a business in Australia, in plain English.
In short
- The consumer guarantees are minimum standards that apply automatically when a business supplies goods or services to a consumer.
- You are a consumer if the goods or services cost $100,000 or less, or are of a kind ordinarily bought for personal, domestic or household use, whatever the price.
- Services must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for a purpose you made known, and be supplied within a reasonable time if no time was agreed.
- The remedy depends on whether the failure is major or minor.
What they are
The consumer guarantees are minimum standards that apply automatically when a business supplies goods or services to a consumer. They apply whatever the contract, receipt or store policy says, and a business cannot contract out of them.1
Who is a consumer
You are a consumer if the goods or services cost $100,000 or less, or are of a kind ordinarily bought for personal, domestic or household use, whatever the price. Vehicles and trailers used mainly to carry goods on public roads are also covered. Goods bought to resell, or to use up in manufacturing or repairing other goods, are not.2 Businesses can be consumers too.
The guarantees for goods
- Acceptable quality: safe, durable, free from defects, acceptable in appearance and finish, and fit for the purposes such goods are usually used for.3
- Fit for a disclosed purpose: fit for a purpose you told the seller about.
- Match the description, and any sample or demonstration model.
- Repairs and spare parts available for a reasonable time, unless you were told otherwise.
- Express warranties honoured: extra promises the business or manufacturer made.
- Clear title and undisturbed possession.4
The guarantees for services
Services must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for a purpose you made known, and be supplied within a reasonable time if no time was agreed.5
What you can claim
The remedy depends on whether the failure is major or minor. See Major and minor failures.
What the guarantees don't cover
- A change of mind.
- Damage you caused or abnormal use.
- Defects you were told about before buying.
- Private sales, and (for acceptable quality) auction sales.6
When to get help
If the business has refused, the amount is significant, or you are a business unsure what you must offer.
The law
- ACL s 64(1).
- ACL s 3; Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010 (Cth) reg 77A.
- ACL s 54, including s 54(2)(e) (durability).
- ACL ss 51 to 59.
- ACL ss 60 to 62.
- ACL s 54(1)(b) (auctions), s 54(4) to (7) (defects drawn to attention, abnormal use, examination).
Last reviewed: November 2026. This page is general information about Victorian and Commonwealth law as at November 2026. It is not legal advice about your circumstances.
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