Refunds and Chargebacks When Buying Game Accounts in the EU: What the Law Gives You (and What It Doesn't)

Under EU law a game account bought online is digital content, and that decides your rights. You keep a two-year guarantee that the content conforms to the contract (Directive 2019/770), which no seller can waive, but the 14-day right of withdrawal ends the moment the content is delivered if you expressly agreed to that at checkout (Directive 2011/83, Article 16(m); in the Czech Republic, Civil Code §1837(l)). A chargeback is not a legal right at all: it is a card-network procedure that sits on top of these rules and should be the last tool you reach for, not the first. This article sets out what each of these gives you in 2026 and how TeNET's own policy maps onto them.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Key takeaways

• Two different rights are routinely confused: withdrawal (you changed your mind) and conformity (the content is defective or not as described).
• Withdrawal: 14 days for most online purchases, but it ends at delivery for digital content when you consent — the box you tick at TeNET's checkout.
• Conformity: two years, mandatory, cannot be waived. Remedies are bringing into conformity (replacement), price reduction, or termination with refund.
• TeNET's 48-hour check, replacement of equal or higher value and refund rules sit on top of the law, not instead of it.
• Chargebacks are for unauthorised payments or goods never delivered; using one to skip a seller's replacement offer is treated as abuse by processors.
• Escalation: the trader first, then the Czech Trade Inspection (ČOI), since TenetBuy is operated by a sole trader in the Czech Republic.

Two rights, two purposes

The withdrawal right and why it ends at delivery

For most things bought online, Directive 2011/83 gives you 14 days to withdraw without giving a reason. Article 16(m) carves out digital content not supplied on a tangible medium: the right is lost when performance has begun with the consumer's prior express consent and acknowledgement that the right is thereby lost, and the trader has provided the required confirmation of the contract. The Czech transposition is §1837(l) of the Civil Code, which is what applies to TenetBuy as a Czech trader.

In practice this is the checkbox at checkout. When you tick it, you agree that the account will be delivered right away and that you cannot later return it simply because you no longer want it. The same rule applies to a downloaded film or a software licence key. It exists because digital content cannot be sent back in any meaningful sense once you have it.

What the exception does not do is remove your protection against a defective or misdescribed account. That is the job of the conformity guarantee.

The conformity guarantee under Directive 2019/770

Directive 2019/770 applies to contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services, and a game account with cosmetics falls within it. The trader is liable for any lack of conformity that exists at the time of supply and becomes apparent within two years (Article 11). For the first year the burden of proof is reversed: it is for the trader to show that the content was in conformity when supplied, not for you to prove it was not (Article 12). Contract terms cannot shorten these periods or exclude the guarantee to your detriment (Article 22).

Conformity has a concrete meaning. The content must match the description, quantity and quality in the contract (the subjective requirements) and be fit for the purposes such content is normally used for (the objective requirements). For a game account this means that:

• the credentials work;
• the account contains what the listing promised — a guaranteed skin, a skin count within the stated range, the stated access level;
• the linked mailbox is included where Full Access was sold.

The remedies come in a fixed order (Article 14). First the trader may bring the content into conformity — for an account, that means a replacement — within a reasonable time and free of charge. If that fails or is impossible, you may ask for a proportionate price reduction or terminate the contract and get your money back.

What the guarantee does not cover is a change caused after delivery by someone other than the trader. A publisher's later decision about an account that was in conformity at the time of supply is not a defect the seller caused. TeNET is an independent marketplace not affiliated with Epic Games, Supercell, Roblox Corporation or Valve, and each publisher applies its own terms to accounts. That boundary is where most disagreements start, and the evidence from the first 48 hours is what settles them.

How TeNET's policy maps onto the law

TeNET's Refund & Delivery Policy is a service commitment layered on top of the statutory minimum:

• Delivery: credentials appear in the order chat inside your TeNET account, usually within about an hour and at most within 24 hours. Nothing delivered in 24 hours means a refund. In the directive's terms this is a failure to supply, and Article 13 lets the consumer terminate the contract.
• 48-hour check: you test the account and report problems in the chat with screenshots. This is faster than the law requires of you and is designed to fix the case while the evidence is fresh.
• Replacement of equal or higher value: this is "bringing into conformity" in the directive's language, the trader's first remedy under Article 14.
• Refund if no replacement: equivalent to termination under Article 14 when conformity cannot be restored.

The two-year guarantee is not reduced by the 48-hour window. What changes after 48 hours is evidence, not entitlement: a defect that existed at delivery is still covered, but you will need to show it was there, and the order chat history and your screenshots are the record everyone will look at. Read the Terms for the full position and the guide How to Safely Buy a Gaming Account for the practical side.

Chargebacks: what they are and when they are justified

A chargeback is a dispute you raise with your card issuer, which reverses the payment under the rules of the card network (Visa, Mastercard). It is not a consumer right in EU law; it is a contractual mechanism between your bank, the network and the merchant's processor — here, Stripe. When you dispute a payment, Stripe notifies the merchant, who submits evidence (order record, chat log, delivery timestamp), and the issuer decides.

A chargeback is the right tool when:

• the payment was not authorised by you, for example on a stolen card;
• you were charged twice or the wrong amount;
• nothing was delivered and the seller does not respond at all.

It is the wrong tool when the seller has delivered and is offering a replacement or refund under its policy. Processors classify disputes filed in those circumstances as "friendly fraud". The merchant wins them with the chat log, and the buyer's account with the merchant is usually closed. For a marketplace that keeps the full delivery record in an order chat, the evidence is one-sided. Use the chat first, ČOI second and the bank last.

Crypto payments through Cryptomus cannot be charged back at all, because blockchain transactions are final. If you pay in crypto, your protection is TeNET's replacement and refund policy and your statutory rights, enforced through the trader and, if needed, ČOI.

Escalation: where to complain

1. The order chat — the same record the team and any later adjudicator will read. Support is available daily 9–23 CET, also at support@tenetbuy.com and on Telegram @tenet_com.
2. The Czech Trade Inspection (ČOI) — TenetBuy is operated by a sole trader in the Czech Republic, so ČOI is the competent supervisory body and runs an out-of-court dispute resolution (ADR) procedure open to consumers from any EU country.
3. The EU ODR route — TeNET's terms also refer to the EU ODR platform. The central platform was wound down in July 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228), so in 2026 the practical cross-border route is ČOI's ADR procedure or your national European Consumer Centre (ECC-Net), which assists consumers with traders in other EU states free of charge.

FAQ

Can I get a refund on a game account because I changed my mind?

Not after delivery. You consent at checkout to immediate delivery of digital content and to losing the 14-day withdrawal right (Directive 2011/83, Art. 16(m); Czech Civil Code §1837(l)). Refunds after delivery are for non-conformity: credentials that do not work or content that does not match the listing.

How long is the legal warranty on a game account in the EU?

Two years from supply under Directive 2019/770, and it cannot be waived by any terms. In the first year the trader has to prove the content was in conformity; after that, the burden shifts to you.

Is TeNET's 48-hour window legal if the law says two years?

Yes, because it does not replace the two years. It is the period in which TeNET commits to replace or refund on the strength of your report and screenshots alone. Statutory rights remain available afterwards; you simply need evidence that the defect existed at delivery.

Can I file a chargeback if the account gets banned a month later?

You can file one, but it is unlikely to succeed: the merchant will show delivery in the order chat and a working account at the time of supply. A publisher's decision after delivery is governed by the publisher's terms, not by the seller's conformity obligation. If you believe the defect existed at delivery, use the statutory route (trader, then ČOI) rather than the bank.

Who is legally responsible, TeNET or the account's previous owner?

Your contract is with TenetBuy, the trader operating the marketplace, and it is TenetBuy that is responsible for delivery, replacement and refunds under Directive 2019/770. You never deal with the previous holder of the account.

Before you buy

Read the Refund & Delivery Policy once, keep screenshots from your first login, and report anything that is off in the order chat within 48 hours. Then browse the Fortnite accounts — for example Mythic Random [Full Access] — knowing exactly which rights travel with the purchase. Questions before you pay: the FAQ, the Help Centre, or support daily 9–23 CET.