Phone and door sales Easy English Factsheet

Phone and door to door sales

Easy English fact sheet

2025

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this fact sheet.

A friend, family member or support person 
can help you.

What are phone and door
to door sales?

• A person calls or comes to you at
  • home
  • at work
  • in a public place. For example,
    a shopping centre.
• The person tries to sell you a
  • product
    or
  • service.

The person is called a sales person.

A product is something you buy. For example,

• gas
• electricity

• a holiday

  or

• pay TV.

A service is something you pay someone to
do for you. For example, paint your house.

When you buy a product over the phone or
at your door

• you will get a contract

  or

• the business will post the contract to you.

What are the laws?

There are special laws when you buy a 
product or service that costs $100 or more. 
These laws protect you when someone sells 
you a product or service

• over the phone
• at your house or work
• in a public place. For example,
  shopping centre.

The sales person must tell you all the 
information before you buy

The sales person must tell you

• their name and the business name.
• the price and any discounts.
  For example, you can use a pension
  card to get a cheaper phone bill.
• any extra money you might have to pay.
  Extra money is called a fee or a charge.

The sales person must also tell you

• how long you have to pay.
  For example, 6 months or one year.
• information about changing your mind
  after you buy the product.

The sales person must tell you the truth.

Can you change your mind?

If you buy a product that costs $100 or more,
you have 10 days to change your mind.

This is called a cooling off period.

You do not have to pay any money until the 
cooling off period is finished.

What can you do in a cooling off period?

• You can stop the contract.
• You have to return the product.
• If you have paid any money, you can 
  get a refund.

How do you stop a contract
you have signed?

• Phone the business and tell them you want
  to stop a contract

  or

• fill in a form and post it to the business.

The sales person must tell you
how to stop a contract.
You may have to pay a fee.

When can a sales person visit you?

• Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm
• Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm.

A sales person can not visit you on a Sunday
or public holiday. For example, Christmas Day
or Good Friday.


How do you buy a product?

You agree to buy a product when you say
Yes, I will buy that.

You must

• understand what you are doing
• be able to tell the sales person
  Yes, I will buy that.

You agree to buy a product

• in writing

  or

• on the phone

  or

• on a voice recorder.
  The sales person must ask for your
  permission before they can record your voice.


On the phone you can

• say No, goodbye

  and

• hang up the phone.

At your house you can

• say No thank you

  and

• close the door.

Remember

• You do not have talk to a sales person.
• You do not have to buy anything
  unless you want to.
• A sales person can not ring or visit you
  again for 30 days about the same product.
• A sales person can ring or visit you again
  about a different product.
• If you say I am too busy to talk, the sales
  person can ask you Can I ring you later?
  You can say no.


What happens after you stop a contract?

The business will give you your money back.
If the product is broken, you might only get some 
of your money back.

Do not visit

There is a sticker you can put on your front door. 
The sticker says do not knock.
You can get a sticker from 
Consumer Protection by calling 1300 30 40 54 
or consumer@demirs.wa.gov.au.


Do Not Call register

• You can tell the government that you
  do not want phone sales people to
  call you at home.
• You need to phone or fill in a form 
  on the website
  Phone 1300 79 29 58
  Website www.donotcall.gov.au
• There are some groups and charities that
  are allowed to call you.

Rules

There are a lot of special rules for people who
do phone and door to door sales.

You can get more information from
Consumer Protection WA. Look at the next page.


Consumer Protection WA
More fact sheets 
and information

List of fact sheets in Easy English

• Buying Furniture
• Contracts
• Lay-by
• Phone and door to door sales
• Renting - starting a tenancy
• Renting - during a tenancy
• Renting - ending a tenancy
• Refunds, replacements and repairs
• Scams
• Services
• Shopping tips

Phone 1300 30 40 54

Mail Locked Bag 100
East Perth WA 6892

Interpreter 131 450

National Relay Service 133 677

Email consumer@demirs.wa.gov.au

Website www.consumerprotection.wa.gov.au


This information is written in Easy English. 
You might need more information about the law.
You can ask Consumer Protection WA.

Updated February 2025.

Easy English fact sheet updated by 
Consumer Protection WA.

Look at Clear Written Communications -
The Easy English Style Guide for
information about the format and writing
style of this document.

You can find more information at
www.scopevic.org.au or
phone 03 9843 2000.

© Scope (Aust) Ltd. You may use this document for your own 
personal, non-commercial purposes only. You must not use the 
document for any other purpose, and must not copy, reproduce, 
digitise, communicate, adapt, modify the document or any part 
of it (or authorise any other person to do so) without the prior 
consent of Scope (Aust) Ltd.

Scope’s Communication and Inclusion Resource Centre 
wrote the Easy English. August 2016 www.scopevic.org.au. 
To see the original contact Consumer Affairs Victoria.

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