A delivery that did not arrive on time: the compensation in the law, the advance payment and the delivery date

How to claim

1. Keep evidence. The order confirmation with the agreed day and time, the delay messages and their times, and the actual time of delivery.
2. Write to the business with the section and the amount, and ask for payment in money. A warning letter before legal action.
3. Contact the Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority. The Authority may impose a monetary sanction on a business that did not provide service in accordance with section 18A: NIS 25,950 for a corporation and NIS 8,260 for an individual in 2026.
4. A small claim. An individual can sue for up to NIS 39,900 (in 2026); a lawyer may represent a party there only with the court’s permission. Small claims: a practical guide.

Exemplary damages under section 31A do not apply to a late delivery, because section 18A(c) is not on the list in that section. And in a class action there is no compensation without proof of damage, so the NIS 300 or NIS 600 is a personal remedy.

Service page: Class actions and consumer claims lawyer.

A late delivery: when are you owed compensation of NIS 300 or NIS 600?

Delivery of a product that the business sold you is one of the visits for which section 18A(c) of the Consumer Protection Law requires a day and a time to be agreed. The permitted waiting time is up to two hours beyond the agreed time. When two more hours have passed beyond the waiting time, you are entitled to compensation of NIS 300 without proof of damage; when three hours have passed, NIS 600.

Example: the delivery was agreed for 17:00. Until 19:00 is the permitted waiting time; if the delivery has not arrived by 21:00, the compensation under the law is NIS 300; if it has not arrived by 22:00, NIS 600. The law speaks of “the agreed time”; if you were given a time window, keep the message in which it was set.

A check based on your own times, including a postponement up to 20:00 the evening before: compensation eligibility checker.

Unlike a technician who comes to make a repair, a delivery is not subject to the restriction of visits between 8:00 and 19:00, so an evening delivery is allowed. The duty and the compensation are the same as for a technician: A technician did not arrive on time.

Postponement, notice of a delay and exceptional circumstances: what releases the business

• Postponement in advance. The business may postpone the delivery by giving notice up to 20:00 on the evening before the agreed date, and agree a new day and time. A notice of delay sent on the day of the delivery itself is not a postponement under this section.
• Circumstances that could not be foreseen or prevented. There is no compensation when the delay resulted from circumstances that the business did not know about and should not have known about when it set the date, or that it could not foresee and prevent.
• A credit for the delivery charge. Compensation by a credit, a product or a service instead of money is allowed only if you were told that you may choose money, and only if you agreed. The business has to prove that you agreed.

Delivery from the supermarket or an online store

The section applies when the business that sold the product brings it to your address, on a visit for which a date and time were agreed. According to the wording of the section, this also applies to a grocery order from a supermarket chain, when the chain itself sold the products and sets the delivery time. What matters is who sold the product and what was agreed. A delivery for which no time was set, or a parcel sent through a shipping company, are situations the section does not explicitly cover. Products that spoiled because of the delay, such as frozen food, are not part of the fixed amount; you claim that damage as a tort, and you have to prove it.

You paid in advance and the product was not supplied: interest under section 13(b)

Did you pay an advance payment, and the product was not supplied within two weeks of the agreed date, for reasons the business is responsible for? The business must pay shekel interest from the agreed date until the actual supply. If no date was agreed, the period is two months from the day of payment. This is interest, not a fixed amount.

Buying on a website: the delivery date must be disclosed in advance

In a transaction made at a distance (on a website, by phone or in an app), the business must disclose to you before the purchase, among other things, the date of supply of the product and how it will be supplied. For a product you bought at a distance, you may cancel the transaction from the day of purchase until 14 days from the day you received the product or the document with the details of the transaction, whichever is later, subject to the exceptions in the law, for example perishable goods such as fresh food (section 14C(d)(1)). What Israel’s Consumer Protection Law gives you.

A parcel that was lost or damaged

When the question is not a delay but a parcel that was lost or damaged on the way, it is a question of the delivery company’s liability and its compensation caps: A parcel lost or damaged: who pays and how much.

Frequently asked questions

The delivery arrived three hours after the agreed time. Is compensation due?

Not the fixed amount. Two hours are the permitted waiting time, and compensation starts only when two more hours have passed beyond it, that is, four hours after the agreed time.

I got a text message about a delay an hour before the delivery. Does that release the company?

A postponement under the law is made by a notice up to 20:00 on the evening before, with a new date and time. A notice on the day of the delivery is not such a postponement. The business is released only if the delay resulted from circumstances it could not foresee and prevent.

May a delivery be scheduled for 21:00?

Yes. The 8:00–19:00 time restriction applies to repairs, service contracts, installation and gas inspections, not to deliveries.

The store refunded me the delivery charge. Is that the compensation?

Only if you were told that you may choose the monetary compensation, and you agreed to the credit instead.

I paid for furniture, and two months have passed since the promised date. What am I entitled to?

If you paid an advance payment and the product was not supplied within two weeks of the agreed date, for reasons the business is responsible for, it must pay shekel interest from the agreed date until supply. If the delivery itself was also agreed for a day and a time and was late, your entitlement to NIS 300 or NIS 600 under section 18A(d) is examined as well.