Civil Code section 1812.116

(a)

Every contract for discount buying services shall provide that if any goods ordered by the buyer from the seller are not delivered to the buyer or available for pickup by the buyer at a location within his county of residence within six weeks from the date the buyer placed an order for such goods, then any moneys paid by the buyer for such goods in advance of delivery shall, upon the buyer’s request, be fully refunded unless a predetermined delivery date has been furnished to the buyer in writing at the time he ordered such goods and the goods are delivered to the buyer or are available for pickup by that date.

(b)

Prior to receiving from a buyer any payments pursuant to the terms of a contract for discount buying services, the discount buying organization shall establish a trust account at a federally insured bank or savings and loan association for the deposit, except for the first fifty dollars ($50) of a downpayment, of the contract payments as they are received.
If the discount buying organization sells or assigns the contract for discount buying services to a third party and such third party pays the discount buying organization as consideration an amount which is commercially reasonable for the sale or assignment of the contract, the discount buying organization shall deposit all funds received from the third party into the trust account.
If the discount buying organization in any manner transfers the contract for discount buying services to a third party which is to act as the recipient of contract payments from the buyer and such third party does not pay the discount buying organization as consideration for such transfer an amount which is commercially reasonable, then all sums received by the third party from the buyer shall be deposited in the discount buying organization’s trust account for contract payments.
As to each buyer, during the first one-fourth or first six months of the buyer’s membership period, whichever is shorter, funds representing no more than one-fourth of the contract price may be withdrawn from the trust account. During each subsequent one-fourth or six-month period, whichever is shorter, funds representing an additional one-fourth of the contract price may be withdrawn from the trust account.

(c)

(1)Prior to receiving funds for an order of goods or services from any buyer, the discount buying organization shall establish a trust account at a federally insured bank or savings and loan association for the deposit of the funds. The discount buying organization shall deposit into the account all funds received from buyers for orders of goods or services regardless of how the funds are styled, including but not limited to, down payment, partial payment, payment in full, freight charge, or any other terms. If the total cost of goods or services ordered by a buyer on any one day does not exceed fifty dollars ($50), including taxes, freight charges, delivery charges, markup and all other charges collected by the discount buying organization, then the funds received from the buyer need not be deposited in the trust account.

(2)

The trust account required by this section shall be created and maintained for the benefit of buyers who order goods or services from or through the discount buying organization. The discount buying organization shall not in any manner encumber the corpus of the account and shall not withdraw money deposited therein on behalf of a buyer except: (i)in partial or full payment to the discount buying organization’s source for the goods or services ordered by the buyer, or (ii)to make a refund to the buyer. After the withdrawal of money from a buyer’s deposit pursuant to (i) or (ii) above, only that portion of the remainder of the deposit which represents compensation to the discount buying organization may be withdrawn.

Source: Section 1812.116, https://leginfo.­legislature.­ca.­gov/faces/codes_displaySection.­xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=1812.­116.­ (accessed Apr. 24, 2025).

Last Updated

Apr. 24, 2025

§ 1812.116’s source at ca​.gov