The Dutch consumers’ authority ACM has fined five online retailers a total of €590,0000 for failing to provide their customers with proper information about cancelling orders.

The biggest fine – €220,000 – went to high street fashion chain CoolCat for failing to provide the right information and for failing to return delivery costs. Bever was fined €198,000 and Shoebaloo €72,000. Two small webshops were each fined €50,000.

The ACM said webshops are required by law to provide customers with clear information about the rules surrounding cancelled orders. A customer who cancels an order within 14 days of purchase is entitled to a full refund of all costs, including delivery, the ACM said.

Placing this information under ‘customer service’ or ‘faqs’ is not sufficient, the ACM said.

CoolCat said it was shocked by the size of the fine, considering things had only gone wrong in a few cases and that it corrected the problems in August 2015. It plans to appeal against the fine.

Bever, which says it acted as soon as alerted to the problems by the ACM, is also considering an appeal. ‘We consider €198,000 an awful lot of money,’ a spokesman told news agency ANP.