Virginia auto-renewal law: reminders and cancellation

Virginia's automatic renewal law (Va. Code §§ 59.1-207.45 to 59.1-207.49) asks subscription businesses to show the renewal terms clearly next to the sign-up button, get affirmative consent before charging, send an acknowledgment, and offer a way to cancel that is at least as easy as signing up. It also asks for a reminder 30 to 60 days before a renewal on longer terms, a notice near the end of free trials longer than 30 days, and notice before material changes.

Virginia rewrote much of this chapter in 2026 (HB 1022 and the identical SB 493, Acts of Assembly Chapters 931 and 932, both effective 1 July 2026). Everything below was read on 27 October 2026 from the official Code of Virginia and bill pages on lis.virginia.gov. If you'd like a quick read of your own pages first, PlainRenew's free checker scans your public pricing and terms pages for the wording these rules are about.

Who it covers

The chapter applies to a "seller" making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer in Virginia. A seller is "any person selling, offering, charging for, or otherwise marketing a good or service with automatic renewal or continuous service features" (§ 59.1-207.45).

Two kinds of plan are covered:

• Automatic renewal: a paid subscription that renews at the end of a definite term for a further term of more than one month.
• Continuous service: a subscription that simply continues until the customer cancels. Read plainly, an ordinary monthly Stripe subscription with no end date fits here.

"Consumer" includes individuals buying for personal, family or household use, and also a small business buying for business purposes. In short, that's a business at least 51% independently owned and controlled by individuals with, including affiliates, 250 or fewer employees or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less (see § 59.1-207.45 for the full test). So many B2B customers are covered too.

Section 59.1-207.48 leaves out utilities and others regulated by the State Corporation Commission, the FCC or FERC; licensed banks, credit unions and other financial institutions; and insurers regulated under Title 38.2. The 2026 act removed several earlier exemptions, such as health clubs and service contract providers.

What you show at sign-up

The "automatic renewal offer terms" (§ 59.1-207.45) are:

1. that the subscription continues until the customer cancels;
2. the cancellation policy, including how to find the cancel option;
3. the recurring charges, and if the price may change, that it may and to what amount, if known;
4. each deadline, by date or frequency, to act to stop the charges;
5. the length of the renewal term, or that the service is continuous;
6. any minimum purchase obligation.

What	What it asks for	Section
Terms before the order	Show the terms clearly and conspicuously before the customer is obligated, in visual proximity to the consent request	59.1-207.46(A)(1)
Affirmative consent	Don't charge the card until the customer has affirmatively agreed to those terms	59.1-207.46(A)(2)
Acknowledgment	Send the terms, the cancellation policy and how to cancel, in a form they can keep. For a free trial, also say how to cancel before paying	59.1-207.46(A)(3)

On a website or app, "clear and conspicuous" now means the disclosure is unavoidable, in words ordinary customers understand, and not contradicted by anything else on the page (§ 59.1-207.45). Each required disclosure has to meet that standard on its own (§ 59.1-207.46(F)). Separately, the Virginia Consumer Protection Act lists failing to disclose the total cost of a continuous service, including mandatory fees, before the agreement as a prohibited practice (§ 59.1-200(A)(79)).

Reminders and notices

Notice	When	What it says	Section
Renewal reminder	At least 30 and at most 60 days before the cancel deadline or the end of the current term	That it renews unless cancelled, the date to cancel by, how to cancel, and a copy of the renewal terms	59.1-207.46(E)
Free trial over 30 days	Within 30 days of the trial's end	That they can cancel before the trial ends to avoid paying	59.1-207.46(D)
Material change	Before the change takes effect	A clear notice of the change and how to cancel, in a form they can keep	59.1-207.46(C)

The renewal reminder applies to offers that "will automatically renew after a period of more than 30 days and extend" the offer "for a period of more than 12 months." Yearly plans clearly fit. The statute doesn't say directly how this applies to monthly plans, and we found no official guidance. A yearly reminder around the sign-up anniversary is the cautious, customer-friendly choice. If you're unsure, ask your adviser.

Note that Virginia counts the 30 to 60 day window back from the cancel deadline if you have one, not only from the renewal date.

Cancellation

Since 1 July 2026, § 59.1-207.46(B) asks for a cost-effective, timely, easy-to-use cancellation mechanism that is clear and conspicuous and easy to find. In particular:

• As easy as signing up. Cancelling must be at least as easy as the way the customer started the subscription.
• The same channels. Offer cancel through at least each method a customer can use to sign up. If they can sign up online, they can cancel online.
• No required chat or call. Customers can't be made to talk with a live or virtual agent to cancel, unless that is the only way you sign people up.
• Phone cancels. If you take cancellations by phone, the line must be answered or record messages during normal business hours, cost nothing to call, and you must act on the request promptly.
• In-person sign-ups need a website, app or phone way to cancel.

Before 2026, the law asked online sellers for "a conspicuous online option to cancel." The new wording goes further by tying the cancel path to the sign-up path. The statute doesn't mention save offers. If you show one, keeping the cancel button on the same screen keeps it as easy as signing up.

Enforcement

A violation of the chapter is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-207.49 and § 59.1-200(A)). That means a customer who suffers a loss can sue for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, up to three times damages or $1,000 if the violation was willful, plus attorney fees (§ 59.1-204). The Attorney General and local prosecutors can seek civil penalties of up to $2,500 per willful violation (§ 59.1-206).

Until 30 June 2026, the chapter said a seller that made a good-faith effort to comply wasn't subject to those penalties or damages. The 2026 act removed that sentence. Goods sent without affirmative consent count as an unconditional gift to the customer (§ 59.1-207.47).

A simple setup for Stripe subscriptions

1. Put the six terms right beside "Subscribe", including when and how the price may change.
2. Use a required checkbox or clear button so consent is affirmative.
3. Email an acknowledgment after checkout with the terms and a cancel link.
4. Schedule the renewal reminder about 45 days before each yearly renewal or cancel deadline, and a yearly reminder for monthly plans.
5. Offer online cancel, such as the Stripe customer portal, with no chat or call required.
6. Email material changes before they apply, with a cancel link.

Why it's worth doing well

An easy, visible way out builds trust. In PlainRenew's cancel-flow dataset, 97 of 169 subscription sites (57%) had no cancel or manage-billing link on the public pages our checker read (21 and 22 October 2026). Those are text matches on public pages only; the link may be behind a login. And 36 of those 169 sites (21%) had no auto-renew wording on those pages.

Quick FAQ

Does Virginia cover B2B subscriptions? Yes, for customers that meet the small business test above.

Can the reminder be an email? The statute doesn't name a channel for it. Email is the common choice; include the cancel date and a working cancel link.

Note: PlainRenew's rules page doesn't list Virginia yet, so this guide is based directly on the statute text. For other states, see our guides to California, New York, Illinois and Colorado.

Want to see how your public pages read against these rules? Run the free checker at plainrenew.com/check. It takes about a minute.