What rules apply to supplement free trials and auto-renewing subscriptions?
A supplement brand that sells a free trial or an auto-renewing subscription online must show every material term before it collects card details, get the buyer's express informed consent to recurring charges, and give a simple way to stop them. That is the federal baseline under ROSCA. State auto-renewal laws, led by California, add reminder notices and online cancellation. Health claims rules apply on top.
- ROSCA is the federal rule that still applies: clear disclosure of material terms, express informed consent before billing, and a simple way to stop recurring charges.
- The FTC's 2024 "click-to-cancel" rule is gone: the Eighth Circuit vacated it in July 2025, and the FTC restored the older rule text in February 2026.
- California sets the strictest common bar: trial-end notices, annual reminders, price-change notices and online cancellation for online sign-ups.
- A "free" offer must state its conditions at the outset, not in a footnote or behind an asterisk.
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Which federal law governs supplement subscriptions and free trials?
The main federal law is the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA), 15 U.S.C. 8403. It covers any online sale with a "negative option feature", which includes free-to-paid trials, auto-ship and subscribe-and-save programs. It requires three things: disclose all material terms, obtain express informed consent before charging, and provide simple ways to stop recurring charges.
ROSCA is a statute, not a guideline. The FTC enforces it, and violations can lead to civil penalties. The FTC summarizes the Act on its FTC's ROSCA page.
What happened to "click-to-cancel"?
In 2024 the FTC amended its Negative Option Rule to add detailed click-to-cancel requirements. On July 8, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated those amendments before most of them took effect. The court ruled on procedure: it found the FTC had skipped a required preliminary regulatory analysis. It did not approve of deceptive subscription practices.
The FTC then restored the rule's earlier text in February 2026, and in March 2026 it published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking asking whether to keep the current rule, readopt parts of the 2024 version or try something else. As of this writing no new rule has been proposed. Practically, the 2024 rule is not law, ROSCA is, and the FTC can still bring cases under Section 5 of the FTC Act against subscription designs it sees as deceptive or unfair.
Why supplement brands draw attention
Supplements combine two things regulators watch: recurring billing and health claims. A trial offer that leads with a strong benefit claim and buries the renewal price in small text raises both issues at once. Brands that sell through their own site, through marketplaces and through social commerce need one consistent set of terms across every channel.
What must a supplement checkout disclose before it takes card details?
Before the buyer enters billing information, the checkout must clearly show every term a reasonable buyer would care about: that the order renews, how often, how much each charge will be, when the first charge lands, and how to cancel. Put these terms next to the button that commits the buyer, not on a separate terms page.
| Material term | What to show | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| That it is a subscription | Plain words such as "renews every 30 days until you cancel" | Product page and next to the order button |
| Renewal price | The full price of each later shipment, including shipping and tax approach | Next to the order button, as prominent as the trial price |
| Billing timing | The date or day count when the first full charge occurs | Checkout summary and confirmation email |
| Frequency and quantity | How often shipments arrive and how many units each contains | Product page and checkout |
| How to cancel | The actual method and any deadline before the next charge | Checkout, confirmation email and account page |
| Conditions on the offer | Minimum orders, restocking or return limits, introductory pricing that ends | At the outset of the offer, not in a footnote |
Consent that holds up
Express informed consent means the buyer takes a deliberate action that agrees to recurring charges. Common good practice is an unchecked box or a clearly labelled button such as "Start my subscription", placed next to the renewal terms. A pre-ticked box, or a single "Buy now" button that silently adds auto-ship, is the pattern regulators cite.
Keep records. Store what the buyer saw, the time of consent and the terms version. If a charge is disputed, the record is your evidence. California's amended law also expects businesses to keep verification of consent; confirm the retention period with counsel and build one record-keeping process for every state.
Upsells after checkout
Post-purchase upsells that add a second subscription need their own disclosure and their own consent. A one-click upsell that reuses the stored card without a fresh, clear agreement is risky.
How should a supplement "free trial" or "just pay shipping" offer be built?
A free trial must say up front what the buyer must do to get it and what happens when it ends. The FTC Guide Concerning Use of the Word "Free" (16 CFR Part 251) says a "free" offer's conditions belong clearly and conspicuously at the outset, not in a footnote.
The guide says a footnote reached by an asterisk next to the word "free" does not count as disclosure at the outset.
Five design rules for trial offers
- Say "free trial, then" in the same line. For example, "Free 14-day sample, then $X every 30 days unless you cancel." The renewal price should never be harder to read than the word "free".
- Make the trial long enough to use. If the product takes weeks to try, a trial that converts before the first bottle is finished invites chargebacks and complaints.
- Remind before the first charge. A reminder email or text before the trial converts is required for some trials in California and is good practice everywhere.
- Do not call a paid shipping offer "free". If the buyer pays shipping or handling, say so beside the offer. Synonyms such as "gift" or "bonus" do not fix an unclear free offer.
- Avoid "risk-free" unless it is literally true. If returns require opened bottles to be shipped back at the buyer's cost, or a refund window is short, the offer is not risk-free.
Write the trial terms once, then reuse the exact wording in ads, landing pages, creator briefs and the confirmation email. Mismatched wording across channels is one of the easiest problems to spot in an audit.
Claims inside the trial offer
A trial page usually promises a result: better sleep, steadier energy, skin hydration. Those are claims, and the trial format does not lower the evidence bar. Keep claims at the structure/function level and support them, as explained further below.
What do state auto-renewal laws add to the federal rules?
Many states have their own automatic renewal laws, and California's is the one most national brands design around. California strengthened its law for contracts entered into, amended or extended on or after July 1, 2025. The California Attorney General's consumer alert on the Automatic Renewal Law lists the current requirements.
| California requirement | When it applies | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Express consent to renewal terms | All automatic renewal and continuous service offers | Before the first charge |
| Trial-ending notice | Free or discounted trials longer than 31 days | 3 to 21 days before the trial ends |
| Renewal notice | Plans with an initial term of one year or more | 15 to 45 days before renewal |
| Price-change notice | Any change in the fee charged | 7 to 30 days before it takes effect |
| Annual reminder | Ongoing auto-renewal plans | Once a year, through the enrollment channel or the one the buyer normally uses |
| Online cancellation | Buyers who enrolled online | Available at any time, without steps that block or delay it |
Each notice must explain the product, the amount and frequency of charges and how to cancel. Many other states have their own automatic renewal statutes, and their details differ. Because a national brand ships to every state, most choose to meet the strictest common standard everywhere. Confirm your state list with counsel; this page is a marketing overview, not legal advice.
What this means for marketing operations
State notices are not only a legal task. They live in your email and SMS platform, your subscription billing tool and your customer-service scripts. Map each notice to a trigger, a template and an owner, and test that the trigger fires for every plan length you sell.
How easy does cancelling a supplement subscription have to be?
ROSCA requires "simple mechanisms" to stop recurring charges. California goes further: a buyer who signed up online must be able to cancel online at will. The safe design is a cancel button in the account area, reachable in a few clicks, that confirms cancellation on screen and by email.
Patterns that create risk
- Cancellation only by phone, during limited hours, for buyers who enrolled online.
- A cancel link hidden in the footer of a help article rather than in the account page.
- Several screens of retention offers before the buyer can confirm.
- Requiring a reason before the cancel button works.
- "Pause" offered in place of cancel, with no visible path to stop charges entirely.
- Charging after a confirmed cancellation because the next order was "already processing".
Retention that still works
Retention offers are not banned. One clear offer, such as a skip, a frequency change or a smaller pack, shown once with an obvious "No thanks, cancel" option, keeps many subscribers without trapping anyone. The better retention lever is earlier: send usage tips in the first weeks, let buyers change frequency easily, and remind them before each charge so nobody is surprised.
Track cancellation reasons, refund requests and chargebacks as a single dashboard. A rise in chargebacks usually points to a disclosure problem at checkout, not a customer-service problem.
Where do health claims and review rules meet subscription marketing?
Subscription rules govern how you bill. Claims and review rules govern what you say to get the sign-up. Under DSHEA and FDA's structure/function claim rules, a supplement may make structure/function claims with the required FDA disclaimer and a notification to FDA within 30 days of marketing, but may not claim to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.
The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance (December 2022) expects health benefit claims to be backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence, generally randomized controlled human trials. It also says the FDA disclaimer does not cure a deceptive ad, and that individual testimonials do not substitute for scientific evidence.
Reviews from subscribers
Subscribers are the natural source of reviews, which makes the FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, effective October 21, 2024, directly relevant. It bans fake reviews, buying reviews conditioned on positive sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and review suppression. In practice:
- Ask every subscriber for a review, not only those who renewed several times.
- If you offer a credit for a review, do not make it conditional on a positive rating, and disclose the incentive.
- Do not hide or delay negative reviews that are genuine and on-topic.
- Do not let staff or their families post reviews without disclosing the connection.
A review that describes a disease outcome ("it cured my joint pain") becomes a disease claim if the brand features it in an ad. Curate featured testimonials with the same care as your own copy.
How should a supplement brand audit its trial and subscription funnel?
Audit the funnel the way a regulator or a frustrated customer would: start from an ad, follow it to checkout, sign up, wait for the reminders, then try to cancel. Record every screen. Most problems show up as a gap between what the ad promised and what the checkout or cancellation flow actually does.
- Ads and creator posts: does every mention of a trial or discount state that it renews and at what price?
- Landing page: is the renewal price as easy to read as the trial price? Are claims structure/function only, with the disclaimer?
- Checkout: are all material terms next to the order button, with an affirmative consent step and a stored record?
- Confirmation: does the email repeat the terms and the cancellation method?
- Notices: do trial-end, renewal, price-change and annual reminders fire on time for every plan?
- Cancellation: can an online buyer cancel online, quickly, and receive confirmation?
- Reviews: is the review request sent to all buyers, without sentiment-based incentives?
Repeat the audit after every pricing change, new plan or new sales channel. Our guide to subscription email and SMS for D2C health brands covers the lifecycle flows that sit around these notices, and our overview of FTC and FDA supplement advertising rules covers claims in more depth.
Where Ichelon Consulting US fits
Ichelon Consulting US, based in Dallas, Texas, runs supplement and D2C health brand marketing with compliance built into the funnel rather than checked afterwards. Engagements are Goals-Driven: monthly goals are agreed with you and tracked live on Ichelon Agency OS, with a report every Monday. Retainers start from $499/month, custom-scoped. We are not a law firm, so we work alongside your counsel on final terms. If you want the funnel audited, book a call with the US team.
Related pages from the US team
Supplement & D2C health brand marketing
How Ichelon Consulting US runs compliant growth for supplement brands.
Subscription email and SMS
Onboarding, renewal and win-back flows for D2C health brands.
FTC and FDA supplement ad rules
Structure/function claims, evidence and disclaimers.
D2C health brand marketing
Channels and sequencing for direct-to-consumer health brands.
Every practice welcome — Goals-Driven engagements from $499/mo
We benchmark your last 90 days, agree monthly goals with you, and track them live on Ichelon Agency OS with a report every Monday. Performance-Linked Payout Models are available. Our US leadership is based in Dallas, and strategy calls run in US business hours.
Common questions
Is the FTC click-to-cancel rule in effect for supplement subscriptions?
No. The FTC's 2024 amendments to the Negative Option Rule, known as click-to-cancel, were vacated by the Eighth Circuit on July 8, 2025. The FTC restored the earlier rule text in February 2026 and opened new rulemaking questions in March 2026. ROSCA still requires clear terms, express consent and simple cancellation for online subscriptions.
What does ROSCA require from a supplement brand selling subscriptions online?
ROSCA requires the seller to clearly and conspicuously disclose all material terms before collecting billing information, to obtain the buyer's express informed consent before charging, and to provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. It applies to free-to-paid trials, auto-ship and subscribe-and-save offers sold online.
Can a supplement brand advertise a free trial?
Yes, if the conditions are stated clearly at the outset. The FTC's guide on the word "free" says terms should not sit in a footnote or behind an asterisk. Show the renewal price, billing date and cancellation method next to the offer, and do not call it free if the buyer pays shipping or other charges.
What does California require for supplement auto-renewals?
Since July 1, 2025, California requires express consent, a notice 3 to 21 days before a free or discounted trial longer than 31 days ends, notices before price changes, an annual reminder for ongoing plans and online cancellation for buyers who enrolled online. Plans of a year or more need a renewal notice 15 to 45 days ahead.
Are retention offers allowed when a subscriber tries to cancel?
A short retention offer is generally acceptable if it does not block or delay cancellation. Show one clear option, such as skipping a shipment, with an obvious way to decline and cancel. Several screens of offers, required reasons or phone-only cancellation for online sign-ups create legal and chargeback risk.
Can supplement brands give subscribers credits for writing reviews?
Incentives are not banned outright, but under the FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule they cannot be conditioned on positive sentiment. Ask all buyers, disclose any incentive, and never suppress genuine negative reviews. Featured reviews that mention disease outcomes can turn into disease claims the brand is responsible for.
A note on this guide: it explains marketing practice, not legal advice. Rules on privacy, advertising and insurance change and vary by state, so confirm anything compliance-related with your own counsel.
Want your trial and subscription funnel checked?
A 30-minute call with the US team. We will walk your offer from ad to cancellation and flag where terms, consent or notices fall short.