Minnesota's Automatic Renewal Law: What Subscribers Should Know

Minnesota's subscription rules sit at Minnesota Statutes sections 325G.56 to 325G.63, enacted by 2024 Minnesota Laws chapter 114, article 3. Each section carries the same effective-date clause in the session law: effective January 1, 2025, applying to contracts entered into, modified, or renewed on or after that date.

The statute is built around an "indefinite subscription agreement," defined in section 325G.56 as a subscription or purchasing agreement between a seller and a consumer in Minnesota that is subject to automatic renewal or continuous service. A "consumer" is an individual acquiring goods, services, money, or credit for personal, family, or household purposes, so the law is aimed at household subscriptions rather than business-to-business deals. The definition expressly includes contracts under section 325G.23, Minnesota's older membership-club provisions, so health club and buying club memberships sit inside the same framework as a streaming plan.

Section 325G.62 sets the exemptions: contracts governed by another state or federal statute or regulation specifically intended to regulate automatic renewal or continuous service; insurance licensees under section 60A.985, subdivision 8, and their affiliates; technology system contractors and power limited technicians licensed by the Department of Labor and Industry; services from a business or affiliate regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, the FCC, or FERC; and persons registered with FINRA, the SEC, or under the Minnesota Securities Act. This page is general information about the statute, not legal advice.

Section 325G.57, subdivision 1, requires a seller to present the offer terms clearly and conspicuously before you accept, in visual proximity to the offer's proposal, or temporal proximity if conveyed by voice. Section 325G.56 defines "clear and conspicuous" concretely: larger type than surrounding text, or contrasting type, font, or color to surrounding text of the same size, or set off by symbols or marks that call attention to the language.

The "offer terms" are a defined list of five disclosures: that the agreement continues until you terminate it; the cancellation policy; the recurring charges to your card or third-party payment account, that the amount may change if that is the case, and the amount to which it will change if known; the length of the renewal term or that the service is continuous, unless the length is definite and chosen by you; and any minimum purchase obligation.

Subdivision 2 adds a confirmation duty. Timely after acceptance, the seller must provide confirmation in a retainable form, including the offer terms, how to cancel a free trial before becoming obligated to pay, and termination options that are easy to use, cost-effective, and timely; email is sufficient. Section 325G.58 separately bars a seller from charging your card or third-party account before the agreement has been duly authorized and made effective.

Section 325G.61 adds a blunt consequence for skipping consent: any good sent under an indefinite subscription agreement without first obtaining your affirmative consent is an unconditional gift, which you may use or dispose of in any manner without obligation to the seller, including any obligation relating to shipping.

Section 325G.59, subdivision 1, lets you terminate an agreement subject to automatic renewal at any time by following the procedure in the confirmation, effective at the end of the term in which you give notice. Subdivision 2 covers continuous service: termination must take effect no later than thirty-one days from the date of a verified consumer's notice, unless you specify a future date, and the statute does not require sellers to offer a future-date option.

Subdivision 3 is the backstop. If the seller failed to provide either the confirmation required by section 325G.57, subdivision 2, or the annual notice required by subdivision 5, you may terminate by any reasonable means at any time and at no cost, including by mail, email, telephone, an online option, a termination election, or the means by which you entered the agreement.

Section 325G.60 supplies the online-cancellation rule. If a seller has a website with profile or subscription management capabilities, that website must include a "termination election": clear and conspicuous, using plain language to convey that any consumer may terminate at any time, requiring only information necessary to process the termination, and including a checkbox, submission button, or similarly common and simple mechanism.

Minnesota also regulates what happens after you say you want out. Under section 325G.58, subdivision 4, a seller that has received a notice of cancellation cannot use any misrepresentation or unfair or abusive tactic to delay or avoid it, and cannot offer additional benefits, contract modifications, gifts, or similar inducements until it has obtained your permission, granted after that notice and sought only once per attempt. Subdivision 5 preserves what it may still do: ask your reasons, which you need not answer as a condition of cancelling; explain the consequences; verify your identity; and describe options such as downgrading or pausing.

Minnesota does not require a reminder ahead of every renewal. Instead, section 325G.57, subdivision 5, ties the duty to the calendar: for an agreement subject to continuous service, the seller must give written notice at least once per calendar year, by mail or email, including the terms of the service and how to terminate or manage it. Because the trigger is the calendar year rather than a renewal date, it reaches open-ended subscriptions that would never hit a renewal milestone.

Free trials get a separate rule. Under subdivision 4, a seller offering a free trial lasting more than thirty days must, no fewer than five and no more than thirty days before it ends, notify you of the option to cancel before the end of the trial to avoid an obligation to pay.

Material changes trigger a third notice. Subdivision 3 requires clear and conspicuous notice of the material change, with information on how to terminate, in a retainable form and before the change is implemented. A material change made in violation of that subdivision is void and unenforceable.

Minnesota's rules are recent: enacted in 2024 and in force since January 1, 2025. The session law applies them to contracts entered into, modified, or renewed on or after that date, so an agreement signed before 2025 comes under them once it is modified or renewed. Each of sections 325G.56 through 325G.63 carries a single history note in the Minnesota Statutes referring to 2024 chapter 114, article 3, which indicates they have not been amended since enactment.

Three features set Minnesota apart from older state laws: the annual notice is tied to the calendar rather than a renewal date; the restriction on retention offers is unusually explicit; and the termination election attaches whenever a seller's website already has subscription management, however you signed up.

Section 325G.63 is the enforcement provision, written as a limit rather than a grant of authority: a seller is not subject to civil penalties if it has made a good faith effort to comply with each applicable provision of sections 325G.56 to 325G.61. Other consequences, such as a material change being void and unenforceable, do not depend on that shield.

Public enforcement runs through the Attorney General. Minnesota Statutes section 8.31, subdivision 1, directs the Attorney General to investigate violations of state law respecting unfair, discriminatory, and other unlawful practices in business, commerce, or trade, and lists particular acts "specifically, but not exclusively," so the list is not a closed set. The office operates a consumer complaint intake.

Save the sign-up screen, the confirmation the seller sent or a note that none arrived, the annual notices, dated cancellation requests, and billing statements. This page is general information about Minnesota law as of 2026 and is not legal advice; review the primary sources below or consult a licensed Minnesota attorney.