Short answer. Yes. Unless you agreed otherwise, the seller is bound, on your request, to give you a reasonable opportunity to examine the goods when delivery is tendered, and you are not deemed to have accepted goods you have not previously examined until that opportunity has actually been given.
What the law says
Unless otherwise agreed, when the seller tenders delivery of goods to the buyer, he is bound, on request, to afford the buyer a reasonable opportunity of examining the goods for the purpose of ascertaining whether they are in conformity with the contract.
Civil Code, Article 1584 — Buyer's Right to Examine the Goods. Read the full provision →
The general rule: acceptance requires a chance to inspect
If you have not previously examined the goods, the law does not treat you as having accepted them merely because they were handed over. You are only deemed to have accepted delivery once you have had a reasonable opportunity to examine the goods and confirm they match the contract. This protects a buyer from being bound to defective or nonconforming goods simply because delivery happened, when no real chance to check them was ever given.
The seller's duty on tender, upon your request
When the seller tenders delivery, the seller is obliged, on your request, to afford you that reasonable opportunity to examine the goods for conformity with the contract — unless the parties agreed otherwise. In practice this means you can ask to inspect before you sign for or accept the goods, and the seller cannot simply insist you take them sight unseen if you have made that request and no contrary agreement exists between you.
The exception: cash-on-delivery arrangements
There is a specific carve-out where goods are delivered to a carrier under an arrangement that the carrier will not hand them to you until you pay — commonly marked "collect on delivery." In that situation, you are not entitled to examine the goods before paying the price, unless there is an agreement or trade usage that permits examination first. The payment obligation there is structured to precede inspection, which is the opposite of the general rule.
What this does not give you
This right is about the opportunity to examine, not a guaranteed extended period or a right to reject goods for reasons unrelated to conformity with the contract. It also does not override a genuine prior agreement between you and the seller waiving or modifying the examination right, since the rule itself opens with "unless otherwise agreed." What counts as reasonable depends on the nature of the goods and the circumstances of delivery, which this provision leaves to be judged case by case rather than fixing a set number of days.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Gregorio Fule vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 112212, March 2, 1998 — read the decision on LawPhil →