UCC § 2-602
Manner and Effect of Rightful Rejection
(1) Rejection of goods must be within a reasonable time after their delivery or tender. It is ineffective unless the buyer seasonably notifies the seller. (2) Subject to the provisions of the two following sections on rejected goods (Sections 2-603 and 2-604), (a) after rejection any exercise of ownership by the buyer with respect to any commercial unit is wrongful as against the seller; and (b) if the buyer has before rejection taken physical possession of goods in which he does not have a security interest under the provisions of this Article (subsection (3) of Section 2-711), he is under a duty after rejection to hold them with reasonable care at the seller’s disposition for a time sufficient to permit the seller to remove them; but (c) the buyer has no further obligations with regard to goods rightfully rejected. (3) The seller’s rights with respect to goods wrongfully rejected are governed by the provisions of this Article on Seller’s remedies in general (Section 2-703).
Professor's notes
Section 2-602 governs how a buyer exercises the rejection right created by § 2-601. Rejection must occur within a reasonable time after delivery or tender, and the buyer must seasonably notify the seller. After rightful rejection, the buyer who possesses the goods holds them on the seller's behalf; the buyer may not exercise ownership over the rejected goods and must follow reasonable instructions from the seller regarding their disposition.
The doctrinal work is to convert the substantive right to reject (§ 2-601) into a procedural framework. A buyer who has a right to reject but fails to act promptly or fails to give proper notice loses the rejection right. The section also prevents buyers from benefiting from rejections by using the rejected goods while claiming nonconformity — the rejection creates a duty of reasonable care for the goods held on the seller's account.
Paradigm: A merchant buyer receives nonconforming widgets. To preserve the rejection right, buyer must reject promptly (the time that is reasonable depends on circumstances) and notify the seller. If the buyer uses the widgets in production before notifying the seller, the buyer has accepted them under § 2-606, notwithstanding the initial nonconformity. The goods-in-possession duty also means the buyer cannot simply destroy nonconforming goods to avoid returning them.
Students often assume that rightful rejection immediately ends all obligations to the goods. Ask: what must the buyer do after a rightful rejection? Must the buyer store the goods? Ship them back? The answer depends on whether the seller gives timely instructions. In the absence of instructions, the buyer with the goods must exercise reasonable care — this prevents strategic "accept and destroy" behavior.
Connect to UCC § 2-601 (right to reject), UCC § 2-606 (what constitutes acceptance — the rejection/acceptance line), UCC § 2-608 (revocation of acceptance — the distinct remedy when goods were accepted but a nonconformity later surfaces), and the Chapter 20 materials on Kingston v. Preston and Jacob & Youngs for the common-law substantial-performance contrast.
Text
UCC § 2-602. Manner and Effect of Rightful Rejection.
(1) Rejection of goods must be within a reasonable time after their delivery or tender. It is ineffective unless the buyer seasonably notifies the seller.
(2) Subject to the provisions of the two following sections on rejected goods (Sections 2-603 and 2-604),
(a) after rejection any exercise of ownership by the buyer with respect to any commercial unit is wrongful as against the seller; and
(b) if the buyer has before rejection taken physical possession of goods in which he does not have a security interest under the provisions of this Article (subsection (3) of Section 2-711), he is under a duty after rejection to hold them with reasonable care at the seller’s disposition for a time sufficient to permit the seller to remove them; but
(c) the buyer has no further obligations with regard to goods rightfully rejected.
(3) The seller’s rights with respect to goods wrongfully rejected are governed by the provisions of this Article on Seller’s remedies in general (Section 2-703).
Source: UCC Article 2 (post-2022 amendments), as in the LawJ statutory corpus.