If you sell goods or services online, you must post a clear and conspicuous set of terms and conditions on your website to satisfy consumer laws and protect your business. The terms and conditions are a legal agreement. Therefore, they should clearly define the rules of conduct for consumers who visit and purchase from your site.
How To Write Terms And Conditions
Properly drafted terms and conditions help protect you and your business. Thus, they should be as comprehensive as possible, addressing terms of purchase, refunds and returns, dispute resolution, limitations of liability, and protection of your trademarks and intellectual property. Well-drafted terms and conditions also give customers additional confidence in the credibility of a business.
Standard Terms And Conditions
The particular terms and conditions you need to include on your website will depend on the precise nature of your business. At a minimum, however, most ecommerce websites should address the following items:
- Disclaimer of Liability – Specifies or delimits the scope of damages or responsibility your business may face in the event of a product failure and any resulting loss, damage, injury, or expense suffered by the consumer.
- Trademarks and Intellectual Property – Helps to protect against the unauthorized use of your trademarks, logos, product descriptions, images, and even the design, look, and feel of your website.
- Payment and Billing Terms – Details the payment terms, including any subscription billing.
- Terms of Delivery – Details delivery practices and requirements, and how shipping and handling charges are calculated.
- Cancellations/Returns – Specifies circumstances under which the customer may be allowed to cancel an order and the requirements for doing so, such as the product being returned unused and in its original packaging.
- Dispute Resolution – Specifies the rules for resolving a dispute with the customer, such as mandatory arbitration and/or class action waiver (i.e., disputes must be addressed individually).
- Terms of Use – Outlines the rules for third parties accessing and using your website.
- Privacy Policy – Specifies the data you collect from visitors and how it is used.
Your terms and conditions should be conspicuously displayed on your website.
You should also ensure that the consumer affirmatively consents to them prior to making any purchase, ideally by including them in a pop-up window that the consumer must close by clicking a button stating that he/she has read and agrees to them before proceeding to complete the purchase transaction.
