Must-Have Terms and Conditions Template for eCommerce

A good terms and conditions template for eCommerce will lay out the agreement shoppers are entering into when they buy from your store.

Ultimately protecting your business and helping you resolve any issues that may come up.

However, in order to be effective your set of terms and conditions (or terms of service) needs to be:

• Detailed
• And easy-to-find.

You also need to ensure it protects both you and your shopper is,  makig it critical element of a successful online store.

And, as a bonus, when it’s done right, it also boosts Shopify SEO. 

So where to start? Right here.

How to Create Terms and Conditions for an Online Store?

When generating your terms and conditions template, you should include the minimum T&Cs requirements, clearly understand the technical requirements needed to implement your policy, and ensure that the text is carefully crafted while still being easy for shoppers to understand.

The rest of the post will help you do that by describing the main points your T&Cs should include and providing eCommerce terms and conditions templates to help you create your own.

But remember: even if you are using a third-party template, it is crucial that you consult a legal expert to ensure you are covered.

Must-Have eCommerce Terms and Conditions Clauses

Your terms and conditions should include general and specific terms of service including:

1. Shipping time frames and terms
2. Return processing
3. Conditions of use
4. Privacy disclaimers
5. Payment terms and special fees
6. Liabilities
7. Product descriptions
8. Intellectual property
9. Cancelation policies
10. Terms of use for your website
11. External links to specific policies

Here is a breakdown of some of the must-have clauses you should consider adding.  

1. Conditions of Use / General Conditions

Often referred to as ‘Online Store Terms,’ conditions of use outline what overall services you’re providing and what those services are conditioned on. Here’s a rough online store terms and conditions template of the clause, followed by an example from popular store WeeSqueak.

This clause often forms the intro of the T&Cs, such as these examples from Happy Socks and Zappos.  

2. Data Protection Disclaimers / Privacy & Security

Not to be confused with your standalone privacy policy, an effective eCommerce terms of service should include your privacy and security terms. This data protection/privacy clause should clearly state what personal information of your shopper you use and store, and how it is protected.

This clause deals with the legality of your standalone privacy policy, including things like how your store brand handles things like security control, privacy policy changes and lists of legal disclosures. Alternatively, some are very short and include something like this: “Please refer to our Privacy Policy [linked] for our full privacy and security practices.”

Don’t forget to also add if you will be collecting UGC from Instagram marketing or other social channels and how they will be shared.

3. Delivery Terms

The delivery terms clause of the eCommerce terms and conditions is also often referred to as the ‘shipping policy’ and includes the basic shipping/delivery policy for your online store. These can be short and concise, or more comprehensive. Some brands opt to add just a simple line directing shoppers to a separate shipping/delivery document:

A great user-friendly example for separate shipping terms and conditions are the folks at Human:

4. Payment Terms

This is where you outline how payments are made when a shopper purchases a product from your store, and includes the terms and conditions involved in payment. In other words: the full payment needs to be made by [payment term], after which orders will be dispatched. This can also include special fees or billing charges, shipping taxes and more that may be relevant.

5. Billing Information Terms and Conditions

Billing accuracy is an essential clause for your terms and conditions template. This is where you outline your policy on restrictions based on sales quantities per person, as well as what the buyer is agreeing to, such as ensuring that they are providing complete, current and accurate account information. Here is a template supplied by Shopify:

6. Product Information

A comprehensive eCommerce terms and conditions should include a clause outlining the product/s (or service/s) you’re selling. Here you can use a general policy and disclaimers and outline specific restrictions relating to your products, such as products that may be age-restricted, or warranty information. In the case of the former, some brands thoroughly set out product or service eligibility in its own clause, as outlined by Dollar Shave Club.

Generally speaking, though, this is also where you would outline the following:

For those of you using Shopify’s built-in template, you will find this information under this header:

7. Liability Limitations

Every eCommerce T&Cs has to include a liability disclaimer. This clause protects eCommerce business owners like yourself from liability beyond the transaction, and will also outline warranty information and other limitation disclaimers. In layman’s terms, this is where you state that your store is not responsible for any liability, loss, personal injury, damage or expense that the customer may suffer after the transaction. Here is another example from Dollar Shave Club, followed by the liability limitations clause from GearBunch’s T&Cs.

8. Dispute Clause

Another must-have clause in your eCommerce terms and conditions is the dispute clause. This clause outlines how conflicts are dealt with and resolved, and by which law (location) the dispute will be handled. In other words, if your business is located and operated out of the US, then US law and dispute practices would apply. If you’re in the UK, then your terms and conditions need to state that disputes will be handled by the UK legal system and follow the dispute law of the UK.

Here is a rough idea (template) of your disputes terms and conditions to get you started:

Any dispute relating to any activity on [My Store] or the purchase of any [My Store] products shall be submitted to confidential arbitration in [State/Province], [Country], unless you have in some way threatened or violated [My Store]’s intellectual property rights, whereby [My Store] may seek an injunctive.

If you’re in Europe, you may be more familiar with the term ‘Choice of Law.’

9. Trademarks / Intellectual Property / Copyrights

To protect yourself, you need to include a trademark – intellectual property of copyright – clause. This clause protects your images, content, product names, business name, logos and design. In some cases, this info is included info under one heading, while other store owners opt for having different clauses outline the conditions for each. Here is a good example from the guys at Lootcrate.

10. External Links / Third-Party Links

Another important addition to your terms and conditions template for eCommerce is the clause that outlines external or third-party links. Simply put, this clause will state that third-party links have been included on your site for your site visitors’ benefit, but that you don’t have any control over the content on those pages. Shopify’s eCommerce terms and conditions template includes such a clause for third-party tools:

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eCommerce Terms and Conditions Templates for eCommerce

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As we mentioned, we highly advise that eCommerce store owners consult with legal experts when compiling their terms and conditions. However, you can keep costs down by using some of these T&Cs templates and generators to create your first draft and then getting an expert to review it.  

1. If you’re fortunate enough to have a Shopify store, the Shopify Terms and Conditions Generator will help you populate your terms and conditions and have you covered from liability in no time.
2. If you are using another eCommerce platform, consider Volusion Free Terms & Conditions Policy Generator or make use of Ecwid’s terms and conditions templates in English and German.

Final Thoughts 

Whether you use a template, generator, or a legal expert, make sure that you review and update them on a regular basis. You will also need to ensure you have terms and conditions templates set up for any sales promotions or competitions.

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