Website Terms and Conditions

A customer bought your fudge online and had it shipped to their remote village in Alaska. Shortly thereafter, they had massive stomach pains and had to be flown hours to a hospital to be treated. They are suing you in their local court for the hospital bill, helicopter bill, and lost wages. If your website doesn’t say all lawsuits must be brought in Durham County, NC, you may have to hire an attorney and go to Alaska to defend yourself.

If you don’t have website terms and conditions, you may not get to choose where to resolve disputes, how to resolve them (lawsuit or arbitration), or even which state law applies.

Terms and conditions are not required, but companies have them to govern what happens if a customer is dissatisfied with their products or services, to control behavior on their e-commerce platforms, and even to protect their intellectual property.

Basic elements of the terms and conditions address limitation of liability, privacy, copyright and trademark information, rules on using the platform, warranties, shipping and return policies, and dispute resolution.

If you want to add terms and conditions, don’t copy them from another site. You need to make sure the policies in the terms protect your business. There are a number of term generators online and a business lawyer would be happy to help.