Website terms and conditions template
Document overview
- England & Wales
- Scotland
- Length:17 pages (4950 words)
- Available in:Microsoft Word DOCXApple PagesRTF
If the document isn’t right for your circumstances for any reason, just tell us and we’ll refund you in full immediately.
We avoid legal terminology unless necessary. Plain English makes our documents easy to understand, easy to edit and more likely to be accepted.
You don’t need legal knowledge to use our documents. We explain what to edit and how in the guidance notes included at the end of the document.
Email us with questions about editing your document. Use our Lawyer Assist service if you’d like our legal team to check your document will do as you intend.
Our documents comply with the latest relevant law. Our lawyers regularly review how new law affects each document in our library.
About this document
This template allows you to create terms of use to place on your website that set out how people who use your site (and any associated apps) to sell to other visitors should do so.
It has three main purposes:
It protects you in law from a huge array of potential problems arising from disputes between your merchants and their customers.
It makes clear how your site works and the rules for using it. We assume that you will insist on some standard terms of sale by all merchants so that a buyer can return to your site later and buy from a different merchant without the terms being markedly different.
As far as possible it reduces your obligations imposed by the Consumer Contracts (ICAC) Regulations. We have provided for sellers to be responsible for compliance with the regulations, so as to minimise the burden on you. If your merchants sell only to businesses, you can easily remove the provisions relating to the Regulations.
The document gives you strong legal protection, particularly of your intellectual property. This is necessary when visitors could have the ability to engage with the site (such as by asking and answering questions or posting reviews).
The type of products sold is not important - your business could specialise by creating a marketplace for a particular good, or allow merchants to sell a wide range.
Your business should be based in the UK. Visitors could be located anywhere in the world. For example, you could connect European buyers with Asian manufacturers, allowing them to sell directly into a new market, or you might join US buyers with UK exporters.
The benefit of having clear terms
Website terms are an excellent example of where use of plain English can strengthen the legal effect of a document. If a dispute should arise, it would be hard for a visitor to your site to claim that he or she did not understand the rules, even if English is not his first language.
Using these terms on your website will help you to:
set out clearly how your business works and how merchants should act and behave
ensure that sellers and buyers receive the quality of service that you aim to provide
present a professional image of your business
prevent misunderstandings and make solving disputes easier
protect your site and app from misuse
reduce the number of complaints about content that your visitors posted - particularly important if you don’t actively moderate every post or message
Similar templates
This is one of the two T&C documents you'll need if you operate create a marketplace. This one deals with the rules for sellers. You will also need the corresponding one that provides terms for buyers.
The law in this document
The law relating to website terms of use is largely common law that deals with the basics of contracts.
This template allows you to comply with The Sale of Goods Acts (1979 and 1994) and The Consumer Contracts (ICAC) Regulations 2013 allowing your sellers to sell to businesses or consumers.
Because there is little other statutory law you can set terms to match your business model. The document can be edited easily for this purpose. Our guidance notes will tell you what you can change safely, and what we don't advise editing.
Contents
This provisions covered by these terms include:
- Definitions and interpretation
- Basis of contract
- Sellers' licence and permission for you to handle their material
- Conditions of product placement
- The buying procedure
- Selling procedure
- Goods returned
- Payment for sales made
- Product warranties
- Indemnity by seller
- Very extensive options as to what a buyer may or may not do on your site
- Removal of offensive content
- Website security
- Protection of copyright and other intellectual property rights
- Interruption to service
- Disclaimers and limitation of liability
- Miscellaneous legal matters
We include more than 3,000 words of drafting notes to help you edit the document precisely.
Choose the level of support you need
Document Only
- This document
- Detailed guidance notes explaining how to edit each paragraph
Lawyer Assist
- This document
- Document with guidance notes explaining how to edit each paragraph
- Unlimited email support - ask our legal team any question related to completing the document
- Review of your edited document by our legal team including:
- reporting on whether your changes comply with the law
- answering your questions about how to word a new clause or achieve an outcome
- checking that your use of defined terms is correct and consistent
- correcting spelling mistakes
- reformatting the document ready to sign
Bespoke
- A document drawn just for you to your exact requirements
- Personalised service provided by an experienced solicitor
- Free discussion before we provide an estimate, for you to ask questions and for us to understand your requirements
- Transparent fees - a fixed fee for the basic work, a fixed hourly rate for new or changed instructions, and no charge for office overheads or third party disbursements
- Careful and thorough consideration of your circumstances and your consequent likely practical and legal requirements
- Provision of options that you may not have considered with availability for discussion
- Help and advice woven into the fabric of our service so that you can make the best decisions
All rights reserved