Website terms and conditions template: marketplace for services; buyer side

About this document

These terms are for a website that sells the services of others. Specifically, the document sets out the agreement between your business and buyers.

Your website could operate openly as a marketplace, where any service provider can sell (subject to your conditions) or it could be a review site where you promote particular approved services. You might charge the service provider for the marketing service (as provided for by default in these terms) or you could allow sellers access to the market for free and take advertising revenue or commissions.

It is not important what type of services you advertise. You could be an intermediary for a wide variety provided by individuals or companies, or you could specialise in a single sector, like accounting, elderly care, or gardening. If you supply businesses only, your site could create a marketplace for machine tool services or tractor re-conditioning or website design.

Is this document suitable for your website?

These T&C are ideal for a site that:

• connects buyers with sellers. Your business should not also be a seller, nor should it hold stock or fulfil orders on behalf of sellers
• provides additional functionality that allows buyers to interact with sellers or with other site visitors, for example, by allowing product reviews, feedback, forums, or questions
• provides payment facilities, collects taxes and your own fees, then pays the net amount to sellers
• has sellers that pay you either by a percentage commission or by a transaction fee
• either allows sellers to upload their own product pages or product advertisements or instructs you to do that for them
• provides a marketing service to sellers
• has either regular sellers (for example, ones that operate their business from your site), or allows one-off sales
• are hosted in the UK - although sellers and buyers could be located anywhere in the world

Similar templates

Because each website has its own business model, we provide separate terms for buyers and for sellers. You should therefore pair these T&C with the most suitable seller side document we offer. That is likely to be this document.

If your site creates a marketplace for products, not for services see these T&C.

If buyers are required to subscribe (or become members) of your site before they can access the marketplace, then you should use terms that specifically include this requirement.

If you are in any doubt as to which template you should choose, please contact us.

The law in this document

These terms you to comply (and be seen to comply) with the Consumer Contracts (ICAC) Regulations 2013, so far as you sell to consumers. The notes also provide advice on how best to pass obligations to your sellers.

The law is largely common law that deals with the basics of contracts: offer, acceptance, price and payment, provision of service, liabilities and risk. By and large, you can set the commercial terms you want. The document should be edited so that it reflects exactly how your business works. Our guidance notes will tell you what you can change safely, and what you shouldn't.

Contents

These terms cover both those between the seller and the buyer and those between your business and the buyer.

They include:

• Definitions
• Basis of contract
• Responsibility to provide accurate personal information to you
• The buying procedure
• Optional guarantee
• Cancellation and refunds
• Handling personal data, credit card and content uploaded or posted
• Extensive options as to what a visitor may or may not do on your website
• Removal of offensive content
• Protection of copyright and other intellectual property rights
• Interruption to service
• Disclaimers and limitation of liability
• Miscellaneous legal matters to protect your business

Additionally, we provide over 3,000 words of drafting notes to help you edit the document to your precise requirements.