Do I need terms of service and a privacy policy to sell online?
PrivacyContractsCompliance
A privacy policy, yes, in practice. California requires one for any commercial website that collects personal information from its residents, and an online store collects names, addresses and payment details from its first sale. Terms of service are not required by any law, but they are where you set the rules of the deal: refunds, shipping, what you are responsible for and how disputes are handled. Without them, those rules are whatever a court decides they should have been.
What your terms should cover
- Your refund and return policy, stated plainly.
- Shipping times and who bears the risk of loss in transit.
- Limits on your liability, to the extent your state allows.
- Where disputes are resolved and which state's law applies.
- Who owns your site content, and what customers may not do with it.
Make them stick
Courts enforce online terms when the customer clearly agreed to them, such as a checkbox or a button that says "By placing your order you agree to the terms", with a link right there. A link in the footer that nobody has to click is much weaker. Put the agreement in the checkout flow.
Rules that apply regardless of your terms
The FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires you to ship within the time you advertise, or within 30 days if you say nothing, and to tell customers and offer a refund when you cannot. State consumer protection laws limit how far you can disclaim responsibility to consumers. Your terms sit on top of these rules, not in place of them.
What to do
- Publish a privacy policy that matches what your store actually collects.
- Write terms of service covering refunds, shipping, liability and disputes.
- Add an agree-to-terms step at checkout.
- Ship within the time you advertise, and tell customers promptly when you cannot.
Related questions
Written by the lawyers who built Arabella. This is legal information, not legal advice for your situation, and reading it does not make us your lawyers. For a real dispute or a high-stakes decision, talk to a licensed attorney. More questions.