Whether you call it a terms of use, terms of service, or terms and conditions, this powerhouse document helps maintain control over your site as long as your guidelines fall within applicable laws by explaining the following:

• Establish and clarify your intellectual property rights
• Limit your liabilities
• Outline your dispute resolution options
• Disclose your governing laws
• Establish payment terms
• Include shipping policy and return and refund details
• Inform users about your privacy policy privacy policy
• Outline acceptable uses, prohibited behaviors, and their consequences

It answers several common customer service questions and provides clear protocols if users try to take advantage of your operations.

It’s also required by some parties if you’re engaging in certain behaviors such as using an SMS broadcast service.

You can easily make one for your website or app by filling in the blank sections of a terms and conditions template with relevant information about your business protocols and guidelines.

Are Terms and Conditions Legally Required?

Terms and conditions agreements aren’t legally required, but it’s in your best interest to post one on your website or mobile app because it provides an additional layer of legal protection.

In the event of a dispute, arbitrators may consider multiple facets of your T&C document to determine whether each party acted within their rights.

While it’s not guaranteed to hold up in court, you have a better chance if you can prove your users read and agreed to the policy.

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), some specific legal disclosures apply to certain transactions and must be made as written statements, like stipulations outlined by:

• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
• The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

You can add these disclosures as clauses in your website’s terms and conditions agreement.

Reasons to Have a Terms and Conditions

There are several reasons why you should post a terms and conditions on your website or app, as this document helps:

• Limit your liabilities: Businesses can use terms and conditions agreements to limit different liabilities, which is why almost every one of these documents includes a warranty disclaimer and a no-responsibility clause.
• Protect your website against abusive users: If your site allows users to generate content, you can use your terms and conditions to establish appropriate and prohibited activity on your platform and explain your rights to remove abusive users and content that violates the guidelines. You might even make an acceptable use policy that’s part of your terms but can be shared as a separate document to explain community guidelines so your users know exactly what they can and can’t post to your platform.
• Establish your intellectual property rights: Your terms and conditions agreement is a great place to disclose and protect your intellectual property rights, which helps prevent ownership disputes and copyright infringement. Adding an intellectual property disclosure clause to your terms and conditions text informs users about what content, materials, and branding you own and don’t want illegally copied, reproduced, or shared. If you catch your users copying your content, having this clause in your terms and conditions agreement can help if you pursue legal action against them.
• Create a dispute resolution process: A terms and conditions agreement helps inform users about your dispute resolution options and explains which laws govern your policy. This way, if a dispute arises between you and a user, there’s a clear process for both parties to follow. Any involved courts will use the governing law to interpret the terms and conditions agreement and its effects.