Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Template

Masha Komnenic CIPP/E, CIPM, CIPT, FIP

by Masha Komnenic CIPP/E, CIPM, CIPT, FIP

May 10, 2023

Free Terms and Conditions Generator
Ecommerce-Terms-and-Conditions-Template

If you run an ecommerce business, a terms and conditions agreement is a valuable asset to have posted on your website or app.

The terms and conditions for your online store sets the rules your customers must follow while using your services, limits the liabilities that fall on your business, and establishes your property rights, which may help you avoid — or resolve — potential legal disputes.

In this article, we’ll explain what a terms and conditions agreement includes and why it’s important, then look at example terms and conditions for online stores, and provide you with our free ecommerce terms and conditions template.

Table of Contents
  1. What Are Terms and Conditions?
  2. Does My Online Store Need Terms and Conditions?
  3. What to Include in Terms and Conditions for Online Stores
  4. Where To Display Your Online Store’s Terms and Conditions
  5. Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Examples
  6. Tips for Having a Good Ecommerce Terms and Conditions
  7. How to Make Your Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Enforceable
  8. Ecommerce Terms and Conditions FAQ
  9. Why Use an Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Template?
  10. Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Template [Free Download]
  11. Summary

What Are Terms and Conditions?

Your ecommerce website’s terms and conditions are a legal agreement between you and your customers outlining all rules, restrictions, and disclaimers they must follow when using your services.

Standard terms and conditions for online stores usually include details about payment terms, acceptable website or app usage, dispute resolutions, and more.

There are many alternative names for terms and conditions that you might see on websites or apps, like:

  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Service
  • General Conditions

Our free, downloadable ecommerce terms and conditions template is fully customizable, including the title, and applies to all of the following online stores:

  • Ecommerce websites and apps
  • Marketplace shops
  • Retail or clothing stores
  • Dropshipping businesses

Does My Online Store Need Terms and Conditions?

While you’re not legally required to have a terms and conditions agreement, you need one for your online store, so you have a set of enforceable rules should any dispute with a customer arise.

No matter what type of ecommerce business you own, making a terms and conditions agreement is in your best interest, as this policy helps

  • Protect your online store from website abuse
  • Limit what your store can be held liable for
  • Protect your intellectual property
  • Minimize disputes
  • Establish trust and transparency between you and your consumers

Let’s go over the benefits of having an ecommerce terms and conditions agreement in more detail.

Terms and Conditions Help Prevent Website Abuse

One of the primary purposes of terms and conditions for ecommerce websites is to outline the rules and restrictions you expect your users to follow when accessing your services, which helps minimize website abuse.

Within this policy, you can list all unacceptable behaviors and any disciplinary actions you’ll take if someone breaks those rules.

You might ban things like:

  • Excessive spamming in your comment sections
  • Using bots or malware to infect your website
  • Posting defamatory content
  • Aggressive behavior or language
  • Illegal activities

Having terms and conditions in place allows you to take action against site abusers who break the guidelines you set in your policy.

For example, you might ban the user or terminate their account.

By making this agreement easy for your users to find, you’re setting the expectations and guidelines on proper website usage, acceptable actions, and the consequences of breaking those rules.

Terms and Conditions Help Limit Your Ecommerce Store’s Liabilities

Within your terms and conditions, you can include disclaimers that help protect your ecommerce business from being held accountable for liability issues, such as:

  • Personal injury
  • Loss of profits
  • Computer malfunction
  • Product misrepresentations
  • Warranty issues

It also helps protect you from being held responsible for minor oversights if the content on your website or app is outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate.

Limiting your business’s liabilities within your terms and conditions could help save you thousands of dollars in legal fees down the road.

Terms and Conditions Help Protect Your Intellectual Property

As the owner of your online store or shop, you also own your website’s content, logo, page designs, and any other brand-related materials you produce.

You can use your terms and conditions to inform users that these properties are protected by copyright and trademark laws and explain if and how others can lawfully use your materials.

Suppose someone does try to steal or reproduce your intellectual property, including photos, design elements, and other content outlined within your terms and conditions. In that case, you’ll have the proper grounds to possibly pursue legal action.

Terms and Conditions Help Minimize Disputes

A well-drafted terms and conditions agreement clearly lays out the rules your users are expected to follow, which can help address unhappy, confrontational customers and minimize your chances of legal disputes.

If any friction does occur, you can look to the dispute resolution clause within your terms and conditions for a clear plan of action, leading to easier conflict resolution for you and your team.

Terms and Conditions Help Establish Trust and Transparency

Terms and conditions help your ecommerce business establish trust and transparency with your customers because this agreement properly sets users’ expectations.

By clearly outlining the rules of your website or app and explaining the legal basis on which your business runs, your customers will likely have more clarity about your online store.

What to Include in Terms and Conditions for Online Stores

The specifics within your online store’s terms and conditions vary depending on what type of business you conduct.

That being said, in the next section, we cover the clauses typically included in standard ecommerce terms and conditions agreements.

Introduction Clause

The introductory clause of your ecommerce terms and conditions agreement can help establish your customer’s expectations.

Here is where you introduce your company and outline who and what the agreement covers. You should also state within this first clause that anyone using your services agrees to the terms and conditions outlined in your policy and provide stipulations for people who may disagree.

The ecommerce ​​terms and conditions sample below comes from T-Mobile. Their intro clause clearly states who their agreement is between and how users can accept the guidelines.

T Mobile Terms and Conditions

Prohibited Use and Activities

Your online store’s terms and conditions act as the literal rules your users are expected to follow when accessing your services, so you should include a clause clearly communicating all of those guidelines.

For an ecommerce business, it’s best to come up with relevant rules based on the ways you allow your users to interact with your online store and with each other.

Then you can list all prohibited and restricted activities that you won’t allow on your website or app within this clause, which may include things like:

  • Posting obscene, violent, or crude content
  • Breaking the law
  • Harassing or stalking other users
  • Violating copyright laws
  • Hacking, introducing viruses, or tampering with your website or app
  • Conducting scams
  • Spamming the service or other users

In the example below, you can see the prohibited uses Apple includes in their iTunes terms and conditions agreement.

itune - terms and conditions

You might want to separate this clause into an acceptable use policy (AUP) document, depending on the type of website or app you own.

Your AUP will still be part of your terms and conditions but can be shared independently from the rest of your terms in relevant places where you want your users to know exactly what rules they’re expected to follow.

If you want to make a free AUP in minutes, check out our Acceptable Use Policy Generator.

Account Termination and Suspension

If your online store allows your users to interact with one another through their accounts or profile pages, you should have a termination clause for responding to users who violate the guidelines outlined in your ecommerce terms and conditions agreement.

By clearly communicating this information in your policy, you can streamline the disciplinary process in case anyone breaks your rules. Let your users know if their accounts will be suspended or terminated due to breaking the agreement.

It’s a good idea to leave this clause as broad as possible, giving you more wiggle room to manage unnecessary or agreement-breaking accounts.

Read the highlighted text below, again from Apple’s iTunes terms and conditions agreement, for an example of how you might phrase this clause in your own policy.

itune - terms and conditions agreement

But if your online store does not allow users to create accounts, or if their accounts only get used for purchasing goods from your website, then this clause may not be necessary for your ecommerce terms and conditions.

Intellectual Property Rights

Your ecommerce business probably has intellectual property that you want to protect, which you can outline in a clause in your terms and conditions agreement.

Intellectual property refers to your business’ trademark and copyrighted content, including:

  • Images
  • Names
  • Logos
  • Patents
  • Videos
  • Designs

Because you run an ecommerce business, you should also outline your ownership over any unique software, screen displays, web page designs, or HTML coding used on your website or app.

Within this clause, you should list the materials that belong to your business and outline rules and restrictions that apply to outside parties who might try to use your materials. You might also consider including a copyright disclaimer.

Once again, the iTunes terms and conditions, pictured below, does a good job listing out the different properties and materials that they maintain the rights over.

itune - terms and conditions intellectual property

Privacy Agreements

If your ecommerce store falls under certain data privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), you may be required to have a privacy policy and cookie policy on your website or app.

It’s a good idea to link those policies directly in your terms and conditions agreement so it’s easy for your users to find them, like how T-Mobile does it in their agreement pictured below.

T Mobile Terms and Conditions agreement

Product or Promotional Information

You can create a clause in your terms and conditions that protects your ecommerce store from any discrepancies or inaccuracies about the products posted on your website or app.

For example, you can use this clause to reserve the right to end promotions or sales early or to reject promotional codes after a certain period.

Read the highlighted text below from Best Buy’s sample terms and conditions to see how they use proper phrasing to help prevent website inaccuracies from causing them harm.

Best Buy terms and conditions

Pricing and Payments

Your pricing and payments clause in your ecommerce terms and conditions should address all online purchase questions and pricing-related topics.

Here you can tell your customers about

  • The methods of payment you accept
  • What happens if they miss or do not make a payment
  • What type of currency you take

You can read through our guide on how to write payment terms for tips on making the most out of this clause.

Our example terms and conditions below is from Best Buy again, because their payments clause is very easy to read and understand.

Best Buy terms and conditions payment clause

Return and Refund Information

Your online store should include a clause in your terms and conditions covering how you handle returns and refunds, because chances are high that your customers will have questions about these procedures.

If you use any of the following policies, link them directly in your return and refund clause:

Below, you can see the short and sweet returns clause from Michaels online terms and conditions, which provides two links directly to the relevant policy and explains that it’s incorporated into their terms and conditions.

Michaels online terms and conditions

Shipping and Delivery Information

Your ecommerce store probably answers a ton of customer questions about your shipping and handling processes, so be sure to include a clause covering those details in your terms and conditions.

You should also include a link directly to your shipping policy within this clause, that way, your users can easily access it if they have further questions.

In the example below, see how Adidas mentions their shipping policy within their terms and conditions.

Adidas mentions terms and conditions

They also link to their terms and conditions directly in their shipping policy, as shown in the yellow highlighted text below, which you should also consider doing.

Adidas mentions terms and conditions shipping policy

User-Generated Contributions

If your ecommerce store allows your users to generate content or contribute to your site in some way, outline all relevant rules, guidelines, and stipulations in a clause within your terms and conditions agreement.

See how Best Buy phrases this clause in their terms and conditions in the highlighted text below.

Best Buy clause

Of course, if your online store doesn’t provide your users with a public forum or a place to post content, then this clause may be unnecessary in your ecommerce terms and conditions.

Limitation of Liability

Your ecommerce terms and conditions agreement is one of the best places to include a liability disclaimer to help remove certain responsibilities from falling onto your business, should something ever occur on your website or app.

A liability disclaimer is a statement from your online store that denies responsibility for damages your visitors may suffer as a result of using your service. It also informs users about what they cannot sue you over.

Take a look at an example of a liability limitation clause from Target’s terms and conditions below.

Target terms and conditions

Third-Party Links

A third-party links clause in your ecommerce terms and conditions explains the purpose of any external links on your website and clarifies that you do not have control over the content on those pages.

The highlighted text below from Best Buy’s terms and conditions is a great example of how to phrase your third-party links clause.

Best Buy terms and conditions third-party links clause

Amendments or Changes to the Agreement

Your online store’s terms and conditions are a living document that you can update as much as you need to, so have a protocol in place for updating your users about any changes you make to the policy.

A common way to do this is by marking the last revised date somewhere on your policy, usually in the header. But you can also include a short clause setting your users’ expectations, like how T-Mobile does it in the screenshot below.

T Mobile Terms and Conditions clause

Dispute Resolution

Your dispute resolution clause, sometimes called a Governing Law clause, should describe how conflicts and controversies related to your ecommerce terms and conditions agreement are handled.

There are three ways your ecommerce website might handle a dispute:

  1. In court: If you want to settle customer disputes in court, explain which courts will handle the cases, the location of the court, and the governing laws that apply.
  2. Binding arbitration: If a mediator or arbitrator will settle your disputes, describe where the arbitration will take place, the legal regulations that apply, how fees are handled, and what the general process looks like.
  3. Informal negotiations: If you want to resolve disputes through direct negotiations with customers, include detailed information about the timeline for negotiations and how the process will work.

You should clearly outline all guidelines for whatever dispute method your ecommerce business chooses to use.

Below, see how T-Mobile clearly explains their dispute resolution processes within their terms and conditions.

T-Mobile dispute resolution

Company Contact Information

At the end of your online store’s terms and conditions, you should include your contact information so your users can reach you or the right team if they have questions, comments, or concerns.

The sample ecommerce terms and conditions pictured below from T-Mobile provides several contact options for their customers.

T-Mobile contact options

Since your ecommerce business operates online, it’s okay if you don’t list a physical address as long as the email address or phone number you include within this clause are accurate.

Where To Display Your Online Store’s Terms and Conditions

You should display your terms and conditions in multiple spots throughout your online store so your users can always find it.

Below, we go over the most common places to post links to your terms and conditions for your ecommerce business.

Website Footer

You should link your online store’s terms and conditions in the footer of your website.

Not only is this the most common place for terms and conditions to appear, but it also ensures your users can access the document no matter what part of your website they end up on.

Below is a screenshot of the footer from Best Buy’s website, where they link to their terms and conditions.

Best Buy website link terms and conditions

Payment Screens

Another place you might consider posting a link to your online store’s terms and conditions is on your payment screens.

We’re using Best Buy as our example again, because they also provide a link to their terms and conditions at the bottom of their payment screen, as highlighted below.

Best Buy payment screen

Account Creation Page

If your online store allows users to create logins, the new user account creation page is a great spot to include a link to your ecommerce terms and conditions.

You want customers using your services to know the rules they’re expected to follow on your website or app, so it makes sense to provide them with a link before officially creating a profile.

Below, we’re using Best Buy as our example for the third time, because they also link to their terms and conditions on their new account creation page.

Best Buy terms and conditions new account creation page

All that being said, if your ecommerce store doesn’t provide your customers with profile pages or user accounts, then you can skip this one.

Privacy Center

A privacy center is a central hub where you can post all legal policies, privacy information, and agreements that you want your users to always have access to.

For tips on how to set one up on your website, read through our article covering all you need to know about privacy centers.

Once you make one, you can link to it in the footer of your website, as shown in the example below from T-Mobile.

T-Mobile privacy center

Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Examples

Let’s look through some examples of ecommerce terms and conditions from popular online stores to see how you can apply these clauses to your own website.

American Eagle’s Terms and Conditions

It’s common for ecommerce stores to include a section on products and purchases in their terms and conditions.

Below, we use an example from American Eagle’s terms and conditions, because they have a great clause that clearly explains their purchasing process, potential pricing and availability errors, and online payment methods.

American Eagle terms and conditions

Like the example terms and conditions above, it’s a good idea to lay out your online store’s rights when it comes to:

  • Changing prices
  • Updating product information
  • Suspending promotions
  • Canceling orders

American Eagle also offers a good example of an intellectual property clause specific to ecommerce stores, pictured below.

American Eagle intellectual property clause

Because they produce their own brand-related designs and content, American Eagle includes an intellectual property clause to prevent others from improperly using their original materials.

If your online business produces original materials that you want to protect, you can follow American Eagle’s example by listing the items that you own and describing the circumstances under which other parties are and aren’t allowed to use them.

Target’s Terms and Conditions

Another good example of standard terms for online stores comes from Target. They cover various topics, including user accounts and transactions, terms for Target’s services, and other legal policies Target offers.

As with most standard ecommerce terms and conditions, they include a limitation of liability clause, pictured below.

Target limitation of liability

Target also provides users with a separate warranty disclaimer, as shown below.

Target separate warranty disclaimer

Target’s limitations of liability clause and warranty disclaimers are important in preventing them from being held accountable for damages, injuries, or losses users might experience while using their website.

Your online store should include both a liability disclaimer and a warranty disclaimer to maximize legal protection, whether presented as separate clauses like in the above example from Target or combined under one clause.

Walmart’s Terms and Conditions

If your online store allows user feedback, you need to include a user submission clause to outline the rules and consequences around submitting content.

In the screenshot below, see how Walmart’s terms and conditions explain that users who submit content on their site grant Walmart permission to edit, display, and distribute the content.

Walmart terms and conditions

User feedback can be valuable for your online business, so consider including a clause to ensure contributors are aware of the rules for posting and know who has the right to their content.

Best Buy’s Terms and Conditions

As we mentioned previously, terms and conditions are a proactive measure to help your ecommerce business avoid legal disputes. However, if one does occur, it’s important you have a clear dispute resolution clause in place to resolve conflicts quickly.

Take, for example, Best Buy’s terms and conditions, pictured below. They clearly explain that disputes will be resolved through arbitration by default.

Best Buy terms and conditions arbitration by default

Further in this clause, Best Buy defines the terms of the arbitration, applicable laws, and all related fees.

To ensure your online store is prepared to handle potential conflicts quickly and inexpensively, include a dispute resolution clause within your ecommerce terms and conditions.

Tips for Having a Good Ecommerce Terms and Conditions

Here are a few of our tips for writing a good ecommerce terms and conditions agreement.

Make your Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Easy to Read

If you decide to write the terms and conditions for your online store yourself, make sure it’s easy to read.

You want all of your customers to understand what they’re agreeing to when they access your services or select a checkbox to agree to the terms and conditions.

Include Relevant Clauses in your Ecommerce Terms and Conditions

The clauses within your terms and conditions agreement will vary depending on what type of business you conduct, so pick and choose the ones that are most relevant to your online store.

For example, if you sell perishable goods, you might need different clauses in your terms and conditions than a business that only sells clothing.

It’s also usually more important for ecommerce businesses to include return clauses and shipping clauses in their terms and conditions, as these are some of the primary ways you interact with your customers.

As you make your own terms and conditions for your online store, choose the clauses that fit the needs of your business best, just be mindful to not leave out anything important.

Don’t Plagiarize Another Online Store’s Terms and Conditions

No matter what you do, don’t copy another online store’s terms and conditions. Copying someone else’s agreement is considered plagiarism, and legal documents are copyrighted.

Terms and conditions vary drastically from one business to the next, and someone else’s policy will not cover all of the details, stipulations, and specifics that your online store requires.

How to Make Your Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Enforceable

Your ecommerce terms and conditions are enforceable as long as you post them on your website or app and get user agreement to the policy, which can be done in the two ways we cover below.

Clickwrap Method for Consent

To get your users to consent to your online store’s terms and conditions actively, consider using what is known as the clickwrap method, which essentially means you have your users select a checkbox to express they’ve read and agree to your terms.

If you get active consent from your users for your terms and conditions, it’s easier to prove in court that they read and understood the agreement.

In the screenshot below, see how American Eagle uses clickwrap consent for their terms and conditions and privacy policy when someone signs up for a new user profile.

American Eagle clickwrap consent

Implied Consent

Another way to get your users to agree to your online store’s terms and conditions is through implied consent or browsewrap.

Implied consent means users agree to your terms and conditions through an action.

Most online stores that use browsewrap consent methods include a sentence at the beginning of their terms and conditions stating that the user agrees to the policy by using any of their services.

In the example below, the highlighted text from Walmart’s terms and conditions implies user consent because it clearly states that anyone who disagrees with any of the terms is unauthorized to use all Walmart Sites.

Walmart terms and conditions implies user consent

Implied consent for your terms and conditions may be enough for most of the users on your website, but you should understand that this method only sometimes holds up in court.

If someone decides to pursue legal action against you, they could argue that they didn’t actually agree to your policy because they didn’t know that using your service also constituted consenting to the agreement.

We recommend using both clickwrap and implied consent methods for your terms and conditions agreement to best protect your online store.

Ecommerce Terms and Conditions FAQ

Below you can check out some of the most frequently asked questions we get about ecommerce terms and conditions.

What is a terms and conditions policy for an online store?

A terms and conditions policy for online stores outlines all rules, guidelines, property rights, and stipulations that you expect your users to agree to when using your services.

Why do online stores need terms and conditions?

Online stores need terms and conditions because they can help resolve potential conflicts with customers and may take some legal liabilities off of your business if one of your users ever breaks the law or misbehaves.

Where should you display your terms and conditions policy on your online store?

You should display your online store’s terms and conditions policy in the following places:

  • The footer of your website
  • On new user profile pages
  • On checkout pages
  • In your data privacy center or help center

How do I enforce my online store’s terms and conditions?

You can enforce your online store’s terms and conditions by using clickwrap consent methods, which refers to a user selecting a checkbox to mark that they’ve read and agree to your policy.

You can also use implied consent methods to enforce your ecommerce terms and conditions, like stating at the beginning of the policy that anyone using your services automatically agrees to it.

Why Use an Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Template?

If you want to make a thorough, easy-to-read terms and conditions agreement for your ecommerce business, we recommend using a template.

The best thing about using a template is that you don’t have to start the entire document from scratch, some of the initial writing is already done for you.

Our free ecommerce terms and conditions template also provides you with the most common clauses found in terms and conditions, allowing you to fully customize the document to fit any of your ecommerce needs.

There are plenty of free terms and conditions templates for online stores that you can choose from, but ours was designed to be simple to read and applies to most websites and apps.

Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Template [Free Download]

You can download our free ecommerce terms & conditions template below in Word Doc, PDF, or Google Doc format. You can also just copy & paste the HTML directly to your website.

Before using it, read through the entire ecommerce terms & conditions template – fill in all of the [brackets], remove any sections that do not apply to your app, and tweak any language as needed.

Ecommerce Terms and Conditions [Text Format]

Last updated [Date]

AGREEMENT TO TERMS

These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“you”) and [business entity name] (“we,” “us” or “our”), concerning your access to and use of the [website name.com] website as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the “Site”).

You agree that by accessing the Site, you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms and Conditions. If you

Full View


Ecommerce Terms and Conditions Template HTML

You can copy our ecommerce terms and conditions template HTML code or download it using the options below.

Ecommerce Terms and Conditions [Text Format]

Last updated [Date]

AGREEMENT TO TERMS

These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“you”) and [business entity name] (“we,” “us” or “our”), concerning your access to and use of the [website name.com] website as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the “Site”).

You agree that by accessing the Site, you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with all of these Terms and Conditions, then you are expressly prohibited from using the Site and you must discontinue use immediately.

Supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on the Site from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to make changes or modifications to these Terms and Conditions at any time and for any reason.

We will alert you about any changes by updating the “Last updated” date of these Terms and Conditions, and you waive any right to receive specific notice of each such change.

It is your responsibility to periodically review these Terms and Conditions to stay informed of updates. You will be subject to, and will be deemed to have been made aware of and to have accepted, the changes in any revised Terms and Conditions by your continued use of the Site after the date such revised Terms and Conditions are posted.

The information provided on the Site is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject us to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country.

Accordingly, those persons who choose to access the Site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

These terms and conditions were created by Termly’s Terms and Conditions Generator.

Option 1: The Site is intended for users who are at least 18 years old. Persons under the age of 18 are not permitted to register for the Site.

Option 2: [The Site is intended for users who are at least 13 years of age.] All users who are minors in the jurisdiction in which they reside (generally under the age of 18) must have the permission of, and be directly supervised by, their parent or guardian to use the Site. If you are a minor, you must have your parent or guardian read and agree to these Terms and Conditions prior to you using the Site.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Unless otherwise indicated, the Site is our proprietary property and all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, and graphics on the Site (collectively, the “Content”) and the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (the “Marks”) are owned or controlled by us or licensed to us, and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions.

The Content and the Marks are provided on the Site “AS IS” for your information and personal use only. Except as expressly provided in these Terms and Conditions, no part of the Site and no Content or Marks may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission.

Provided that you are eligible to use the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you in and to the Site, the Content and the Marks.

USER REPRESENTATIONS

By using the Site, you represent and warrant that:

[(1) all registration information you submit will be true, accurate, current, and complete; (2) you will maintain the accuracy of such information and promptly update such registration information as necessary;]

(3) you have the legal capacity and you agree to comply with these Terms and Conditions;

[(4) you are not under the age of 13;]

(5) not a minor in the jurisdiction in which you reside [, or if a minor, you have received parental permission to use the Site];

(6) you will not access the Site through automated or non-human means, whether through a bot, script, or otherwise;

(7) you will not use the Site for any illegal or unauthorized purpose;

(8) your use of the Site will not violate any applicable law or regulation.

If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Site (or any portion thereof).

USER REGISTRATION

You may be required to register with the Site. You agree to keep your password confidential and will be responsible for all use of your account and password. We reserve the right to remove, reclaim, or change a username you select if we determine, in our sole discretion, that such username is inappropriate, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.

PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES

You may not access or use the Site for any purpose other than that for which we make the Site available. The Site may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us.

As a user of the Site, you agree not to:

  1. systematically retrieve data or other content from the Site to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database, or directory without written permission from us.
  2. make any unauthorized use of the Site, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email, or creating user accounts by automated means or under false pretenses.
  3. use a buying agent or purchasing agent to make purchases on the Site.
  4. use the Site to advertise or offer to sell goods and services.
  5. circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Site, including features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on the use of the Site and/or the Content contained therein.
  6. engage in unauthorized framing of or linking to the Site.
  7. trick, defraud, or mislead us and other users, especially in any attempt to learn sensitive account information such as user passwords;
  8. make improper use of our support services or submit false reports of abuse or misconduct.
  9. engage in any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages, or using any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.
  10. interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on the Site or the networks or services connected to the Site.
  11. attempt to impersonate another user or person or use the username of another user.
  12. sell or otherwise transfer your profile.
  13. use any information obtained from the Site in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person.
  14. use the Site as part of any effort to compete with us or otherwise use the Site and/or the Content for any revenue-generating endeavor or commercial enterprise.
  15. decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of the Site.
  16. attempt to bypass any measures of the Site designed to prevent or restrict access to the Site, or any portion of the Site.
  17. harass, annoy, intimidate, or threaten any of our employees or agents engaged in providing any portion of the Site to you.
  18. delete the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any Content.
  19. copy or adapt the Site’s software, including but not limited to Flash, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, or other code.
  20. upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) viruses, Trojan horses, or other material, including excessive use of capital letters and spamming (continuous posting of repetitive text), that interferes with any party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Site or modifies, impairs, disrupts, alters, or interferes with the use, features, functions, operation, or maintenance of the Site.
  21. upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism, including without limitation, clear graphics interchange formats (“gifs”), 1×1 pixels, web bugs, cookies, or other similar devices (sometimes referred to as “spyware” or “passive collection mechanisms” or “pcms”).
  22. except as may be the result of standard search engine or Internet browser usage, use, launch, develop, or distribute any automated system, including without limitation, any spider, robot, cheat utility, scraper, or offline reader that accesses the Site, or using or launching any unauthorized script or other software.
  23. disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.
  24. use the Site in a manner inconsistent with any applicable laws or regulations.
  25. [other]

USER GENERATED CONTRIBUTIONS

The Site may invite you to chat, contribute to, or participate in blogs, message boards, online forums, and other functionality, and may provide you with the opportunity to create, submit, post, display, transmit, perform, publish, distribute, or broadcast content and materials to us or on the Site, including but not limited to text, writings, video, audio, photographs, graphics, comments, suggestions, or personal information or other material (collectively, “Contributions”).

Contributions may be viewable by other users of the Site and through third-party websites. As such, any Contributions you transmit may be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. When you create or make available any Contributions, you thereby represent and warrant that:

  1. the creation, distribution, transmission, public display, or performance, and the accessing, downloading, or copying of your Contributions do not and will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or moral rights of any third party.
  2. you are the creator and owner of or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, releases, and permissions to use and to authorize us, the Site, and other users of the Site to use your Contributions in any manner contemplated by the Site and these Terms and Conditions.
  3. you have the written consent, release, and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person in your Contributions to use the name or likeness of each and every such identifiable individual person to enable inclusion and use of your Contributions in any manner contemplated by the Site and these Terms and Conditions.
  4. your Contributions are not false, inaccurate, or misleading.
  5. your Contributions are not unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, pyramid schemes, chain letters, spam, mass mailings, or other forms of solicitation.
  6. your Contributions are not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable (as determined by us).
  7. your Contributions do not ridicule, mock, disparage, intimidate, or abuse anyone.
  8. your Contributions do not advocate the violent overthrow of any government or incite, encourage, or threaten physical harm against another.
  9. your Contributions do not violate any applicable law, regulation, or rule.
  10. your Contributions do not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party.
  11. your Contributions do not contain any material that solicits personal information from anyone under the age of 18 or exploits people under the age of 18 in a sexual or violent manner.
  12. your Contributions do not violate any federal or state law concerning child pornography, or otherwise intended to protect the health or well-being of minors;
  13. your Contributions do not include any offensive comments that are connected to race, national origin, gender, sexual preference, or physical handicap.
  14. your Contributions do not otherwise violate, or link to material that violates, any provision of these Terms and Conditions, or any applicable law or regulation.

Any use of the Site in violation of the foregoing violates these Terms and Conditions and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Site.

CONTRIBUTION LICENSE

By posting your Contributions to any part of the Site [or making Contributions accessible to the Site by linking your account from the Site to any of your social networking accounts], you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to us an unrestricted, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right, and license to host, use, copy, reproduce, disclose, sell, resell, publish, broadcast, retitle, archive, store, cache, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, transmit, excerpt (in whole or in part), and distribute such Contributions (including, without limitation, your image and voice) for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such Contributions, and grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. The use and distribution may occur in any media formats and through any media channels.

This license will apply to any form, media, or technology now known or hereafter developed, and includes our use of your name, company name, and franchise name, as applicable, and any of the trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, and personal and commercial images you provide. You waive all moral rights in your Contributions, and you warrant that moral rights have not otherwise been asserted in your Contributions.

We do not assert any ownership over your Contributions. You retain full ownership of all of your Contributions and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your Contributions. We are not liable for any statements or representations in your Contributions provided by you in any area on the Site.

You are solely responsible for your Contributions to the Site and you expressly agree to exonerate us from any and all responsibility and to refrain from any legal action against us regarding your Contributions.

We have the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, (1) to edit, redact, or otherwise change any Contributions; (2) to re-categorize any Contributions to place them in more appropriate locations on the Site; and (3) to pre-screen or delete any Contributions at any time and for any reason, without notice. We have no obligation to monitor your Contributions.

GUIDELINES FOR REVIEWS

We may provide you areas on the Site to leave reviews or ratings. When posting a review, you must comply with the following criteria:

(1) you should have firsthand experience with the person/entity being reviewed;

(2) your reviews should not contain offensive profanity, or abusive, racist, offensive, or hate language;

(3) your reviews should not contain discriminatory references based on religion, race, gender, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or disability;

(4) your reviews should not contain references to illegal activity;

(5) you should not be affiliated with competitors if posting negative reviews;

(6) you should not make any conclusions as to the legality of conduct;

(7) you may not post any false or misleading statements;

(8) you may not organize a campaign encouraging others to post reviews, whether positive or negative.

We may accept, reject, or remove reviews in our sole discretion. We have absolutely no obligation to screen reviews or to delete reviews, even if anyone considers reviews objectionable or inaccurate. Reviews are not endorsed by us, and do not necessarily represent our opinions or the views of any of our affiliates or partners.

We do not assume liability for any review or for any claims, liabilities, or losses resulting from any review. By posting a review, you hereby grant to us a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully-paid, assignable, and sublicensable right and license to reproduce, modify, translate, transmit by any means, display, perform, and/or distribute all content relating to reviews.

MOBILE APPLICATION LICENSE

Use License

If you access the Site via a mobile application, then we grant you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to install and use the mobile application on wireless electronic devices owned or controlled by you, and to access and use the mobile application on such devices strictly in accordance with the terms and conditions of this mobile application license contained in these Terms and Conditions.

You shall not:

(1) decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, or decrypt the application;

(2) make any modification, adaptation, improvement, enhancement, translation, or derivative work from the application;

(3) violate any applicable laws, rules, or regulations in connection with your access or use of the application;

(4) remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notice (including any notice of copyright or trademark) posted by us or the licensors of the application;

(5) use the application for any revenue generating endeavor, commercial enterprise, or other purpose for which it is not designed or intended;

(6) make the application available over a network or other environment permitting access or use by multiple devices or users at the same time;

(7) use the application for creating a product, service, or software that is, directly or indirectly, competitive with or in any way a substitute for the application;

(8) use the application to send automated queries to any website or to send any unsolicited commercial e-mail;

(9) use any proprietary information or any of our interfaces or our other intellectual property in the design, development, manufacture, licensing, or distribution of any applications, accessories, or devices for use with the application.

Apple and Android Devices

The following terms apply when you use a mobile application obtained from either the Apple Store or Google Play (each an “App Distributor”) to access the Site:

(1) the license granted to you for our mobile application is limited to a non-transferable license to use the application on a device that utilizes the Apple iOS or Android operating systems, as applicable, and in accordance with the usage rules set forth in the applicable App Distributor’s terms and conditions;

(2) we are responsible for providing any maintenance and support services with respect to the mobile application as specified in the terms and conditions of this mobile application license contained in these Terms and Conditions or as otherwise required under applicable law, and you acknowledge that each App Distributor has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the mobile application;

(3) in the event of any failure of the mobile application to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify the applicable App Distributor, and the App Distributor, in accordance with its terms and policies, may refund the purchase price, if any, paid for the mobile application, and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the App Distributor will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the mobile application;

(4) you represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. government as a “terrorist supporting” country and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties;

(5) you must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the mobile application, e.g., if you have a VoIP application, then you must not be in violation of their wireless data service agreement when using the mobile application;

6) you acknowledge and agree that the App Distributors are third-party beneficiaries of the terms and conditions in this mobile application license contained in these Terms and Conditions, and that each App Distributor will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce the terms and conditions in this mobile application license contained in these Terms and Conditions against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.

SOCIAL MEDIA

As part of the functionality of the Site, you may link your account with online accounts you have with third-party service providers (each such account, a “Third-Party Account”) by either: (1) providing your Third-Party Account login information through the Site; or (2) allowing us to access your Third-Party Account, as is permitted under the applicable terms and conditions that govern your use of each Third-Party Account.

You represent and warrant that you are entitled to disclose your Third-Party Account login information to us and/or grant us access to your Third-Party Account, without breach by you of any of the terms and conditions that govern your use of the applicable Third-Party Account, and without obligating us to pay any fees or making us subject to any usage limitations imposed by the third-party service provider of the Third-Party Account.

By granting us access to any Third-Party Accounts, you understand that (1) we may access, make available, and store (if applicable) any content that you have provided to and stored in your Third-Party Account (the “Social Network Content”) so that it is available on and through the Site via your account, including without limitation any friend lists and (2) we may submit to and receive from your Third-Party Account additional information to the extent you are notified when you link your account with the Third-Party Account.

Depending on the Third-Party Accounts you choose and subject to the privacy settings that you have set in such Third-Party Accounts, personally identifiable information that you post to your Third-Party Accounts may be available on and through your account on the Site.

Please note that if a Third-Party Account or associated service becomes unavailable or our access to such Third-Party Account is terminated by the third-party service provider, then Social Network Content may no longer be available on and through the Site. You will have the ability to disable the connection between your account on the Site and your Third-Party Accounts at any time.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR THIRD-PARTY ACCOUNTS IS GOVERNED SOLELY BY YOUR AGREEMENT(S) WITH SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS.

We make no effort to review any Social Network Content for any purpose, including but not limited to, for accuracy, legality, or non-infringement, and we are not responsible for any Social Network Content.

You acknowledge and agree that we may access your email address book associated with a Third-Party Account and your contacts list stored on your mobile device or tablet computer solely for purposes of identifying and informing you of those contacts who have also registered to use the Site.

You can deactivate the connection between the Site and your Third-Party Account by contacting us using the contact information below or through your account settings (if applicable). We will attempt to delete any information stored on our servers that was obtained through such Third-Party Account, except the username and profile picture that become associated with your account.

SUBMISSIONS

You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback, or other information regarding the Site (“Submissions”) provided by you to us are non-confidential and shall become our sole property. We shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Submissions for any lawful purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.

You hereby waive all moral rights to any such Submissions, and you hereby warrant that any such Submissions are original with you or that you have the right to submit such Submissions. You agree there shall be no recourse against us for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your Submissions.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES AND CONTENT

The Site may contain (or you may be sent via the Site) links to other websites (“Third-Party Websites”) as well as articles, photographs, text, graphics, pictures, designs, music, sound, video, information, applications, software, and other content or items belonging to or originating from third parties (“Third-Party Content”).

Such Third-Party Websites and Third-Party Content are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by us, and we are not responsible for any Third-Party Websites accessed through the Site or any Third-Party Content posted on, available through, or installed from the Site, including the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices, or other policies of or contained in the Third-Party Websites or the Third-Party Content.

Inclusion of, linking to, or permitting the use or installation of any Third-Party Websites or any Third-Party Content does not imply approval or endorsement thereof by us. If you decide to leave the Site and access the Third-Party Websites or to use or install any Third-Party Content, you do so at your own risk, and you should be aware these Terms and Conditions no longer govern.

You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any website to which you navigate from the Site or relating to any applications you use or install from the Site. Any purchases you make through Third-Party Websites will be through other websites and from other companies, and we take no responsibility whatsoever in relation to such purchases which are exclusively between you and the applicable third party.

You agree and acknowledge that we do not endorse the products or services offered on Third-Party Websites and you shall hold us harmless from any harm caused by your purchase of such products or services. Additionally, you shall hold us harmless from any losses sustained by you or harm caused to you relating to or resulting in any way from any Third-Party Content or any contact with Third-Party Websites.

ADVERTISERS

We allow advertisers to display their advertisements and other information in certain areas of the Site, such as sidebar advertisements or banner advertisements. If you are an advertiser, you shall take full responsibility for any advertisements you place on the Site and any services provided on the Site or products sold through those advertisements.

Further, as an advertiser, you warrant and represent that you possess all rights and authority to place advertisements on the Site, including, but not limited to, intellectual property rights, publicity rights, and contractual rights.

[As an advertiser, you agree that such advertisements are subject to our Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) Notice and Policy provisions as described below, and you understand and agree there will be no refund or other compensation for DMCA takedown-related issues.] We simply provide the space to place such advertisements, and we have no other relationship with advertisers.

SITE MANAGEMENT

We reserve the right, but not the obligation, to:

(1) monitor the Site for violations of these Terms and Conditions;

(2) take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in our sole discretion, violates the law or these Terms and Conditions, including without limitation, reporting such user to law enforcement authorities;

(3) in our sole discretion and without limitation, refuse, restrict access to, limit the availability of, or disable (to the extent technologically feasible) any of your Contributions or any portion thereof;

(4) in our sole discretion and without limitation, notice, or liability, to remove from the Site or otherwise disable all files and content that are excessive in size or are in any way burdensome to our systems;

(5) otherwise manage the Site in a manner designed to protect our rights and property and to facilitate the proper functioning of the Site.

PRIVACY POLICY

We care about data privacy and security. Please review our Privacy Policy [CLICK HERE]/posted on the Site]. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms and Conditions. Please be advised the Site is hosted in the United States.

If you access the Site from the European Union, Asia, or any other region of the world with laws or other requirements governing personal data collection, use, or disclosure that differ from applicable laws in the United States, then through your continued use of the Site, you are transferring your data to the United States, and you expressly consent to have your data transferred to and processed in the United States.

[Further, we do not knowingly accept, request, or solicit information from children or knowingly market to children. Therefore, in accordance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, if we receive actual knowledge that anyone under the age of 13 has provided personal information to us without the requisite and verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information from the Site as quickly as is reasonably practical.]

DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) NOTICE AND POLICY

Notifications

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that any material available on or through the Site infringes upon any copyright you own or control, please immediately notify our Designated Copyright Agent using the contact information provided below (a “Notification”).

A copy of your Notification will be sent to the person who posted or stored the material addressed in the Notification. Please be advised that pursuant to federal law you may be held liable for damages if you make material misrepresentations in a Notification. Thus, if you are not sure that material located on or linked to by the Site infringes your copyright, you should consider first contacting an attorney.

All Notifications should meet the requirements of DMCA 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) and include the following information:

(1) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

(2) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works on the Site are covered by the Notification, a representative list of such works on the Site;

(3) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;

(4) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address at which the complaining party may be contacted;

(5) a statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

(6) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed upon.

Counter Notification

If you believe your own copyrighted material has been removed from the Site as a result of a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a written counter notification to [us/our Designated Copyright Agent] using the contact information provided below (a “Counter Notification”).

To be an effective Counter Notification under the DMCA, your Counter Notification must include substantially the following:

(1) identification of the material that has been removed or disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or disabled;

(2) a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court in which your address is located, or if your address is outside the United States, for any judicial district in which we are located;

(3) a statement that you will accept service of process from the party that filed the Notification or the party’s agent;

(4) your name, address, and telephone number;

(5) a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material in question was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;

(6) your physical or electronic signature.

If you send us a valid, written Counter Notification meeting the requirements described above, we will restore your removed or disabled material, unless we first receive notice from the party filing the Notification informing us that such party has filed a court action to restrain you from engaging in infringing activity related to the material in question.

Please note that if you materially misrepresent that the disabled or removed content was removed by mistake or misidentification, you may be liable for damages, including costs and attorney’s fees. Filing a false Counter Notification constitutes perjury.

Designated Copyright Agent

[Name]

Attn: Copyright Agent

[Address]

[City, State Zip]

[email]

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that any material available on or through the Site infringes upon any copyright you own or control, please immediately notify us using the contact information provided below (a “Notification”). A copy of your Notification will be sent to the person who posted or stored the material addressed in the Notification.

Please be advised that pursuant to federal law you may be held liable for damages if you make material misrepresentations in a Notification. Thus, if you are not sure that material located on or linked to by the Site infringes your copyright, you should consider first contacting an attorney.]

TERM AND TERMINATION

These Terms and Conditions shall remain in full force and effect while you use the Site. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION AND WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY, DENY ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE (INCLUDING BLOCKING CERTAIN IP ADDRESSES), TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, OR COVENANT CONTAINED IN THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OR OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION. WE MAY TERMINATE YOUR USE OR PARTICIPATION IN THE SITE OR DELETE [YOUR ACCOUNT AND] ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION THAT YOU POSTED AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT WARNING, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION.

If we terminate or suspend your account for any reason, you are prohibited from registering and creating a new account under your name, a fake or borrowed name, or the name of any third party, even if you may be acting on behalf of the third party.

In addition to terminating or suspending your account, we reserve the right to take appropriate legal action, including without limitation pursuing civil, criminal, and injunctive redress.

MODIFICATIONS AND INTERRUPTIONS

We reserve the right to change, modify, or remove the contents of the Site at any time or for any reason at our sole discretion without notice. However, we have no obligation to update any information on our Site. We also reserve the right to modify or discontinue all or part of the Site without notice at any time.

We will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, price change, suspension, or discontinuance of the Site.

We cannot guarantee the Site will be available at all times. We may experience hardware, software, or other problems or need to perform maintenance related to the Site, resulting in interruptions, delays, or errors.

We reserve the right to change, revise, update, suspend, discontinue, or otherwise modify the Site at any time or for any reason without notice to you. You agree that we have no liability whatsoever for any loss, damage, or inconvenience caused by your inability to access or use the Site during any downtime or discontinuance of the Site.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will be construed to obligate us to maintain and support the Site or to supply any corrections, updates, or releases in connection therewith.

GOVERNING LAW

These Terms and Conditions and your use of the Site are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of [name of state] applicable to agreements made and to be entirely performed within the State/Commonwealth of [name of state], without regard to its conflict of law principles.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Option 1: Any legal action of whatever nature brought by either you or us (collectively, the “Parties” and individually, a “Party”) shall be commenced or prosecuted in the state and federal courts located in [name of county] County, [name of state], and the Parties hereby consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens with respect to venue and jurisdiction in such state and federal courts.

Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) are excluded from these Terms and Conditions. In no event shall any claim, action, or proceeding brought by either Party related in any way to the Site be commenced more than ______ years after the cause of action arose.

Option 2: Informal Negotiations

To expedite resolution and control the cost of any dispute, controversy, or claim related to these Terms and Conditions (each a “Dispute” and collectively, the “Disputes”) brought by either you or us (individually, a “Party” and collectively, the “Parties”), the Parties agree to first attempt to negotiate any Dispute (except those Disputes expressly provided below) informally for at least ______ days before initiating arbitration. Such informal negotiations commence upon written notice from one Party to the other Party.

Binding Arbitration

If the Parties are unable to resolve a Dispute through informal negotiations, the Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded below) will be finally and exclusively resolved by binding arbitration. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WITHOUT THIS PROVISION, YOU WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL.

The arbitration shall be commenced and conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and, where appropriate, the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (“AAA Consumer Rules”), both of which are available at the AAA website www.adr.org.

Your arbitration fees and your share of arbitrator compensation shall be governed by the AAA Consumer Rules and, where appropriate, limited by the AAA Consumer Rules. [If such costs are determined by the arbitrator to be excessive, we will pay all arbitration fees and expenses.]

The arbitration may be conducted in person, through the submission of documents, by phone, or online. The arbitrator will make a decision in writing, but need not provide a statement of reasons unless requested by either Party.

The arbitrator must follow applicable law, and any award may be challenged if the arbitrator fails to do so. Except where otherwise required by the applicable AAA rules or applicable law, the arbitration will take place in [name of county] County, [name of state].

Except as otherwise provided herein, the Parties may litigate in court to compel arbitration, stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate, or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator.

If for any reason, a Dispute proceeds in court rather than arbitration, the Dispute shall be commenced or prosecuted in the state and federal courts located in [name of county] County, [name of state], and the Parties hereby consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction, and forum non conveniens with respect to venue and jurisdiction in such state and federal courts.

Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) are excluded from these Terms and Conditions.

In no event shall any Dispute brought by either Party related in any way to the Site be commenced more than _____ years after the cause of action arose. If this provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, then neither Party will elect to arbitrate any Dispute falling within that portion of this provision found to be illegal or unenforceable and such Dispute shall be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction within the courts listed for jurisdiction above, and the Parties agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of that court.

Option 3: Binding Arbitration

To expedite resolution and control the cost of any dispute, controversy or claim related to these Terms and Conditions (each a “Dispute” and collectively, “Disputes”), any Dispute brought by either you or us (individually, a “Party” and collectively, the “Parties”) shall be finally and exclusively resolved by binding arbitration.

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WITHOUT THIS PROVISION, YOU WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL. The arbitration shall be commenced and conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and, where appropriate, the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (“AAA Consumer Rules”), both of which are available at the AAA website www.adr.org.

Your arbitration fees and your share of arbitrator compensation shall be governed by the AAA Consumer Rules and, where appropriate, limited by the AAA Consumer Rules. [If such costs are determined to by the arbitrator to be excessive, we will pay all arbitration fees and expenses.]

The arbitration may be conducted in person, through the submission of documents, by phone, or online. The arbitrator will make a decision in writing, but need not provide a statement of reasons unless requested by either Party. The arbitrator must follow applicable law, and any award may be challenged if the arbitrator fails to do so.

Except where otherwise required by the applicable AAA rules or applicable law, the arbitration will take place in [name of county] County, [name of state]. Except as otherwise provided herein, the Parties may litigate in court to compel arbitration, stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate, or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator.

If for any reason, a Dispute proceeds in court rather than arbitration, the Dispute shall be commenced or prosecuted in the state and federal courts located in [name of county] County, [name of state], and the Parties hereby consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of, personal jurisdiction, and forum non conveniens with respect to venue and jurisdiction in such state and federal courts.

Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) are excluded from these Terms and Conditions. In no event shall any Dispute brought by either Party related in any way to the Site or Services be commenced more than ______ years after the cause of action arose.

If this provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, then neither Party will elect to arbitrate any Dispute falling within that portion of this provision found to be illegal or unenforceable and such Dispute shall be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction within the courts listed for jurisdiction above, and the Parties agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of that court.

Option 2/Option 3: Restrictions

The Parties agree that any arbitration shall be limited to the Dispute between the Parties individually. To the full extent permitted by law, (a) no arbitration shall be joined with any other proceeding; (b) there is no right or authority for any Dispute to be arbitrated on a class-action basis or to utilize class action procedures; and (c) there is no right or authority for any Dispute to be brought in a purported representative capacity on behalf of the general public or any other persons.

Option 2/Option 3: Exceptions to [Informal Negotiations and] Arbitration

The Parties agree that the following Disputes are not subject to the above provisions concerning [informal negotiations and] binding arbitration: (a) any Disputes seeking to enforce or protect, or concerning the validity of, any of the intellectual property rights of a Party; (b) any Dispute related to, or arising from, allegations of theft, piracy, invasion of privacy, or unauthorized use; and (c) any claim for injunctive relief.

If this provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, then neither Party will elect to arbitrate any Dispute falling within that portion of this provision found to be illegal or unenforceable and such Dispute shall be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction within the courts listed for jurisdiction above, and the Parties agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of that court.

CORRECTIONS

There may be information on the Site that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions that may relate to the Site, including descriptions, pricing, availability, and various other information. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions and to change or update the information on the Site at any time, without prior notice.

DISCLAIMER

THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN AS-IS AND AS-AVAILABLE BASIS. YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND OUR SERVICES WILL BE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE AND YOUR USE THEREOF, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SITE’S CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO THE SITE AND WE WILL ASSUME NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (1) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT AND MATERIALS, (2) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, (3) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (4) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM THE SITE, (5) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH THE SITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (6) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT AND MATERIALS OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE SITE. WE DO NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY THROUGH THE SITE, ANY HYPERLINKED WEBSITE, OR ANY WEBSITE OR MOBILE APPLICATION FEATURED IN ANY BANNER OR OTHER ADVERTISING, AND WE WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND ANY THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES.

AS WITH THE PURCHASE OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE THROUGH ANY MEDIUM OR IN ANY ENVIRONMENT, YOU SHOULD USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT AND EXERCISE CAUTION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT WILL WE OR OUR DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFIT, LOST REVENUE, LOSS OF DATA, OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

[NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, OUR LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO [THE LESSER OF] [THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO US DURING THE [_________] MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING [OR] [$_________]. CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES.

IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.]

INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless, including our subsidiaries, affiliates, and all of our respective officers, agents, partners, and employees, from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, made by any third party due to or arising out of: (1) [your Contributions]; (2) use of the Site; (3) breach of these Terms and Conditions; (4) any breach of your representations and warranties set forth in these Terms and Conditions; (5) your violation of the rights of a third party, including but not limited to intellectual property rights; or (6) any overt harmful act toward any other user of the Site with whom you connected via the Site.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate, at your expense, with our defense of such claims. We will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action, or proceeding which is subject to this indemnification upon becoming aware of it.

USER DATA

We will maintain certain data that you transmit to the Site for the purpose of managing the Site, as well as data relating to your use of the Site. Although we perform regular routine backups of data, you are solely responsible for all data that you transmit or that relates to any activity you have undertaken using the Site.

You agree that we shall have no liability to you for any loss or corruption of any such data, and you hereby waive any right of action against us arising from any such loss or corruption of such data.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS, TRANSACTIONS, AND SIGNATURES

Visiting the Site, sending us emails, and completing online forms constitute electronic communications. You consent to receive electronic communications, and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications we provide to you electronically, via email and on the Site, satisfy any legal requirement that such communication be in writing.

YOU HEREBY AGREE TO THE USE OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES, CONTRACTS, ORDERS, AND OTHER RECORDS, AND TO ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF NOTICES, POLICIES, AND RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS INITIATED OR COMPLETED BY US OR VIA THE SITE.

You hereby waive any rights or requirements under any statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances, or other laws in any jurisdiction which require an original signature or delivery or retention of non-electronic records, or to payments or the granting of credits by any means other than electronic means.

CALIFORNIA USERS AND RESIDENTS

If any complaint with us is not satisfactorily resolved, you can contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, California 95834 or by telephone at (800) 952-5210 or (916) 445-1254.

MISCELLANEOUS

These Terms and Conditions and any policies or operating rules posted by us on the Site constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and us. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms and Conditions shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision.

These Terms and Conditions operate to the fullest extent permissible by law. We may assign any or all of our rights and obligations to others at any time. We shall not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage, delay, or failure to act caused by any cause beyond our reasonable control.

If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms and Conditions is determined to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from these Terms and Conditions and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

There is no joint venture, partnership, employment or agency relationship created between you and us as a result of these Terms and Conditions or use of the Site. You agree that these Terms and Conditions will not be construed against us by virtue of having drafted them.

You hereby waive any and all defenses you may have based on the electronic form of these Terms and Conditions and the lack of signing by the parties hereto to execute these Terms and Conditions.

CONTACT US

In order to resolve a complaint regarding the Site or to receive further information regarding use of the Site, please contact us at:

[Corporate Name]

[Corporate Address]

[Corporate Phone Number]

[Corporate Fax Number]

[Email Address]

Use this template to create terms and conditions for your:

  • Online store
  • Ecommerce website
  • Marketplace shop
  • Online clothing store
  • Dropshipping business

Summary

Terms and conditions are important for your online store to minimize liabilities, protect intellectual properties, and possibly shield your business against legal disputes.

A comprehensive terms and conditions agreement ensures your users know what they can and cannot do on your ecommerce website or app, and gives you something to point to if anyone tries to break your rules or causes harm to your business.

Now that you’re ready to make your ecommerce terms and conditions, download our free template and customize the clauses according to your business needs.

If you’re looking for a different type of terms and conditions, check out the other templates that we offer:

Terms and Conditions Description
Mobile App Terms and Conditions Template Terms and conditions for apps in various app stores
Website Terms and Conditions Template Terms and conditions for websites and blogs
Terms of Service Template For those who prefer terms of service
Terms of Use Template For those who prefer terms of use
Masha Komnenic CIPP/E, CIPM, CIPT, FIP
More about the author

Written by Masha Komnenic CIPP/E, CIPM, CIPT, FIP

Masha is an Information Security and Data Privacy Specialist and a Certified Data Protection Officer. She has been a Data Protection Officer for the past six years, helping small and medium-sized enterprises achieve legal compliance. She has also been a privacy compliance mentor to many international business accelerators. She specializes... More about the author

Related Articles

Explore more resources