A terms and conditions agreement outlines the website administrator’s rules regarding user behavior and provides information about the actions the website administrator can and will perform.
Essentially, your terms and conditions text is a contract between your website and its users. In the event of a legal dispute, arbitrators will look at it to determine whether each party acted within their rights.
Creating the best terms and conditions page possible will protect your business from the following:
In short, terms and conditions give you control over your site and legal enforcement if users try to take advantage of your operations.
Technically, no. You aren’t legally required to have a terms and conditions agreement.
However, having terms and conditions for websites is considered standard business practice in the US, Canada, the UK, and just about everywhere else — from South Africa to Australia.
If you plan to grow your business or expand your user base, a simple website terms and conditions page will provide your site with an additional layer of legal protection.
Besides giving your business more legal protection, you should also have a terms and conditions agreement on your website for the following reasons:
Almost every terms and conditions agreement has a warranty or limitations of liability disclaimer. We’ll cover it in more detail in our section about what clauses to include in your terms and conditions, but this clause essentially limits what customers can hold you liable for.
Most companies restrict liability for: