Terms and Conditions (Ts&Cs)
A website’s Ts&Cs regulates your website’s transactions with your users. It serves as a contractual agreement and outlines the rights and liabilities afforded to each party. Therefore, it states the terms that your website’s visitors must agree to to navigate and use its product/service offerings.
It is recommended that you make your own tailored Ts&Cs and not copy it off another website. This is because a tailored Ts&Cs will better protect you from customer claims resulting from the content of your website or your product/service as opposed to a generic one. You can read this article to find out why you should never copy another website’s terms and conditions.
Do I need to have Ts&Cs?
Pursuant to the latest Australian Consumer Law (ACL), any website that is considered to be an e-commerce is required to have a terms and condition. Your website is classified as being ‘e-commerce’ if your website has any transactions taking place. Therefore, if you are selling a product or service online, you will need to have a terms and conditions to protect your website from liability and to ensure consumer guarantees are satisfied.
Your website’s terms and conditions should at least include:
- A statement that your website complies with the latest Australian Consumer
- Refund, repair, or replacement of defective items process
- Details of consumer guarantees
- Details of warranty
If you do not comply with the minimum requirements, then the ACCC will issue penalties to your website.
What if I sell overseas?
If you sell your product or service overseas, then we recommend that you have a jurisdiction clause. The jurisdiction clause must state where your business operates and under which jurisdiction or law the terms and conditions is governed by. To show an example, this is Lawpath’s jurisdiction clause on the website’s terms and conditions: “In the event of any dispute arising out of or in relation to the Website, you agree that the exclusive venue for resolving any dispute shall be in the courts of New South Wales, Australia and the venue shall be Sydney Australia”.
This means that any claims arising out of a customer’s usage of Lawpath’s website must be governed by NSW law.
Final Thoughts
The latest Australian Consumer Law requires any e-commerce website to have a terms and conditions. The terms and conditions must at least have provisions regarding its compliance with the ACL and details of refund, repair, warranty, and guarantees. Although your website is only legally required to have those provisions, we recommend that you have more terms that are tailored specifically to your website. Subsequently, to minimise your risk, you may consult a business lawyer.
