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Your website may be the place where customers browse, order, pay, subscribe, download content or agree to your services.
That means your website terms are not just a page in the footer. For many online businesses, they form part of the contractual framework governing how customers buy from you.
We draft and review website terms and privacy documents around your actual business model, what you sell, who you sell to and where your customers are based.
For consumer-facing businesses, online selling rules can require specific pre-contract information, cancellation information, pricing and contract confirmation. Consumer contract terms also need to be fair and transparent.
We can draft, review and update website legal documents for businesses operating online, including:
Selling to consumers is not the same as selling to other businesses.
Consumer contracts are subject to specific statutory protections. Depending on the type of transaction, businesses may need to provide information about cancellation rights, refunds, delivery, contract duration, pricing and other matters before the customer commits.
Consumer terms also need to be fair and transparent. A business cannot simply include a term because it appears in its standard conditions and assume it will be enforceable.
B2B contracts operate differently, although businesses still need to consider issues such as liability, payment, termination, warranties and other contractual risks.
We draft the terms around the model you actually use.
An ecommerce website can involve considerably more than a basic set of website terms.
Your legal documents may need to address:
For consumer sales, statutory rights cannot simply be removed through contractual wording. Consumer-facing terms need to work alongside those rights rather than attempt to override them.
The legal structure can be different when the website sells services rather than physical goods.
The terms should reflect how the service is actually delivered.
A service business selling a one-off consultation has different requirements from a business providing an ongoing monthly service.
Digital businesses can have additional contractual considerations.
For example, a business selling downloadable content may need to address how delivery takes place and how cancellation rights interact with digital content. GOV.UK guidance specifically identifies additional requirements for downloads and streaming services, including customer agreement before immediate digital delivery where cancellation rights are affected.
Subscription businesses may need terms covering:
The exact drafting depends on the business model and customer type.
A privacy policy should not simply be copied from another business.
Your website may collect information through:
The privacy information needs to explain relevant matters such as why personal data is processed, how long it is retained and who it may be shared with.
We can review your website's data flows and coordinate the privacy documentation with your wider data protection arrangements.
For broader compliance support, see our Regulatory & Compliance service →Cookie compliance cannot be assessed properly from the website design alone.
The technologies used by your website may include cookies, tracking pixels, scripts, tags, web storage or other methods of storing or accessing information on a user's device. ICO guidance confirms that PECR can apply to these technologies.
For non-essential cookies and similar technologies, businesses generally need an appropriate consent mechanism, alongside clear information explaining what the technologies do and why they are used.
The actual implementation of cookie consent technology may require your web developer or platform provider.
The documents should reflect how your business actually operates rather than simply reproducing a generic template.
You do not necessarily need to replace your website legal documents simply because they are old.
A review can identify areas that no longer match your business, including:
Selling to customers outside the UK can introduce additional legal and practical considerations.
We can identify the relevant issues for your business and help determine the appropriate scope of your website documentation.
For businesses selling across multiple markets, the website terms should not make broad assumptions about every customer being subject to exactly the same legal framework.
Website terms and a privacy policy are often linked together, but they do different jobs.
A business may need several of these documents depending on its website, products, customers and technology.
We start with a short discussion about how your business operates online.
We then agree the scope and fee before the work starts.
The resulting documents are written around your business rather than copied from an unrelated website.
Website terms and privacy documentation can vary significantly in complexity.
The fee depends on the number of documents required, the business model, customer type, website functionality and the level of review required.
Our Pricing page provides current starting prices for relevant website and commercial legal work.
For work outside the agreed scope, we discuss the additional requirement and fee before starting it.
There is no single rule that makes one standard website terms document legally mandatory for every business.
However, businesses selling online can have specific information and contractual obligations depending on what they sell and who they sell to. For example, online consumer sales can require information about pricing, delivery, cancellation and other matters before the customer enters into the contract.
The appropriate website documentation depends on the business model.
Using another business's terms as your own is risky.
The other business may sell different products, have different customers, use different payment arrangements or operate under different contractual requirements.
Website terms should reflect your own business model and the legal requirements relevant to your customers.
Not automatically.
The answer depends on the countries involved, what you sell, how you sell it and the legal requirements that apply to the transaction.
For international businesses, we can review the relevant markets and identify where your existing website terms may need additional treatment.
Terms and conditions generally govern contractual and website use matters.
A privacy policy or privacy notice explains how the business processes personal data and provides information required under data protection law.
They address different legal issues and are not interchangeable.
The requirements depend on the goods or services being sold and the type of customer.
Consumer sales can involve statutory cancellation and refund rights, alongside rules governing unfair terms.
A refund policy should therefore reflect the actual products, services and customer rights involved.
If your website uses cookies or similar technologies, you need to consider the applicable PECR and data protection requirements.
The ICO states that businesses must provide clear information about relevant cookies and obtain appropriate consent for non-essential cookies where required.
The correct documentation depends on the technologies your website actually uses.
Yes.
We can review existing website terms, privacy documentation and related policies to identify provisions that may need updating or that no longer reflect how your business operates.
Your website documentation should reflect the way your business actually sells, delivers and communicates with customers. From ecommerce terms and subscription agreements to privacy policies, cookie documentation and online service terms, we can help you establish the right legal framework for your website.
Book a free 20-minute call. No obligation. Fixed fees are agreed in writing before work starts.
Commercial contract drafting, review and negotiation.
UK GDPR, data protection and wider business compliance support.
Protecting confidential business information and commercial relationships.
Ongoing legal support through a fixed monthly subscription.