Website Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Lawyers
Your website’s terms and privacy policy are the contract and the promise you make to every visitor and customer. Copied templates and auto-generators produce documents that don’t match how your business actually works, and the gaps only show up when something goes wrong. We draft both, tailored to your business, at fixed fees.
What documents does an online business need?
- Website terms and conditions: the rules for using your site and, if you sell online, the terms of every sale: payment, delivery, returns and cancellations.
- Privacy policy: how you collect, use, store and disclose personal information.
- Subscription or membership terms for recurring billing models.
- Marketplace terms where buyers and sellers transact on your platform.
- Terms of use or EULAs for apps and software: see our IT, SaaS and software services.
The right mix depends on how you sell: our online shops, apps and marketplaces page covers the full picture, and our guide to online shop terms and conditions explains the basics.
Does my business legally need a privacy policy?
If you collect customer information online, you should have a privacy policy even where the law does not strictly require one. Customers, payment platforms and advertising networks expect to see one, privacy law reform is steadily expanding who is covered, and telling people upfront how their information will be handled builds the trust that online sales depend on.
As for the strict legal position: under the Privacy Act 1988, businesses with an annual turnover of more than $3 million must comply, and so must some smaller businesses regardless of turnover: for example private health service providers and businesses that sell or purchase personal information.
Why not just use a template?
Three reasons we spend a lot of time fixing templated terms:
- They don’t match your business. A template doesn’t know your refund approach, delivery promises, subscription mechanics or how you actually handle data. Mismatched terms can be worse than none, because they make promises you don’t keep.
- Consumer law overrides bad terms. The Australian Consumer Law gives customers guarantees that your terms cannot exclude, and unfair terms in standard form contracts can be declared void and attract penalties. Terms drafted around the law work; terms copied from a US site often don’t. Our article on returns policies and consumer guarantees shows how this plays out.
- Copying someone else’s terms can infringe copyright. The business you copied from paid someone to draft them; those words aren’t yours to take.
How does it work?
- Tell us how you sell: your products or services, how customers pay, ship and return, and what data you collect.
- Get a fixed fee quote upfront for the documents you actually need.
- Engage us electronically.
- Get your documents, usually within 5 working days each, ready to publish.
Frequently asked questions
Are website terms and conditions legally required?
No law says every website must have them, but if your site does more than display your phone number, trading without terms means the rules of every sale are left to argument. Terms protect your payment rights, cap your risk and set the ground rules for refunds and disputes.
What’s the difference between terms and conditions and a privacy policy?
Terms and conditions are a contract about buying from and using your site. A privacy policy is a statement about how you handle personal information. They do different legal jobs and you generally need both.
Can you review the terms I already have?
Yes. We offer fixed fee reviews of existing terms and policies and will tell you plainly what’s missing or risky.
Do you draft terms for apps and SaaS products?
Yes: terms of use, EULAs and subscription terms are core work for us. See IT, SaaS and software.
Get your website legals sorted
Tell us how your business sells online and we’ll quote a fixed fee for exactly what you need. Book a free consultation.
