Small Business Terms and Conditions: Insights, Resources, and Free Template

Small Business Terms and Conditions Website Template

Posting a terms and conditions agreement on your small business website helps protect your company, removes liabilities from your plate, and sets proper expectations with your new and returning customers.

Effective Date: [DATE]

Introduction

Welcome to [WEBSITE_NAME], operated by [COMPANY_INFORMATION] (“the Company,” “We,” “Us,” or “Our”). Please take a moment to carefully review these comprehensive Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) before utilizing our services.

Interpretation and Definitions

1.1 Interpretation

To ensure clarity and consistency, certain words within these Terms are capitalized and have specific meanings as defined below, whether they appear in singular or plural form.

1.2 Definitions

For the purpose of these Terms and Conditions:

• “Affiliate” refers to an entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a party. “Control” implies ownership of 50% or more of shares, equity interest, or other securities with voting rights for director elections or other managerial decisions.
• “Account” means a unique account created for You to access our Service or specific Service features.
• “Company” denotes [COMPANY_INFORMATION], the entity responsible for operating [WEBSITE_NAME].
• “Country” refers to [COMPANY_COUNTRY], the jurisdiction under which these Terms are governed.
• “Content” encompasses text, images, or other information that can be posted, uploaded, linked to, or made available by You in any form.
• “Device” denotes any equipment capable of accessing the Service, such as computers, cell phones, or digital tablets.
• “Feedback” encompasses feedback, innovations, or suggestions sent by You concerning the attributes, performance, or features of our Service.
• “Products” refer to the products or items offered for sale through the Service.
• “Orders” represent your requests to purchase Products from Us.
• “Promotions” cover contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions available through the Service.
• “Service” refers to the Website [WEBSITE_URL].
• “Terms and Conditions” (also referred to as “Terms”) signify these Terms and Conditions, constituting the entire agreement between You and the Company regarding Service use.
• “Third-party Social Media Service” signifies any services or content (including data, information, products, or services) provided by a third party, which may be displayed, included, or accessible via the Service.
• “Website” refers to [WEBSITE_NAME], accessible at [WEBSITE_URL].
• “You” encompasses the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company or legal entity on whose behalf such individual uses the Service.

Acknowledgment

These Terms and Conditions govern the use of our Service and establish the agreement between You and the Company. They outline the rights and responsibilities of all users in relation to Service use.

Your access to and utilization of the Service is contingent upon Your acceptance of and adherence to these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions apply to all visitors, users, and others who access or utilize the Service.

By accessing or using the Service, You agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. In case of disagreement with any part of these Terms and Conditions, You should not access the Service.

2.1 Age Restriction

You represent and warrant that You are over the age of 18. The Company does not permit individuals under 18 to use the Service.

2.2 Privacy Policy

Your access to and utilization of the Service also necessitates Your acceptance of and adherence to the Company’s Privacy Policy. This policy delineates Our practices for collecting, using, and disclosing Your personal information when You use the Application or the Website and provides information on Your privacy rights and legal protections. We strongly recommend reading Our Privacy Policy attentively before using Our Service.

User Accounts

When You create an account with Us, You must provide accurate, complete, and up-to-date information at all times. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of these Terms, which may lead to immediate termination of Your account on Our Service.

You are responsible for safeguarding the password used to access the Service and any actions or activities conducted using Your password, whether Your password is with Our Service or a Third-Party Social Media Service.

You are prohibited from disclosing Your password to any third party. If You become aware of any security breach or unauthorized use of Your account, You must promptly inform Us.

Usernames may not impersonate other individuals or entities, infringe upon the rights of others, or contain offensive, vulgar, or obscene content.

Content

4.1 Your Right to Post Content

Our Service enables You to post Content. You are solely responsible for the Content You post on the Service, including its legality, reliability, and appropriateness.

By posting Content to the Service, You grant Us the right and license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content through the Service. You retain all rights to any Content You submit, post, or display on or through the Service and are responsible for safeguarding those rights. You agree that this license allows Us to make Your Content available to other Service users, who may also use Your Content subject to these Terms.

You represent and warrant that:

(i) The Content is Yours (You own it) or You have the right to use it and grant Us the rights and license as provided in these Terms; and;

(ii) The posting of Your Content on or through the Service does not infringe upon the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other rights of any individual.

4.2 Content Restrictions

The Company is not responsible for user-generated content on the Service. You are solely responsible for any Content You post or any activity that occurs under Your account, whether conducted by You or a third party using Your account.

You may not transmit any Content that is unlawful, offensive, upsetting, intended to disgust, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Examples of such objectionable Content include, but are not limited to:

• Content that is unlawful or promotes unlawful activity.
• Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups.
• Spam, machine-generated or randomly-generated content, including unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, chain letters, any other unauthorized solicitation, or any form of lottery or gambling.
• Content containing or installing viruses, worms, malware, trojan horses, or other elements designed to disrupt, damage, or limit the functioning of any software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any data or other information of a third party.
• Content infringing upon proprietary rights of any party, including patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, rights of publicity, or other rights.
• Impersonating any person or entity, including the Company and its employees or representatives.
• Violating the privacy of any third party.
• Disseminating false information or features.

The Company reserves the right, though not obligated, to determine whether any Content is appropriate and complies with these Terms, and may refuse or remove such Content at its sole discretion. The Company may also make formatting edits and changes to the manner of any Content. Posting objectionable Content may lead to the limitation or revocation of your Service access. As the Company cannot control all content posted by users and third parties on the Service, You acknowledge that using the Service carries the risk of exposure to offensive, indecent, incorrect, or objectionable content, and You agree that the Company shall not be held liable for such content, including errors or omissions in any content, or any loss or damage incurred as a result of Your use of any content.

4.3 Content Backups

Although regular backups of Content are performed, the Company cannot guarantee that there will be no loss or corruption of data.

Corrupted or invalid backup points may result from Content corruption before being backed up or changes made during backup operations.

While the Company will offer support and attempt to address known or identified issues that may affect Content backups, You acknowledge that the Company bears no liability related to Content integrity or the successful restoration of Content to a usable state.

You agree to maintain a complete and accurate copy of any Content independently of the Service.

Copyright Policy

5.1 Intellectual Property Infringement

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. Our policy is to respond to any claim that Content posted on the Service infringes upon the copyright or other intellectual property rights of any individual.

If You are a copyright owner or authorized on behalf of one, and You believe that copyrighted work has been copied in a manner constituting copyright infringement through the Service, You must provide a written notice to our copyright agent at [COPYRIGHT_AGENT_CONTACT_EMAIL]. Include in Your notice a detailed description of the alleged infringement.

You may be held accountable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) for misrepresenting that any Content infringes upon Your copyright.

5.2 DMCA Notice and DMCA Procedure for Copyright Infringement Claims

You may submit a notification following the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for further detail):

• An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright’s interest.
• A description of the copyrighted work You claim has been infringed, including the URL (web page address) of the location where the copyrighted work exists or a copy of the copyrighted work.
• Identification of the URL or specific location on the Service where the material You claim is infringing is located.
• Your address, telephone number, and email address.
• A statement by You that You have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement by You, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in Your notice is accurate and that You are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

You can contact our copyright agent via email at [COPYRIGHT_AGENT_CONTACT_EMAIL]. Upon receipt of a notification, the Company will take whatever action it deems appropriate at its sole discretion, including the removal of challenged content from the Service.

Placing Orders for Products

By placing an Order for Products through the Service, You warrant that You are legally capable of entering into binding contracts.

6.1 Your Information

When placing an Order for Products available on the Service, You may be asked to provide specific information relevant to Your Order, including but not limited to Your name, email address, phone number, credit card number, credit card expiration date, billing address, and shipping information.

You represent and warrant that:

(i) You have the legal right to use any credit or debit card(s) or other payment method(s) used in connection with any Order; and;

(ii) The information You provide is accurate, correct, and complete.

By submitting such information, You grant us the right to provide this information to third-party payment processors for the purpose of facilitating Your Order’s completion.

6.2 Order Cancellation

We reserve the right to refuse or cancel Your Order for certain reasons, including but not limited to:

• Product availability
• Errors in product descriptions or prices
• Errors in Your Order

We also reserve the right to refuse or cancel Your Order if fraud or an unauthorized or illegal transaction is suspected.

6.3 Your Order Cancellation Rights

Any Products You purchase can only be returned or refunded in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

Availability, Errors, and Inaccuracies

We continually update Our product offerings on the Service. However, the Products available on Our Service may be mispriced, inaccurately described, or unavailable. We may experience delays in updating information regarding our Products on the Service and in our advertising on other websites.

We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information, including prices, product images, specifications, availability, and services. We reserve the right to change or update information and to correct errors, inaccuracies, or omissions at any time without prior notice.

Prices Policy

The Company reserves the right to revise its prices before accepting an Order.

Prices may be adjusted by the Company after Order acceptance due to factors such as government actions, customs duty variations, increased shipping costs, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, and other matters beyond the Company’s control. In such cases, You will have the option to cancel Your Order.

Payments

Payment can be made through various methods available, such as Visa, MasterCard, Affinity Card, American Express cards, or online payment methods (e.g., PayPal).

Payment cards (credit or debit) are subject to validation checks and authorization by Your card issuer. Failure to receive the required authorization means We will not be liable for any delay or non-delivery of Your Order.

Promotions

Any Promotions available through the Service may be governed by rules separate from these Terms. If You participate in any Promotions, please review the applicable rules and our Privacy policy. In cases where Promotion rules conflict with these Terms, the Promotion rules will prevail.

Intellectual Property

11.1 Ownership and Protection

The Service and its original content (excluding Content provided by You or other users), features, and functionality are and will remain the exclusive property of the Company and its licensors.

The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of both the Country and foreign countries.

Our trademarks and trade dress may not be used with any product or service without prior written consent from the Company.

11.2 Your Feedback to Us

You assign all rights, title, and interest in any Feedback You provide to the Company. If, for any reason, such assignment is ineffective, You grant the Company a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to use, reproduce, disclose, sub-license, distribute, modify, and exploit such Feedback without restriction.

Links to Other Websites

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites or services not owned or controlled by the Company.

The Company does not have control over and assumes no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services. You further acknowledge and agree that the Company shall not be responsible or liable for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services available on or through any such websites or services.

We strongly recommend that You read the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third-party websites or services You visit.

Termination

We may terminate or suspend Your Account immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason, including but not limited to Your breach of these Terms and Conditions.

Upon termination, Your right to use the Service will cease immediately. If You wish to terminate Your Account, You may simply discontinue using the Service.

Limitation of Liability

Notwithstanding any damages You may incur, the Company’s entire liability, and any of its suppliers, under any provision of these Terms and Your exclusive remedy for all the foregoing, shall be limited to the amount actually paid by You through the Service or 100 USD if You haven’t made any purchases through the Service.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Company and its suppliers shall not be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages whatsoever (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, loss of data, or other information, business interruption, personal injury, loss of privacy, arising out of or in any way related to the use of or inability to use the Service, third-party software and/or third-party hardware used with the Service, or otherwise in connection with any provision of these Terms), even if the Company or any supplier has been advised of the possibility of such damages and even if the remedy fails of its essential purpose.

Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damage.s, which means that some of the above limitations may not apply. In these states, each party’s liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

“AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” Disclaimer

The Service is provided to You “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE,” with all faults and defects, without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted under applicable law, the Company, on its own behalf and on behalf of its Affiliates and their respective licensors and service providers, expressly disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and warranties that may arise out of the course of dealing, course of performance, usage, or trade practice. Without limiting the foregoing, the Company provides no warranty or undertaking and makes no representation of any kind that the Service will meet Your requirements, achieve any intended results, be compatible with any other software, applications, systems, or services, operate without interruption, meet any performance or reliability standards, or be error-free, or that any errors or defects can or will be corrected.

Without limiting the foregoing, neither the Company nor any of the Company’s providers make any representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied:

(i) Regarding the operation or availability of the Service, or the information, content, and materials or products included therein; 

(ii) That the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free; 

(iii) As to the accuracy, reliability, or currency of any information or content provided through the Service; 

(iv) That the Service, its servers, the content, or emails sent from or on behalf of the Company are free of viruses, scripts, trojan horses, worms, malware, time bombs, or other harmful components.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain types of warranties or limitations on applicable statutory rights of a consumer, so some or all of the above exclusions and limitations may not apply to You. However, in such a case, the exclusions and limitations set forth in this section shall be applied to the greatest extent enforceable under applicable law.

Governing Law

The laws of the Country, excluding its conflicts of law rules, shall govern these Terms and Your use of the Service. Your use of the Application may also be subject to other local, state, national, or international laws.

Dispute Resolution

If You have any concerns or disputes about the Service, You agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting the Company.

For European Union (EU) Users

If You are a European Union consumer, you will benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which you are resident.

United States Legal Compliance

You represent and warrant that:

(i) You are not located in a country subject to the United States government embargo, or designated by the United States government as a “terrorist supporting” country, and; 

(ii) You are not listed on any United States government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

Severability and Waiver

20.1 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid, such provision will be changed and interpreted to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

20.2 Waiver

Except as provided herein, the failure to exercise a right or to require the performance of an obligation under these Terms shall not affect a party’s ability to exercise such right or require such performance at any time thereafter nor shall be the waiver of a breach constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach.

Changes to These Terms and Conditions

We reserve the right, at Our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material, We will make reasonable efforts to provide at least 30 days notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at Our sole discretion.

By continuing to access or use Our Service after those revisions become effective, You agree to be bound by the revised terms. If You do not agree to the new terms, in whole or in part, please stop using the Service.

Contact Us

If You have any questions about these Terms and Conditions, You can contact Us:

• By email: [CONTACT_EMAIL]
• By visiting this page on our website: [CONTACT_PAGE_URL]
• By mail: [COMPANY_MAILING_ADDRESS]

We will respond to your query as soon as possible.