Website User Agreements

Written by Shweta Pandit, Lawyer

Introduction:

Few documents are necessary to comply with the legal arena to avoid various issues while working in a digital environment. If you are into the e-commerce business, a few of the important policies are discussed below to make your process easy.

Website Policies:

These are also known as User Agreements. These are Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, End User License Agreements, etc.

Terms and Conditions:

The user must agree to the given term and conditions of the website to use the service of a service provider. The context of the policy is to describe the usability of the website in terms of goods and services provided by the owner of the website.

If one does have an online store, it’s always advisable to have a terms and conditions policy. It also gives a platform to the customers/users to interact with the owner by leaving questions.

Contract Breach and Execution:

Terms of Service (ToS), Privacy Policy, and User Agreement are the online contracts that in India are governed by the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and IT Act, 2000 under Section 10 A.

Privacy Policy:

The document is used as an agreement that explains the scenarios in which the users’ private details can be asked, how it will be used and protected under various laws, how the taken information will be shared with third parties or entities, and how much responsibility the service provider takes and what care must be taken by the user itself.

Cookies Policy:

It helps the user understand that the bug will be installed in the electronic system through which he browses the website, and the service provider monitors the activity of the user for marketing purposes like web history, products liked, locations visited on the internet, etc.

Return Policy:

It aims at addressing the return and refund requests for the products to avoid legal issues and give quality services to the users. One should provide a simple process and keep it short and simple to gain the trust of the users. The amount of refund, qualification of return, and time duration for refund or return of product should be discussed.

Disclaimer:

It helps the users understand the legal responsibility of the service provider and the scope of operations. Copyright, Fair use, Confidentiality, Warranty, etc., are the most used disclaimer statements.

EULA:

End User License Agreements are mostly used by software websites between users and service providers to describe the use, liability, restriction, etc. of software.

Conclusion:

These are the few important documents or policies needed by e-commerce websites to protect their interests and liability in the market in today's world. These are essential in nature, though there are no specific restrictions on the number of policies a website can have.

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