Terms And Services

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A terms of service sets all user rules, restrictions, and prohibited behaviors, and outlines your company’s liability limitations, property rights, and dispute resolutions.

You’ve probably seen some alternative titles for a terms of service agreement, like:

• Terms of Use
• Terms and Conditions
• ToS Agreement
• General Terms
• Terms

Despite the different names, these agreements are all the same.

No matter what you choose to call it, a generic terms of service policy can help protect your business from users who might break the law or cause harm to your website, app, or other users.

You can customize our free terms of service template below, including the title, so it works for you no matter if your own a:

• Dropshipping businesses
• Marketplace shop
• Retail store
• Ecommerce website or app
• Blog
• Forum
• Subscription-based platform

Why You Need a Terms of Service for Your Website or App

While a ToS agreement is not required by law, you need to post one on your website or app to help:

• Set your users’ expectations
• Protect your business from legal liabilities
• Maintain rights over your intellectual property
• Minimizes Disputes
• Establish trust and transparency with your users

Let’s go over the reasons for having a website or mobile app terms of service agreement in more detail.

Terms of Service Set Your Users’ Expectations

One of the purposes of a terms of service policy is to explain the rules and guidelines your users must follow while accessing your services, which helps set their expectations.

By clearly communicating what’s allowed and prohibited on your website or app and explaining to your users the consequences of breaking those rules, you make it easier for your business to prevent users from abusing your services or causing harm to others.

Terms of Service Limit Your Liabilities

You can include various disclaimers within your terms of service to help protect your website or app from being held liable for things like:

• Loss of profits
• Personal injury
• Warranty issues
• Misrepresented products
• Computer issues

Establishing what your business is and isn’t liable for in a ToS agreement limits what you can be sued for and may save you thousands in legal fees.

Terms of Service Help Maintain Your Intellectual Property Rights

As a business owner, you probably have content and branding that you own and use that you don’t want other people to steal, copy, or reproduce.

A terms of service agreement can establish your rights over your property and explain if and how other people can legally use those materials.

You might also consider including a copyright disclaimer for any original work of creative expression that you capture in a tangible form.

Terms of Service Help Minimize Disputes

Your terms of service agreement can explain how your company will respond to users who break the rules you outline in your policy, which streamlines the process of addressing and resolving legal disputes.

Terms of Service Help Build Trust and Transparency

If you own a website or app, it’s in your best interest to post a general terms of service agreement because people expect to see one.

If they cannot find your terms of service, they might assume your business is untrustworthy and may choose a competitor with more transparent policies over your company.

What you include in your terms of service will vary from business to business, but in the next section, we cover the most common clauses in ToS agreements.

Introduction

You should put an introduction clause at the start of your terms of service outlining who and what the agreement applies to. You can use this clause to introduce your company, define terms you’ll use throughout the rest of the document, and tell users how they can express consent to the agreement.

Below, see a terms of service sample from YouTube, whose intro clause clearly states that anyone who does not understand or agree to their terms may not use their services.

Prohibited or Acceptable Uses

Your terms of service agreement acts as the rules your users must follow when accessing your services, so you should list all of those prohibited behaviors and activities in a clause.

This is where you can ban things like:

• Breaking the law
• Violent, crude, or obscene content
• Spreading false or misleading information
• Stalking or harassing other users
• Violating copyright laws
• Tampering or hacking into your website
• Spamming your service or other users
• Scamming your service or other users

Below, see an example terms of service prohibited uses clause from Green Chef, a meal kit delivery service.

If your website or app allows your users to interact with one another, create profiles, or post and share content, consider separating this clause into its own acceptable use policy (AUP) document.

Your AUP will still be part of your terms of service, but putting the content into its own document makes it easier to share the rules of use that directly impact your consumers.

Try our Acceptable Use Policy Generator to create a free AUP in minutes.

Account Termination and Suspension

The termination clause in your terms of service should outline what process you take when and if a user violates your guidelines, including banning the perpetrator or suspending and removing their account.

We recommend keeping this clause broad so you have more leeway for managing unnecessary and rule-breaking accounts.

You can also include information about how a user can delete their own account, like how YouTube does it in their terms of service policy, shown below in the highlighted text.

Property Rights

If you own a business, you probably have intellectual property that you want to protect. Put a clause in your terms of service that lists all property your business trademarks or other relevant copyright examples, like:

• Designs
• Videos
• Images
• Names
• Logos
• Patents

Then inform your users about any restrictions that apply to outside parties who want to use those materials.

Below, see a sample terms of service property rights clause from Slack that is well-written and easy to understand.

Products and Promotional Information

Your product and promotional information clause can help prevent your company from being held liable for any inconsistencies or discrepancies posted on your app or website.

For example, you can inform your users that product descriptions, information, and pricing online may not always be up to date and are subject to change without notice. You can also stipulate within this clause that your company reserves the right to end or refuse promotions, including discount codes, at any time.

Below, see a sample terms of service from Green Chef to learn how they phrase the fact that they reserve the right to adjust or replace meal kit ingredients without notice.

Payments and Pricing

Your terms of service is a great place for you to tell your users about your payment policies.

Try to be as thorough as possible and inform your users about:

• The methods of payments you accept
• What happens if they miss a payment
• The types of currency you take

If you want more tips to help you get the most out of this clause, check out our guide on how to write payment terms.

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