A Terms and Conditions agreement is not legally required. However, having one comes with a number of important benefits for both you and your users/customers.

The benefits include increasing your control over your business/platform, while helping your users understand your rules, requirements and restrictions.

The main benefit of having a Terms and Conditions agreement is that you maintain the highest level of control over your website/business.

Your Terms and Conditions agreement is where you’re able to list your rules when it comes to the use of your website. You’re also able to maintain the right to terminate abusive accounts, disclaim warranties and limit your liability.

There are benefits for your users, as well. Your Terms and Conditions agreement makes it clear to your users what you expect from them, what they are not allowed to do with your website/service, and how they must handle certain situations such as arbitration and canceling their own accounts.

Without a Terms and Conditions agreement, your rules and requirements won’t be made public and provided to your users. This means your users may take advantage of your “lawless” platform.

You may also get bombarded with questions from users asking about things that would otherwise be included in your Terms and Conditions agreement. For example, you may get a lot of questions asking how you handle user-generated content rights, or how a user can shut down an account.

Some clauses are specific to certain types of businesses and won’t be found in all Terms and Conditions agreements. For example, you won’t need a clause about subscription payment terms if you don’t offer paid subscriptions.

In general, almost every Terms and Conditions agreement should include the following clauses:

1. Introduction
2. Right to make changes to the agreement
3. User guidelines (rules, restrictions, requirements)
4. Copyright and intellectual property
5. Governing law
6. Warranty disclaimer
7. Limitation of liability
8. Termination of accounts/service
9. Contact information

The more complicated your website or business is, the more clauses you will end up having.

Some business-specific clauses include the following:

1. Payment terms
2. Cancelling service or subscription
3. Refunds
4. User-generated content

Display your Terms and Conditions agreement in the following places, where applicable:

1. Via a static link to your website footer
2. In a menu within your mobile app (typically in an About, Legal, Info menu)
3. On your “Create Account” or similar type of page
4. On any checkout or order finalization pages

The key here is to make sure your Terms and Conditions agreement is always accessible at any time, and that you also provide it additionally at points where the user may be more interested in referring to its terms.

Adding a link to your website footer or within your app menu makes your Terms and Conditions agreement available at any and all times. Adding a link to times when a user is interacting with you in a more specific way, such as when creating an account or placing an order, helps remind the user about your Terms and Conditions agreement at that important time.

To make your Terms & Conditions agreement enforceable, place an un-ticked checkbox next to a link to your agreement and a statement that says something along the lines of, “By checking this box, you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions agreement.“

You can also use an “I Agree” button instead of a checkbox that users must click to show they agree to your Terms and Conditions agreement.