Website legal documents

Ecommerce terms and conditions

Ecommerce takes many forms. It is the sale and purchase of products and services via electronic systems. In some case the product or service may also be delivered via an electronic system, whereas in other cases the product or service will be delivered offline.

Ecommerce may be be business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer. The last of the categories of transaction will usually involve an ecommerce intermediary, such as eBay. Increasingly, B2B and B2C transactions are also mediated by third party platforms. Amazon Marketplace is a good example of this type of intermediary in the B2C space.

Ecommerce laws

In addition to the laws regulating all commercial transactions, ecommerce is subject to special laws. In the UK, perhaps the best known of these are the Ecommerce Regulations and the Distance Selling Regulations. Compliance with these special laws - not to mention the management of risk associated with ecommerce transactions - usually entails the use of written terms and conditions.

The documents in this section of our catalogue are designed with internet and website-based ecommerce in mind, but could be adapted for other systems.