Online shop terms and conditions

Example

A shop’s terms promise 14 days to withdraw; its returns page says seven. A customer withdraws on day ten and is turned down by support. A complaint follows, and the customer is right: the shorter period contradicts the law and does not apply. The loss is not that order. It is the review that stays online.

The fix is dull and happens once: one text, one date, one version that every page points to.

Why it matters for a business

Terms and conditions are not decoration; they are the contract. So they carry the trader’s details (name, company number, address, email, phone, VAT registration, supervisory authorities), the moment the contract is concluded, prices including tax and delivery costs, payment methods, the right of withdrawal with its model form, the legal guarantee of conformity and how a complaint is handled.

A few details go missing regularly. The button that completes an order must say plainly that the order carries an obligation to pay. Unfair terms do not bind a consumer, however well they are drafted. A change to the terms is announced in advance and the old versions are kept. The link to the European online dispute resolution platform is gone — the platform closed on 20 July 2025 — and the national alternative dispute bodies are named instead.

What to ask

• Who wrote the text, and when was it last reviewed?
• Do the terms match the real delivery, withdrawal and complaints process?
• How does a customer accept them, and is the accepted version recorded?
• Are all the mandatory trader details present?
• What changes if you start selling into another country?

A lawyer writes the text; we connect it to the order flow and keep the versions straight during online store development.