Need help with your online terms and conditions?

What type of business are you?

Lexoo solicitors have written terms and conditions for many different types of online businesses, websites and apps. Here’s a snapshot:

• online marketplaces
• ecommerce and online shops
• social networks
• mobile apps
• online directories
• recruitment websites
• content sites, blogs and subscription websites
• company ‘brochure’ websites

“I’m about to launch an online hotel booking agency, which will operate in the UK and France. Hotels will advertise their rooms and customers will select their favourite hotel and pay through our site. I need website terms and conditions for our customers and terms and conditions for the hotels that sign up to be our suppliers. I want to limit my liability just to arranging the booking and taking the booking fee.”

*This is a fictional, but typical type of enquiry we’ve been able to help with

What rules apply to you?

Your business might operate in a highly regulated sector or in a way that falls within particular legal regimes. Here are some common areas of expertise that our solicitors can advise you on:

• Ecommerce Regulations
• Distance selling under The Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges Regulations
• Unfair Trading Regulations / Unfair Contract Terms Act
• The Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations (especially if you’re allowing user generated content, like a social network)
• Website privacy and data protection laws

How much can you expect to pay?

Although prices can vary greatly, we’ve seen hundreds of enquiries for terms and conditions come through Lexoo, and the fixed-fee quotes we’ve typically seen range between £300 to £1,250. The lower-end quotes tend to cover straightforward tried-and-tested business models with stable legal rules, such as an online clothes shop. The higher end quotes deal with more disruptive businesses covering new ground or businesses that operate in a legal ‘minefield’, such as FinTech or the employment sector.

Top tips to create water-tight terms and conditions:

• Select a solicitor who has written terms and conditions for a business or website like yours, in your industry - don’t let a solicitor ‘learn on your time’.
• Ask them to explain to you any particular laws that apply to what you’re doing and how your terms and conditions will deal with and protect you from breaching those laws.
• Brainstorm and note down the most important commercial terms between you, your users and/or customers.
• Outline what you would expect to happen when someone breaches your terms - what do you think will be the most common breaches?
• Think of your most difficult, unreasonable customer when writing your terms, then put yourself in their shoes to make sure it’s still fair, clearly understandable and strip out any unnecessary ‘legal speak’.
• Look at (but don’t copy!) your competitors’ terms and conditions - weigh up which of their terms might also work for you, while taking the opportunity to improve and customise those terms to differentiate yourself.

And finally, make sure your solicitor has professional indemnity insurance. That way, you can rest easy that your business is fully protected.

All the solicitors on Lexoo are not only fully insured, but have been hand-picked by us to make sure you get the right expertise for your legal needs.