Are terms and conditions mandatory for an online shop?

Q&A • Law

Are terms and conditions mandatory for an online shop?

In B2C, terms and conditions are not a nicety: they carry the mandatory pre-contractual information. Copying another site’s template is often worse than having none.

Short answer

  1. Yes: in distance selling to consumers, terms are mandatory and must be accessible before ordering.
  2. They carry the pre-contractual information set out in article L221-5 of the Consumer Code.
  3. They must cover price, shipping costs and delivery time, withdrawal, legal guarantees, payment and mediation.
  4. Acceptance must be active: an unticked checkbox before payment.
  5. Any clause removing a legal guarantee or the withdrawal right is deemed void.

What the terms must contain

  • The seller’s full identity, address, e-mail and registration number.
  • The essential features of the products and the total price, shipping included.
  • Payment and delivery arrangements and the fulfilment deadline.
  • The withdrawal right, its exceptions and the model form.
  • The legal guarantees of conformity and hidden defects, plus after-sales service.
  • The consumer mediator’s details and the competent court.

A real example

Example: a shop copies a competitor’s terms and keeps a clause limiting returns to 7 days. Since the legal period is 14 days, the clause cannot be enforced. Worse, because the withdrawal information is wrong, the period can be extended by twelve months — the time saved on drafting costs a year of possible returns.

Common mistakes

  • Copying another site’s terms, including its company name and its mediator.
  • Pre-ticking the acceptance box, which empties consent of its value.
  • Putting the terms only in the footer, without making them reachable in the checkout flow.
  • Never updating the terms after changing carrier or delivery times.

How 4shopy helps

  • The terms are an editable page linked from the footer and from the checkout flow.
  • The checkout acceptance box is never pre-ticked and the timestamp is stored with the order.
  • Legal notices, privacy and mediation exist as separate pages, as an inspection expects to find them.
  • A change to the terms applies immediately across every language of the shop.

See also