Terms and Conditions (also sometimes referred to as Terms of Service, Terms of Use, or Conditions of Use) is an agreement set out from business to customer, which the customer must agree to if they want to use the business' services.

Unlike a Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions are not legally required, and you can run e-commerce (or any!) website without them.

However, it's not good business practice to forgot a Terms and Conditions.

Why? Because Terms and Conditions can:

Prevent abuse and misuse of your products, services, and website

Allow you to own your content

Give you the ability to terminate and/or suspend user accounts

Limit your liability and risk of litigation

Set the jurisdiction and governing law that your Terms and Conditions are held under

Blogs and other similar sites can often get away with not having Terms and Conditions. But if you're running an e-commerce store, even if you just sell a few products, Terms and Conditions will keep you and your business well-protected.

Even though Terms and Conditions aren't legally required, they're vital aspects of an e-commerce store.

They protect your business from conflict and reduce the fall-out that can occur from legal action (like if a situation arises whereby your product has been purchased but has failed to meet its purpose).

They also create better trust between yourself and your customers, encouraging them to make purchases, and come back for more. They'll believe their transactions will be safe, and it's important to promote that feeling of consumer safety.

And, if issues still come up, your Terms and Conditions will safeguard you by specifying how any disputes will be handled. Whether it's something like a liability issue, payment issue, the refund process, or shipping and handling, having Terms and Conditions will dictate how it will be resolved.

Terms and Conditions streamline the process, leaving no room for doubt or misunderstanding.