Forum Moderators: buckworks
[edited by: Patrick_Taylor at 11:11 pm (utc) on Mar. 23, 2007]
There is a longer disclaimer we make customers sign at the cash register. Minors are required to first take the document home to have an adult sign.
We don't sell to anyone who can't fully understand a nine page English language legal document (we prefer customers with some knowledge of Latin).
Our stores display large signs warning about the possible dangers of our products. A sign on the drinking fountain was recently added. Remember that woman who died from too much water last month. You can't be too careful!
Business has been a little slow lately.
Our products are not delicate and we don't export. We don't have any "terms and Conditions," only a page of friendly FAQs. A few key FAQs are summarized in the shopping cart itself. Very few people read the FAQs, despite links to it on every page.
I used to wonder why every site (but ours) had an "About your privacy" page. There was general agreement here years ago that NO ONE clicks that link.
"Terms and Conditions" sounds very customer unfriendly, like something a victor demands of an utterly defeated foe in war. B/M stores don't have them. Why should a website?
I thought you were talking about the sometimes-seen legalese -- generally unenforceable -- that must surely reduce a site's sales:
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless WALMART.COM and its affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, costs and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising from or related to your use of the Site.
Wal-Mart's "Terms of Use" is buried among 24 links at the bottom of their main page in a section called "About Walmart Stores." I doubt many courts would be impressed.
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Shipping IS different. Perhaps you should call the link "IMPORTANT Info about Worldwide Shipping of Our Delicate Products." Shipping disputes are common. Customers would understand that, and so would courts.
Would anyone read it (except scammers perhaps)?... Nah!
Also remember that just because people don't read them, doesn't mean you can make them unreasonable - there's been several court cases where TOS were held void because they were not 'right' - a good recent example is the downloads folk who hid an agreement to accept scumware deep in the TOS; they got laughed out of court.
Specifically: I agree that 'shipping and handling' is particularly important and needs to be considered part of shopping cart design. I have seen two approaches I like:
* short conversation-weight-language snippets (that link to the full T&C) sprinkled through the checkout process.
* conversation-weight-language T&C requirements (linked to full T&C) through the S&H form and thus being part of the form which is available 'printer friendly' once completed.
I suppose issue is really... how prominent should all this be on the site's pages? To make it too prominent might suggest to the buyer that these issues are likely to arise, and not prominent enough means the buyer could plead ignorance.
Sorry officer I did not know red meant stop?!?
My Terms and Conditions cover such things as warranty, destination countries, currency, tax, delivery time, customs delays, import duties, responsibility for carriage, liability for loss or damage in transit, replacements, returns, requirement for signature, inaccessible address, cooling off period, and a few others that cover things that can go wrong during the days that pass between a seller receiving payment and the buyer being satisfied. Unlike a b/m store, I think they're all important to spell out as a backstop, but I agree that the phrase "Terms and Conditions" might seem a little heavy-handed - I might change that to "Terms of Sale".
Just put some of those term and thier definitions at the bottom of their confirmation e-mail. I never bother to read T&C on websites but I will read them if they're included in my confirmtion e-mail.
