Own an E-Commerce or SaaS Business?
You’ve worked tirelessly to build your online company. That’s why protecting it from the unforeseen is a top priority. So, whether you run an e-commerce store or offer software as a service (SaaS), online businesses need privacy policies and terms and conditions to comply with data privacy regulations and protect their enterprise. Without them, you could find yourself in hot water with your customers and even the government. That’s why it’s incredibly important to define an e-commerce privacy policy.
Partnering with an experienced business law firm, like Kinetic Law, is crucial when creating a well-drafted privacy policy and terms and conditions page. With our knowledge and experience, we can draft legally binding contracts and protect you from the risks of operating a business online. This way, you can worry about other important things like scaling and taking care of your customers.
What is an E-Commerce Privacy Policy or SaaS Privacy Policy?
Both an e-commerce privacy policy and a SaaS privacy policy are policy and disclosure statements outlining the kinds of personal information you collect, and how your company uses and shares such personal information. It explains how you collect, use, and protect visitors’ or users’ data.
As a business that operates online, you must have privacy policies easily accessible to anyone who visit your website or uses your product. This is why you often see privacy policies at the footer of every webpage, so they are easily accessible to all visitors.
Why You Need an E-commerce Privacy Policy or SaaS Privacy Policy for Your Business
There are a number of reasons your business needs a privacy policy, including:
Building customer trust. Privacy policies show your customers you take their privacy seriously. If your customers see you value privacy, they are more likely to build trust with your online enterprise. Building customer trust is essential for nurturing and solidifying long-lasting relationships with your clients and customers.
Meeting legislative requirements and guidelines. Not only does a privacy policy show your users you respect their information, but evolving legislation is making it a requirement for businesses that operate online. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforces data collection guidelines within the EU, protecting consumers’ data. If your business collects data from European Union citizens, you may need to comply with GDPR, even if your company is located outside the European Union.
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia have also recently passed comprehensive data privacy laws. While each state has varying provisions, commonalities include an opt-out of the sale of personal information and the right to access and delete personal data clauses. So far, most of these state data privacy laws apply to consumer-oriented businesses, rather than B2B enterprises. In addition, if your business is geared towards children, and you collect personal information from children, there are federal and state laws that regulate how you can operate.
With the wide range of laws and regulations, it’s easy to get confused about what you must include in your privacy policy. That’s why working with an attorney with experience in e-commerce and SaaS privacy policies, like Paul Spitz, can help you avoid the headaches of deciphering legal jargon and the consequences of not abiding by data privacy laws. In addition, partnering with a business law attorney can help you ensure you correctly disclose information under state law and the GDPR.
Upholds external tool requirements. If your e-commerce or SaaS business uses tools like Google Analytics or Facebook ads in your operations, having a privacy policy may be required. Reviewing the terms and conditions of all the business tools you use will help you ensure you include the necessary language within your data privacy policy.
Increases the value of your business. If you hope for a merger or acquisition, the details and clauses in your privacy policy are essential to solidifying the deal.
For example, say your e-commerce privacy policy states that all data collected will never be shared with any third party. In the early years of the internet, it was quite common for businesses to collect customer email addresses by assuring the customers that the business would never share those emails with a third party. After years of running a profitable online enterprise, a larger e-commerce retailer comes knocking at your door ready to purchase your company. While engaging in due diligence, the e-commerce retailer uncovers that your customer list couldn’t be a part of the sale since your privacy policy promised not to share customers’ personal information with any third parties. Since the customer list is one of your business’s most valuable assets, the deal could fall through. Who would have known this slight detail would blow up the deal of a lifetime?
That’s why it’s wise to work with an experienced business law attorney right off the bat. This way, you can ensure you create a robust privacy policy that complies with state laws and regulations regarding consumers and helps you avoid risks unique to your business. In addition, it’s important that your privacy policy be tailored to how you operate. Simply copying another company’s privacy policy can cause problems if your internal operations and practices aren’t consistent (and they usually are not consistent).
What Should Be Included in Your Privacy Policy?
At the very least, a privacy policy must outline several primary topics, including:
- The types of data you plan to collect and how you collect it. Many businesses choose to list the information they collect such as names, email addresses, education details, work history, etc.
- How and why you gather that information. This clause explains the user benefits of the data collection and how your business uses it.
- Third-party disclosures. If your business shares user data with any outside entity, such as a marketing analytics vendor, or advertisers, you should disclose the details within this section. Most consumers don’t want their information shared with other parties. Therefore, it’s crucial you explain who you share their information with and under what circumstances.
- Information protection. You’ll want to assure your users that you have security protocols in place to protect their data. While you don’t need to list the details of your security and confidentiality efforts, you must make it crystal clear that you have procedures for data security. It’s important to note that no cyber security system is 100% secure. So, you’ll want to make sure to include this in the information protection clause as well.
- Rights of the user. Under GDPR, you must include a rights of user clause. User’s rights can include the right to amend, delete, or review personal information collected. This section is essential because you want your users to know that they have the authority to change and remove their personal information at any time.
- Notification of changes. If you make changes to your privacy policy, you must notify users. For example, if you change the information you collect from your users, you must communicate this change.
- Contact information. Providing contact information is one of the most critical components of a privacy policy. Including an email address, phone number, and mailing address is the best way to ensure your visitors know how to reach your company if they have questions.
Companies must include a wide range of comprehensive information. Partnering with an experienced lawyer can ensure you cover your bases and comply with all applicable data laws. In addition, leaving the creation of a privacy policy to a knowledgeable attorney, like Paul Spitz, can take the pressure off of you so you can center your attention on growing your enterprise.
What are E-Commerce Terms and Conditions and SaaS Terms and Conditions?
Also referred to as terms of use, terms and conditions outline the rules users must follow when visiting your site or using your software. While the privacy policy is more of a disclosure statement, the terms and conditions should act as a contract or legally binding agreement between your company and the users. Drafting a solid set of terms and conditions communicates to your users or visitors what is (and is not) permitted on your website.
Because your business has unique needs, your terms and conditions must be customized for how your business operates. Therefore, partnering with a knowledgeable attorney experienced in setting terms and conditions, like Paul Spitz, ensures that you will have terms of use that are tailored to your business, and are legally binding.
Why You Need E-Commerce Terms and Conditions or SaaS Terms and Conditions
While there is no legal requirement for having a terms and conditions page, it’s essential to operating a profitable e-commerce or SaaS business. Here are a few reasons why:
Prevents abuse. A well-drafted set of terms and conditions helps you prevent abusers by outlining provisions for account terminations for those who don’t follow the terms. For example, your terms may prohibit the spamming of other users, uploading defamatory content, or attempting to corrupt the website or software with malware.
Protects your content and intellectual property. Terms and conditions can include intellectual property and copyright clauses stating your ownership of your content and that it’s protected under copyright laws. Users that use content without your permission are liable for infringement.
Limits liability. Adding a basic disclaimer can remove or minimize your liability if there are errors within your website content or disputes with customers. Additionally, suppose your website allows users to post content. In that case, you can add disclaimers stating you don’t endorse content from users or third parties and are not responsible for statements or user-generated content.
Dispute resolution. Terms and conditions outline procedures for resolving disputes such as delivery or return issues. These provisions also allow you to choose the governing laws that apply, require binding arbitration of claims, and eliminate class action lawsuits. Without proper terms and conditions, you can lose control over resolutions and be subject to unfamiliar laws.
What Should Be Included in Your Terms and Conditions?
Terms and conditions will vary by the type of company you have and how the business operates. However, here are some basic elements found in e-commerce terms and conditions.
- Acceptance of terms and conditions
- Termination clauses
- Return policies
- Content clauses
- Copyright and trademark notices
- Statement of governing law
- Limitation of liability
- Intellectual property policies
- Statement of right to refuse
- Disclaimers and warranties
- Changes to terms
- DMCA takedown notice
Here are some additional elements found in SaaS terms and conditions.
- Licensing information
- Subscription agreement
- Fee information
- Payment information
The content of your terms and conditions isn’t the entire story. We will advise you as to how you can design the registration or checkout process of your website to turn those terms of use into a binding contract, and recommend best practices to follow. We will also advise you on how to obtain protection from liability for third-party infringement claims relating to user-generated content.
Why You Need an Experienced Attorney for Your E-commerce or SaaS Business
Privacy policies and terms and conditions pages are comprehensive and often complex. However, a business law attorney experienced in drafting these documents knows the risks unique to your business and can create ironclad contracts that help you protect your enterprise from the unexpected.
For example, an experienced business law attorney like Paul Spitz knows the specific design implications to include to make the terms and conditions legally binding. A knowledgeable business law attorney can advise you on best practices such as having a checkbox that says that users agree to the terms and conditions or ensuring the font size is readable. Users must be able to clearly read your terms and conditions for those provisions to be binding and enforceable.
You pour everything you have into your online business, so it’s wise to safeguard it against regulatory violations and lawsuits. Rather than just copying another company’s terms or privacy policy, and rather than trying to do it yourself, you should get help from someone with the right expertise. Therefore, having a business law attorney do the heavy lifting can help you focus on serving customers and growing your enterprise.
How Our Internet Law Services Can Assist Your Business
Contact Cincinnati Attorney Paul Spitz
E-commerce entrepreneurs will find their business needs met at Kinetic Law. Our years of experience with preparing terms of use and privacy policies, business formation and structure, debt and equity financing, drafting, reviewing, general counsel services, and negotiating essential documents and contracts will give you confidence as you drive your business forward.
Although Kinetic law is based in Cincinnati, business owners can access our virtual legal services throughout Ohio and California (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley).
Ready to get started? Contact us today for more information.
