As a website owner, there are certain policies and legal pages that you should have on your website.
For more information on website policies and legal pages, please see the FAQ on “Which policies or legal pages should my e-commerce website have?”
Among these are Terms and Conditions and Disclaimers. Granted, these two may be easily confused, but they are certainly not the same thing. In the table below, we set out their key distinguishing features to help you understand the differences between them.
| Terms and Conditions | Disclaimers | |
| Nature | Terms and Conditions and Disclaimers are both policies and legal pages that you should have on your website. Both take the form of an agreement and are legally binding contracts. Having both of these pages, therefore, will help minimize any potential legal complications or issues and the high costs associated with it. | |
| Purpose | Terms and Conditions have a broader scope. These detail what the user can and cannot do on your website as well as the rights and obligations of you, the company, and online visitors and customers. For instance, they set out what will happen if the user terminates the contract or breaks any rule. | Disclaimers are more specific and narrow in their scope. They limit particular types of liabilities on your business, especially if your business purports to provide professional services. Strictly speaking, Disclaimers could form part of your Terms and Conditions but, for the sake of clarity, it may be helpful to have a separate page on your website dedicated to Disclaimers. |
| Parties involved | An agreement between you and online visitors/customers. Both are generally drafted in favour of protecting your business. | |
| Required by Law? | No. Although not strictly mandated by law, it is strongly recommended that you incorporate both of them on your website as they will help to legally protect your business and ensure transparency and compliance with the relevant laws. | |
| Template | For an example of what a Terms and Conditions page should look like and contain, you may refer to, and use, our Terms of Use template. Download and customize it according to your requirements. | For an example of what a Disclaimers page should look like and contain, you may refer to, and use, our Disclaimers template. Download and customize it according to your requirements. |
Key takeaways
- Terms and Conditions and Disclaimers pages are both essential policies and legal pages on your website, though not mandated by law, which comprise of legally binding agreements between your business and online visitors/customers.
- Strictly speaking, your Disclaimers could form part of your Terms and Conditions but, for the sake of clarity, it may be helpful to have a separate page on your website dedicated to Disclaimers.
- Terms and Conditions and Disclaimers pages mainly differ in their scope in content, that is Terms and Conditions have a wider, more general scope while Disclaimers focus more specifically on particular types of liabilities related to professional services; they can be distinguished by their purpose, requirement by law, and contents.