Legal texts for online shop & website

Legal texts from  Händlerbund

FAQ

Why are legal texts necessary?

Terms and conditions and other legal texts are necessary because of legal information obligations, and failure to comply with these obligations can lead to expensive warnings. Who am I, what are the customer's rights, and who is liable for what? These are all questions that online retailers and website operators must answer, and ideally, they do so through legal texts, where they can provide all the necessary information in a transparent and consolidated manner.

Another advantage is that the use of legal texts simplifies business operations because they address the specific features of the offered service or clarify ambiguities. In case of a dispute, the retailer can refer the customer to the applicable legal texts. Furthermore, most terms and conditions are designed to strengthen the rights of the retailer. Even though this is limited in relation to consumers, entrepreneurs should take advantage of this opportunity within legal boundaries, as it is their right to do so. For example, the warranty period for used goods can be shortened for consumers in the terms and conditions.

What legal texts are necessary for online trading?

Every reputable online store must have them, including Ebay and Amazon. The legal texts that an online retailer needs are:

1. Imprint including clickable OS link
2. Terms and Conditions and customer information
3. Revocation instruction and sample revocation form
4. Privacy policy
5. Price and shipping cost information
6. Battery information if applicable

The required texts must be individually adapted to the respective shop and inserted into the provided visible buttons or fields on platforms.

Who needs such texts?

Everyone who is commercially active or at least partially engaged for commercial purposes on the Internet needs legal texts to some extent. Even a blogger or influencer who does this to make a profit needs an imprint on all of their channels, even though many see themselves as private blogs at first glance and do not want to be subject to imprint obligations. Even the harmless information portal without the possibility of purchase requires at least a privacy policy as soon as visitor data is collected and processed on the website (e.g. cookies, comment functions, contact forms). Even sole traders falling under the small business regulation should use legally secure terms and conditions for their small business in their shop. But also a delivery service for restaurants, for example, needs legal texts.

Are there any exceptions for small businesses?

No, the mentioned requirements apply regardless of turnover or business form, so even small businesses are subject to them. The decisive factor is that the responsible party is operating online or at least has commercial interests elsewhere (e.g. bloggers, even with affiliate links).

Are there also special legal texts for email signatures?

In addition to the legal obligation to provide an imprint in the online store, there is a comparable regulation for email signatures. The Commercial Code precisely prescribes which mandatory information must be included in a correct email signature. However, this only applies to merchants and companies registered in the commercial register.

Retailers who confirm an order with an email must also send the legal texts used at the time of the order in this confirmation or order confirmation (so-called post-contractual information obligations).

What do you need for a social media presence?

Many companies feel safe on Facebook and other social media platforms and hardly follow the legal boundaries or not at all. But this can be fatal. Legal certainty starts with providing a complete social media imprint, even on social media.

When a service provider offers or provides telemedia (i.e. electronic information and communication services, such as a simple presentation page) for business purposes and for a fee, they are required to have an imprint. Even mere advertising of goods or services on the Internet without immediate ordering options and other interaction possibilities is considered a teleservice - with the consequence of an imprint obligation. Social media accounts that are not used solely for private purposes are treated like commercial websites. In the past, missing or incorrect imprints have been the subject of numerous costly warnings. Therefore, legal texts for social media are a topic for many.

What about businesses or service providers who do not sell online, but only want to present themselves online?

An imprint and data protection are not dependent on the possibility of selling online (see previous question). As soon as someone presents themselves for commercial reasons, this ultimately serves to generate income and an imprint is required. The same applies to data protection, as this also does not depend on sales, but rather on the processing of data itself (e.g. cookies). Only the necessary information for pure online commerce can be dispensed with. These are:

1. Terms and conditions and customer information
2. Cancellation policy and sample cancellation form
3. If applicable, additional return guarantees
4. Price and shipping cost information
5. If applicable, battery information

Can legal texts be simply copied?

Copying from the Internet, whether from a competitor or other (dubious) sources, is never an option. Terms and conditions and other individually created legal texts - one might hardly believe it - are protected by copyright, like poems or song lyrics, and may not be copied and used without further permission.

Legal texts are also tailored to the specific shop for which they were created. The legal situation or use of certain copied clauses may therefore differ significantly in one's own online shop and ultimately lead to a warning (e.g. by a competitor due to misleading information).

Am I on the safe side with texts from a (free) legal text generator?

Even though not every case may lead to a warning, using free-generated texts via a legal text generator poses the following great danger: All legal texts are tailored to the specific shop for which they were created. This can result in errors and inconsistencies even with a small user error in the generator. Additionally, users are usually not informed about necessary legal text changes that constantly need to be made. Therefore, terms and conditions and other legal texts should only come from reputable sources, such as a trusted lawyer or an association like the Händlerbund, which takes on liability in particular. The same applies to legal text templates.

What costs can arise in the event of a warning for faulty texts?

Although a legal amendment is intended to make it no longer possible for competitors to issue a chargeable warning due to a violation of information obligations, associations can continue to issue incomplete legal texts as before, with costs of at least 200 euros. For a warning via a competitor and their lawyer, which may include a misleading terms and conditions clause, a sum in the upper three- or four-digit range may already be possible.

What legal texts do members of the Händlerbund receive and what are the advantages?

Merchants receive all necessary, legally compliant legal texts for their internet presence and for currently more than 40 sales platforms from Händlerbund. The creation of all legal texts is individual and carried out by IT law specialists. Our legal texts also include a free update service, of course including liability coverage for the entire term.

In which language must the terms and conditions be?

The standard case in this country is the German online retailer who sells through their German online shop on a German domain and has little to do with other languages. This is completely acceptable as long as the website is aimed at the German-speaking area. In this case, mandatory information and terms and conditions must only be available in German. A translation is not required. The mere accessibility of a website in other countries or the offered shipping there does not make it necessary to provide legal texts in other languages.

However, if internationalization is planned and trade is to take place internationally via platforms such as "Amazon.pl" or "Amazon.it", legal texts in the respective national language are needed. The Händlerbund offers legal texts, among others, in English or Italian.