Terms and Conditions Template for Australian Stores

A terms and conditions template gives an Australian online store a starting document for orders, website use and customer disputes. Adapt the numbered clauses below to your business and the promises your checkout actually makes. Copying another retailer’s terms can leave you with rules for products or processes you don’t use.

What Website Terms and Conditions Do

Your website terms set the rules customers agree to when buying from your store or using its site. Terms of sale cover the purchase, including when you accept an order and how customers raise a dispute. Website terms of use cover activities such as copying site content or misusing an account.

A privacy policy explains how the business handles personal information. A refund policy tells customers how to request a return and explains your change-of-mind rules. These documents can share a page if each part is clearly labelled and easy to find. Separate pages usually make it easier to link directly to the policy a shopper needs.

Link the terms of sale to your refund and shipping policies. Keep the privacy policy easy to reach from forms that collect customer information. The privacy policy template covers that separate document.

What Australian Law Overrides

No website term can exclude the consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) explains these rights. Blanket ‘no refunds’ signs are unlawful because they tell customers that refunds are unavailable in every circumstance. ‘No refunds on sale items’ has the same problem. Read the consumer guarantees guide for the rights behind that rule.

Unfair contract terms laws protect consumers and eligible small businesses using standard form contracts. A store’s pre-written terms that customers largely accept or reject are a typical example. The 2023 reforms prohibit proposing, using or relying on unfair terms and introduce penalties. Their application depends on when a contract is made or renewed, or a term is changed. The ACCC’s contracts guidance gives the exact commencement boundary.

A term can be unfair when it creates a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations. It must also be unnecessary to protect legitimate business interests and would cause harm if enforced. Courts consider the whole contract and whether the term is transparent. Clear wording alone doesn’t make a one-sided clause fair. A court decides whether a term is unfair.

Terms and Conditions Template

The free template below is general information, not legal advice. Use it as a starting point for an Australian online store. Have a lawyer review the completed document for your products and business processes before publication.

Square brackets mark fields you must replace. The fill-in notes are instructions for you, so remove them from your store’s finished terms.

1. About Us

These terms apply to purchases from [store name] at [store website]. The seller is [legal business name], Australian Business Number (ABN) [ABN]. Contact us at [customer service email] or [business contact address] about an order or dispute. We will acknowledge a complaint within [response period] and explain the next steps.

Fill in the legal seller, store details and a complaint response period your team can meet.

2. Orders and Acceptance

Submitting an order is an offer to buy the products shown in your checkout. An automated receipt confirms we received your order. We accept your order when [acceptance event]. Before acceptance, we may decline an order for [specific lawful reasons]. We will explain the reason and refund any payment for an order we decline.

Fill in the actual acceptance event and narrow reasons such as unavailable stock, consistent with your order emails.

3. Pricing and GST

Prices are in Australian dollars and include goods and services tax (GST) where applicable. Checkout shows delivery charges and the total payable before you place the order. Promotional prices apply under the conditions shown with the promotion. The agreed price of an accepted order will not increase because we later change the product’s price.

Fill in any genuine promotion conditions and check that your price display includes applicable GST.

4. Payment

We accept [payment methods]. Payment is taken at [payment event]. If a payment fails, we will tell you whether the order remains open and how to try again. We will obtain your agreement before taking a different amount.

Fill in the payment methods and whether funds are authorised or captured at the stated event.

5. Delivery

We deliver to [delivery areas]. Our shipping policy at [shipping policy URL] explains dispatch periods, delivery estimates and charges. Product pages identify preorders and backorders before checkout. If we learn that an agreed delivery arrangement cannot be met, we will contact you to agree on the next step.

Fill in delivery areas and your shipping policy address, then match product availability wording to checkout.

6. Refunds

Our refund policy at [refund policy URL] explains how to contact us about returns. Any voluntary change-of-mind conditions are stated in that policy. A change-of-mind restriction does not remove rights that the law gives you.

Fill in the policy address and use the return policy template for the separate return process.

7. Warranties

Any additional product warranty is described with the product or supplied warranty document. Contact [warranty contact] to ask about an additional warranty. These terms do not create a separate promise about product performance beyond the descriptions and promises we provide.

Fill in the contact and have a lawyer check any additional warranty document and its required wording.

8. Liability

We remain responsible for obligations and liabilities that the law places on us. These terms do not impose a blanket exclusion of our liability. Any further liability clause must describe the specific risk it addresses and preserve your applicable legal rights.

Have a lawyer draft any business-specific limitation here instead of copying a blanket exclusion.

9. Intellectual Property and Site Use

We own or have permission to use the site’s content. You may view it and use it to shop with us. Other uses require the relevant rights holder’s permission unless the law permits them. You must not use the site to interfere with its operation or misuse another customer’s account.

Fill in any additional permissions your store grants and confirm you hold the rights you claim.

10. Privacy

Our privacy policy at [privacy policy URL] explains how we handle personal information. It gives our privacy contact details and explains how to make a privacy complaint.

Fill in the address of your actual privacy policy without copying its clauses into these terms.

11. Governing Law and Disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of [Australian state or territory]. Contact us first using the details in clause 1 so we can try to resolve a dispute. This clause does not prevent you from using a court or tribunal available under applicable law.

Fill in the relevant state or territory and have a lawyer check the clause for your customer locations.

12. Changes to These Terms

The version of these terms presented when you place an order applies to that order. We may publish revised terms for future orders. Each version has an effective date and version number. We will tell affected customers about material changes using [notification method] before those changes apply to their continuing arrangements.

Fill in a notification method and add the effective-date field and version number to the finished document.

Clauses Small Businesses Get Wrong

Blanket liability exclusions and ‘all sales final’ wording can misstate customers’ rights. Adding ‘to the extent permitted by law’ to every sentence doesn’t repair an unfair clause. Ask the lawyer reviewing your terms to identify the actual risk each limitation addresses.

One-sided price changes are another problem. A clause allowing you to increase an accepted order’s price without the customer’s agreement can create an unfair imbalance. Set new prices for future purchases. Explain and resolve an error with the customer instead of using a catch-all right to charge more.

Hidden fees also create pricing problems. The ACCC’s price display guidance requires a prominent minimum total price including applicable taxes and unavoidable charges. Delivery charges need clear disclosure, and checkout must show the final payable amount before payment. The ATO also explains that consumer prices generally include GST where it applies.

For sale pricing, state the offer’s eligibility and any exclusions beside the offer. A claim that a price has fallen must reflect the actual pricing history. Your terms must match the discount shoppers receive at checkout.

For preorders and backorders, identify the product’s status before the shopper pays. Say when payment is taken and distinguish an expected dispatch period from an arrival promise. Explain how you will contact the customer if supply changes and how they can discuss cancellation. Avoid showing ‘in stock’ at checkout while the terms quietly describe a future shipment.

For subscriptions, state the renewal and cancellation terms before purchase. The unfair trading practices guide covers that wider topic.

Writing Terms an AI Agent Can Quote

An AI shopping agent answering from your store’s documents can repeat the terms to shoppers. Give each clause a clear subject and a specific promise. Keep its wording current and consistent with your refund and shipping pages so the agent has one answer to a policy question.

Here is a hypothetical delivery example.

Before: ‘We deliver quickly across Australia.’

After: ‘We dispatch stocked products within two business days of order acceptance. Standard delivery usually takes three to seven business days after dispatch. Delivery periods are estimates. Preorder dispatch estimates appear on the product page.’

The revised wording separates dispatch from delivery and labels the estimate. It does not promise that every parcel arrives within two days. Use periods your operations support, with the delivery areas and exceptions stated in your shipping policy.

Remove superseded versions from the documents the agent reads when you publish revised terms. Keep historical versions in a separate archive for order records. Test questions about order acceptance and delivery to confirm the agent quotes the current clause. If it mixes old and new wording, inspect its document sources before rewriting the answer. The guide to chatbot liability explains the risks of policy answers that misstate your terms.

Publishing and Updating Your Terms

Link your terms in the footer and beside the checkout action that submits an order. Let customers open and read them before acceptance. A visible, unticked acceptance checkbox can record an explicit agreement, but it does not make an unlawful term valid.

Keep the order record with the terms version the customer saw and the acceptance action, including its timestamp. Save a copy of that version so a later edit does not overwrite the evidence. Include linked policies where they form part of the agreed terms.

Date each finished version and assign a version number. For material changes affecting continuing customers, explain what changes and when it applies through the notification method you promised. Avoid applying new terms retrospectively to completed purchases. Obtain legal advice about consent where a continuing contract needs amendment.

Before launch, place a test order and open every policy link from checkout. Confirm the price and payment event match the terms. Check that the acceptance record identifies the saved version and that the agent answers from the same current documents.