How To Set Up All Your Legal Requirements In Shopify #7

Why do you need legal policies in your eCommerce store?

This is not a choice but a necessity for your eCommerce business. You need legal documentation on your eCommerce store to protect your business. Shopify has legal templates you can use but you might edit them to your requirements. It is always better to check your information with your own legal counsel.

Types of Legal Documentation

• Terms of Service
• Privacy Policy
• Refund Policy
• Shipping Policy

An explanation for each of the legal pages you are going to add to your online store.

Terms of Service

This policy sets the terms of use for your customers on your website/store.

This provides a guideline for what your customers can or can't do on your website. So it is sometimes just a disclaimer or a full user agreement.

Shopify provides this free for you.

This is to protect you and your store and should always be checked legally. I found this very comprehensive and adequate for my stores.

Terms of Service:

Godaddy.com says:

“Terms of Use" (sometimes called "Terms of Service" or "Terms and Conditions") is a way for you to set up rules and regulations for visitors using your business's website. It's also a way to protect your business by limiting liability if a customer were to take you to court. Although there's no actual legal requirement for defining the terms and conditions for using your website, you might consider creating some for legal protection.”

Privacy Policy

In an eCommerce store, we collect personal data from our customers. You need to let your customers know how you handle their personal data, how you are protecting their data, how they can control their own data. If your customer requests their data from you, you are legally bound to give it to them and not keep it.

Feeprivacypolicy.com says:

“A well-written Privacy Policy protects you from unnecessary risks or legal issues that could arise from conflicts with customers over the management of their personal data. It also protects you from legal issues with regulators and third parties requiring you to have a Privacy Policy. “

If you are dealing with California online customers, you need to have all of the CalOPPA (California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003) information in your privacy policy.

If you have EU customers, you need to know more about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which went into effect in May 2018. These regulations create a higher level of privacy protection for any EU resident. Just because you think you do not sell in the EU, you might have EU residents shopping online while they are in the USA.

So, whatever you do, always try to cover every eventuality. This might develop as you grow your business, but always keep in mind to add more information.

Refund Policy

I think this is an essential part of the legal documents for any retail business to provide to their customers. This definitely can convince a customer to trust your store, and it could be essential to closing the order.

Websitepolicies.com says:

“A refund policy is exactly as it sounds - a policy that dictates the terms of any refunds or returns, which may be offered by the website or eCommerce store. As a consumer, you are certainly familiar with this concept. Before you make a purchase, you may decide to review the refund policy of a given website or store to make sure you are comfortable with the terms. For instance, if a site says that "all sales are final" and no refunds will be issued, you may think twice about placing an order. On the other hand, if another business offers a "60-day, no questions asked" refund, you will be more comfortable with spending your money on their site.”

Create Your Legal Pages

Shopify makes it very easy to add legal policies to your store.

The default information will be automatically generated for you in the box. Check the information to see if you need to change anything. Remember to SAVE!!!

Step 1.

Refund Policy

Let's start with the Refund Policy.

You must edit this page to reflect your company's and store's information.
The default page only provides suggestions for you to use.

Click on the 'Create From Template,' and a detailed policy will be created for you.

Step 2.

Once you have edited the page to your satisfaction, Save!

Step 3.

Create a ‘Page’ titled ‘Refund Policy’ or ‘Return and Refund Policy’.

Copy and paste the information from the ‘Legal’ section into the new Refund Policy page.

Step 4.

Add the legal page you created to your navigation.

Step 5.

You should include your legal and other information that your customers would need in your footer menu.

In Shopify, the footer menu is called 'FOOTER MENU', but I recommend changing it to ‘Information' or something more descriptive.

Step 6.

Privacy Policy

Next is your Privacy Policy page.

Unlike the refund policy, you shouldn't have to make as many changes to this page.
In my opinion, you don't have to change much about this page since it covers the majority of your privacy needs. Your information may need to be modified or you may need to add more information throughout the page.

Example - [[INSERT DESCRIPTIONS OF OTHER TYPES OF TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES USED]] or [[INSERT ANY OTHER PAYMENT TYPES ACCEPTED]])

Unless you have more information, I would suggest deleting any information you do not need.

Click on the 'Create From Template,' and a detailed policy will be created for you.

Step 7.

You can now copy and paste the information into the new Privacy Policy page under 'Online Store' and 'Pages.'

Step 8.

Terms of Service

The Terms of Service page you can create and probably leave as is.

You will copy and paste the information into the new Terms of Service Policy page.

Click on the 'Create From Template,' and a detailed policy will be created for you.

Step 9.

Shipping Policy

The last page is your Shipping Policy page. There is no 'Create From Template,' button. The shipping information you will have to create yourself.

You should give your customers as much information as possible. If you are new, you might have to add more information later, according to your customers' questions. In the beginning, you can add enough shipping information from your shipping carriers to satisfy your customers.

Try to answer some of the shipping questions and add more information that you create yourself on your page in your own words.

Remember, this is about giving information to your customers by which they make an informed decision to buy from you.

For instance:

• How long your shipping time is (check with your shipping carrier) and other pertinent information your customer will need to know what will happen when that package is on the way.
• What happens if it gets damaged, or when do they get their tracking code, what happens if it goes to the wrong address, etc.

Don't forget to add your International shipping policy. If you do not ship internationally, you still have to let prospective buyers know what your policy is.

Example: We do not ship internationally

Her is an example for your Shipping Information page: (DO NOT COPY - USE OWN WORDS)

Below find some examples from my clients. DO NOT COPY!

Curated from the Shipping pages of 'TheMissingPiecePuzzle.com.'

INTERNATIONAL SALES & SHIPPING

International Sales must be approved and paid in full prior to shipment.

Shipping and handling do not include any broker fees, customs fees, or taxes imposed on shipments entering the destination country, nor is OAS liable for payment of them.

PLEASE NOTE: All orders shipping outside the continental US cannot be placed through our online service.

Call Customer Service at [telephone number] ext 101 for details.

OR you can be really detailed:

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING & CUSTOM INFORMATION

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING & RETURNS/REFUNDS

International orders, we ship USPS First Class International Mail without tracking. Please feel free to ask questions prior to ordering as we do not accept returns on items.

We collect postage that covers our cost of shipping and handling from the United States via USPS First Class International Mail.

We DO NOT collect any other duties or fees. All customs duty fees and taxes are the responsibility of the buyer. Customs duties, taxes, VAT, brokerage fees, or tariffs could be applied to your package at the discretion of your local customs officers or post office, and we have absolutely no control over this, nor do we know how much will be collected from you.

We also do not have any control over customs or the packages that they may randomly inspect, and cannot guarantee that your puzzle will or will not be subject to searches through customs. We can tell you that our puzzles that we ship no more likely to be inspected than any other package.

We do not accept forced returns.

Please feel free to ask questions prior to ordering as we do not accept returns on any items. It is important to note that undeliverable packages or packages that go unclaimed by the customer will not be refunded. We reserve the right to charge for additional shipping should your package return to us. We also reserve the right to refuse returns. Any package sent back to us without express written permission will result in it being treated as abandoned property.

Please Check Our Return Policy

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS

We collect postage that simply covers our cost of shipping and handling from the United States via USPS First Class International Mail. We DO NOT collect any other duties or fees. All customs duty fees and taxes are the responsibility of the buyer. Customs duties, taxes, VAT, brokerage fees, or tariffs could be applied to your package at the discretion of your local customs officers or post office, and we have absolutely no control over this, nor do we know how much will be collected from you. We also do not have any control over customs or the packages that they may randomly inspect, and cannot guarantee that your puzzle will or will not be subject to searches through customs. We can tell you that our puzzles that we ship no more likely to be inspected than any other package.

Please feel free to ask questions prior to ordering as we do not accept returns on any items. PLEASE see international shipping information prior to ordering.

NOTE: DO NOT COPY ANYTHING VERBATIM. Google tends to frown on copy and pasting other people's information. We will discuss this more in the Products article.

Why do you need to create ‘Pages’ for your legal information?

The policies you create in your ‘Legal’ section cannot be added to your navigation.

If you have a Free Theme from Shopify, the Shipping Policy is automatically added to your product page and sometimes to your Footer menu. If you have a paid Theme, you have to add it to your navigation and product pages, depending on your paid Theme.

It is a good practice to add the information you have created in your ‘Legal’ section to individual pages. These pages can then be added to your menu as needed.

Step 10.

Add the legal information to your ‘Pages’. Add your ‘Pages’ to your navigation/menu.

Next, we will start with the structure of your store with your collections and products.

RESOURCES:

Great information from a GoDaddy blog.

https://www.godaddy.com/garage/does-your-website-really-need-terms-of-use/

Really good information on this site.

https://www.websitepolicies.com/blog/what-is-refund-policy

Check Out Of The Sandbox Themes - I have used a lot of themes from Out of the Sandbox. OOTS renews their templates all the time and adds new options through an App and all of their templates are excellent.

What is next?

In the next article, we will discuss storyboarding your collections in your Shopify store - Coming Soon (7/21/2021)

There are several articles dedicated to all of the Shopify ‘Settings’ section to set up your online business.

1. How Important Is Your Business Information In Shopify #3

Business information for your Shopify store is the foundation of your online store to keep your protected.

2. Setup Your Financials In Shopify.

Payment options, checkout and understanding of your money is important. Here are 4 articles dedicated to the 'Payment' options in your 'Settings' in Shopify.

• How To Set Up Your Financial Information In Shopify? #4
• How To Set Up PayPal Express & Amazon Pay In Your Shopify Store #4
• How To Get Paid From Your Payment Provider In Shopify? #4
• How To Set Up Your Checkout Your Shopify Store #4

3. How To Set Up Your Shipping & Distribution Locations In Your Shopify Store #5

Set up your locations and rates of your store so the process is seamless.

4. How To Set Up & Optimize Your Automated Email Notifications in Shopify #6

Personalize your email notifications with your brand and voice.

5. How To Set Up All Your Legal Requirements In Shopify #7

Your legal documentation for your eCommerce store to protect your business.

FIND MORE HELPFUL ARTICLES - The helpful guide to starting your Shopify Store

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