How To Set Up a Privacy Policy & Terms of Service On Your Website
Breaking Down the Options from Free to High Cost
Terms & Conditions and a Privacy Policy are some of those non-glamorous things about a website that no one ever really needs or refers to… until they need them. It’s like having a contract between two parties IRL; the purpose is just to set expectations of who is responsible for what, outlining the parameters of the relationship, and explaining what will happen in the event that your contract is breached.
When it comes to these things, I typically say there are 4 options to consider. There are low/no-cost routes that come with a little bit more risk/exposure. There are higher-paid options that are more iron-clad. You’ll need to decide which is best for you based on where your business is at now. You can always update later on as your business changes or grows.
Also, just as a reminder: I am not a lawyer and so all of the information I provide here is just based on my own experience in building hundreds of websites for clients in a wide range of industries. It is ultimately your responsibility to make sure that your site is legal and compliant with all pertinent laws. If you have any questions about privacy, GDPR, or other legal things, I am happy to give you my opinion but it should not be considered a substitute for the actual guidance of a legal professional.
Now that I’ve provided the legal fine print, here are my recommendations:
FREE
Do a quick Google of “free website privacy policy” or something like that and you’ll get a bunch of results. Most of them look pretty spammy or come with a catch, naturally.
If you are using Shopify, I recommend checking out their free policy templates. If you want to check these out before signing up, just be sure to click the box to opt-out of the 14-free trial and you can have some pretty rock-solid templates sent to your inbox in seconds.
Check this box to opt out of the free trial of Shopify.
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/tools/policy-generator/terms-and-conditions" class="sqs-block-button-element--medium sqs-block-button-element" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" data-initialized="true" >Shopify Terms & Conditions Generator</a>
The biggest thing to really note on these is that they are free because they are as generic as humanly possible. They are meant to be one-size-fits-all which, just like clothing, may not actually fit you. So, caveat emptor.
LOW COST ($10/MO OR $99/YEAR)
Terms & policies are often seen as a set-it-and-forget-it type thing but laws change (often!) and when they do, you should make sure you’re up to date with the latest. My recommended low-cost option to create semi-custom policies is Termageddon. (Hint: this is where I get my own privacy policy & terms of service from.)
At just $10/mo or $99 for the year, Termageddon will make sure that you’re always legal and in compliance with all the latest security and GDPR laws. A license includes a privacy policy, terms & conditions, disclaimer, and EULA. (Note that all but the privacy polilcy are good for the US only.) You just answer some simple questions and a small snippet of code is generated that you can share with me to embed on your site. Once that’s done, you really can forget about this!
AFFILIATE BONUS: You can use my code KRISTINE for 10% off your first year!
MEDIUM COST ($200 - $450 ONE-TIME)
Right at the sweet spot of affordable + prepared by an actual lawyer are the templates provided by The Creative Law Shop. For the record, this is where I source all of my own contracts, agreements, and other legal templates from. I feel good knowing that a real lawyer has prepared all of the documents and that I have lifetime access to any future template updates. Although some of the templates on the site do cater to those in creative/service fields such as mine, the privacy policy and terms & conditions templates are perfect for any business. I highly recommend these if you’re looking to save money versus hiring an attorney.
AFFILIATE BONUS: You can use my code KRISTINENEIL10 for 10% off any purchase!
Website Basics Bundle (This combines both of the templates below into one bundle and saves $25 versus buying them separately.)
HIGH COST ($$$)
Of course, there’s no substitute for the real thing so if you have a very unique business, do some really out-of-the-ordinary things with user data, or just want to make sure you’re 100% covered, hire a lawyer. Preferably one that is familiar with your business, your industry, and (most importantly) eCommerce / websites. This is obviously the highest cost option but worth talking to your attorney about especially if they are working on other contracts or agreements for you. If you get lucky, you may even find a lawyer who is willing to just review the documents you generated yourself using one of the options above which would help keep costs down. It never hurts to ask!
