Terms and Conditions for Shopify Stores: What You Actually Need

If you run a Shopify store, you need legal documents - but the built-in Shopify templates are pretty bare. Here is what your store actually needs and why the defaults fall short.

What Shopify gives you by default

Shopify includes a refund policy, privacy policy, and terms of service generator in the admin. These are generic templates that give you a starting point. But they are not customized to your products, business model, or location.

A store selling digital downloads has very different refund rules than one selling handmade goods. A UK-based store has different legal requirements than one based in the US. The Shopify defaults do not account for any of this.

What your Shopify store needs

Terms and Conditions

This is the main agreement between you and your customers. For an ecommerce store, it should cover:

• Order acceptance - when is an order actually confirmed? Most stores say acceptance happens when the item ships, not when the order is placed. This protects you if stock runs out or payment fails.
• Product descriptions - a disclaimer that photos and descriptions are as accurate as possible but minor variations may occur
• Pricing errors - your right to cancel orders with incorrect prices
• Prohibited uses - reselling your products, scraping your site, etc.
• Governing law - which state or country handles disputes
• Limitation of liability - caps on what you can be held responsible for

Refund and Return Policy

This is arguably more important than T&C for an ecommerce store. You need to be specific:

• How many days does a customer have to return something?
• Do they need a receipt or order number?
• Who pays return shipping?
• Are digital products refundable?
• What condition does the item need to be in?
• How long until they get their refund?

Vague refund policies create disputes. Specific ones prevent them.

Privacy Policy

Shopify stores collect a significant amount of personal data - names, addresses, payment info, browsing behavior through cookies. A Privacy Policy is legally required in most jurisdictions and also required by Shopify itself.

Your Privacy Policy needs to cover how you collect, use, and share customer data - including what third-party apps you use (like Klaviyo, Google Analytics, or Facebook Pixel).

Cookie Policy

If you use tracking pixels, analytics, or retargeting (most stores do), you need a Cookie Policy. In the EU, you also need cookie consent before setting non-essential cookies.

The Shopify-specific stuff

A few things specific to Shopify stores:

Checkout terms acceptance. Shopify lets you add a Terms checkbox at checkout. Use it. It creates a clickwrap agreement that is much stronger legally than just having a link in the footer.

Third-party apps. If you use Shopify apps that process customer data (email marketing, loyalty programs, reviews), your Privacy Policy should mention them.

Dropshipping. If you dropship, your T&C should cover longer shipping windows, the fact that products may ship from international warehouses, and your policy on lost or damaged shipments.

Get your Shopify legal docs sorted

Our Terms & Conditions Generator and Refund Policy Generator are both designed for ecommerce stores and ask the right questions about your products, return window, and business model.

Both are free. Takes about 5 minutes combined.