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Writing Terms of Service

Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
Tara and I need to write our terms of service for Mason Dixon Reptiles. I am hoping for suggestions from those of you who have done this before as to what we should incorporate. Any suggestions you might have will be greatly appreciated!
 
I have customers send me double the money up front. After I’ve shipped the snakes if I feel good about everything, I send back half the money.
 
Every customer has to purchase the same or similar item for Wade. Any that would be duplicates for Wade can be shipped to me. I have limited space and funds, so after about 3 we can do a drawing for the next person on the forum to get Wades duplicates.
 
All you have to do is check out a few members personal sites, they're all pretty much the same. I think when I did mine, I borrowed from Susan, Jeff, Carol, etc. then reworded and changed to fit my needs...

The one very important one that I put at the top was, "Must be over 18 or parents must contact me directly for approval." That cut down on a whole lot of kids emailing me...
 
I think I stole some from Joe's. LOL. However, I think these two lines are very important:

"I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANY ONE AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON. "

and

"Prices and terms subject to change without notice."
 
You can find what you need by checking out other sellers' websites so I just have one suggestion -I would encourage you not to drown your TOS in fine print. You can say what you need to without making it a page long of fine print... I have seen some TOS pages that are downright intimidating to the point that it kind of put me off from a purchase. Yes it is important to mention a few things to protect yourself, but it's also good to seem like a friendly seller, not one that expects everyone to be out to rip you off.
 
That is a good point Jen. I had an attorney write up a contract for me, in my cabinet business, once that I would have customers sign. Since I paid for it the attorney wrote it to protect me in everyway. It was so one sided in my favor I had customers who actually read it refuse to sign it.
 
I borrowed from quite a few on here as well, notably Kathy, Carol, Jen P, Brent...and anyone who wants can borrow from me too!
 
I've been looking at a variety of people's TOS. I have noticed that no one has anything in their TOS regarding the possibility of salmonella infection if the animals is improperly cared for and handled. I have always wondered about an individual sellers liability in the event that a person purchases a reptile from them and gets sick from doing something stupid with it.

What is everyone elses opinion regarding this?
 
I've never thought of that. You don't get any warnings from the grocery store about chicken which is probably a bigger concern than snakes. I think I won't advise you but will not worry about it myself.
 
True. Perhaps as a teacher I am a little more leery of litigation. I can be sued for a kid not doing well in my class... it's not a big jump to this. ;)
 
You can always tell who has been at online sales for a long time by the length of their TOS. Mostly this is due to the few bad apples of buyers who have twisted your toss around to benefit them in an inappropriate way. As a seller, you have to protect yourself, so be very clear.
 
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