Writing up your own Terms of Service? Advice?

[Equinox]

Look, I'm still pretty new to these forums, but I thought I'd ask you guys anyway, where do you get your TOS from?
What tips are there to prevent loopholes in your Terms Of Service? Can you recommend a host who has a good Legal script so I can get some ideas. I am looking for information pertaining to Design and 3rd Party (aka Reseller) hosting.

Just a thought...dont post here just telling me to get a lawyer, cause at the moment I just cant afford it...thanks in advance!

~Equinox

 

[Artashes]

I was actually surprised, but when I spoke to my professor of law, he told me that using other firms' legal documents for your own use is not illegal.

If you are a reseller, the chances are they will allow you to use their existing terms of service for your web site. Most do, just ask them.

If you are going on your own, what I would suggest you to do if lawyer is not an option - study 5 good terms of service documents and write your own, based on them.

Best,

 

[Simon]

The main thing you have to consider, is "are these terms of service actually legal in the county/province/state/country in which my business is registered?"

We had a lawyer write (and back) ours, because of this very issue.

In my opinion, you should only include terms that you can literally call on a court of law, to enforce. You may be abloe to take the solicitor out of the equation, but this should only be done with some extensive research, to see if when push came to shove, would a solictor actually side with you on the agreement, or would you be left to fend for yourself, because of contradictions with provincial/state/county/nation-wide law.


Simon

 

[Fisherman]

My advice would be to review the TOS your reseller/server provider currently use. This will give you a thorough understanding (depending on how well written the terms of service is) of what you need to include in your document.