payments terms as legal clauses in terms & conditions

Clauses for Payment Terms

Disclaimer: Legal information is not legal advice

https://termsfeed.com/?utm_source=Article-229&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=Presentations-PDF


Payment terms in your Terms and Conditions agreement can help to protect your business as well as keep your customers informed of

your expectations when it comes to payments.



If your business accepts payments from users through your website and/or mobile app, you can include specific clauses in your Terms and

Conditions agreement or other binding legal agreement (such as User Agreement (1)) that discuss the payment terms.

(1) Link to https://termsfeed.com/blog/examples-user-agreements/


https://termsfeed.com/blog/examples-user-agreements/?utm_source=Article-229&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=Presentations-PDF


Payment terms for SaaS apps



If you have a SaaS apps that allows customers to purchase subscription plans or pay a regular fee at regular intervals (such as a monthly recurring bill), you'll may want to consider adding clauses in your legal agreements that discuss the following:

- Reserving your right to suspend a customer’s service or cancel the customer's account, and what will trigger you to do so,- How renewals will be done - How often a customer will be billed for the service,- If any refunds are provided for canceled subscriptions/contracts or other circumstances,- Reserving your right to change prices of your service at any time



Examples of payment terms clauses



SalesForce (2) includes its payment terms within its Master Subscription Agreement (3) (MSA). This MSA is the binding agreement between subscribers to the services of SalesForce, and SalesForce.

A Refund Policy (4) is discussed in Salesforce's agreement, and users are informed that they cannot decrease their quantity purchased during the relevant subscription terms.

This is important information for users to have, and for SalesForce to insert in the agreement.

(2) Link to http://www.salesforce.com/

(3) Link to http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/misc/salesforce_MSA.pdf

(4) Link to https://termsfeed.com/blog/sample-return-policy-ecommerce-stores/


https://termsfeed.com/blog/sample-return-policy-ecommerce-stores/?utm_source=Article-229&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=Presentations-PDF

http://www.salesforce.com/

http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/misc/salesforce_MSA.pdf


Kissmetrics’ (5) Terms of Use (6) includes a section titled "Fees" to discuss payments.

Additional sections in the agreement go into more detail about each aspect of an account, including billing, refunds, acceptable forms of payment, how to change your subscription, and how to cancel youraccount.

Kissmetrics reserves the right to change fees for its service at any time. This is added as a clause in their agreement.

(5) Link to https://www.kissmetrics.com/

(6) Link to https://www.kissmetrics.com/terms/


https://www.kissmetrics.com/

https://www.kissmetrics.com/terms/


Slack (7) has created a Billing FAQ (8) where questions regarding payments, payment methods, non-payment, and refunds are answered.

While information on payments from customers is included within the Slack Terms of Service (9), the Billing FAQ really helps clarify common questions from customers, such as how to update credit card information, how invoicing works, and how refunds work.

(7) Link to https://slack.com/

(8) Link to https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201723133-Billing-FAQ

(9) Link to https://slack.com/terms-of-service


https://slack.com/

https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201723133-Billing-FAQ

https://slack.com/terms-of-service

Clauses for one-time only payments



Regular, non-SaaS businesses or mobile apps allow customers to make purchases on a one-time basis. This could be anything from purchasing a pair of shoes, making a hotel reservation, or purchasing a mobile app.

By nature of the difference in business types of a SaaS business versus a non-SaaS business, the clauses for payment terms found in the legal agreements for these one-time purchases businesses differ.



Apple (10) includes one main Terms and Conditions (11) agreement that covers a number of its services, including the iTunes Store, Mac App Store, App Store for Apple TV, etc.

The "Terms of Sale" section applies to “all products you pur-chase through the Services.”

This simple, overarching payment terms clause works well for a company like Apple that has a number of ways for customers to purchase electronic media such as songs, movies, and mobile apps.

(10) Link to http://www.apple.com/

(11) Link to http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html


http://www.apple.com/

http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html


Teleadapt (12) has a fully separate Sales Terms & Conditions (13), complete with definitions of key terms used, limitations of liabilities, and other thorough information regarding sales and purchases.

Sections in its "Sales Terms & Conditions" include "Price", "Payment", "Delivery", "Buyer’s Default", and others with clauses regarding payments that work to describe the expectations and obligations of both the buyers and sellers.

(12) Link to http://www.teleadapt.com/

(13) Link to http://www.teleadapt.com/sales-terms-conditions/20


http://www.teleadapt.com/

http://www.teleadapt.com/sales-terms-conditions/20


While the required clauses for payment terms found in the Terms and Conditions of a SaaS app versus the Terms and Conditions of a one-time purchase type of business differ, both should aim to describe to customers the following information:

- What customers are able to purchase,- How customers are able to make purchases - If refunds/returns are possible,- What happens if a customer is supposed to pay for something and doesn’t,- Any other information that customers would need or want to know in order to be fully clear on your payment terms.


payments terms as legal clauses in terms & conditions

Software