2020 has been a difficult year and significantly disrupted so many businesses. However, in most challenges exists opportunity.
Many businesses have had to cut back spend where they can and are having to DIY things they might otherwise have outsourced, such as marketing. For businesses that usually provide these services, many are pivoting to reflect the current needs and budgets of their customers, and instead of providing their usual services to their customers, they are instead providing them with training opportunities and editable templates which enable them to better DIY those services.
Some businesses are even finding that offering training on how to DIY their services can be more lucrative than actually providing the services themselves, as they are less limited by their own time expenditure on each engagement and head towards a more “passive” income model.
Regardless of how you end up there, if you find yourself selling online courses or digital products, you will need to create some terms and conditions in connection with your new offering. When you do so, here’s just a few of the issues you’ll need to consider:
1. Acceptance of your terms
Your terms and conditions constitute a legal contract between yourself and your customers. Accordingly, you should ensure that they have been properly accepted by your customers. It is best to have your customers check a box or insert their name to confirm that they have read the terms and agree to be bound by them (and that they have capacity to be bound by them) at the time they make their purchase of your online course or digital product.
2. What’s included and how your customers can access the materials
Your terms and conditions should set out what’s included in their purchase. They should also detail how your customers can gain access to any materials. For example, will they need to create an account on your website or on third party platforms in order to access them? If they will need to pay to access any software etc. in order to properly use your digital products, this should be set out in your terms and conditions.
3. How long your customers will have access to their materials.
Many online courses run for a set period of time. You should set out how long your customers will have to access the materials if a set time period applies.
Whilst most online courses have an end date, and digital products are commonly purchased as one offs, if you have structured an ongoing membership or subscription model with associated ongoing fees, you should also consider and set out how either party can cancel it.
4. What, how and when your customers will be charged
Payment terms can be complicated. You will need to consider for example whether there will be a one-off payment upfront, smaller ongoing payments over a period or time or an ongoing membership or subscription fee that your customers will pay.
The full price (including the currency they will be charged in) should be clearly set out in your terms and conditions, as well as how your customers will be charged (for example that payments will be processed through third parties such as Stripe or PayPal if applicable) as well as detailing when they will be charged.
If payments are to be ongoing, you should also include an obligation to update any payment information as it changes, for example where credit cards expire and are replaced by new cards.
It’s also important to note in your terms and conditions what will happen if any payments are declined. Usually this will result in the customer being unable to access the online course until the payment has been processed.
5. Refunds
Once a customer has purchased an online course or a digital product, they are often given immediate access to the content. For this reason, it is common for businesses who sell online courses and digital products not to offer refunds due to change of mind or circumstance. If that is the case, then your terms and conditions should clearly state this. You should also take great care to ensure that you clearly state what it is they are purchasing before they make the purchase and include details of who to contact if they have questions about what is included in the purchase.
6. Protecting ownership in your course materials or digital products
Your terms and conditions should set out who owns the intellectual property rights in the content as well as strictly prohibit customers from doing things like making your course materials or digital products publicly available, copying and selling them themselves or providing them to third parties who would otherwise have to pay for your course or products to access and use them.
7. Reliance on your materials and liability
The nature of online courses and digital products are that they are not customised to reflect each customer’s individual needs or requirements. Suitable disclaimers should be used in your terms and conditions to reflect this and it may be desirable to limit your liability in relation to certain issues.
8. Third party platform continuity and rules
If you intend to offer your online course via a third party platform, or to properly use your digital products you customers will need to access other third party software, you should set this out in your terms and conditions.
As you are not able to warrant the ongoing continuity of those platforms, or that there will be no disruption to them, suitable disclaimers should be inserted to reflect this.
You should also set out how the course will otherwise be delivered or how else they can use their digital products if a third-party provider ceases to maintain the platform or software.
Third party platforms often have their own terms and conditions your customers may need to accept prior to accessing them and this should be made clear to your customers at the time of purchase.
9. Privacy
Your terms and conditions should set out how you will handle your customers’ personal information. This may just confirm that you will handle their personal information in accordance with your privacy policy and direct them to where they can find it.
10. Applicable Law
As you may sell your online courses or digital products to customers located interstate and overseas, your terms and conditions should state which laws will apply. You would usually state the laws of the jurisdiction in which you are located.
The above are just some of the issues that should be considered when you are creating your terms and conditions for your online course or digital product. Working with a lawyer to create your terms and conditions can help you identify the key risks in your offering and tailor your terms and conditions to protect you.
If you’re ready to launch your online course or sell your digital products, contact us to discuss your terms and conditions.
For further information about creating terms and conditions for your online courseS or digital products, contact us.
Information contained within this blog post is intended to be general information only and is not in any way intended to constitute legal advice. You should not act or rely on any information found in this blog post without obtaining prior advice specific to your circumstances.
