Writing Your Site's Basics!

**Baby Boy** · 04-12-06, 01:37 AM

As many of you around here know already, I am trying to start up my E-Commerce urban apparel store. I have the software picked out, I have a start SSL certificate I want to use, I have the host (atleast they are hosting me for NOW... not that they are bad, but I need a dedicated server, a fast one which they don't have any of) and the contacts of the urban apparel warehouse's wholesale departments.

Now I need to plan some legal things out right now... once again, many of you know about me getting copyrights and everything done for the site, trademarking the name... but what e-commerce store goes without the BASICS.

What I am talking about is some help for writing a:

1. Privacy Policy
2. Copyright
3. Shipping Info
4. Returns Policy
5. Security Policy

How would I go about writing these and take these into consideration for the site, like what kind of stuff should I include in them and would I be best to get somebody to just write one for me instead (maybe g1c9 can help me out here too.)

anne · 04-12-06, 06:30 AM

I would recommend getting assistance from a lawyer, if you have one you a friendly with that won't charge the earth. If this is a real business you are running its not worth taking the chance of leaving any loopholes.

iTechSmart · 04-12-06, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anne

I would recommend getting assistance from a lawyer, if you have one you a friendly with that won't charge the earth. If this is a real business you are running its not worth taking the chance of leaving any loopholes.

I agree with getting a lawyer to check it out but to save you some dollars I would also recommend a few options before you go there.

Firstly you can buy legal content from the many sites that that sell them. Prices vary greatly between site to site as well as quality. Else you can go to site to site, look at thier layout, content and what it covers and use them as a template and create your own making sure you can cover as much as you can without writing a book (like I sometimes do.

)

When you have something set up already, go and see your lawyers telling him exactly what your looking for and he can look over and correct your policies and hopefully save you some money as well.

Shane

**Baby Boy** · 04-12-06, 11:53 AM

Could you refer me to some of these sites iTechSmart (that actually sell their policies or whatever) and do either one of you have any site recommendations for finding a cheap lawyer... I can probably do a search but the most best hidden resources are deep in other people's findings.

Help me out

iTechSmart · 04-12-06, 06:33 PM

Sorry I can't really be much help but the places I got legal forms from are www.sitepoint.com/books/freelance1 and www.creativepublic.com and they are more designed for web designers.

Just go to Google and look up legal forms, some sites give you a few free forms so you can see the quality and choose from there.

Sorry I can't be of more help to you.

Shane

**Baby Boy** · 04-12-06, 10:48 PM

^^ Its fine, thanks, that was more then enough help iTechSmart.

GaryH · 04-27-06, 09:18 AM

My suggestion is to visit a few web sites and see how they have done these same functions. After visiting several and comparing, I would use the one I liked best as a template and modify that one to meet your needs. Our company has procurred lawyers services many times, but lawyers tend to have a very narrow focus and we haven't found one whose focus was small Internet businesses just getting started. When you pay a lawyer to work on something that is outside his area of focus, consider that you are paying an amateur to perform that task. This approach worked for us.

Gary Helwig
Beads & Jewelry Making Supplies by WigJig

**Avix** · 04-27-06, 09:59 AM

unless your loaded I would advise trying to find a prewritten template... I went to a company about getting some similar documents written last year and they wanted nearly £100 an hour.

GlobalWebDan · 04-27-06, 07:25 PM

If you are serious about your business, definitely consult with qualified legal counsel. You may not understand the purpose of spending so much now, but I can guarantee that you will see the benefits of these solidly-built legal documents down the road.

**Baby Boy** · 04-27-06, 08:34 PM

Alright, very helpful advice everybody... but what should I consider for a online retail clothing store, any helpful advice on what to cover over in these documents?