Do terms of sale apply to consumers as well as businesses?

They can, but consumer sales are heavily regulated in most places, and rights around cancellation, refunds and faulty goods are usually set by law rather than by the seller's terms.

When do these terms become part of the contract?

Usually when they are brought to the buyer's attention before the order is accepted — on the quotation, at checkout, or in the order confirmation. Terms first shown on an invoice often arrive too late.

What is a retention of title clause?

A term keeping ownership with the seller until payment is made, even after delivery. How effective it is, and what steps it needs, depends on local law.

Buying and selling

Terms of sale

The seller's side of the same coin: one set of conditions attached to quotations, order confirmations and invoices so that every sale runs the same way. They cover how an order is accepted, prices and taxes, delivery, when title and risk pass, what the seller warrants, returns, and how late payment is handled. For businesses selling to consumers, a large part of what these terms may say is fixed by consumer protection law in the buyer's country rather than by the seller.

In the catalogue: Buying and selling
Where it can live: Any of the 184 governing laws

Who uses one

Businesses selling goods repeatedly, online or through a sales team.
Manufacturers and wholesalers quoting against standard conditions.
Shops and makers who need one document behind every invoice.

What you are deciding

How an order is accepted, and when the contract exists
Prices, taxes and what is included
Payment terms, and what happens when payment is late
Delivery, and what happens if it slips
When title and risk pass
What the seller warrants, and for how long
Returns, cancellations and refunds
Whether the buyer is a business or a consumer

Blanks you leave stay blank and wait in the room. Nothing is filled in from a guess.

The sections a draft usually has

1Application of these terms
2Orders and acceptance
3Prices and taxes
4Payment and late payment
5Delivery
6Title and risk
7Warranties
8Returns and cancellation
9Limits on liability
10Governing law

A general outline, not a required one. What turns up in a draft follows what you described. A contract is written in the order a contract is read.

What people call it

The names this kind of paper goes by. They are here because people search for them. They also filter the catalogue. They are not a wordlist the door matches. At the composer you describe the deal in your own words instead.

terms of sale
terms and conditions of sale
seller terms
standard trading terms
sales terms and conditions
conditions of sale

Questions people ask

Do terms of sale apply to consumers as well as businesses?: They can, but consumer sales are heavily regulated in most places, and rights around cancellation, refunds and faulty goods are usually set by law rather than by the seller's terms.
When do these terms become part of the contract?: Usually when they are brought to the buyer's attention before the order is accepted — on the quotation, at checkout, or in the order confirmation. Terms first shown on an invoice often arrive too late.
What is a retention of title clause?: A term keeping ownership with the seller until payment is made, even after delivery. How effective it is, and what steps it needs, depends on local law.

General answers about the document. Not advice about your situation. Not written about any one country.

Where it lives

A contract names the legal system it is governed by. That is a separate decision from which paper it is. You pick it at the door, from any of the 184 units in Governing law, including England and Wales, Delaware, California and New York.

You do not start from this page. Describe the deal in one sentence at the door. Read the draft back in plain language, in the order a contract is read.

Start it at the door →

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