If you read this title and clicked on this blog post, it’s probably because you’re wondering when in the world it became LEGAL to steal something!
I hear you… it sounds absolutely insane and totally not a legitimate thing, right?
Well just imagine this for a moment:
You’ve poured hours into creating a high-value digital product. Maybe it’s an e-book, a course, or a set of design templates. You launch it, people start buying, and everything seems great…
UNTIL you find out that someone else is selling your work as their own.
Skrrtttt. Not cool! And totally illegal.
You’re ready to take legal action, so you connect with an e-commerce business lawyer and start explaining what happened and they ask you one simple question – “well, what does your Terms of Purchase say?”
“My terms of what???” 🤔
Turns out you never took the time to legally protect your digital products in the first place, so you actually have little to no legal footing and there’s not much you can do about the person stealing your content and selling it as their own (because you didn’t specify the type of license they were receiving upon purchase).
THAT is how someone can legally steal your digital products. But what’s crazy is that it’s soooo easy to avoid this crazy sounding scenario.
So, if you’re an e-commerce business owner selling digital products and you don’t want this to happen to you, keep reading. You know I’ve got you!
How To Protect Your Digital Products From Being Stolen
Now that you know how easy it is for someone to legally take advantage of your digital products, let’s talk about how to STOP it from happening.
Even though it seems like an insanely crazy thing that can happen, I’m telling you from experience that it happens more than you think, but the good news is that it’s easy for you to get in front of!
All you’ve gotta do is put the right legal protections in place so you can confidently sell your digital products without worrying about theft, chargebacks, or misuse.
And I promise, even though the words “legal protections” might feel pretty intense, it really is much more simple than you may think.
Here’s the 3 essential contracts that every digital seller needs and exactly how they protect you:
1. Terms of Purchase for Digital Goods + Services
If you sell digital products online, this contract is non-negotiable. It outlines exactly what buyers can and cannot do with your products, helping you prevent unauthorized distribution, chargebacks, and refund disputes.
Here’s how this agreement protects your business more specifically:
- Defines how your digital products can be used by clearly stating whether the purchase is for personal or commercial use
- Prohibits reselling or sharing with a clause that stops customers from redistributing your work
- Sets refund and chargeback policies that prevent customers from requesting refunds after downloading or issuing chargebacks to get your product for free (because YES, a “no refund” policy is legitimate when you do it correctly)
- Limits liability by protecting you from being held responsible for how someone uses your product
Overall, without this agreement, buyers could technically claim they didn’t know they weren’t allowed to resell, distribute, or request refunds even after full access.
Beyond protecting the actual products you sell, your website needs a form of protection of its own! Even though a primary job of your website is to sell your digital products, it’s also home to alllll of your original content, including blog posts, graphics, sales pages, and branding.
If you don’t have a Website Terms of Use, visitors may assume they can freely use or repurpose your content however they please.
This contract protects you by:
- Establishing ownership and making it crystal clear that your content (including digital products) belongs to you and cannot be copied or repurposed.
- Setting usage boundaries by specifying how visitors can interact with your website, whether they can use your images or content, and what happens if they violate these terms.
- Limiting liability by helping shield you from potential legal claims if someone misuses your products or website information.
Think of it like putting a “No Trespassing” sign on your website. It tells people what’s off-limits and what the consequences are for ignoring your rules!
Lastly, if you’re collecting any personal data from customers (emails, payment info, names, etc.), you’re legally required to have a Privacy Policy on your website.
And no, this contract isn’t just about legal compliance – it also protects you by:
- Telling customers how their data is collected, stored, and used
- Building trust with buyers by being transparent right from the start
- Keeping you compliant ensuring you meet privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection regulations.
Failing to include a Privacy Policy on your website can cost you big time – and I’m not just talking a couple hundred bucks here and there… more like thousands per user, so yeah maybeeee don’t skip this one!
Your One Stop Shop For Protecting Your Digital Products
Overall, the internet makes selling digital products easier than ever, but it also makes it easier for people to steal them. And like I mentioned above, that can be legally done when you don’t take the time to implement the right legal protections for your business right from the start.
Without these legal contracts in place, your hard work could be shared, resold, or even used against you, and there wouldn’t be much you could do about it.
The good news though is that you don’t have to piece each of these together on your own. With the Digital Product Protection Pack, you can have everything you need to legally safeguard your products, website, and customer data without spending hours trying to figure it out yourself!
With this contract bundle, you’ll get the 3 must-have contract templates for your digital product business, including:
- Terms of Purchase for Digital Goods + Services (valued at $99)
- Website Terms of Use (valued at $49)
- Privacy Policy (valued at $49)
All for a bundled price of only $197! CLICK HERE to grab yours and avoid someone legally stealing your content or products as soon as today.
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