Digital products are all the rage these days and for good reason – you create a product once, put it up for sale on your website, and BOOM! The opportunity to generate income without having to be hands on every day. 

Easy enough, right?! Sort of…

While it’s true that digital products do allow you to be a little more hands off once the product is launched, it still requires a little more heavy lifting on the front end to ensure that you’re selling them legally.

Whether you’re designing Canva templates, selling an online course, or creating a digital workbook, if you want to protect your business, your intellectual property, and your customer relationships, you need to set up the right legal foundation before you start selling.

The good news is that the legal side of your digital product business doesn’t have to be the thing that holds you up – keep reading for all of the legal things that every digital product seller needs to know! 

Why Legal Protection Matters for Digital Product Sellers

When you sell a service, there’s usually a clear client agreement involved, but with digital products, many business owners mistakenly assume that because the transaction happens automatically, there’s no need for contracts.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth! In fact, I’d even be willing to argue that the very nature of an instant, automated transaction makes having a contract even more important – just as critical as (if not more than) when you deliver a service days, weeks, or months later.

That’s where your Terms of Purchase (also referred to as Terms of Use) come into play. This is the digital product version of a client contract that you MUST have with your buyers. 

Your Terms of Purchase for your digital products are the rules of the road for how your products can be purchased, accessed, and used. Without them, you leave yourself vulnerable to refund disputes, unauthorized distribution of your work, or even someone reselling your product as their own.

Having the right legal language in place gives you peace of mind, sets boundaries with your customers, and shows that you take your business seriously, no matter how new or “small” it might be.

The Legal Basics Every Digital Product Seller Needs

So now that you know why legal protection for your digital products matter, let’s get into the basics of what you need to include in the Terms of Purchase mentioned above:

✔️ Refund Policy

Unlike coaching or other services-based businesses, digital products are usually delivered instantly, which is why many digital product creators have a strict no-refund policy.

This is a totally legitimate policy to have in place and allows you as a digital product seller to ensure that people aren’t buying and accessing your product, getting the information they want, and then turning around and asking for their money back. 

Your Terms of Purchase should make this crystal clear so buyers know what to expect before they purchase!

✔️ Licensing Terms

This is where you spell out exactly how customers are allowed to use your product.

Can they only use it for personal purposes? Do they get a limited commercial license? Are they strictly prohibited from copying, redistributing, or reselling?

A strong license clause in your Terms of Purchase ensures your intellectual property isn’t misused.

✔️ Copyright Language

Copyright is something that digital product sellers have to be incredibly aware of and take all the necessary steps to make sure that the product(s) you work so hard on aren’t being copied or misused in any way. 

In the online business world, it’s unfortunately extremely common for people to buy and download a digital product and then create another version of it and take credit for the content as their own. 

Though you can’t fully prevent someone from doing this veryyyy wrong and unethical act, you CAN make sure that your Terms of Purchase explicitly states that the product is protected by copyright and remains your intellectual property.

Then, if or when someone copies your digital product anyways, you can take these steps because you’re legally protected.

✔️ Access and Delivery Details

Because your product is digital, you need to address what happens if there are issues with delivery or access. For example, if someone can’t log into your course platform, are you responsible? How can they contact you? And when can they expect to hear back from you?

Clarifying details like these upfront prevents unnecessary disputes down the road.

✔️ Disclaimers Tailored to your Niche

Lastly, if you sell products for industries like health, fitness, finance, or business advice, you’ll want a disclaimer that sets limits on the results your buyers can expect.

For example, if you sell a fitness program and someone claims they didn’t lose weight, or you sell a budgeting template and a buyer still ends up in debt, your disclaimer makes it clear that you can’t guarantee specific results.

The Easiest Way To Protect Your Digital Products From The Start

If you’re just getting started selling digital products, NOW is the time to make sure you’re set up with the right legal foundation and that’s exactly why I created the Terms of Purchase for Digital Goods and Services contract template. 

It covers all the essentials mentioned above, PLUS wayyyyy more digital product clauses so that you can confidently launch your digital shop or course without worrying about legal gaps.

This contract template keeps you from having to play the guessing game with what to include in your purchase terms and instead allows you to stay in your creative zone!

And even if you’ve already launched your digital products, but you know the legal side of things isn’t as great as it could be, it’s not too late to fix them. CLICK HERE to grab the Terms of Purchase template and start protecting your digital products as soon as today. 👏🏼

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