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Terms of Service Agreement for Freelancers

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Terms and Conditions

I’m proud to say that I’ve formally had an article published on the Freelance Switch website. This is a great place to get tips, advice and job opportunities for any freelancer.

The article on writing up a comprehensive Terms and Conditions agreement was just published recently. It details the conditions that need to be established before launching into a project with a new client to avoid nasty surprises.

Since one commenter wanted to have some kind of document as a template to base their Terms Agreement form on, I decided to make it available here for downloading. Update: This version has been updated to 1.4.0 and has several enhancements which are described in the document itself.

It is in RTF format, so it can be opened by most any text editor or word processor. For those using this document as a template, please feel free to alter it as needed for your particular situation. Make sure you remove my particulars like my business name.

This document may be updated periodically as it becomes more comprehensive. So you may want to return from time to time to get the latest version.

Send feedback

  1. Your a real star for providing this. Very much appreciated. Anthony

    — Anthony · Jun 13, 05:21 AM · #

  2. thank you so much for making this available online! Best online sample I’ve found so far written from the freelancer’s point-of-view.

    — eek · Jun 13, 02:36 PM · #

  3. After a recent bad experience I am putting together my own set of business terms – your article has been invaluable!

    — Jamie Buchanan · Aug 5, 03:49 PM · #

  4. Hi,
    The agreement template was really really really Helpful for me. THank you so much.
    Btw Im an experienced web developer and interested to join your team as a developer to give you my best support.

    Thanks again
    Shondhi

    — Shondhi · Sep 15, 07:27 AM · #

  5. Your article was really wonderful and it helped me to write up my terms and conditions immensely!

    I have one question though.

    I am going to be creating websites for customers and I am not sure if there is a different between them signing a contract or them simply clicking the check box that they agree to the terms and conditions.

    As of right now I have a terms of service button for them to click and read about viewing content on the website.

    Yet then I have a separate contract outlining the agreement for our business relationship.

    Is 2 separate documents the way to go?

    Can’t find the anwser anywhere so thank you so much.

    -Matt

    — Matt Geller · Feb 22, 07:24 PM · #

  6. @Matt

    There may not be a one-size-fits-all solution for every situation. The document template I prepared is intended to cover as many situations as possible as a baseline for a good relationship with the client and to provide protections for both parties as well as make sure expectations are spelled out in writing to avoid unpleasant surprises.

    For most projects and clients who act in good faith, there is not much risk of a disagreement over terms of the business relationship. But on a major project involving lots of money and complex issues, I do find it helpful to create a separate contract that deals in specifics towards that particular client’s request that may not apply to anyone else. Plus, I add a reference in that contract to my general ToSA and that the client has read and agreed to the general terms that all clients agree to on top of the specialized contract’s terms.

    There’s no harm in being very explicit and even redundant, as long as you’re consistent. Problems generally arise more from unwritten terms, so write up as many documents as you need to make sure everyone’s on the same page, so to speak.

    — Gary H · Mar 8, 10:01 AM · #

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