Why these pages are not optional
If you sell from your own website, the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 treat you as an e-commerce entity. If you own the stock and sell it directly, you are an inventory e-commerce entity, with its own list of duties. Payment gateways add their own checks before they switch on live payments. So a handful of plain pages decide whether you can take money at all. None of them need legal jargon. They need to be clear, accurate and easy to find.
Each page at a glance
| Page | Required by | What it must say |
|---|---|---|
| Contact and seller details | E-Commerce Rules, rule 4(2) | Legal name, address, website name, customer care email and phone |
| Grievance officer | E-Commerce Rules, rules 4(4) and 4(5) | Name, designation and contact details of the officer |
| Return, refund and shipping policy | E-Commerce Rules, rule 7(1), and payment gateways | Return and refund terms, return shipping cost, delivery details |
| Privacy policy | Payment gateways today, and the DPDP Act from May 2027 | What data you collect, why, and who answers questions about it |
| Terms of service | Payment gateways | Pricing, payment, cancellation and how disputes are handled |
Seller details and grievance officer
Rule 4 asks every e-commerce entity to show its legal name, its main address and branches, its website name, and contact details for customer care and the grievance officer. These must be clear and easy to see. You must also appoint a grievance officer and display their name, contact details and designation. That officer must acknowledge a complaint within 48 hours and resolve it within one month. On a small store, the grievance officer is usually you. Put these details on a Contact page and link it from the footer.
Return, refund and shipping policy
Rule 7 asks inventory sellers to give accurate information on returns, refunds, exchanges, warranty, delivery and shipment. It also covers the cost of return shipping, payment modes and how complaints are handled. You cannot refuse to take back goods that are defective, not as described, or delivered late. Late delivery is excused only for force majeure. Write one clear page that covers all of this. Then link it on every product page and at checkout.
Privacy policy
Your store collects names, phone numbers and addresses on every order. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 governs how you handle that data. Its main duties start 18 months after 13 November 2025, which means May 2027. From then, you must publish contact details for someone who can answer buyers' questions about their data. Payment gateways already ask for a privacy policy today. So write it now, and update it as the new duties arrive.
Terms of service
No single rule dictates your terms of service, but gateways expect one. Keep it short. Cover who you are, how prices and payments work, and when an order counts as confirmed. Explain your cancellation terms. The E-Commerce Rules bar cancellation charges unless you bear similar charges when you cancel an order yourself. Finally, say how buyers can raise a dispute, and point to your grievance officer.
What payment gateways check
Razorpay runs instant checks on your website and its policy pages during activation. It looks for Terms and Conditions, a Privacy Policy, a Shipping Policy, Contact Us, and Cancellation and Refunds. Until these are live, you cannot get live API keys or take payments on your site. Other gateways run similar checks. The Storemate starts every store with draft return, shipping, terms and privacy pages that you edit and publish. You begin from a real draft, not a blank page. For anything unusual in your business, check with a lawyer.