Website Terms of Service Review Checklist Before You Accept

The checkbox is next to a hyperlink, go-live is booked, and nobody saved today’s file. Freeze the dated terms and the Accept screen, keyword-scan fee, renew, cancel, arbitrate, train and indemnify, map the price-change and cancel path, then Accept, screenshot, or ask for paper.

On 1 September 2026, Mara — founder, 11-person UK marketplace — has Finance’s yes on a card-and-payouts tool. The AE Slack says just Accept the online terms — everyone does. The checkout shows an unticked box and a blue Terms of Service link. She has 20 minutes. Typical mistake: tick blindly, or freeze for a week she does not have. The hidden risk is paper that moves fees on a Pricing Page, holds a Reserve, and binds later edits by continued use.

The contract is the screen she clicks, not the PDF she meant to read later. US colour, July 2026: Proskauer walks Tejon v. Zeus Networks, 174 F.4th 1322 — a small grey ToS link under large red Subscribe buttons failed inquiry notice. Dahdah v. Rocket Mortgage, 166 F.4th 556 — notice under the button plus “by clicking you agree” did bind. They do not decide her UK click. Save the dated terms and the Accept chrome.

Disclaimer: Checkory provides AI support, not legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for binding decisions.

How do you save the dated terms you are about to accept?

Before the tick, freeze three artefacts: the live ToS as PDF with the date in the filename, a screenshot of the Accept chrome on the viewport she will use, and the last-updated date. If the link 404s or the modal is a two-line summary, pause — that is browsewrap wearing a costume.

Clickwrap is a checkbox or I Agree. Browsewrap is a footer link plus mere use. Greenberg Traurig (July 2026): keep versioned records of the Accept screen. Do not rely on the footer later.

• Do: save today’s URL, PDF and Accept screen before the tick.
• Do not: promise to read it after go-live.

What to keyword-scan: fee, renew, cancel, arbitrate, train, indemnify?

Open the saved file. Search the six tripwires: fee, renew, cancel, arbitrate, train, indemnify. Log clause, heading and page. That is the 15-minute pass when the paper is 40 pages.

Add cousins: evergreen, Pricing Page, Reserve, set-off, we may modify, continued use, class action. Payments extras: Reserve as collateral; set-off against payouts. A current public payments SSA — Stripe SSA, last modified 18 November 2025 — puts arbitration on page one and parks §7 Fees on a Pricing Page. Pattern, not a teardown. If train or improve the service hits, one line then the vendor AI training-rights review checklist. If the hit lives only in a privacy notice, that notice is not this ToS — see the privacy policy review checklist.

• Do: log six hits in 15 minutes.
• Do not: skim the marketing page and call it a review.

How do you map the price-change and cancellation path?

Write four lines: what she pays now and where Fees live; whether Fees are non-refundable; how the vendor may change price; how she stops charges. Calendar renewal minus notice, not the renewal date.

A 50%-of-remaining-year cancel fee is a High even when the CMA Adobe investigation (19 March 2026) is consumer software and not a finding. GOV.UK (2 April 2026) cites about 155 million UK subscriptions. Spring 2027 online-cancel rules are consumer DMCCA law — not Mara’s B2B payments click. Still ask whether this paper lets her cancel in the same channel she used to Accept.

• Do: calendar renewal minus notice.
• Do not: assume you can cancel later if it is expensive.

Why treat “we may update these terms” as a High?

Read the modification clause as its own job. Mark High if the vendor may modify by posting, continued use equals acceptance, she is told to check a Legal Page, and material topics sit in scope with no new Accept and no exit window.

For a UK B2B clickwrap, the Unfair Contract Terms Act UCTA 1977 s.3 is the hook: on the other’s written standard terms, a right to render performance substantially different from what was reasonably expected must satisfy reasonableness. Do not tell her the clause is void. FTC Tech@FTC (13 February 2024) is US colour on quietly expanding data use, including training.

• Do: treat silent posting plus continued use as High.
• Do not: write that UCTA voids the sentence.

When to ask for an MSA — is clickwrap not enough?

Ask for negotiated paper, or an order form that controls on conflict, when a Reserve would hurt cash, indemnity is uncapped, fees can be posted, or she needs a DPA — a data processing agreement — the ToS does not give.

Online terms versus a negotiated MSA is a different door. Promise Legal: a hosted ToS is take-it-or-leave-it; an MSA is bilateral and mark-uppable. “Everyone Accepts” is not a rule. If she already has a negotiated SaaS MSA in DocuSign, that review is the SaaS agreement red flags checklist — not this Accept screen.

• Do: ask for paper, or walk, when Reserve or posted fees land.
• Do not: treat clickwrap as the only option.

Accept, screenshot, or walk?

Accept only if the six-word scan is empty of High, Fees sit on a dated order form, cancel is in-product with a calendared notice window, modification needs notice plus a new Accept or a walk right, and she has today’s PDF plus the Accept screen.

Hold when a High exists but sales will put a one-page override in writing. Walk or escalate when she cannot save today’s terms, cancel is phone-only, or Reserve plus uncapped indemnity sit on a marketplace float she cannot buffer. For example, pause the call on: “We may modify this Agreement by posting. Continued use is acceptance. Fees are on the Pricing Page and non-refundable.”

Success bar: a one-page log — dated URL plus PDF, six keyword hits, fee and cancel path, modification clause, Accept / screenshot / walk or an MSA ask — plus one sentence that would pause the tick. Workflow: save dated ToS + Accept screen → keyword scan six → map fee/cancel → read “we may update” → MSA or Accept/screenshot/walk. After that list, a first-pass — a first machine pass that extracts clauses before a human reads every page — can highlight the six words at document analysis. A human still opens every High sentence.

• Do: point to one High sentence before the call.
• Do not: tick because the AE said everyone Accepts.