Terms of service and SaaS agreements
Nobody reads them, everybody accepts them, and they are the one contract that can be rewritten after you agreed to it. These are the clauses that matter.
5 traps
Every trap Redline looks for
Years of email, photos, ad accounts, storefronts or game libraries vanish on an automated ban with no human review; for sellers and SMBs it is existential; the consumer stays locked in…
Photos, writing, code and business files can be reused, monetised or licensed onward and kept after you delete; 'irrevocable' means no claw-back; freelancers can breach client NDAs simply…
Real money becomes a revocable licence; a ban wipes hundreds or thousands in purchases; credits expire quietly; chargeback retaliation deters legitimate disputes; hardware you paid for can…
Cash-flow strangulation; fines for events outside your control (hacked seller cabinet — Wildberries); no due process; penalties disproportionate to the breach; tariffs that changed almost…
You pay for X and receive less; prepaid annual plans lose value; APIs and hardware die when the cloud is switched off; 'change of catalogue is no ground for refund' is written into…
What it looks like in a contract
Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.
- we may suspend or terminate your account at any timeTermination at will
- perpetual, irrevocableOverbroad content license
- no cash valueForfeiture of balances/credits
- we may withhold, offset or set off any amountsPlatform fines & payout holds
- we may modify, suspend or discontinue the Service or any part of it at any timeService change/discontinue anytime
Is it enforceable where you are
In the EU, platform terms are covered by Directive 93/13, the Digital Content Directive 2019/770 and DSA Art 14; in the US, ROSCA and FTC Act §5 apply to consumer sign-ups, and browsewrap acceptance turns on notice.
- Cited
- FTC v. Epic Games
- UDAP
- 93/13 Annex (d)
- DSA Arts 17, 20, 21
- Reg 2019/1150
- CMA
- CMA37
- CRA 2015 Sch 2 paras 4
- 289-ФЗ
- ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1
- ст. 310
- FTC
- GDPR
- CDPA s.87
Check your own contract
A lease hides different things from a loan agreement, and a privacy policy hides different things again. Pick the document on your desk and see what usually goes wrong in it.