If you are trying to sell on Amazon you have probably come across the word Terms and thought “What exactly does Amazon mean?”, so today we are going to discuss the Different Types of Terms.

To begin, “Terms” refers to a contact between two parties. Even though the meaning of Terms is the same, there are two main types of “Terms”

“TERMS” TYPE 1: PAYMENT

One type of Terms that applies to the payment only and is known asPayment Terms.

Let’s say you loan your friend $50 and the “Terms” are to repay it when they get their paycheck next Friday; you have them sign a contract stating they absolutely WILL pay you back before 4pm next Friday. Or, let’s say your boss says every time you get a customer to sign up for a store membership you will get 25% commission that will be all paid to you on the 1st of each month, this is also essentially a payment term because it designated specifically when you will be paid and what you will be paid.

For example, our company BigBrandWholesale.com requires “PIA” which means “Paid in Advance” just like most online sellers do; you pay for it today THEN we ship it. However we also offer Lay-A-Way which changes the Terms to “Net 30” or “Net 60”, which means you would have one to two months to pay off the merchandise. Additionally, we offer Financing through our site which also would adjust the payment terms to 6 months repayment time (If you need to add terms to your contract regarding payment, you can learn how to do so in our article How to Add Payment Terms to Invoice.).  Some companies also offer COD (Cash on Delivery) which is another form of Payment Terms.

“TERMS” TYPE 2: PURCHASE

Another type is of Terms the agreement between the Seller and the Buyer regarding the purchasing of merchandise; this is known as Contract Terms or Terms and Conditions.

For example, you know how when you sign up for social media site and to finish creating your account you have to check that box called “I Agree to Terms”? And if you actually look at the Terms it’s usually some massive 10,000 page document in 8-point-font that is loaded with lawyer-talk legal gibberish? Yep, that is a type of Terms.

Another kind of Purchase Terms could be “Sold As-Is”. You will see this frequently with used merchandise, specifically vehicles but you may also see this when you are buying Store Return Wholesale or similar… because the seller isn’t going to sell you a pallet of broken televisions and also warranty them or even guarantee that you will know how to fix them all.

A third form of Purchase Terms is eBay; let’s say you win an auction for a pair of 99-cent womens lace underwear. This specific eBay listing might say “No Returns” because, quite frankly, no, the seller doesn’t want the panties back after they were worn to Prom.

Regardless of the specifics of the Purchase Terms, all of these are forms of Terms and if you choose to buy the thong or create a Tik Tok account you are entering into an agreement with the seller.

“TERMS” TYPE 3: CONTRACT

Contract Terms are basically an extension of Purchase terms.

For example, our company has entered into a contract with M*CYS. Our contract with their company specifically says we are not allowed to use their company name to advertise, which is exactly why you always see us type “M*CYS” instead of the full name, including the letter “A”. If you want to learn about why specifically, you can read our blog post called “Why do Companies put C**CH, MCY, M*CY, N*RDSTR*M instead of Typing the Actual Name”

Anyhoo, when you sign a contract with a company you are agreeing to uphold your end of the deal. In the aforementioned example, M*CYS agrees to sell us their extra stock at greatly reduced prices and we agree not to use their company name.

You, personally, enter into contracts every single day without realizing it. When you sign the credit card payment slip at the local grocery store, you are agreeing that the card you used to pay belongs to you and that you are responsible for the full amount of your purchase (yes, you really did buy 6 cases of Keurig K-Cups because you pound no less than 4 a day). When you visit a website and the little box pops up saying “Accept Cookies” (I know, so annoying, right?) you are agreeing to allow that website to track and monitor you…. Because you really need to see the photos of the $20,000 dress Kim Kardashian wore to the party last Friday and the website won’t let you peep the pics if you don’t tick the box.

And so on. I think you get the picture.

So, as you can see, the word TERMS has several meanings. The TYPE of Terms you need depends on your situation. If you have bought merchandise from BigBrandWholesale.com and want to download BigBrandWholesale.com’s CONTRACT TERMS document you can access it here.

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