Online Course and Coaching Terms and Conditions in Australia: What to Include

If you sell an online course, membership or coaching program in Australia, your terms and conditions should set out what people get, for how long, what they pay, your refund and cancellation policy, who owns the content, and what you do not promise. They sit on top of the Australian Consumer Law and cannot replace it. Terms that say “no refunds under any circumstances” are the classic mistake.

Claim Done drafts online course and coaching terms and conditions from your answers for a flat A$49. You download the PDF straight away and publish it at your checkout or on your site.

Who needs course or coaching terms, and when they apply

According to business.gov.au, all businesses selling goods and services in Australia must comply with the Australian Consumer Law, including businesses overseas, and your contracts must be easy to understand and not include unfair terms or hidden fees.

The ACCC says a buyer can accept a contract through actions such as paying or clicking “I agree” on a website. So show your terms before the buyer pays.

The consumer guarantees your program must meet

A course or coaching program is a service. Any service you sell must be:

• carried out with due care and skill
• fit for the purpose stated
• supplied in a reasonable time, if you have not agreed a timeframe with the buyer.

The ACCC explains that due care and skill means work at least as good as a competent provider with average skills and experience would give. The fit for purpose guarantee applies when a buyer tells you their purpose, buys on your advice, or when you advertise that your service can be used for a particular purpose.

These rights cannot be taken away by anything a business says or does. The ACCC’s examples include saying refunds are not available at all, or not after a certain number of days, or saying you are not responsible for problems. Misleading people about their rights in these ways is against the law.

Refunds and cancellations

The ACCC says buyers are not entitled to a remedy under the consumer guarantees just because they changed their mind, but if a business has a change-of-mind policy, it must follow it. So a 14-day money-back offer, or no change-of-mind refund once modules are accessed, is your choice.

What your policy cannot do is block the remedies the law gives when the service itself fails. According to the ACCC, it is illegal to rely on terms and conditions that deny these rights. Where a service has a major problem, the buyer can cancel and get a refund (less a reasonable amount for work already done as expected), or keep the contract and pay a lower price. One kind of major problem is a service that does not achieve a specific result the buyer told you about and cannot easily be fixed within a reasonable time. A minor problem you must fix for free.

The same page covers changing a service part-way through, such as in-person lessons replaced with online lessons. For a material change, the business should seek each customer’s consent, and cancel and refund prepayments for anyone who does not agree.

Memberships, subscriptions and payment plans

The ACCC says a business should not keep charging a subscriber or member for a period they cannot access the service. State plainly how billing works, how a member cancels and when payments stop. Business.gov.au lists a term that lets only one party vary the price, or decide whether to renew, as an example of an unfair contract term.

Unfair contract terms

Online terms are usually a standard form contract: written by you, take it or leave it. Since 9 November 2023, proposing, using or relying on unfair terms in standard form contracts is banned and penalties apply. The ACCC says a term is unfair if it causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights, is not reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the party it favours, and would cause harm if enforced. Examples include terms that let only one side:

• avoid or limit their responsibilities
• end the contract
• penalise the other for breaching or ending it
• change the terms.

Only a court can decide a term is unfair, and if it does, the term is void. The court looks at the contract as a whole and whether a term is transparent: in reasonably plain language, clear, and not hidden.

Results claims and testimonials

The ACCC says any claim about the benefits or performance of a service must be accurate, truthful and based on reasonable grounds. That includes testimonials, and it makes no difference whether you meant to mislead. Fine print must not conflict with the overall message.

Your content and intellectual property

According to IP Australia, copyright protection is free and automatic and protects your original expression of an idea as soon as you document it. A trade mark protects your brand, such as a program name or logo, and is a right you can register with IP Australia. Your terms add a contract layer: the buyer gets a personal licence to use the materials for their own learning and agrees not to share, copy, resell or pass on their login.

Student data and privacy

The OAIC says most small businesses, meaning an annual turnover of $3 million or less, are not covered by the Privacy Act, but some are. Regardless of turnover, the Act covers a health service provider and a business that trades in personal information. The OAIC’s description of a health service provider includes allied health professionals and complementary therapists, so health and wellbeing coaches should work through its small business checklist.

For covered businesses, OAIC guidance says to collect only the personal information you actually need and take reasonable steps to keep it secure. Health information is sensitive and generally can only be collected with consent. The Claim Done terms do not include a privacy policy, so publish one separately if you need it.

What the terms look like: the structure

1. Opening line: the provider, the program, and that buying or accessing it means agreeing to the terms.
2. The program: what it delivers.
3. Access: how access is given and for how long.
4. Fees and payment: the price, any instalments or subscription, and what happens if a payment fails.
5. Refunds and cancellation: your policy, plus a clause that nothing excludes rights under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded.
6. Intellectual property: materials stay yours; a limited personal licence; no sharing or reselling.
7. Participant conduct: your community rules.
8. Results disclaimer: the program is educational and no particular outcome is promised.
9. Not professional advice: pitched to money, health, legal or general topics.
10. Limitation of liability: to the extent the law allows, and subject to the refund clause.
11. Termination: for serious breach or non-payment.
12. General and acceptance: governing law and agreement by purchase.

How to publish your terms and what to keep

Business.gov.au suggests making your terms clear, accurate and easy to find, and telling customers about any consumer guarantees for the sale. Link the terms beside the pay button and ask buyers to tick that they agree. Keep a dated copy of each version and a record of which version each buyer accepted.

If a participant asks for a refund

Work out whether they changed their mind or are saying the service failed. For change of mind, follow your policy. For a problem with the service, you can assess it first, then give the remedy the law requires. If you cannot agree, your State or Territory consumer protection agency handles individual complaints.

Mistakes to avoid

• “No refunds” with no mention of the Australian Consumer Law.
• Promising income, weight loss or other results you cannot back up.
• Letting only you change the price or renew a subscription.
• Hiding the terms where no one sees them before paying.

Terms do not make every clause enforceable, and they do not replace advice on your own business. They do put your rules in writing before anyone pays. Start your course and coaching terms now for A$49.