Before you can integrate payment checkouts (like Stripe, Dodo Payments, or Paddle) and accept customer credit cards, payment networks require your website to host specific legal documents.
Beyond payment network compliance, having clear policies is essential for protecting your SaaS from liability and complying with consumer privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA).
This guide lists the starter policy pages you need for launch and how to structure them.
1. The Three Essential Policy Documents
Ensure your site hosts these three pages:
Privacy Policy
Outlines what personal data you collect from users (emails, cookies, tracking IDs), how you use it, and which third-party services (analytics, databases) you share it with.
- Regulatory Requirements: GDPR (Europe) and CCPA (California) require clear disclosure of user data rights, including the ability to request data deletion.
Terms and Conditions
The contract between your company and the user. It dictates acceptable site usage, subscription payment schedules, account termination rules, and limitation of liability clauses.
Refund Policy
Explains whether you offer refunds, the window for requests (e.g. 14 days), and how users can cancel subscriptions. Having a clear policy reduces chargeback disputes.
2. Managing Policies in Version Control
Instead of copy-pasting HTML or using external widgets that inject styles, save your legal documents as Markdown files (e.g. privacy.md) directly in your codebase.
Managing policies in Git allows you to:
- Track historical policy changes easily.
- Render pages using your application's styling.
- Host documents locally without external network dependencies.
3. Generating Starter Policies
Needle is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, but we can help you build your starting drafts.
Use the Policy Generator to create template documents. Input your business name, contact email, and data collection choices to generate starter Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and Refund Policy drafts in raw Markdown.
- Generate starter policies: Policy Generator