Germany · DE
Online shop terms and conditions for Germany (AGB 2026)
If you sell to German consumers, your shop terms need to follow German consumer law and German e-commerce practice. A generic translation of your existing terms is not enough: German AGB must match the checkout, delivery process, payment methods, withdrawal notice, warranty rules and seller identity. Below we explain what terms for the German market should cover and why Germany needs a separate legal-document cluster.
Why Germany needs separate shop terms
Germany has a strict and highly practical e-commerce compliance culture. Consumers, competitors and associations look at the details: withdrawal information, delivery times, checkout wording, price transparency, seller identity and warranty clauses.
German AGB should therefore be drafted for Germany, even if the company is based elsewhere. The document must work together with the Impressum, privacy policy, withdrawal notice and checkout flow.
What the terms should include
German-market AGB should explain how an order is placed, when the contract is concluded, which payment and delivery rules apply, how defective goods are handled and how the withdrawal notice is connected to the sales process. Digital products, subscriptions, personalised goods and B2B sales require additional clauses.
The risky areas are broad liability exclusions, unclear delivery times, incorrect warranty language and clauses that make statutory consumer rights harder to exercise.
AGB, withdrawal notice and Impressum must be consistent
The German legal setup is a set of documents, not one page. If the Impressum identifies a different seller than the terms, or the return page says something different from the AGB, the shop creates avoidable risk.
How ecommerce.legal helps
ecommerce.legal generates German-market AGB based on your shop model, products, payment methods, delivery process and sales channels. The result is aligned with the other documents required for Germany.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my existing terms for Germany?
Not safely. German AGB need to reflect German law, German consumer information duties and the exact way your shop operates.
Are AGB mandatory in Germany?
There is no universal rule requiring every shop to have AGB, but in practice a shop needs clear terms to handle recurring sales processes and mandatory consumer information.
What is an Abmahnung?
It is a formal warning, often from competitors or associations, used in Germany to challenge legal defects such as wrong terms, missing Impressum or incorrect withdrawal information.