Essential Pages for an E-Commerce Website

01Why Are Mandatory Pages So Important?

When setting up an online store, design and payment are what get talked about most; the legal pages are often left to the last day. Yet these pages are not just an obligation; they are also part of the answer to the customer's question, “Can I enter my card on this site?” Missing or copy-pasted texts mean both legal risk and a loss of trust.

In Türkiye, selling to consumers online is framed by several regulations, above all Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 and the Distance Contracts Regulation under it. On the personal data side, KVKK No. 6698 applies, and Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce covers the general rules of e-commerce.

Instead of handing you a template, this article explains what each page needs to cover. That way you know what to ask when you talk to your lawyer or your software team. It is exactly one of the steps in our guide on how to set up an e-commerce website.

02What Does a Distance Sales Contract Include?

The distance sales contract is the contract made between the seller and the consumer without meeting face to face, and it is presented for the customer's approval with every order. It is not fixed text; it must be filled in separately for each order with details such as the ordered product, price, delivery address and payment method.

In general, the contract includes the following headings:

• The seller's title, address, phone, e-mail and, if any, MERSIS or tax number
• The product's main characteristics, quantity and total price including taxes
• Shipping and delivery costs and delivery time
• Payment method and installment information
• The duration, method of use and exceptions of the right of withdrawal
• The authorities to which complaints and objections can be submitted

Why Is an Approval Record Needed?

In a dispute, you must be able to show that the customer actually saw and approved the contract. That is why the moment the checkbox was ticked and the version of the contract for that order must be kept on record. This is almost impossible in a manual setup; the job must be built into the software's order flow.

03What Is the Pre-Information Form?

The pre-information form is the text presented to the customer before they confirm the order and summarizing the basic terms of the sale. It contains information similar to the contract; the difference is that its purpose is to inform the customer before they are bound.

In practice, the form is shown on the payment step right next to the contract, as a separate link or a pop-up. The customer is expected to confirm separately that they have read the form. The simpler this step is designed, the less tiring the checkout page is; a complicated consent screen can have a direct effect on your cart abandonment rate.

The most often forgotten part of the form is the total cost information. The shipping fee, the cash-on-delivery surcharge or any additional service fee must be written in a way the customer can see before paying.

04Returns Policy and Right of Withdrawal

The returns policy page explains how and within what time the customer can send the product back. The legislation gives the consumer, with certain exceptions, the right to withdraw from the contract within a set period without giving any reason. This period and the exceptions must be clearly written on the page.

A good returns page does not just repeat the legal text; it explains the process step by step:

• Where and how is a return request made?
• Which shipping company is used and who pays for sending the product back?
• After the product reaches the warehouse, how long does the refund take and by what method is it made?
• Which product groups fall outside the right of withdrawal (for example hygiene-related or made-to-order items)?
• What happens with damaged or wrongly shipped products?

05KVKK, Privacy and Cookie Policy

An e-commerce site processes personal data such as name, address, phone and e-mail with every order. That is why the KVKK privacy notice is one of the most critical of the mandatory pages. The text explains which data is processed, for what purpose, on what legal basis and with whom it is shared.

Shipping companies, payment institutions and e-invoice providers access data by the nature of the order; these transfers must also appear in the privacy notice. Card details are not kept in the store but processed on the payment institution's secure page; we explained this in detail in our article on what a virtual POS (payment gateway) is.

Cookie Policy and Consent

Analytics and advertising cookies must be kept separate from essential cookies, and the user must be offered the option to accept or reject. The cookie policy should explain in plain language what each cookie does.

Explicit Consent and Commercial Messages

To send campaign e-mails or SMS, a separate commercial electronic message consent must be obtained. This consent must not be hidden inside the order contract; it should be a separate, optional checkbox. Clarify with your accountant or lawyer how permissions relate to the Message Management System, the Turkish national consent registry.

06Other Mandatory and Recommended Pages

Alongside the legal texts, there are some pages that give the customer confidence. Some of them come directly from legislation, others from good practice. The table below gives a general framework.

ETBİS Registration

Businesses engaged in electronic commerce need to check their obligations regarding registration in the Ministry of Trade's Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBİS). Because registration conditions and scope can change over time, confirm the current situation from the ministry's official announcements and your accountant.

07Common Mistakes

Most problems with legal pages come not from bad intent but from haste. The mistakes below can lead to both customer complaints and unnecessary disputes:

• Texts copied from another site that carry another company's name
• A contract that stays the same for every order and contains no product or price information
• Pages that have no link in the footer or do not appear at the payment step
• Return period, shipping fee and exceptions written differently from page to page
• Marketing permission added to the mandatory consent checkbox
• Texts that go years without being updated

08The Role of Software in This Process

A lawyer writes the text, but showing it in the right place, at the right moment and with the right details is the software's job. A contract that fills itself in from order data, a record of the approval time and storing the contract with the order are not things that can be done by hand.

In Aurora Smart E-Commerce, the distance sales contract, pre-information form, KVKK, privacy, cookie, return and user agreements are edited from the panel, filled in for each order, and the customer's approval time is recorded. This feature is not a separate module; it comes with the e-commerce infrastructure. We described the invoicing side on our e-invoice integration page.

During the panel's initial setup, we plan with your team where these pages will go and which consent checkboxes will be mandatory; the details are part of the training and consulting process. For more articles on the subject, see the KVKK tag.