abby_fisher•3d agoTop Commenter

Wasted $80 on a template contract pack from some random site

Last fall I needed a quick service agreement for a small project in Atlanta. I saw this ad for a freelance contract bundle with like 50 templates for $80. Figured it was a steal, you know? But when I downloaded it, the language was super generic and full of weird clauses about things I don't even do (like licensing software). I ended up spending three hours tweaking it and still felt nervous. Then I found out the template had an outdated indemnity section that could have left me exposed. So I scrapped the whole thing and wrote my own from scratch. Has anyone else bought a cheap template pack and regretted it?

3 comments

3 Comments

paige_bell813d ago

I bought a "50 contract templates for $40" deal once and ended up with one that had a whole section about selling livestock. My dog grooming shop doesn't sell cows, so that was a real head-scratcher. The worst part was the fine print that said I was responsible for all damages no matter what, which is basically an open invitation to get sued. I spent more time fixing that mess than I would have writing my own simple agreement from a blank page. Lesson learned the hard way you can't just cheap out on legal stuff and expect it to work out.

emma_jones3d ago

Oh wow, I have to respectfully disagree here. I actually bought that exact same $80 pack last year and it worked fine for me after a little tweaking. I mean, yeah, the templates are super generic and you have to read through them carefully, but that's kind of the point... they give you a starting point. I think expecting any $80 template to be perfectly tailored to your specific business is a bit unrealistic. Plus, if you know enough to spot a bad clause like the outdated indemnity one, you probably know enough to fix it or at least Google what it should say. I've seen people spend way more on custom contracts that still had holes in them. So I just don't think blaming the template pack is totally fair when it's more about understanding what you're buying.

park.aaron3d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, if you're running a dog grooming business, can't you just cross out the livestock part and move on?