1.Why Policies Are a Legal Requirement, Not a Nice-to-Have

Your terms and conditions, refund policy, and privacy policy form a legally binding contract between you and your customer.

It governs how you fulfill the product, how disputes are handled, how refunds work, what data you’re collecting, and how that data is used. Without these disclosures:

• You’re in violation of FTC and GDPR regulations.
• You’re exposed to civil litigation under consumer protection laws.
• You’re vulnerable to chargebacks that you can’t fight because the rules were never stated.

Even worse: there’s a growing list of known litigators who do nothing but search for missing policy pages and weaponize that oversight.                                                      

2.The Real Threat: Professional Litigators Targeting Funnels

This isn’t paranoia it actually a trend. There are entire law firms and individual actors who make a living off suing or threatening lawsuits over missing or incorrect compliance elements on sales pages.

Here’s how the hustle works:

• They sign up for your product.
• They inspect your page for specific violations (missing refund policy, incorrect SMS opt-in wording, no contact info).
• You get a legal letter demanding $10,000+ in damages, or the option to quietly settle for a lump sum.

It’s legal extortion. And because most founders panic and pay instead of fighting it, the tactic keeps spreading.

Want to reduce your risk to near-zero? It starts with tightening up the basics.

3.The Four Non-Negotiable Policies Every Funnel Needs

Every public-facing funnel must include the following:

Terms and Conditions

• This outlines your relationship with the customer. It should clearly define the product or service being purchased, delivery timelines, refund terms, dispute resolution mechanisms, and any disclaimers.
• If you’re hosting an event or delivering a service with terms (like no-shows or reschedules), it needs to be spelled out here.

Refund Policy

• Must be specific and not hidden in generic T&C copy.
• Clearly define eligibility for refunds, the refund window, and the process for requesting one.
• If you don’t offer refunds, you must say that plainly and prominently.
• If your offer is tied to a trial or recurring subscription, the cancellation process needs to be clearly documented.

Privacy Policy

• Explains what data you’re collecting, how it’s stored, and how it will be used.
• If you’re sending traffic from paid ads, using retargeting pixels, running SMS campaigns, or collecting emails for future marketing…you need this.
• You must disclose third-party data sharing, including if you plan to retarget users via platforms like Facebook or TikTok.

Contact and Business Information

• Provide a working contact email.
• Include a physical mailing address.
• It’s a requirement under CAN-SPAM and various state-level consumer laws.

All of these must be present, accessible, and consistent across every page of your funnel including upsells, downsells, and confirmation pages.

4.Where Most Funnels Fail (and How to Fix It)

The most common points of failure include:

• Missing footer links on upsell pages
• Refund terms inconsistent with what was promised in the video or sales copy
• Privacy policy that hasn’t been updated in years (or was ripped from a template site)
• No opt-in checkbox for SMS compliance at checkout
• Incorrect billing descriptors
• Hidden recurring charges not disclosed upfront

Each of these opens a different kind of legal exposure:

• FTC violations
• GDPR complaints
• CAN-SPAM penalties
• Class-action suits
• Payment processor disputes

Fixing this requires a combination of operational rigor and professional legal guidance. Work with a compliance attorney to craft custom legal documents based on your actual funnel structure, not a generic swipe file.

Then make sure they’re visible and live before your next campaign goes out.

5.Advanced Protection: Suppression Lists and Legal Firewalls

There are even more proactive steps you can take to reduce your exposure:

• Maintain a suppression list of known litigators and exclude them from ad campaigns and funnels.
• Add clickwrap agreements (forced checkbox for terms acceptance) at checkout.
• Log IP addresses and timestamps at point of sale.
• Require a double opt-in for high-risk traffic sources like affiliates.
• Audit your policies quarterly and update them as your offer evolves.

6.The Cost of Getting It Wrong

Here’s what ignoring this looks like:

• $10,000 per-instance demand letters (we’ve seen as high as 25 counts for a single funnel)
• Merchant accounts frozen for non-compliance
• Affiliate partnerships pulled because your pages weren’t policy-compliant
• Lawsuits filed over technicalities that could have been avoided with one extra link

This isn’t about being paranoid. It’s about being prepared. If you’re building a business meant to last, you can’t afford to operate on hope.

Conclusion
Funnels aren’t just marketing assets. They’re legally exposed endpoints that must be protected.

If your pages don’t have fully visible, accurate, and enforceable policy documents, you are gambling with your business.

Protect yourself now. Have your legal infrastructure audited. Update every funnel. Bake compliance into your SOPs.

Because the predators are out there. And if your funnel isn’t bulletproof, you’re next.