A contract needs surprisingly little: an offer, acceptance, and consideration, meaning each side gives up something of value. Parties must have capacity, and the purpose must be lawful. Meet those and you have an agreement a court will enforce, written or not.
Verbal contracts count
Oral agreements are generally enforceable. The difficulty is evidentiary rather than legal: proving terms nobody wrote down. Certain categories must be in writing under each state's statute of frauds, most importantly real estate transfers, agreements that cannot be performed within a year, and promises to pay someone else's debt.
Clicking is signing
Federal law puts electronic signatures and records on the same footing as paper. Checking a box beside terms of service forms a binding agreement in most circumstances. Courts scrutinize how clearly the terms were presented: a conspicuous link the user must acknowledge tends to hold, while terms buried where nobody would find them are more vulnerable.
Clauses that matter more than people expect
- Arbitration. Waives your right to court and usually to class actions. Extremely common in consumer contracts and generally enforced.
- Choice of law and venue. Decides which state's law applies and where any dispute is heard, which can make pursuing a claim impractical.
- Limitation of liability. Caps what you can recover, frequently at the amount you paid.
- Automatic renewal. Increasingly regulated by states requiring clear disclosure and easy cancellation, but still the default in many subscriptions.
- Integration clause. States the written document is the whole agreement, which kills reliance on anything a salesperson promised verbally.
That last one is the practical lesson. If a representation matters to your decision, it belongs in the document.
When agreements come apart
Courts can refuse to enforce contracts formed through fraud, duress or mutual mistake about a fundamental fact, and can strike terms so one-sided and unfairly presented that they are unconscionable. That standard is high; a bad bargain freely made is still a bargain. Cooling-off rights exist in narrow situations, notably the FTC's three-day rule for certain sales made at your home, and some state-specific categories, but there is no general right to change your mind.
Getting out of one
Most consumer agreements contain a termination clause, and it is the section to read first because it sets the exit price: notice periods, early termination fees, and whether cancellation must be in writing.
Subscriptions are regulated unevenly, and the federal picture changed recently. The FTC's 2024 Negative Option Rule, widely called the click-to-cancel rule, would have required cancellation to be at least as simple as signup. The Eighth Circuit vacated that rule in full in July 2025 on procedural grounds, before its main provisions took effect, so those specific requirements are not currently in force.
What still applies is broader. The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act governs online negative-option sales and requires clear disclosure, informed consent and a simple cancellation mechanism, and the FTC continues to bring enforcement actions under it. Roughly thirty states also have their own automatic renewal laws, several of which do require cancellation to be as easy as enrollment. So your rights depend substantially on your state.
Practically, where a company makes cancellation deliberately difficult through phone-only lines and retention scripts, sending written cancellation to the address in the terms and disputing subsequent charges with your card issuer usually resolves it faster than another call.
Practical habits
Read the termination and renewal sections first, since they determine how you get out. Never sign a document with blanks. Get amendments in writing. Keep the version you signed, because "the terms may change at any time" clauses mean the online version may not be what you agreed to.
The FTC publishes the Cooling-Off Rule, which gives three days to cancel certain sales made at your home or away from the seller's usual place of business, and maintains current guidance on negative option and automatic renewal terms. State automatic renewal laws are administered by each state attorney general.