Before a product leaves your counter, you have already made four warranty decisions: what the paper says, how the buyer sees it before paying, what the document is titled, and what happens to implied warranties. Settle those four in your own words now. You will not want to draft them the day a customer brings a broken item back.
- Content: FTC Part 701 directs what the warranty document must include.
- Availability: FTC Part 702 requires the buyer to be able to read the warranty before the sale closes.
- Title: Section 102 of the Act directs how the warranty must be titled.
- Implied warranties: Section 108 of the Act prevents you from eliminating or restricting implied warranties through a written warranty on a consumer product.
Federal law runs the first three through the FTC's guidance on written warranties on consumer products. Ohio and Minnesota add their own wording rules where they apply. Where a source is silent, I say so once and tell you who to ask.
What the warranty document itself must say
Your first rule is about content: the written warranty must carry specific disclosures, because FTC Part 701 directs what you must include in your warranty. Think of this as the minimum payload of the paper, not the sales copy around it.
Federal guidance runs through several disclosure elements a written warranty on a consumer product is expected to carry. Which ones apply to your product line is a question for your counsel or your state's consumer protection office, since Part 701 directs what the warranty must include and those advisers confirm which elements your line needs.
Ohio's rule is sharper on one point you will meet if you sell in that state: to disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability, the language must mention merchantability and, in a writing, be conspicuous. The same statute handles implied warranty of fitness the same way — by writing, and conspicuous. That wording sits in Section 1302.29 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Conspicuous means it should not hide in six-point gray type at the foot of an invoice. It means the buyer can find it. Plain, separated, and readable does the work.
If you are drafting for Minnesota sales, one clause has a specific phrasing. Under Minnesota's rule, a consumer limited warranty can state that the entire risk as to the quality and performance of the goods is with the buyer. That sentence appears in Minnesota Statutes section 325G.18.
Do not lift that sentence into a contract for a different state and assume it carries the same effect. A state's wording works under that state's statute. Copying it into a Massachusetts sale proves nothing about Massachusetts law.
One drafting habit helps every version of the document: write the buyer's obligations and the shop's obligations in the same voice and the same type size. If a customer must return the product to your address inside a window you set, say so in the body. If the shop will repair or replace at its cost, say that too. The content rule is about disclosure, not about who wins.
Another content habit worth building: keep a plain-language summary at the top of the document. The summary does not replace the disclosures the rules require, but it does help the buyer understand what they are holding. Treat the summary as a courtesy that may help a buyer find the details they need later.
How the buyer sees the warranty before they buy
Your second rule is about availability: the buyer must be able to read the written warranty before the sale closes, because FTC Part 702 directs how to make your warranty available before sale.
For in-store sales, that usually means the warranty text sits near the product or is otherwise available on request before checkout. For a catalog sale, Minnesota offers a specific path: the catalog may contain the required writing in lieu of the requirement of notification prior to the sale. That language lives in section 325G.18.
Practically, decide now where the text lives for each channel you sell through:
- Shelf or counter: a printed copy with the product, or a card pointing to where the full text sits.
- Invoice or packing slip: a line noting the warranty terms and where to read them.
- Website: the full text reachable from the product page before the add-to-cart click.
- Catalog or mail order: for a Minnesota consumer sale by mail order catalog, the catalog itself may carry the writing in place of pre-sale notification.
The habit that saves you later is versioning. If the warranty text changes, keep the version that was live when the sale closed. A customer who bought under one set of terms should not be shown a different set at a return desk six months later.
If your shop sells through a marketplace platform, the platform's listing fields may not hold the full text. Ask your platform contact where the warranty is surfaced pre-sale in your category. The platform's answer shows what the listing can display; you still must ensure the full warranty text is available before sale for that channel.
Availability also has a human side. Train the person at the counter to offer the warranty before the sale, not after the customer has already paid. A buyer who asks to see the terms should get them without a search through a drawer. The rule is on you to make the text reachable; the habit is on you to make it easy.
How the warranty must be titled
Your third rule is the title: Section 102 of the Act directs how to title your warranty. In plain words, the header matters as much as the body.
A document headed "Full Warranty" or "Limited Warranty" sets an expectation in the first two words a customer reads. Match the title to what the text actually does.
The title also matters to your staff. A counter associate glancing at a return request needs the header to tell them, at a glance, which playbook applies. Title discipline is internal clarity as much as external disclosure.
Federal law's titling direction sits alongside the content rule and the pre-sale availability rule. All three come from the FTC's businessperson guide on federal warranty law. Together they shape the document: what goes in it, how the buyer finds it, and what the top line says.
Here is how the three federal directions and the state wording rules line up, so you can see which job each one does:
| Rule | What it governs | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Part 701 | What the warranty must include | FTC businessperson guide |
| Part 702 | How the warranty is made available before sale | FTC businessperson guide |
| Section 102 | How the warranty is titled | FTC businessperson guide |
| Ohio section 1302.29(B) | Wording to disclaim merchantability or fitness | Ohio Revised Code |
| Minnesota 325G.18 | Risk sentence; catalog availability option | Minnesota Statutes |
Read down the second column once and you have the map. Then go back up and pick the row you need for the decision in front of you.
What happens to implied warranties when you give a written one
Your fourth rule is the one that often changes how you draft: If you give a written warranty on a consumer product, Section 108 of the Act prevents you from eliminating or restricting implied warranties. That sentence comes straight from the FTC guide, and it changes how you draft.
In practice, Section 108 means the written warranty you hand over does not let you quietly erase the implied warranties that would otherwise ride along with the sale. You can set terms. You cannot use the written warranty as a lever to knock out implied coverage the Act protects.
Ohio's statute speaks to a related but separate move. Ohio says remedies for breach of warranty can be limited under the state's sections on liquidation or limitation of damages and on contractual modification of remedy. That is division (D) of section 1302.29.
The distinction matters at the drafting table. One question is whether implied warranties survive at all. A separate question is whether, given they survive, the available remedies can be capped. Federal Section 108 addresses the first. Ohio division (D) addresses the second, under Ohio's own conditions.
Drafting implication: write the remedy structure assuming the implied warranties are still in the room. Then, if you want to shape remedies, shape them with explicit language that a court in your state will recognize.
If your sales span several states, you will meet both questions at once. A written warranty on a consumer product cannot be used to eliminate or restrict implied warranties. State wording rules layer on top where they apply. Ohio's conspicuousness rule governs an Ohio sale.
Confirm current wording with counsel for each state you sell in, because wording rules move.
Related guides
- businessperson's guide to federal warranty law
- ohio revised code section 1302.29
- minnesota statutes section 325G.18
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Common questions
Can we give a longer warranty in some states than others? Nothing in the sources above sets a maximum duration. Durations you choose are yours to set, as long as the document's content, title, availability, and treatment of implied warranties hold up under the rules that apply.
What if the customer asks for the warranty after the sale? Part 702 is about availability before sale. Handing over the full text afterward is good service, but it does not substitute for having made the text reachable before the buyer paid.
Do we need a different title for every product line? Section 102 directs how you title the warranty. Make the title match what the document does. If two product lines carry different remedy structures, their titles should tell the truth about that difference.
Where does the Ohio conspicuousness rule apply? Under Ohio's section 1302.29(B), the language must mention merchantability and, in a writing, be conspicuous to disclaim or modify that implied warranty. That applies under Ohio's rule. Ask your counsel how it interacts with your sales footprint in other states.
What about mail order and catalogs? Minnesota's rule lets the catalog contain the required writing in place of pre-sale notification. That is Minnesota's allowance for a consumer sale by mail order catalog. For other states, check with your state's consumer protection office on what pre-sale availability looks like in your channel.
Who do we ask if a source leaves a gap? For the federal framework, the FTC's businessperson guide is the starting page. For state wording, your state's consumer protection office or your own counsel. For platform listing fields, your marketplace's seller support.
A short checklist before the next print run
Run this list once before you send the next warranty text to the printer:
- Content: does the document carry the disclosures Part 701 directs?
- Availability: can a buyer read the full text before they pay, in every channel you sell through?
- Title: does the header match what the document actually does, under Section 102?
- Implied warranties: have you drafted knowing Section 108 keeps you from eliminating or restricting them through the written warranty?
- State riders: for Ohio sales, does any merchantability disclaimer mention merchantability and sit conspicuously? For Minnesota sales, do you want the risk sentence section 325G.18 allows?
- Versioning: is the version that was live at the time of sale archived and reachable?
Print the checklist on the back of your warranty form. The next time someone asks for "just a quick edit," you will both be reading from the same list.