Cart - Add an 'Agree to terms and conditions' checkbox

Store Design

Topic summary

A tutorial explains how to add a mandatory ‘Agree to terms and conditions’ checkbox to Shopify cart pages using custom code. The implementation differs between sectioned themes (post-2016) and non-sectioned themes, requiring edits to theme.js/theme.liquid and cart template files with jQuery code.

Key Implementation Issues:

  • The checkbox can only be added to the cart page, not the actual checkout page (unless using Shopify Plus at $2,000+/month)
  • Many users report the checkbox appears but isn’t actually required—customers can bypass it
  • Solutions include adding required="required" attribute or creating a separate custom.js file
  • Additional checkout buttons (Apple Pay, Google Pay) bypass the validation entirely

Theme-Specific Challenges:

  • Dawn, Debut, Narrative, Prestige, and Brooklyn themes require different approaches
  • Some themes need code in custom.js instead of theme.js due to load order issues
  • jQuery version must be 1.7 or higher for the code to function

Legal Compliance Concerns:

  • Multiple users note this workaround is insufficient for EU/German regulations requiring checkboxes at final checkout
  • The limitation frustrates merchants needing proper consent collection for legal compliance

Current Solutions:

  • A free app (RA Terms and Conditions Checkbox) now exists as an alternative to manual coding
  • Various code modifications shared for handling cart drawers, multiple checkboxes, and styling adjustments
Summarized with AI on November 2. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
28

Thanks for the tutorial. I’m using Debut and the button now shows on my site, but it can be bypassed by either not simply marking the box or clicking “buy now” button. Moreover, now when you click “Buy now” button, the button fades away before taking you to checkout, resulting in a longer waiting time before reaching the checkout page.

Any solution?

P.S I’m using the latest debut version, which is probably updated compared to the one of this tutorial.