An E-Contract is a service contract that excludes any paperwork.

All communication is electronic and as effectively provides a rather efficient method of processing and supplying the required contracts to the clients. Along the same lines as every other contract, the E-contract has some essentials. An offer needs to be made. This Is an Invitation to offer and so can be revoked any time before the acceptance.

The offer Is made by the customer on placing the products In a virtual 'shopping cart' for payment.The offer needs to be accepted. The acceptance Is usually undertaken by the business after the offer has been made by the consumer In relation with the Invitation to offer. There has to be lawful consideration. Any contract to be enforceable by law must have lawful consideration, I. E.

, when both parties give and receive something In return. There has to be an Intention to create legal relations. If there Is no Intention on the part of the parties to create legal relationships, then no contract Is possible between them.The parties must be competent to contract. Contracts by minors, lunatics etc are void. All the parties to the contract must be legally competent to enter into the contract.

There must be free and genuine consent. There must not be any subversion of the will of any party to the contract to enter such contract. There must be certainty and possibility of performance. Shrink wrap and click wrap are common types of agreements used in electronic contracts.

Online transactions usually fall into three types of E-contracts, and they are: click-through shrink-wrap Each form of e-commerce contract requires that a customer undergo different steps in order to validate a transaction. However, it is perhaps the click-through version of the electronic contract in which would be most familiar to online shoppers. The click- through contract generally requires a person to scroll through the terms and conditions of the agreement, and to then validate their acceptance of their wish to be bound by the enforceable contract, by clicking on a button or ticking a box at the end of the agreement.