The key features, advantages and disadvantages of standard terms are summarised below:

- Form: Concise, generic and designed to be attached to purchase or sales orders

- Non-negotiable

- Ineffective terms: may be replaced by implied terms or national legal code rules, or subject to court 'balance of interest' judgement.

- Advantages: Basic contractual protection for most common circumstances; Avoid having to create new contract for repeat business.

- User friendly

- Usage: Low value, low risk, repetitive transactions

- Coverage: Definitions, relationship to other contracts, formation of the contract, order of precedence, price, invoicing and payment, specification, legal compliance, warrantee and liability, ownership and risk, intellectual property, data management and ethics.

- Disadvantages: Does not allow for specific circumstances; Risk for creating battle of the forms; Can create contractual uncertainty if used with purchase orders under call-off contracts.