Sure we’re flexible, but a few guidelines makes life easier, ensuring there’s no nasty surprises!
Website Design and Website Development
These are the standard terms and conditions for Website Design and Development, effective for all projects and work undertaken by 21 Designs Australia (trading as Australian Website Management Services) commencing on or after 1st July 2007.
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Fees and Deposits
A standard hourly rate of $80.00 per hour exclusive of GST applies to all work undertaken by 21 Designs Australia. While projects may be quoted at a “fixed cost”, this is based on an estimated number of hours, and is subject to the provisions outlined in clause [8. Variations to Project Scope].
For all projects exceeding $500 (exclusive of GST) in value, a 40% deposit of the total fee payable under our proposal is due immediately upon you instructing us to proceed with the website design and development work. On occasion, we may waive the need for a deposit if we deem this to be appropriate, however in all instances, the full balance of the total amount shown on the most recent invoice shall become due when the work is completed to your reasonable satisfaction, but subject to the terms of clauses [7. Revisions and Approval of Work] and [9. Rejected Work].
We reserve the right not to commence any work until the deposit has been paid by evidence of cleared funds in the account nominated on the original invoice. The deposit is only refundable if we have not fulfilled our obligations to deliver the work required under the agreement. The deposit is not refundable if the development work has been started, and you terminate the contract through no fault of ours.
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Supply of Materials
You must supply all materials and information required by us to complete the work in accordance with any agreed specification. Such materials may include, but are not limited to, photographs, written copy, logos and other printed material. Where there is any delay in supplying these materials to us which leads to a delay in the completion of work, we have the right to extend any previously agreed deadlines by a reasonable amount. Where you fail to supply materials, and that prevents the progress of the work, we have the right to invoice you for any part or parts of the work already completed.
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Browser and Mobile Compatibility
We use industry standard tools to test your website or application in a variety of modern web browsers, such as the most recent versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. This testing is conducted on a range of mobile device (phone , tablet, laptop and desktop emulators, and we test using a variety of user agents (Windows, Android and Apple operating systems).
The dynamic nature of software, hardware, and the services that support it however, may cause your website or application to display or function in a manner other than expected. In the event this should happen, we will investigate the cause and offer assistance, however we reserve the right to charge for any work required at our normal billable rate of $80.00 per hour exclusive of GST, and we will not be held liable for any inaccuracies in, unavailability of, or complete or partial loss of data, or any unavailability, damage or defacement to services that might arise.
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E-Commerce
You are responsible for complying with all relevant laws relating to e-commerce, and to the full extent permitted by law will hold harmless, protect, and defend and indemnify 21 Designs Australia and its subcontractors from any claim, penalty, tax, tariff loss or damage arising from your or your clients’ use of Internet electronic commerce.
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Subcontracting
Although we endeavour to maintain a strict no-outsourcing policy, we still reserve the right to subcontract any services that we have agreed to perform for you as we see fit.
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Delays and Client Liability
Any time frames or estimates that we give are contingent upon your full co-operation, and upon us receiving final copy of all content, artwork and data for the work being undertaken. During the design and development phases, there is also a certain amount of feedback required in order to progress to subsequent phases. It is required that a single point of contact be appointed from your side, and that this person be available via email and phone on a regular basis in order to expedite the feedback process.
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Revisions and Approval of Work
On completion of the work you will be notified and have the opportunity to review it, and suggest any revisions that need to be made. You must notify us by email of any unsatisfactory points within 14 days of such notification. Any work which has not been reported in writing to us as unsatisfactory within the 14-day review period will be deemed to have been approved. Once approved, or deemed approved, work cannot subsequently be rejected, the contract will be deemed to have been completed, and an invoice for the full balance owing will become due.
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Variations to Project Scope
We will gladly revise the work completed for you until it meets your satisfaction, however we reserve the right to limit the number of revisions to a reasonable amount. Should the time required to implement these changes exceed 5% of the overall project cost, or if these variations are not presented to us within the 14 days outlined in clause [4. Revisions and Approval of Work], we reserve the right to consider any further modifications to content, design or functionality as additional billable work and we will subsequently provide an estimate based on our standard billable rate of $80.00 per hour exclusive of GST.
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Rejected Work
If you reject any of our work, or do not approve subsequent work performed by us to remedy any points recorded as being unsatisfactory, and we, acting reasonably, consider that you have been unreasonable in any rejection of the work, we can elect to treat this contract as at an end and take measures to recover payment for the completed work.
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Payment
For work where a deposit was requested prior to commencement, upon completion of the 14-day review period, we will invoice you for the full balance owing.
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Additional Expenses
You agree to reimburse us for any requested expenses which do not form part of our proposal, including but not limited to the purchase of templates, themes, plugins, extensions, add-ons, third party software, stock photographs, fonts, domain name registration, web hosting or comparable expenses.
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Intellectual Property Rights
You must obtain all necessary permissions and authorities in respect of the use of all copy, graphic images, logos, names and trade marks, or any other material that you supply to us to include in your website, web application or any material that produced as a consequence of the work we perform. You must indemnify us and hold us harmless from any claims or legal actions related to the content of your website.
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Licensing
Once you have paid us in full for our work, we grant to you a license to use the website and any other related software, development and content as you see fit.
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Consequential Loss
We shall not be liable for any loss or damage which you may suffer which is in any way attributable to any delay in performance, or completion of our contract, however that delay arises.
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Backups & Security
We take your data seriously, and therefore it is our policy to backup your information prior to making any changes to your website or related services. The dynamic nature of software and the services that support it however, means that we are not responsible for your data. You are responsible for implementing and maintaining your own disaster recovery strategies and pre-emptive security policies, which includes (but is not limited to) website backups, intrusion detection, and virus and malware scanning procedures.
We will not be held liable for any inaccuracies in, unavailability of, or complete or partial loss of data, or any unavailability, damage or defacement to services, and we are not liable for the restoration of data or services except to the extent that such incidents arise out of intentionally negligent acts or omissions by us.
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Software Updates
Updates play a critical role in keeping software secure, and helping it continue to run smoothly. You are responsible for updating the software on your website. Except in the event where website maintenance has been purchased as part of the original contract, we will provide adequate training that allows you to manage this processing the event you are unable to do so. We will not be liable for any event that arises as a result of software that has not been updated in a timely fashion.
On occasions, some of the software we use is developed by third parties. As it is difficult to anticipate the changes other developers may make to this software, we will not be held liable for any inaccuracies in, unavailability of, or complete or partial loss of data, or any unavailability, damage or defacement to services that might arise through updates and changes made to third party software.
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Malicious Activity
Malicious intent (also known as SPAM, hacking, phishing etc.) as it relates to website, email services and related technologies is unfortunate fact of life in an online environment. 21 Designs Australia are highly skilled in both the detection and prevention of such malicious activites, and while we make every reasonable effort to keep you and your services protected.
You are ultimately responsible for implementing measures to minimise it’s impact on you, your business, and your business relationships, and to the full extent permitted by law will hold harmless, protect, and defend and indemnify 21 Designs Australia and its subcontractors from any claim, penalty, tax, tariff loss or damage arising from you or your clients’ misuse of the services provided to you.
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Disclaimer
To the full extent permitted by law, all terms, conditions, warranties, undertakings, inducements or representations whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise (other than the express provisions of these terms and conditions) relating in any way to the services we provide to you are excluded. Without limiting the above, to the extent permitted by law, any liability of 21 Designs Australia under any term, condition, warranty or representation that by law cannot be excluded is, where permitted by law, limited at our option to the replacement, re-repair or re-supply of the services or the payment of the cost of the services that we were contracted to perform.
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Non-Disclosure
We (and any subcontractors we engage) agree that we will not at any time disclose any of your confidential information to any third party.
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Governing Law
The agreement constituted by these terms and conditions and any proposal will be construed according to and is governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia. You and 21 Designs Australia submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in and of Queensland in relation to any dispute arising under these terms and conditions or in relation to any services we perform for you.
Website Hosting Services
These are the standard terms and conditions for Website Hosting, effective for services delivered by 21 Designs Australia (trading as Australian Website Management Services) effective 1st July 2007.
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Domain Names
If you have registered a domain name with us, we will supply you with account credentials to our billing portal, which allows you you manage these services in accordance with auDA policy. We will provide these details once we have been reimbursed for any expenses incurred which will be itemised on your invoice.
Once a domain name has been registered, it cannot be “deregistered”, or cancelled. While there are procedures available to change the registered owner of a domain, these costs are much greater than the initial registration costs, and will not forfeit your financial obligation either in part or whole for the initial purchase cost.
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Website Hosting
If you have purchased a website hosting service, we will supply you with account credentials to our billing portal, which lets you manage these services. We will provide these details once we have been reimbursed for any expenses that we have incurred which will be itemised on your invoice.
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Uptime
Our 99.9% uptime guarantee is measured monthly. We have arrived at this figure based on historical data, and the guarantees of our upstream providers, therefore we do not actively monitor this data and require advance notice in writing of your intention to dispute these figures, at which point we will begin monitoring your service using industry standard tools in order to substantiate (or refute) any claims of excessive downtime.
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Availability
We shall not be held liable for any loss or damage which you may suffer which is in any way attributable to the performance of, or availability of these services.
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Security
Our servers are updated regularly, according to industry best practices. Some critical software, such as operating systems and hosting management software may not be updated immediately upon release in order to ensure a stable service, however we do endeavour to address all security concerns stemming from those software releases in a timely manner.
Our servers utilise a variety of hardware and software based firewall technologies, configured to meet the needs of a shared hosting environment. This may not always be suitable for your particular application, and you should consult with the person responsible for building such software in the event you are uncertain. We take no responsibility for applications that are not designed for use in shared hosting environments, or with specific security requirements that may require adjustments to our servers standard configuration.
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Contractual Obligations
While we retain the right to make exceptions where we see fit, payments for all domain registration services and all website hosting services are payable in advance, and non-refundable once your account has been created. You are expected to use your service in the manner that it was offered. For the fair, and lawful personal or business use of a website or web application.
Website Marketing
These are the standard terms and conditions for Website Marketing, SEO and Pay Per Click Advertising, effective for services delivered by 21 Designs Australia (trading as Australian Website Management Services) effective 1st July 2007.
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Search Engine Optimisation
We do not guarantee any specific position in search engine results for your website. Although one of the primary goals of Search Engine Optimisation is to rank higher in organic search results, there are situations where it is either not possible, feasible or appropriate to improve your ranking.
In these situations, if it is clear that your ranking can not significantly improve, we will opt to focus on conversion optimisation techniques which will help ensure you get the best possible return from your existing traffic.
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Pay Per Click Advertising
Although our management services for pay per click advertising incorporate several account management tasks, and we make every effort to manage your “click spend” (the money spent on advertisement clicks) diligently, we cannot take responsibility for the expenditure on these services given the large number of factors that can have an effect.
It is therefore your responsibility to monitor credit card expenses, and all payments to Google.
While we may set targets to help us measure relative success, we do not guarantee any specific increase in impressions, CTR (click through rate), decreases in CPC (cost per click), or conversions from associated visitors.
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Social Media Marketing
Coming soon…
Website Maintenance and Management Services
These are the standard terms and conditions for Website Maintenance and Management, effective for services delivered by 21 Designs Australia (trading as Australian Website Management Services) effective 1st July 2007.
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Website Backups
All files & databases need to be connected to your website in some functional manner. While we reserve the right to make exceptions, other data (like your movie collection) isn’t included unless negotiated as part of your service contract.
We guarantee the integrity of all backups for websites we host, and while the service runs flawlessly no matter the location, for obvious reasons, can’t put a guarantee on 3rd party services, so if you’re hosted elsewhere, be aware your website host will play a role.
As stated earlier, “Any location” means a storage facility. It does not include configuration of your website for another website host, although if you require it, we can help with this for a small fee (which will vary on a case by case basis).
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Fair Use Policy
Our fair use policy covers a variety of items, including “unlimited files”, “unlimited restores”, and “unlimited” is flexible, so while we haven’t put a number on it, as long as we can see that you’re using the service as it was intended, we’re happy to keep restoring data for you in order to ensure your business and your website remain in operation.