Terms of service

What we do for you

We design, build and launch a website for your business from what you tell us and the files you send, on a domain you own or one we register in your name. The number of pages and any extras are the ones in your accepted quote or order.

You give us accurate information and the right to use the photos, logos, text and other material you send. Don't send anything you don't have permission to use.

Our chat

Our chat, and some of our email, is handled by an automated assistant that works under a first name and is supervised by our team. If you ask whether you're talking to a person, it tells you.

It can answer questions, take your details, send quotes from our price list and issue payment links within limits we set. Anything outside those limits, such as refunds, custom prices, launches and takedowns, is decided by a person on our team. The assistant can make mistakes; if it tells you something that contradicts these terms or our price list, these terms and the price list apply, and we'll put it right.

Drafts and revision rounds

We send a first draft once you've confirmed your email. Your launch fee includes 5 rounds of changes before launch; the Pro and Signature launches include unlimited rounds of changes. A round is one set of changes you confirm together. Extra rounds and larger changes (new pages, a new design direction) are priced from our price list or quoted before we start.

If you don't approve a draft, we remind you by email. If we still don't hear from you, we take the preview down and close the order. You owe nothing for a draft you didn't approve.

Delivery times

The delivery speed you choose (standard: 5 to 7 business days; priority: 2 to 3 business days; rush: overnight) sets a target for your first draft, counted in business days (US Pacific) from when you confirm your email. Targets are for the first draft only, not for later changes or the launch. If we miss a priority or rush target for a reason on our side, we refund that fee.

Prices and payment

Prices are the ones on our pricing page or in your quote, in US dollars, plus any sales tax that applies. Quotes are valid until the date they show. You pay the launch fee when you approve your site, before it goes live. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your full card number.

Invoices are due on the date they show. If a care-plan payment fails, Stripe retries it and emails you; if it still can't be collected, we may pause the site after telling you, and a person on our team decides that, never the assistant.

Care plans, renewal and cancelling

A care plan covers hosting, your domain (registration and renewal), up to 4 small edits a month and support. Unused edits don't carry over. Larger work is quoted first.

Add-ons (SEO care, AEO care, fresh content, Google Business Profile and extra edits) are billed with your care plan, renew with it and cancel the same way; they end when the plan ends.

Care plans renew automatically each month or year, at the price shown when you subscribed, until you cancel. We tell you before a yearly plan renews. You can cancel at any time from the link in your receipts, by chat or by emailing hello@ciderwebsites.com; cancelling is as easy as signing up. The plan then runs to the end of the period you've paid for.

Who owns what

Once the launch fee is paid in full, the site's design and content made for you are yours, apart from third-party parts (fonts, licensed stock photos, software libraries), which you may use under their own licences as part of the site. Until then they remain ours. Material you sent us stays yours. If you leave, we give you a copy of your site's files on request and help you transfer a domain we registered for you.

Hosting and domains

While you have a care plan, we host your site. We aim to keep it available at all times but can't promise it will never be interrupted. We may take a site down quickly if it breaks these terms or the law, or if we receive a valid legal complaint about it.

A domain we register for you is registered in your name. While you have a care plan, we renew it; otherwise renewal is from our price list ($27 a year). You're responsible for any domain you connect yourself.

Acceptable use

We don't build or host sites that:

• contain adult content, or sell weapons, drugs or gambling;
• promote investment or crypto schemes, or multi-level marketing;
• make medical or financial claims;
• collect patients' health information (we don't offer the kind of hosting that requires);
• are for a business you don't own or represent, or copy someone else's brand;
• are unlawful, misleading, or infringe anyone's rights.

We may refuse or end an order that breaks this list, and refund what you paid for work we won't deliver.

Accessibility

We build towards the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA: readable text, good contrast, labelled forms and pages that work with a keyboard. We can't promise that any site meets every legal accessibility requirement, especially after content is changed; tell us about a problem and we'll help fix it.

Copyright complaints

If you believe a site we host uses your work without permission, email hello@ciderwebsites.com with your contact details, the work, where it appears, a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorised, and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and you're the owner or authorised to act for them. We act on valid notices promptly.

Our liability

We do our work with reasonable care and skill. To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you for anything arising from our services is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, and we aren't liable for indirect losses such as lost profits or lost data. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law.

Changes and contact

We may update these terms; the version on this page when you pay applies to that order, and we'll tell care-plan customers before changes that affect them. Questions: hello@ciderwebsites.com.