eCommerce Website Development

Last updated: 22 October 2020

Please read very carefully the following Terms and Conditions which specifically applies to the Complete Starter Package, as they will form a contract between us and you; your acceptance of which is agreed from the moment you click the ‘Yes’ button below and proceed to checkout. 

We have tried to keep these Terms and Conditions brief, easy to understand, and as straightforward as possible. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Terminology:

You – (‘the Client’)

Us – (Start Buddies, and hereinafter referred to as ‘the Company’)

The Project – the body of work that is being undertaken, normally consisting of several connected parts, such as consultation, graphic design, website development, and/or hosting

What do both parties agree to:

The Client agrees to:

1. Provide the Company, within a reasonable timescale, everything that is requested to complete the Project – including registered domain name, website hosting, answers to the provided questionnaire, product images with corresponding descriptions, and other information.
2. Provide the Company with payment gateways and shipping calculations.
3. Provide the Company temporary access to a Gmail account to set up all the necessary Google business solutions.
4. Add the Company as one of the business managers for its chosen social media platforms.
5. Review the Company’s work, provide feedback, and sign-off approval on time.
6. Make every effort to adhere to all agreed deadlines.
7. Adhere to the payment schedule laid out on the Company’s pricing page, or agreed separately for custom work.
8. Advise, in advance, of any confidential information to be presented by email, written, or verbally, between both parties. Also, for this to be clearly marked as ‘confidential’ in the subject of the email, or on any written documents.

The Company agrees to:

1. Carry out the following services in a professional and timely manner:

• • eCommerce website development
    • Fully-responsive templates for the following pages:
      • Home
      • Store
      • Product
      • About
      • Contact
      • 404 Error
      • Blog
      • Post
  • Copy development for the following pages:
    • Home
    • About
  • Functions:
    • Payment methods: Direct Bank Transfer (BACS), Cash on Delivery (COD), Zbooni Payment Link
    • Shipping module calculations (only if information is provided by the Client)
    • Discount coupon engine
  • Store branding
    • 3 (three) logo design concepts
    • Brand style guide
    • Customized icon set (up to 10 icons)
    • Customized illustrations (up to 5 illustrations; Company will choose where to place these graphics in the website as it sees fit)
    • Text and graphics animations (ex. entrance, scroll, float, hover, etc.)
  • Digital marketing
    • Search engine optimized with relevant keywords (only for pages mentioned above)
    • Mailchimp setup and integration
    • Google Analytics, Web Console, and My Business (if eligible) setup
    • 2 (two) social media platform profile setup
    • A 1-month worth of social media content (up to 30 posts including basic/rich media, caption, and hashtag research)
  • Training
    • 1 (one) 1-hour training session
    • Unlimited access to the Company’s knowledgebase
  • Technical support
    • Phone support to clients in the UAE
    • Email support for both local and international clients

     2. Make every effort to adhere to any deadlines agreed between the parties.

     3. Make a reasonable number of revisions to the design, layout, colors, etc. until the Client is satisfied with the design concept or such time as both parties feel an agreement is likely to be reached but no more than 3 major revisions. Additional revisions or design work outside the scope of the project will be charged separately.

     4. Endeavor to complete requested website revisions or updates within 48 hours wherever possible.

     5. Maintain up to date skills and knowledge through regular training and research.

Website development

All eCommerce websites are developed to work primarily across all major browsers and platforms including other devices such as mobile phones and tablets. However, the Company cannot guarantee complete and/or long-term compatibility across every major browser, platform, or handheld device due to updates/upgrades by their respective vendors. 

The Company uses CSS, HTML, and appropriate plugins to create the design and functionality of the Client’s online store. The Company does not undertake advanced coding adjustments of the core files or WordPress itself. A specialist developer is required for this type of work. 

The Company makes sure that all the core software and plugin components work harmoniously together. Very occasionally, as the various plugin providers release new versions of their software, parts of the site can get out of sync and this can result in display errors. It is the Client’s responsibility to check their site from time to time (recommended: at least once a week) and to report any issues to the Company for investigation and fix where possible as part of technical support. 

Sometimes a software update can have unseen consequences which only become apparent when particular actions are performed on the site, many days or weeks after the software has been updated. There is no way the Company can anticipate these in advance.

Payments and Contract Lengths

50% of the package price must be paid at checkout in order to begin the process unless an alternative contract or proposal specifies a different amount. If design and development work has already begun, then this downpayment is non-refundable. The Company may elect at its sole discretion to offer a partial refund depending upon the circumstances. 

The outstanding balance is due on project completion and before pointing the Client’s real domain name to the new website. Until the final payment is received, it will remain as a staging site and a subdomain of the Company. This provision ensures that the Company gets paid for performing its duties stated in this contract. 

Content Management Systems

All packages will be developed using a Content Management System (CMS). To maintain compatibility, the Company uses the WordPress platform exclusively as its CMS of choice with the eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce, installed.

Any associated or additional fees, such as installation, setup, testing, and training about CMS are covered within this package. 

Third-party extensions, where used, may not have the same level of support for all browsers. Where appropriate, the Company will substitute alternative extensions or implement other solutions, on a best-effort basis, where any incompatibilities are found. 

Premium Plugins

The Company always opts for high-quality premium plugins that are paid an annual subscription to the plugin provider for the license use of their software. If the Company hosts the Client’s site, then this fee is incorporated into the renewal fee. Otherwise, the Client will not be eligible for any plugin updates unless they open their own account with the plugin provider. In most cases, the Client should be able to source non-premium alternatives.

Add-ons

These services are not included in any of the packages but are available and can be added upon checkout. 

1. Domain name research and registration (200 AED)
   • 5 suggested available domain names
   • Trademark check
   • Social media handle check
   • Domain name registration
   • Business slogan
2. Fully managed WordPress hosting and maintenance (250 AED every month for 1 year)
   • Automatic CMS and plugins updates
   • Daily backups
   • WordPress-related technical support
   • Server-level caching
   • Security updates
   • Track and fix broken links
   • Uptime monitor
   • Weekly performance reports
3. Social media management (1499 AED every month for 1 year)

• • Up to 30 posts a month on 2 social platforms (Facebook and Instagram)
  • Action plan/English content strategy
  • Channel artwork creation (ie. profile picture and cover photo)
  • Mix of basic and rich media design posts
  • Captions and hashtag research
  • Community engagement (ie. instant replies to customers on these channels; sales customer service is NOT included and such messages will be relayed to the Client)
  • Follower acquisition (ie. follow accounts of the targeted audience)
  • Brand monitoring (ie. active monitoring and listening to any mentions about the business across channels)
  • Monthly growth and analytics reports

 4. Product Copywriting (299 AED per product SKU)

• • 1 product title per SKU
  • 200 words product description per SKU
  • 3 bullet points per SKU
  • Search engine optimized
  • 2 revision cycles

Monthly ongoing costs such as hosting and social media management will be automatically renewed under the same time and fee structure unless the Client gives a written notice 30 days before the renewal date that it does not wish to renew the account.

If the Client wishes to transfer hosting to another provider, the Company, upon request, can migrate the website for a small admin fee of 150 AED.

Hosting

If the Client is hosting the website elsewhere:

1. The Company cannot guarantee that the website is fully compatible with all hosting provider’s server operating systems, especially any contact forms, CMS, database-driven websites, etc. 
2. The Company does not offer any technical support for any other website hosting that the Client may choose. 
3. The Client is responsible for maintaining its own website, backups, domain, and hosting.
4. The Company will not be liable for restoring any client data or client websites except to the extent that such data loss arises out of a negligent act or omission by the Company.

Copyright

Copyright is automatically assigned as follows:

1. The Client will own or have permission to use, the text files, images, graphics, and any visual elements, video, or sound bytes, that you may have sent to the Company to use in connection with the project. 
2. The Client must obtain all necessary permissions and authorities in respect of the use of all the stock photos/videos/music or any other material supplied to the Company to be included in the website.
3. The Client is granted exclusive right to use or distribute all the creative works such as illustrations, created and delivered by the Company within the specifications of the package.
4. The Company will not purchase stock photography on behalf of the Client for use in website development.
5. The copyright to the markup, CSS files, and other codes that may have been used by the Company in connection with this project is licensed solely to the domain name on which the website files reside. 
6. At the bottom of the website pages, it will say Copyright and the name of the Client’s business or company. The Client does however reserve the right to place a small and unobtrusive link at the bottom of the website, thereby not hindering or distracting from the website design. 
7. The Company also reserves the right to display and link to the completed project as part of its portfolio, and to write about the project on other websites such as in magazines, books, written or digital publications of any design and source.

Liability

The Company will not be held liable for any missed launch date or deadline, if the Client has been late in supplying materials, or has not approved or signed off work on-time, at any stage of the process.

Confidentiality

The Company adheres to all national data protection, data transfer, data retention, and confidentiality regulations and always stores data it receives in a secure manner within its privacy policy.

General

1. A website will not launch until the package is paid in full unless a special agreement has been reached in advance.
2. Additional costs for extra features and/or additional design costs, not covered by the Company’s packages, will be agreed upon and invoiced before the website goes live.
3. If the Client does not respond to the Company’s request to discuss or choose options, the Company will automatically choose what it feels is the most appropriate. 
4. There may be an additional fee for any design changes requested after the initial agreed design has been signed off. 
5. The Company cannot guarantee that the functions contained within any webpage or part of the website design, will always be error-free, and therefore, the Company will not be liable in any way whatsoever to the Client for any third-party damages, including lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate the website and any other webpages, even if the Company has been advised by the Client of the possibilities of such damages.
6. The Company does not guarantee any specific position in search engine results for the Client’s website. The Company performs basic search engine optimization according to current best practice. 
7. The number of followers, engagement, impressions, and performance of ad campaigns on social media are also not guaranteed by the Company.
8. The Company reserves the right to subcontract any services included in the package as it sees fit. The Company and any subcontractors engaged in the project agree that they will not at any time disclose any of the Client’s confidential information to any third party. 
9. If any provision of this agreement shall be deemed severable from this agreement, it shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
10. The Client cannot transfer this contract to anyone else without the Company’s consent or permission. 
11. This contract remains in force and need not be renewed.

Changes to these Terms and Conditions

The Company reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of these Terms and Conditions at any time without notice. Failure to receive notification of any change does not make those changes valid. These Terms and Conditions will always be available to download or print from its website.

You, the Client, acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms & Conditions, and agree to be bound by them. Your continued receipt indicates your agreement to these Terms & Conditions.