By placing an order with OpenShop, you confirm that you are in agreement with and bound by the terms and conditions below.

Definitions

The Client: The company or individual requesting the services of OpenShop.

OpenShop: Primary designer / site owner & employees or affiliates.

General

OpenShop will carry out work only where an agreement is provided either by email, telephone, mail or fax. OpenShop will carry out work only for clients who are 18 years of age or above. An "order" is deemed to be a written or verbal contract between OpenShop and the client, this includes telephone and email agreements.

Website Design

Whilst every endeavor will be made to ensure that the website and any scripts or programs are free of errors, OpenShop cannot accept responsibility for any losses incurred due to malfunction, the website or any part of it.

All work carried out for the client remains the property of OpenShop until all outstanding accounts are paid in full.

Any scripts, programming code, CGI applications, PHP scripts or software (unless specifically agreed in writing) remain the property and copyright of OpenShop and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of OpenShop. Further, to protect the property and copyright all Openshop sites must be hosted on our servers. Our prices for hosting provide good value for money and we routinely benchmark against similar service proiders.

OpenShop cannot take responsibility for any copyright infringements caused by materials submitted by the client. We reserve the right to refuse any material of a copyrighted nature unless adequate proof is given of permission to use such material.

Any additions to briefs provided will be carried out at the discretion of OpenShop and where no charge is made by OpenShop for such additions, OpenShop accept no responsibility to ensure such additions are error free and reserve the right to charge an according amount for any correction to these or further additions.

The client agrees to make available as soon as is reasonably possible to OpenShop all materials required to complete the site to the agreed standard and within the set deadline.

OpenShop will not be liable for costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the failure to meet agreed deadlines.

OpenShop will not be liable or become involved in any disputes between the site owner and their clients and cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoing on the part of a site owner. eg. Any disputes regarding content / images that have been provided to us for inclusion on the site.

OpenShop will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the work carried out on behalf of the client or any of the clients appointed agents.

OpenShop will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the unavailability of the site, its servers, software or any material provided by its agents.

A deposit of 50% is required with any projects before any design work will be carried out. This figure may be higher for websites of an adult nature and is non-refundable unless the client requests refund on first design proof.

Once a website has been designed and completed the final balance of payment is then due in accordance with our payment terms. There are no exceptions to this, i.e If the client decides they no longer want the site, as they have commissioned the work and paid a deposit they are still obliged to pay for the work that has been done. Non payment will result in legal action being taken if necessary.

Database, Application and E-Commerce Development

OpenShop cannot take responsibility for any losses incurred by the use of any software created for the client. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure products are problem free and accurate, the ultimate responsibility lies with the client in ensuring that all software is functioning correctly before use.

Any scripts, applications or software (unless specifically agreed) written by OpenShop remain the copyright of OpenShop and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of OpenShop.

Where applications or sites are developed on servers not recommended by OpenShop, the client is expected to provide or seek any information, additional software, support or co-operation pertaining to the server required in order for the application to be correctly developed. Where large applications are to be developed, it is the clients responsibility to provide a suitable testing environment which is identical to the final production environment.

The client is expected to test fully any application or programming relating to a site developed by OpenShop before being made generally available for use. Where "bugs", errors or other issues are found after the site is live, OpenShop will endeavor (but is not obliged to) to correct these issues to meet the standards of function outlined in the brief.

Compatibility

OpenShop will endeavor to ensure that any developed / designed site or application will function correctly on the server it is initially installed in and that it will function correctly when viewed with the web browsing software Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6 and to an acceptable level with Mozilla browsers. OpenShop can offer no guarantees of correct function with all browser software.

Confidentiality

Neither party will use, copy, adapt, alter or part with possession of any information of the other party which is disclosed or otherwise comes into its possession under or in relation to this Agreement and which is of a confidential nature. This obligation will not apply to information which the recipient can prove was in its possession at the date it was received or obtained or which the recipient obtains from some other person with good legal title to it or which is in or comes into the public domain otherwise than through the default or negligence of the recipient or which is independently developed by or for the recipient.

Website Hosting and Content Management System Access

Openshop website hosting includes secure hosting in our first class data centre, up-to 100MB of disk space, unlimited national and up-to 200MB international traffic, and up to 10 email addresses loaded at the time of building the website.

Website hosting also includes secure access to our content management system (CMS) allows you to make changes to your listings and some text on your website.

Your website hosting invoice will show both of these items seperately.

Whilst every endeavor will be made to ensure that the hosting servers are always operational in good condition, no guarantees can be made as to the availability or interruption of this service by OpenShop cannot accept liability for losses caused by the unavailability, malfunction or interruption of this service or for loss of turnover, sales, revenue, profits or indirect, consequential or special loss.

OpenShop reserves the right to refuse to handle in any way, material which may be deemed offensive, illegal or in any way controversial and also to terminate the hosting service should the necessity arise.

Moves, Add's and Changes

All Moves, Add's and Changes that the Client requests OpenShop to perform are chargeable at the current OpenShop hourly rate times the number of hours taken to complete the work requested. An estimate will be provided to the Client which must be accepted in writing before any work commences. In some cases part or full pre-payment may also be required. OpenShop will perform the Services requested with reasonable care and skill.

Payment of Accounts

A 50% deposit is required before the commencement of any new project. The remainder is payable upon completion of the project.

Invoices for other work carried out by OpenShop or its affiliates is required to be paid in full by the due date on the invoice unless another arrangement has been agreed in writing with OpenShop.

If accounts are not settled or OpenShop has not been contacted regarding the delay, the related website may be disconnected and a $45+GST reconnection fee will apply. If payment is still not received then we will pass such cases to a professional debt collection company or the Small Claims Court to pursue payment, which may effect the clients credit rating.

Following consistent non-payment of an invoice Openshop reserves the right to take ownership of the website that non-payment refers to.

Complaints Procedure

Informal procedure

Anyone who experiences a problem with their web service provided by OpenShop should raise the matter directly using our online contact form to do so, giving sufficient information to locate the material (such as an url) and clearly outlining the grounds for complaint.

OpenShop will approach the individual responsible for the material in question with a view to resolving the matter to the satisfaction of the complainant.

Formal complaints procedure

The formal complaints procedure should only be used where the complainant feels that the nature of the complaint is too serious to be dealt with informally, or where a satisfactory conclusion has not been reached after following the informal procedure.

A formal complaint should be made in writing to OpenShop, who will acknowledge receipt and ensure that the matter is looked into as soon as possible.

An initial response to any complaint can be expected within seven days of its receipt; a full and considered response to the complaint should be completed within 30 days and any subsequent remedy implemented with the minimum of delay.



We take your privacy seriously. We want to provide you with a great service and information that you will find useful.

If you provide us with your email or any other piece of personal information, you have our guarantee that this information will not be sold or given away to third parties other than for the operation of OpenShop business services.

We gather statistics on our website, but this information is generic and cannot be used to identify individuals.