Terms of Service
The following are the Terms of Service. By accepting service or support from us, you are bound to these terms. Unless otherwise stated, “Inception Web Designs”, “we”, “us”, and “our” refer to Inception Web Designs LLC. When “you”, “your”, or “client” is used it refers to those having purchased services from or are under contract with Inception Web Designs.
We reserve the right to turn down any request for services, even after a contract has been signed. This may be due, but not limited to a request for: material or designs that are or promote illegal activities, hate or prejudice, terrorism, graphic violence, pornography, political topics, religious organizations, or anything that we do not wish to promote.
Maintenance Plans & Web Hosting
In addition to the general terms of service as detailed on this webpage, see our Maintenance Plan and Hosting Terms of Service. Or learn more about our Maintenance Plan features.
Search Engine Marketing Management
In addition to the general terms of service as detailed on this webpage, see our Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Management Terms of Service . This refers to the creation and management of online advertising platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.
Payment Method & Late Fees
All invoices and deposits must be paid online by credit card or ACH. Cash is not accepted. Checks are only accepted for project work over $2000.
If the invoice or deposit is paid through a credit card, a 2.5% processing fee will be added to either the final invoice or a separate invoice. There is no additional processing fee when paying through ACH (Automated Clearing House).
Any payment received after an invoice’s due date will be subject to a fee of $25 or 5% of the invoice, whichever is greater. However, there is no due date and therefore no late fees, when paying a project's deposit.
Cancelled Services & Refunds
Any requested services not under contract can be cancelled without penalty, if no work has been performed yet. Any time Inception has spent on the project will be billed at a rate of $150 an hour. This billable time includes time spent: communicating, providing a quote or contract, organizing staff, brainstorming, designing, revising, and any other actions where billable time was tracked. All billable work will be billed to the client, but will never exceed the work's originally quoted price. If requested, any design or development work that has already been completed will be turned over to the client after Inception's invoice has been paid.
If the client does not want to cancel all work, but to only remove certain “features”, this can usually be accommodated. A “feature” may refer to a webpage, a section of a webpage, an additional function or WordPress plugin, a form, an image, custom coding, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, or any other asset, research, alteration or service that Inception provides. If that part of the project has not been designed or developed yet and will not affect the time needed to complete other aspects of the previously quoted work, then it can usually be deducted from the total price. If the feature that is requested to cancel is not listed individually in a quote, then Inception reserves the right to assign a monetary value to that feature based on the hourly rate and how many hours it is estimated to have needed to complete. However, if that part of the project has already been designed, developed, or its absence will have a negative impact on the time needed for other parts of the work, then a deduction will not be provided.
If you have a signed contract, please see its terms on cancelled services and refunds.
Prepaid Retainers
Prepaid retainers are billed on the 1st of each month and require autopay. Unused retainer hours only roll over for 1 month. If they are not used the month of the billed invoice or by the last business day of the subsequent month, then they expire and will not be credited to the client's account, nor can they be redeemed for a different service. For example, if 10 hours of services are purchased on the 1st of January as part of a prepaid retainer, then any hours not used by the last business day of February would be forfeited by the client.
It is the client's responsibility to request services each month a retainer is paid. Inception Web Designs is not responsible to remind the client or perform work without client authorization.
Inception Web Designs reserves the right to not allow retainer hours to be used for any services it classifies as "non-hourly" but that are billed at a flat-rate price. For example, retainer hours cannot be used for search engine marketing management, logo design, custom artwork or animations, programming, keyword research, maintenance plans, web hosting fees, project work (that requires a contract), project deposits, or other non-hourly services.
Retainer work is performed during regular business hours, which excludes after-hours, weekends, and holidays. If rush services are requested during non-business hours, the retainer hours may be used to pay the base hourly rate, however, any rush delivery fees will apply (see the Rush Deliveries heading).
Invoice Autopay
Most monthly services are automatically billed on the 1st of each new month, and prepays for that month. For example: web hosting, maintenance plans, Google Ads management, and monthly SEO services.
Autopay is set up by checking the Authorize future payments option in the recurring invoice page or submitting our payment form. Autopay is required for all invoices that include any of the following: web hosting, a maintenance plan, search engine marketing management, link building, monthly SEO services, or a prepaid monthly retainer.
Autopay is required to qualify for any discounts on services, such as the Maintenance Plan or other service discounts. Autopay may be via credit card or ACH (direct bank payment). Checks and cash are not accepted for monthly services.
Services that are set up for autopay will not be refunded for any unused portion of the month. This is because services are not rendered evenly across the entire month, but performed mostly at the beginning of the month. To qualify for a full refund, the services automatically billed must have a request for refund submitted before the end of the day that the autopay was billed. If the autopay date falls on a weekend or holiday, then the request must be submitted by the end of the next business day.
Inception Web Designs is not responsible for any credit card fees due to insufficient funds when the autopay processes. If a different payment method would like to be used, the request must be submitted through email at least 1 business day before the 1st of the month.
Rush Deliveries
Work performed outside of regular business hours (after 6pm Monday-Friday, on weekends, or holidays) require an additional rush delivery fee. Depending on the size of the request, a deposit up to 40% may be required.
Rush delivery fees are as follows:
- RUSH 2x (25% extra):
2 times faster. For example, a 2 week project timeline for a new website is now 1 week. Excludes weekends/holidays. - RUSH 3x (50% extra):
3 times faster. For example, a 2 week project timeline for a new website is now 3 days. Excludes weekends/holidays. - RUSH Ultimate (100% extra):
For work that must be completed over the weekend or a holiday.
Project Contracts
If your project has a contract with us, then the contract's Terms of Service supersede any conflicting terms of service listed on this web page.
Ownership & Copyright
The client owns any web content, logo, or graphics designed for them by Inception. Because of this, the client is solely responsible for any copyright issues that may arise from the design. It is the client’s responsibility to investigate any possibilities of copyright infringement.
Stock images, graphics, or videos (“media”) used in client services (whether on the client's website or otherwise) that are provided by Inception Web Designs will be media that is legally purchased and licensed. Inception may license media from a distributor like Shutterstock, iStock, Adobe Stock Images, Getty, or similar company. Unless the media distributor’s licensing terms allow the license to be transferred to the client, then the purchased stock media is licensed to the purchaser: Inception Web Designs. In this case, Inception will use their licensed media when providing the service for the client. Because the media is licensed to the purchaser (Inception Web Designs), the client agrees to not use the stock media in any projects or services not provided by Inception, unless the client purchases their own license for the media asset.
Inception Web Designs agrees for the license they purchase for any stock media to be used in behalf of the client. If a third-party requests proof that a certain media asset is legally licensed for use on the client’s website, Inception will provide a document with the license. The media asset’s license may only include a simple statement as to who the image is licensed to and the purchase date. Inception is not responsible for assisting the client in communicating with the third-party concerning any media licensing issues, providing legal advice, nor providing more licensing proof than the media distributor makes available.
Unless otherwise stated by Inception, stock media will be purchased with a royalty-free Standard-use license. This allows for the media asset to be used commercially, such as on the client's website, royalty free. However, an asset's Standard license may have limitations if it is integrated into a product that is sold, printed, or published, or done so on a large scale. If a more extensive license is needed, it is the client's responsibility to determine which type of license is legally required, and to purchase it.
Liability
An approximate timeline to provide a service or complete a project may be provided. However, Inception is not liable if a delay in development or an inability to render a particular service causes the client financial loss or other negative results.
Inception Web Designs is not liable for any legal issues, lawsuits, fines, or licensing fees that may arise from copyright infringement, use, or misuse of software and stock media (photograph, graphic, or video), or their licensing.
Inception is not liable or financially responsible if services rendered cause the client's website to crash or no longer fully function. Such an issue could be due to updating software on the client's website, attempting to migrate a client's website to another web host, making DNS changes, updating website content, a web hosting issue, or any other activity we were involved with.
Textual Mistakes & Broken Links
Before a website goes live, it is proofread and thoroughly tested. However, at times there may be a broken link or textual mistake. Any such mistakes will be corrected free of charge up to 60 days after the project is complete. After 60 days, a charge may apply for any textual or broken link corrections. A “broken link” would be a link that does not work or is misdirected. “Textual mistakes” would include misspelled words or typos.
WordPress Features & Updates
WordPress, the WordPress theme, and any plugins that are used to build a client’s website are developed by their respective developers. Therefore, Inception is not responsible for any software bugs or functional limitations that they may have. If such technical issues are discovered, Inception will attempt to design a solution that works around these issues. However, some issues may be dependent on the developer releasing a fix or update.
WordPress has the ability to update its version, theme, and plugins. Typically, these updates are beneficial and patch security or compatibility issues. At times, though, an update could cause a conflict with the functionality of the client’s website. Inception is not responsible for any issues that occur from an update after the project’s completion, whether automatic or performed by the client or Inception staff.
WordPress websites that Inception builds use a purchased and licensed visual builder add-on (such as Bricks or Beaver Builder). If one of our monthly Maintenance Plans is not purchased, a new website will be allowed to use our agency license for the visual builder for up to 12 months after the new website is paid for in full. After that, Inception reserves the right to disconnect our license. A license may thereafter either be purchased by the client or the visual builder can continue to function without any new software updates.
Promotional Statements & Portfolio
Unless otherwise stated, all websites designed by Inception Web Designs will have a promotional statement at the bottom of each webpage that says “Website Designed by Inception Web Designs”, “Web Design by Inception Web Designs”, “Created by Inception Web Designs,” “Powered by Inception Web Designs”, or another similarly worded statement along with a link to inceptionwebdesigns.com. Services rendered to a client may also be listed in Inception’s portfolio, whether on printed media, inceptionwebdesigns.com, or Inception’s social media accounts. The promotional statement and portfolio listing can be declined by purchasing one of Inception’s White Label packages.
The White Label Standard Package removes the promotional statement for a fee of $100 or 2% of the invoice, whichever is greater.
The White Label Premium Package removes the promotional statement and the portfolio listing across all mediums and platforms. The White Label Premium Package is $250 or 5% of the invoice, whichever is greater.
Terms of Service last modified: December 16, 2023