Terms of Service

These terms are the agreement between you and The Tiny Web Factory ("we", "us" or "our") when you create an account in our customer portal or buy any of our services. We have tried to keep them short and fair. When you tick "I agree" at sign-up, you accept these terms and our Privacy Policy.

1. Who can use the service

You must be at least 18 and able to enter into a contract. If you sign up for a business, you confirm that you may act for it, and "you" means that business.

2. What we provide

We build, host and look after websites, landing pages, online stores, business email and domains for small businesses. What each package and add-on includes, and its price, is shown in the portal before you pay. That description forms part of these terms.

We use automated tools, including AI, to help draft and build your site. A person on our team reviews the work before it goes live.

3. Your account

• You sign in with a link we email you. Keep access to that email address secure.
• You are responsible for what happens under your account, including people you invite to your team.
• Tell us straight away at hello@thetinywebfactory.com if you think someone else has access.

4. Prices and payment

• Prices are shown in the portal and include VAT where it applies.
• Subscriptions are charged monthly in advance. One-off fees are charged once, when you buy them.
• Payments are processed by our payment provider. We do not store your card details.
• If a payment fails, we will email you and try again. If it is still unpaid after we have warned you, we may pause your services until it is paid. We do not delete your site or content because of a missed payment without giving you notice and a chance to export it.
• We will give you at least 30 days' notice by email before we change the price of a subscription you already have.

5. Cooling-off period

You may cancel a purchase within 7 days of paying for it, for a full refund, as long as we have not yet started work on it at your request. If we have started, we will refund the part of the fee that covers work not yet done. This does not limit any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act or the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

6. Cancelling

• You can cancel a subscription at any time with 30 days' notice, from the portal or by emailing us.
• Your services keep running until the end of the notice period. We do not charge a cancellation fee.
• We will help you export your site and content and move to another provider.
• Domains registered for you stay yours. When you leave, we help you transfer them, once any fees for them are paid.

7. Your content

Your content stays yours. This includes your text, images, logos, products and customer data. You give us permission to use it only to build, host and run your services. You confirm that you have the right to use everything you give us, and that it does not break the law or anyone else's rights.

8. Our work and tools

Our portal, software, templates and design system belong to us. While you have an active subscription, you may use the site we build for you. When you leave, you keep your content and the published files of your site so you can host them elsewhere. Our software and tools stay with us.

9. Fair use

You agree not to use our services to:

• break the law, or sell anything that is illegal to sell
• send spam or bulk email people did not ask for
• publish content that is fraudulent, hateful, or infringes someone else's rights
• spread malware, attack other systems, or try to get around our security

If you do, we may remove the content or suspend the service. Unless the harm is serious or urgent, we will contact you first and give you a chance to fix it.

10. Your customers' personal information

When your site collects personal information from your visitors or customers, you are the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). We process that information on your behalf, only to provide our services, and keep it secure. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your own information.

11. Services we rely on

We use trusted providers for hosting, sign-in, email delivery and payments. Some of them process data outside South Africa. We choose them carefully, but we cannot control their systems, and their own terms may apply to parts of the service, for example domain registration.

12. Availability

We work to keep your site and email running at all times and support is available around the clock. We cannot promise the service will never be interrupted, for example during maintenance or a failure at one of our providers. We will tell you about planned maintenance that affects you where we can.

13. Liability

We are responsible for loss you suffer that was caused by our failure to do what these terms say. As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for indirect loss, such as lost profit or lost business, and our total liability to you is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for gross negligence or fraud, or any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act.

14. Ending the agreement

You can end this agreement by cancelling your subscriptions and closing your account. We may end it with 30 days' notice, or straight away if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms. Either way, you get the chance to export your site and content first.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change affects you, we will email you at least 30 days before it takes effect. If you do not agree, you can cancel before then without paying any penalty.

16. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of South Africa. If something goes wrong, please contact us first and we will try to sort it out with you. If we cannot agree, either of us may take the matter to the South African courts that have jurisdiction.

Contact us

The Tiny Web Factory
Email: hello@thetinywebfactory.com