Terms of Service

These Terms are the agreement between you and VertexWeb for our websites, tools and client portal. We wrote them in plain language. The short version is below, but the full Terms are what count.

The short version

You get a free preview first. You pay nothing until you approve it. It is a free sample with limits: two rounds of changes, open for 14 days.
After that it's a monthly subscription through Paystack. No minimum term: cancel any time, and service runs to the end of the month you paid for.
If a payment fails, you have 7 days before we pause your site. Pay and it comes back, with no fee.
Your content stays yours. You must have the rights to what you give us.
Your domain is yours. We register it in your name and manage it for you.
After R7,500 of website payments (or a buy-out), the website's code is yours too.
When tools hold your customers' information, you're in charge of it and we look after it for you. No lock-in: you can export it.
We use AI tools to help build and maintain websites.
We work hard to keep things running, but we don't promise perfect uptime or search rankings, and our liability is limited as the law allows.

1. Who we are

VertexWeb is the trading name of VERTEX WEB (PTY) LTD, a private company registered in South Africa (registration number 2026/762640/07; SARS taxpayer reference 9565852226).

Email: contact@vertexweb.co.za · billing@vertexweb.co.za · support@vertexweb.co.za
Phone: 072 969 7373
Information Officer: James van Veelen, Director (Information Regulator registration 2026-068122)

“We”, “us” and “our” mean VertexWeb. “You” means the person or business using our services.

2. These Terms and how you accept them

You accept these Terms when you create an account, and again when you approve your preview and start paying. At that point we record which version you accepted, the date and time, your IP address and your browser. That record is our agreement, as the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA) allows.
If you accept for a business, you confirm you're allowed to bind that business.
Anything we agree with you in writing about your specific project (email is enough), such as a quote, forms part of the agreement. If it conflicts with these Terms, the written agreement wins on that point.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. It forms part of these Terms.

3. Your account

You can create an account with your email and a password, or with Google. We may also create an account for you.
Keep your login private. You're responsible for what happens in your account. Tell us straight away at support@vertexweb.co.za if you think someone else has used it.
One email address can only belong to one account.
Under 18? You can't enter into a paid agreement with us on your own. A parent or legal guardian must enter into or approve the agreement for you.

4. How it works: brief, free preview, approval

You tell us about your business in the brief (about 20 minutes).
We build a free preview of your website. The preview is free and creates no obligation to pay.
You can ask for changes to the preview, in up to two rounds. Reasonable adjustments to the design we showed you (text, images, colours, small layout tweaks) are included. Extra pages, a different structure or custom features may be quoted first.
You approve and pay the first month. Your subscription starts, and we connect your domain and go live.

The preview is a free sample, not a free build

A preview costs us real time and may never become a paying service, so we limit how much time we put into it. That is why the limits below exist, and why a reply can take a few working days, or longer when we are busy.

Preview limits

Two rounds of changes. A round is one batch of notes you send together, from the portal or by email. After two rounds you can approve the preview and carry on with your monthly changes (section 6), or we can quote the extra work.
14 days. A preview stays open for 14 days from the day we send it. We remind you part-way through. After that we archive it. You can ask us to reopen it, but we aren't obliged to.
Fair use. If requests keep coming without moving towards approval, we may pause the preview, ask you to approve it or let it lapse, and decline a new preview for the same business after an abandoned one.

If you decide not to go ahead, you can walk away. We may delete an unused or archived preview after a reasonable time.

5. Packages, tools and prices

Our packages, tools and prices are shown on our website and in the package builder. The package and price confirmed when you approve your preview (or in a written quote) are what apply to you.
Tools marked “coming soon” aren't part of your service until they launch. We'll tell you when one is ready.
Custom work, takeovers and other services are priced by quote.
VAT: we are not VAT-registered, so prices include no VAT. If we register, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice of any change this causes.
Price changes: we may change the price of an active subscription with at least 30 days' written notice. If you don't accept the new price, you can cancel before it takes effect.

6. What the service includes

While your subscription is paid, your website package includes the website, hosting, security (including SSL), maintenance, support through the portal, and the monthly content changes for your package.

A content change means updating text, swapping images, or adding items (such as a blog post or portfolio item) using the existing layout. A redesign, new pages, custom graphics or new features aren't content changes; we quote those first.
Changes are done in the order they arrive, during South African business hours. A large batch at once may be spread over a few days so every client gets fair turnaround.
Unused changes don't roll over to the next month.
Not included unless we agree in writing: paid advertising, guaranteed leads or rankings, SEO campaigns, social media management, photography, professional copywriting, branding or illustrations, third-party subscription fees, and custom software.
We don't offer a guaranteed uptime percentage (an “SLA”), and we can't guarantee same-day fixes.

7. Payments

Payments go through Paystack. Your card or bank details are entered on Paystack's page, never ours. Paystack's own terms apply to the payment.
Your subscription is charged monthly in advance from the day you approve and pay.
Invoices are in your portal. Billing questions: billing@vertexweb.co.za.

8. Missed payments

If a payment fails or an invoice isn't paid, you have a 7-day grace period and your website stays online.
If it's still unpaid after 7 days, we may pause your website and parts of the portal until you pay.
When payment succeeds, we switch everything back on. There's no reactivation fee.
If it stays unpaid for a long time, we may end the service as set out in section 19.

9. Cancelling

There is no minimum term. You can cancel at any time by turning off auto-renew in your portal or by telling us in writing (email is enough).
Your service keeps running until the end of the period you've paid for, then stops. Any unpaid invoices still need to be paid.
You can turn auto-renew back on before the period ends to carry on as normal.

Cooling-off

If ECTA's cooling-off right applies to you, you may cancel within 7 days of agreeing without a reason or penalty, except where the law says it doesn't apply, for example once a service has started with your agreement within those 7 days.

10. Refunds

The preview is free.
Once you've approved and billing has started, payments (including the first month and domain registration costs) are generally not refundable, even if you cancel early or don't use the website.
This doesn't take away any refund or cancellation right you have under South African law, including the Consumer Protection Act where it applies.

11. Domains

We register your domain (for example, a .co.za) in your name, or your business's name, as the owner (the “registrant”). We manage it for you as part of the service: renewals, settings (DNS) and connecting it to your website.
The domain cost is included in your subscription while it is active.
You can ask for full control of your domain at any time. We'll help transfer it once your invoices are paid. Registrar rules and fees may apply, and we can't control how long a registrar takes.

If your service ends

We stop renewing the domain. Please take control of it before it expires, or you may lose it. We'll remind you.

12. Your content and uploads

Your content stays yours. Logos, photos, text, videos and other material you give us remain yours (or your licensors').

You give us permission to use, copy, adapt and publish your content only to build, run, back up and support your website and tools while you're with us.

You are responsible for having the rights. Before you upload or send anything, you must have every right, licence, permission and consent needed, including:

copyright and trademark rights for logos, images, fonts, music and text;
permission from any person shown in photos or videos, such as your customers or staff;
consent for any personal information you give us about other people.

Important

You agree to protect (“indemnify”) VertexWeb against claims, fines, losses and reasonable legal costs that arise because material or information you supplied breaks the law or someone else's rights. This continues after the service ends.

We may remove content that we reasonably believe is unlawful or infringes someone's rights.

13. Website ownership and the codebase

Your website is a managed service: we build it, host it and look after it. Four things are separate:

Your content and your domain are yours (sections 11 and 12).
Using the website: while your subscription is paid (including the 7-day grace period), you may use the website for your business.
VertexWeb's own software (shared templates and components, design systems, the client portal, Admin tools, hosting and deployment setup) stays ours and isn't part of any handover.
Your website's code (rent-to-own), explained below.

Rent-to-own

The code for a standard website is valued at R7,500. More complex sites may have a higher amount, which we tell you before you start paying.
Each month, the website part of your payment (currently R799, the Essential price) counts towards that amount. Extra tools and bigger packages don't speed it up.
Once the amount is reached, or you buy out the balance at any time, you own your website's custom code.
You can then get it as a ZIP file or a transfer of the GitHub repository to an account you choose, once your invoices are paid.
If you leave before that, you don't get the code, but you can buy out the balance.

Client websites usually use Next.js, React and Tailwind CSS unless we agree otherwise.

14. Tools that hold your customers' information

Some tools store information about your customers, for example bookings, enquiries and leads, quote requests, reviews, or messages with your customers. For that information, POPIA calls you the responsible party and us your operator. This section is our agreement for that (POPIA sections 20 and 21).

What we do

process it only to provide the tool, on your instructions and under these Terms;
keep it confidential and use it for nothing else;
protect it with appropriate security measures, as described in our Privacy Policy;
tell you promptly if we believe it was accessed or taken without permission;
use only trusted providers to run the tools (such as Cloudflare for hosting and Resend for emails), under terms that protect the information;
help you respond when your customers ask to see, correct or delete their information;
let you export it where the tool supports export (bookings and review requests can be exported as a spreadsheet file), at any time and for 90 days after your service ends. Then we delete it.

What you do

have a lawful reason to collect your customers' information, and tell them how you use it (we can give you a privacy notice template);
get any consent the law requires, including from a parent or guardian for children;
only ask us to process information lawfully.

Review requests

Review requests helps you ask your customers for a Google review.

WhatsApp: when you tap “Ask for a review”, WhatsApp opens on your own phone with your message ready. You send it from your own number, so you are the sender.
Automatic emails: these stay off until you switch them on in your portal and confirm. When you do, you instruct us to send one email per finished booking, in your business name, from our sending address, with replies going to your email. We record when you switched them on and who did it. You can switch them off at any time.

When you use Review requests, you agree to:

ask every customer the same way, not only the ones you expect to be happy;
never offer a discount, gift or anything else in return for a review, and never write or buy reviews;
keep your message honest, and use it only to ask for a review, not to advertise;
respect a customer who says no. Customers can tick “Please don't ask me for a review” on your booking form and can stop the emails from any email. We honour that for your business, and you must not ask us to email them again.

Google decides which reviews appear and when. We can't promise a number of reviews or a rating.

No lock-in

Your customers' information belongs to your business. We never hold it back for a fee.

15. AI-assisted development

We use artificial intelligence tools, including Claude by Anthropic, to help build, maintain and update websites and our services. Information you give us for your website may be processed through these tools where reasonably necessary to provide the service. We review the work, and we remain responsible for it under these Terms. We don't use your information to train our own AI models.

16. Messages we send

Service messages are part of the service: codes, invoices, receipts, preview-ready notices, security messages and important changes.
Marketing: we may tell you about new VertexWeb services and tools by email or in your portal. You can switch this off at any time in your portal or with the unsubscribe link, and it won't affect service messages.
We use your phone and WhatsApp number only for service-related communication, never for marketing.

17. Acceptable use and suspension

You may not use our services, your website or the portal to:

break the law, or infringe anyone's rights;
send spam or mislead people;
publish harmful, hateful, illegal or adult content;
attack, probe or overload our systems, or try to reach another client's information.

We may pause or end the service, after telling you where reasonable, if payments stay unpaid after the grace period (section 8), for serious or repeated breaches of these Terms, or where we must do so by law or to prevent harm.

18. Third-party services

We rely on other providers, such as Cloudflare, Paystack, Resend, Google, Anthropic and domain registrars. Their own terms apply to their services. We're not responsible for their outages or policy changes that are outside our reasonable control, but we'll do what we reasonably can to keep your service running.

19. When the service ends

When your subscription ends (you cancel, or we end it under these Terms):

Your website and portal access stop at the end of the paid period.
For 90 days you can ask us for a copy of your content (logos, photos, text you supplied) and your tools' data (section 14). After 90 days we delete it, except what the law requires us to keep.
Your domain: see section 11. Take control before it expires.
Your code: if the rent-to-own amount is reached or bought out, see section 13.
What we keep: invoices, payment records and your Terms acceptance, for at least five years, as the law requires.
VertexWeb's own software, hosting accounts and other clients' material are never included.

20. Liability

Important: please read this section carefully

We provide the service with reasonable care and skill. We don't guarantee search rankings, traffic, sales or uninterrupted uptime.
As far as the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as lost profits, lost business or lost data that could have been avoided with reasonable backups on your side.
As far as the law allows, our total liability for any claim is limited to the fees you paid us in the 3 months before the claim arose.
Nothing in these Terms limits liability that the law doesn't allow us to limit, including for gross negligence, fraud, or your rights under the Consumer Protection Act where it applies.

21. Events outside our control

We aren't responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as power failures and load shedding, internet or undersea cable outages, outages at Cloudflare or other providers, natural disasters, strikes, or acts of government. We'll do what we reasonably can to limit the impact.

22. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. The date at the top shows the latest version.
For important changes, we tell account holders by email or in the portal at least 30 days before they apply (unless the law requires a faster change), and we may ask you to accept the new Terms in the portal.
If you don't agree with an important change, you can cancel before it applies.

23. Disputes and law

South African law applies to these Terms.
If there's a dispute, tell us in writing. We'll both try to settle it in good faith, including through informal mediation, for at least 30 days before going to court. Either of us may still ask a court for urgent relief.
South African courts have jurisdiction, without affecting any right you have to go to a consumer body or tribunal.

24. Transfer of this agreement

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another company (for example, if VertexWeb is sold), as long as your service continues on terms that are no worse for you. You may not transfer your agreement without our written consent.

25. Referrals

A referral partner program may open in future, under separate Partner Program Terms. Until then, referral links don't create any right to a commission.