THINCWEB WEB SERVICES & ADVANCED PACKAGES

OUTLINE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THINCWEB & CLIENT

This document outlines the framework within which any work or service/s carried out or provided by Thincweb or any of it's associated companies is undertaken. It also outlines the Clients responsibilities. It is not intended to be a complex legal document, we like to work with clients on a "common sense" basis using "best business practice" as our model. Real business issues do, we know, occasionally interrupt the smooth flow of agreements and this document is our way of trying to provide for those situations so that everyone knows the basis they are working on.

WEBSITES

Standard/Bespoke Websites.

Thincweb agrees in exchange for the agreed fee …

of which the full cost of the Virtual Server or Server, domain name and any additional third party software together with 50% of the build cost is required with signed Company order, the remaining 50% of the build cost is due when the site goes live,

……. to provide services and / or construct a website based on the detailed brief agreed between Thincweb and the Client (see separate documentation /quote / proposal / specification as appropriate).

Thincweb will use it's best endeavours to provide the services and / or to complete the website within the time-scale agreed with the Client.

The Client is responsible for making sure that Thincweb has all the relevant materials required for the website build or services required. Any delay in providing such materials will of necessity result in a change to the expected completion time/launch. Thincweb likes to keep to it's website build schedule and can only do this by taking into account the requirements of ALL our clients - once we slot a website build into our schedule, any time slippage can have an affect on other clients' website builds, and this is something we try to avoid.

Alterations, Additions & Updates after site completion: Thincweb undertakes to do minor changes, eg. One off change of phone/fax numbers for £10.00. Other work undertaken on the site by Thincweb will be charged for on the basis of our hourly rate, at present £40.00 per hour.

Client Responsibilities : Clients are responsible for providing Thincweb with all relevant material for placing on the website at the time of order (or at a time agreed between the Client and Thincweb). This includes text for all pages, images, logos etc. Please note that apart from minor changes (eg. phone numbers), any alterations to the initial brief, after we have started work on the design of the site, will be charged for on an hourly basis. Our present rate for such work is £40.00 per hour.

WEB TECHNOLOGIES

Where Thincweb uses additional third party software or services, payment for these is due when the signed order is placed by the Client. Thincweb will under no circumstances purchase or install such software or services, without prior payment from the Client. The Client should also be aware that any limitations with such software are not the responsibility of Thincweb; we will give advice on software use, to the best of our abilities, but we cannot be held responsible for the shortcomings of any particular product.

DOMAIN NAMES

Thincweb will undertake the registration and purchase of domain names, or of additional domain names, for Clients in the .com, .net. org and .co.uk domain range. Payment for this service must be made at the time of order and will be renewable on an annual basis (prices on request). All names are registered to the Client and become their property. Where the name is for use on a Thincweb server, there is no administrative charge for changing details or name server pointing etc. Where a Client wishes to use other servers but have our name servers do the pointing to his/her IP address, there will be an annual charge (at present £20.00) on top of the registration fee.

Clients undertake to register domain names in accordance with general web principles and in good faith. They also agree to indemnify Thincweb, and its associated business partners, for any legal or other expenses incurred in any domain name dispute procedure. This is required due to some rather dubious practices by individuals in the past, who have registered names of existing companies and businesses in an attempt to gain a premium price for re-selling the name.

Clients acknowledge acknowledge that having a website on the Internet does not of itself guarantee business or clients. Like any business activity (unless one is very lucky), a successful website venture requires work and effective use of the promotion tools available, i.e. Search Engines and Directories. Many clients may wish to undertake this themselves and we at Thincweb have a search engine registration package available at extra cost.

Thincweb strongly recommends that Clients undertake Search Engine Registration one way or another. Without such promotion of your site through the Search Engines and Directories, potential customers on the web will not be able to find you unless they have your exact address.

VIRTUAL SERVERS AND SERVERS

Thincweb uses it's own servers and those leased from other providers, both in the U.K. and U.S. Clients are placed on the most cost beneficial option according to their site requirements. Whichever server a Client's site is placed on, the Client will always deal with Thincweb and Thincweb will be available for any technical advice required. Although Thincweb always attempts to be helpful, unless it is part of an Agreement or Contract, Thincweb cannot undertake the installation of software or the trouble-shooting of client-installed software.

SEARCH ENGINE REGISTRATION

Thincweb cannot be held in any way responsible for the fact that Client's sites are not being registered with any Search Engines or Directories on the Internet. Where a Search Engine package has been purchased, Thincweb undertakes to use it's best endeavours and skills to obtain such listings BUT each of the Search Engines and Directories concerned have their own policies and ways of operating - some even chop off chunks of their database at regular intervals, regardless of who is listed there and so sites have to be re-registered. Thincweb does offer its Search Engine Registration service on a two-weekly submission basis; however, as this is a time-consuming exercise, Thincweb charges for this service at £175.00 per quarter.

A number of the Search Engines and Directories now charge for listing (usually around £190.00). Thincweb will undertake to register Client's sites through such schemes, as part of their quarterly search engine submission package, where the client agrees to pay any fees required by the Search Engines and Directories in advance.

SEARCH ENGINE HEALTH WARNING!!!

Search Engine placements of your site and keyword combinations etc. can go down as well as up. Not only are the SE/Ds are very much a law unto themselves but there are many others out there, both site owners doing it for themselves and professionals like Thincweb, trying to get sites as high as possible in the rankings at the expense of others. Often SE/D rankings can change from week to week or at particular points in their updating cycle and one is not always able to remedy this.

PAYMENT TERMS

Thincweb requires that any actual costs involved (such as a domain name, software and virtual server) are paid for with official company order together with 50% of the cost of the web build. The remaining 50% of the cost of the web build is payable immediately the site goes live.

Search Engine Submissions and re-submissions are charged on a quarterly basis - i.e. every three months - in advance.

NB. Although some items can only be priced at the time of quotation, we have included below some standard costings of certain items/services.

GENERAL CAVEAT

Neither Thincweb, nor anyone else, has complete control over the functioning of the Internet. We undertake to use our best endeavours to ensure your website is available through the Internet at all times; however, there are many factors such as routing problems, heavy traffic, local ISP problems, name server problems, hardware failures on the international system for which Thincweb cannot be held responsible (although we do try our best to ameliorate these when they do arise).