Terms and Conditions
The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all products and services provided by Grafica by the Sea (hereinafter referred to as Grafica by the Sea) and in the event of any dispute are governed by the laws of England.
All work is carried out by Grafica by the Sea on the understanding that the client has agreed to these terms and conditions.
Copyright is retained by Grafica by the Sea on all design work including combinations of words, pictures, ideas, visuals and illustrations unless specifically released in writing, and only after all related invoices have been settled.
If a choice of designs is presented and one is chosen for your project, only that solution is deemed to be given by us as fulfilling the contract. All other designs remain the property of Grafica by the Sea, unless specifically agreed in writing.
Project Acceptance
At the presentation of a proposal, Grafica by the Sea will provide the client with a written estimate or quotation by email. These Terms and Conditions can be read at any time on the graficabythesea.com website.
A copy of the written estimate or quotation is to be signed and dated by the client indicating acceptance of the estimate or quotation and this should be returned to Grafica by the Sea before a project is commenced.
Alternatively, the client may send an official purchase order in reply to the estimate or quotation, which binds the client to accept our Terms and Conditions. An email acknowledging acceptance of the estimate or quotation can also be accepted.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Grafica by the Sea Terms & Conditions govern the job, not any conditions on the client’s purchase order.
Design Charges
Charges for design services to be provided by Grafica by the Sea will be set out in the written estimate or quotation sent to the client. At the time of the client’s signed acceptance of this estimate or quotation, indicating acceptance of these Terms & Conditions, a non-refundable payment of 50% of the quoted fee will become immediately due.
Unless agreed otherwise with the Client, all design services require an advance (deposit) payment of a minimum of fifty (50) percent of the project quotation total before the work commences. The remaining fifty (50) percent of the project quotation total will be due upon completion of the work, prior to the website being uploaded to the server or materials being released.
Source Files
We will supply proofs and PDF files as appropriate for printing, or other graphic files as detailed in the job scope or request.
Charges for design work do not cover the release of our copyright design source files, including but not restricted to .indd, .psd, .ai, .png, .aep, .fla or other source files or raw code; if the Client requires these files for transfer to an in-house or other designer, they will be subject to a separate quotation or ‘buy-out’ charge.
Charges for Other Services
Charges for any additional services requested during the project that are over and above the estimated time or out of scope, will become fully payable (100% of the quoted amount) at the time of estimate or quotation acceptance. Additionally, Grafica by the Sea will not disburse any monies to third parties on clients’ behalf until cleared funds have been received.
Payment Terms
The client will be provided with a proof by email for approval, and a final invoice prior to final publication, sending to a printer or uploading to a website domain. At this time, the remainder of the amount due will become payable and the client will also be required to sign and return the Approval Form or give their approval by email to Grafica by the Sea.
Any invoice queries must be submitted by email within 14 days of the invoice date.
Accounts which remain outstanding for 30 days after the date of invoice, will incur late payment interest charge at the RBS Bank Standard Lending Rate plus 4% on the outstanding amount from the date due until the date of payment.
Payments may be made by online transfer (or PayPal by prior agreement).
Payments made by cheque must be pre-agreed and will be subject to an administration charge of £25. Cheques can take up to 7 days to clear and it should be noted that this could delay the start of a project or release of final files.
Publication and/or release of work done by Grafica by the Sea on behalf of the client, will not normally take place before cleared funds have been received.
Returned cheques will incur an additional fee of £50 per returned cheque. Grafica by the Sea reserves the right to consider an account to be in default in the event of a returned cheque.
Account Default
An account shall be considered default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice, or following a returned cheque. Grafica by the Sea shall be entitled to remove Grafica by the Sea‘s and/or the client’s material from any and all computer systems, until the amount due has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid monies due for services, including, but not limited to, hosting, domain registration, search engine submission, design and maintenance, sub-contractors, printers, photographers and libraries.
Removal of such materials does not relieve the client of its obligation to pay the due amount.
Clients whose accounts go into default agree to pay all Grafica by the Sea‘s reasonable legal and accounting expenses and third party collection agency fees in the enforcement of the debt and these Terms and Conditions.
Copyrights and Trademarks
By supplying text, images and other data to Grafica by the Sea for inclusion in the client’s website or other medium, the client declares that it holds the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions. The ownership of such materials will remain with the client, or rightful copyright or trademark owner.
Any combination of artwork, images, or text designed and/or supplied by Grafica by the Sea on behalf of the client, will remain the property of Grafica by the Sea and/or its suppliers unless otherwise agreed in writing. A licence for use of the copyrighted material is granted to the client solely for the project defined in the scope or request and not for any other purpose.
The client may request permission to use any materials (for which Grafica by the Sea holds the copyright) for purposes other than those for which they were originally supplied, in writing from Grafica by the Sea and Grafica by the Sea may, at its discretion, grant this and can charge for the additional usage. Such permission must be obtained in writing before any of the aforesaid artwork, images, text, or other data is used.
Any software, code, plugin or other third party material used in a web or digital project remains the property of the creator and any ongoing licence fees or fees for upgrades are the responsibility of the client, not Grafica by the Sea.
By supplying images, text, or any other data to Grafica by the Sea, the client grants Grafica by the Sea permission to use this material freely in the development of the design.
Should Grafica by the Sea, or the client supply an image, text, audio clip or any other file for use in a website, multimedia presentation, print item, exhibition, advertisement or any other medium believing it to be copyright and royalty free, which subsequently emerges to have such copyright or royalty usage limitations, the client will agree to allow Grafica by the Sea to remove and/or replace the file on the site.
The client agrees to fully indemnify and hold Grafica by the Sea free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the client in not having obtained all the required copyright, and/or any other necessary permissions.
Amendments and Alterations
The client agrees that changes required over and above the estimated work, or in addition to the agreed scope, or where the client makes changes to the supplied copy or changes required to be carried out after acceptance of the draft design, will be liable to a separate charge.
The client also agrees that Grafica by the Sea holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.
Licensing
Any design, copywriting, drawing, idea or code created for the client by Grafica by the Sea, or any of its contractors, is licensed for use by the client on a one-time only basis and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of Grafica by the Sea and any of its relevant sub-contractors.
All design work – where there is a risk that another party makes a claim, should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing or first use. Searches and legal advice should be sought as to its use.
Grafica by the Sea will not be held responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, from whatever cause. The client agrees not to hold Grafica by the Sea responsible for any such loss or damage.
Any claim against Grafica by the Sea shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the client.
Data Formats
The client agrees to Grafica by the Sea’s definition of acceptable means of supplying data to the company.
Text is to be supplied to Grafica by the Sea in an electronic format as standard text (.txt), Markdown (.md), MS Word (.docx), Google Docs, Apple Pages and via e-mail/FTP/Dropbox/WeTransfer or shared folder.
Images which are supplied in an electronic format are to be provided in a format as specified by Grafica by the Sea via e-mail/FTP/Dropbox/WeTransfer. Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and Grafica by the Sea will not be held responsible for any image quality which the client later deems to be unacceptable.
Grafica by the Sea cannot be held responsible for the quality of any images which the client wishes to be scanned from printed materials.
Additional expenses may be incurred for any necessary tasks, including, but not limited to, photography and art direction, photography searches, media conversion, digital image processing, or data entry services, colour correction and alteration of images.
Design Project Duration
Any indication given by Grafica by the Sea of a design project’s timescales is to be considered by the client to be an estimation. Grafica by the Sea cannot be held responsible for any project over-runs, whatever the cause. Estimated project duration should be deemed to be from the date that cleared funds are received by Grafica by the Sea for the initial payment, or by a date confirmed in writing by Grafica by the Sea.
Rights of Access for Website Construction
The client agrees to allow Grafica by the Sea all necessary access to computer systems and other locations, as required, in order to complete a website project and until all due funds are cleared, including the necessary read/write permissions, usernames and passwords.
The client also agrees to allow Grafica by the Sea access to any computer systems, usernames and passwords required to remove data and/or sites for failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions.
The client agrees to supply Grafica by the Sea with all the necessary materials, whether electronic, or otherwise, that are required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner.
Design Project Completion
Grafica by the Sea considers the design project complete upon receipt of the client’s signed approval form or a signoff email. Any additional services such as printing, display panel production, website hosting or uploading, publishing etc. that are contracted on the client’s behalf constitute a separate project and can be treated as a separate charge.
Website design only
Unless it is necessary to work on an existing live website, Grafica by the Sea requires that a template is approved by the client before coding of a site can begin. Once the template(s) for the web site is (are) approved by the client, coding will commence. From this point, any changes to navigation items, colours, structure or content that require changes to the template will incur an additional ‘extra work order’ (EWO) charge.
Once a website design is complete, Grafica by the Sea will provide the client with the opportunity to review the resulting work. Unless otherwise agreed at quotation stage, Grafica by the Sea will make one set of minor changes at no extra cost within 14 days of the start of the review period. Minor changes include small textual changes and small adjustments to placement of items on the page. It does not include changes to images, colour schemes or any navigation features. Any minor changes can be notified to Grafica by the Sea by e-mail.
Grafica by the Sea will consider that a client has accepted the original draft if no notification of changes is received in writing from the client within 14 days of the start of the review period.
Hosting websites
Grafica by the Sea is able to offer a hosting service through an out-sourced virtual server. Grafica by the Sea does not guarantee continuous service and will accept no liability for loss of service, whatever the cause.
Grafica by the Sea may request that clients change their hosting account with another supplier if that account is deemed by Grafica by the Sea to be unacceptable because of poor service levels, paucity of bandwidth or if it is in any other way insufficient to support the effective running of the website. If hosting is taken out on Grafica by the Sea’s virtual server, fees are due at the commencement of any period of service and are non-refundable.
Fees due to third party hosting organisations are the responsibility of the client and Grafica by the Sea is not liable for their payment, nor for the renewal of domain names. These are the sole responsibility of the client and/or their domain owner.
Domain Registration
Grafica by the Sea cannot guarantee the availability of any domain name. Where Grafica by the Sea is charged with registering a domain name on behalf of a client it will endeavour to do so, but the client should not assume a successful registration is guaranteed until it is complete.
Search Engine Optimisation
Due to the infinite number of considerations that search engines use when determining a site’s ranking, Grafica by the Sea cannot guarantee any particular ranking. Listing by any search engine cannot be guaranteed and when a site is accepted, the time it takes to appear in search results varies from one search engine to another. Rankings will also be subject to change as new websites are published. Grafica by the Sea follows ‘Google-friendly’ principles, but cannot be liable if rankings do not meet a client’s expectations.
Design Credits
The client agrees to allow Grafica by the Sea to place a small, appropriate credit on any materials and/or a link to Grafica by the Sea’s own website from their website. This will usually be in the form of a small logo or line of text placed towards the bottom of the page.
Unless otherwise stated, the client also agrees to allow Grafica by the Sea to place completed work, along with a link to the client’s website on its own graficabythesea.com website for portfolio purposes, as well as allowing use any designs Grafica by the Sea has created in its own publicity and portfolios.
Rights of Refusal
Grafica by the Sea will not include in its designs, any text, images or other data which it deems to be immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. All advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities. Grafica by the Sea also reserves the right to refuse to include submitted material without giving reason. In the situation where any images and/or data that Grafica by the Sea does include in good faith, and which is subsequently discovered to be in contravention of these Terms and Conditions, the client is obliged to allow Grafica by the Sea to remove the contravention without hindrance or penalty. Grafica by the Sea is to be held in no way responsible for any such data being included.
Cancellation
Cancellation of orders may be made initially by telephone contact, or e-mail. Following this however, Grafica by the Sea will need formal notification in writing, sent to the company’s postal address (75 Bluebell Drive, Littlehampton, BN17 6UU). The client will then be invoiced for all work carried out over and above the non-refundable deposit paid at the time of first ordering. The balance of monies due must be settled within 30 days. Please note: any cancellation which is not formally confirmed in writing and received by Grafica by the Sea within 14 days of such instruction being issued, will be liable for the full quoted cost of the project.
Disclaimer
Grafica by the Sea makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. Grafica by the Sea will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. Grafica by the Sea is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While we take reasonable steps to investigate the materials we recommend, we accept no responsibility for the performance or quality of materials or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The client agrees not to hold Grafica by the Sea responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against Grafica by the Sea shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the client.
Grafica by the Sea reserves the right to use the services of sub-contractors, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services and usage is bound by Grafica by the Sea’s Terms and Conditions. Grafica by the Sea will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so bound.
Grafica by the Sea and its clients agree to comply with any appointed printer’s Terms and Conditions which include disclaimers for non-completion on time and the flexibility to supply quantities within 10% of the total ordered. Grafica by the Sea recommends that if an absolute quantity is required, then 10% extra should be added to the quantity ordered. Extra lead time should also be allowed in case the job becomes delayed in production.
General
These Terms and Conditions supersede any previous Terms and Conditions distributed in any form. Grafica by the Sea reserves the right to change any rates and any of these Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.
Acceptance of Terms and Conditions and Quotation
The placement of an order for design, website development and/or any other services offered by Grafica by the Sea, by email, verbally or in writing, is deemed to be acceptance of these terms and conditions, which are freely available at www.graficabythesea.com.
By approving an estimate or quotation (whether by post or by email) or paying a deposit invoice, a client confirms acceptance of the estimate or quotation and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions outlined above. This approval forms a contract for business between the signatory and Grafica by the Sea.