Terms

1. The service

Frontstep builds small, static websites for local businesses, usually up to five pages, hosts them, and handles change requests by email. Payment is processed by Stripe. Hosting, DNS and email routing run on Cloudflare.

2. Previews

We may build a preview for your business before you subscribe. Previews are watermarked and identified as previews. Until a subscription is active, a preview is not a finished production website: we do not publish its forms, ordering or booking functions, which show sample behavior only.

3. Prices

• The first monthly billing period costs $49.
• From the second billing period, the price is $99 per month, charged automatically until you cancel. The change from $49 to $99 is disclosed before checkout.
• Applicable taxes are shown separately. They are not included in the prices above. We will show the tax treatment once it is confirmed for your location.

4. Change requests

• First billing period: unlimited requests to change the included brochure website. Requests are worked one at a time. Content, images, sections and template-supported layout changes are included.
• From the second billing period: two content-update requests per billing period, processed in order. Unused requests do not roll over.
• A content-update request is one coherent batch of text, image, opening-hours or service updates to existing pages.
• Fixing defects we introduced, routine hosting and security maintenance, and availability recovery do not count against your requests.
• Custom applications, ecommerce, integrations, major bespoke redesigns and work beyond the brochure website are excluded. They require a separately agreed quote. We never charge for extras automatically.

5. Hosting and domains

• Hosting, SSL, routine maintenance and one standard-priced domain are included, subject to availability.
• Domain registration or renewal is capped at $20 per year. Premium domains are not included.
• Domains you already own remain yours. Connecting one requires your owner authorization.
• You own your domain and the content you supply.
• Cancelling does not end your ownership of your domain. We do not delete, sell or hold back your domain, and we do not charge a fee to release it.
• If we registered a domain for you, we help you transfer it to a registrar account in your name when it is eligible, using that registrar's ownership checks, unlocking and transfer authorization. Registrar and registry rules, including any lock on a newly registered domain, and the domain's expiry or transfer status can affect timing. We do not promise an immediate transfer, and your new registrar may charge its own fees.
• After the domain is in your account, you arrange its renewals, DNS and hosting.
• Preview addresses on Frontstep's own domain are not customer domains and do not transfer.

6. Cancellation

You can cancel at any time through the Stripe Customer Portal link we email to you. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period. We do not give partial-month refunds for cancellation.

7. Refunds

If we cannot deliver the website we agreed to, we refund the initial payment. Refunds required by mandatory consumer law are not affected by these terms.

8. Failed payments, suspension and removal

A single failed payment does not cause deletion. When a payment fails, we retry it and notify you by email. Before we suspend a site, we send written notice explaining what is needed. Before we remove a site, we give written notice and a reasonable period to export your website files under section 9 and transfer your domain under section 5. We explain domain handling in that notice.

9. Export on cancellation

When you cancel, you may ask for an export of your website. The export is a downloadable copy of the latest published version of your paid website: the finished HTML, CSS and browser JavaScript files, plus images, fonts and other assets to the extent we are allowed to share them. It is meant to work with another compatible static website host. Unpaid previews are not exported.

• You may keep using, hosting and changing the exported website, including its design, after you cancel.
• You own the content you supplied. On request, we return the photos, logos and other materials you sent us that we still hold.
• Photos, fonts or other materials from third parties keep their own licenses and notices. If one cannot be passed on to you, we tell you which one so you can replace it.
• The export does not include our development project or source files, source maps, templates, build and deployment settings, code repositories, prompts, internal tools, credentials, backend code or shared services. Those remain ours.
• Services we run, such as forms, email handling, hosting and billing, are not part of the files. We list anything the exported website depends on so you or your new provider can replace or reconnect it.

10. Referrals

• A referrer earns $50 off one standard $99 monthly renewal for each distinct referred business that signs up and pays for at least one monthly period. A paid first month counts. The discounted renewal is $49 before tax.
• A reward is applied once to an eligible renewal invoice, starting after the referrer's first billing period. Rewards do not stack on one invoice. Additional earned rewards apply to later renewals.
• The referred business keeps its own first-month offer.
• Self-referrals, referrals that are fraudulent, refunded or unpaid, and referrals that do not meet these rules earn no reward. Rewards have no cash value and are not paid out in cash.
• Tax treatment of a reward is handled through Stripe.

11. AI assistance

AI tools help us build sites and process requests, including editing photos, logos and other images you send us for your website. Image edits are change requests under section 4. Send only material you own or have permission to use. Edited images depend on the original, and we do not guarantee an exact result. A person may review exceptions. See the Privacy Policy for the vendors that process your information.

12. No guarantees

We do not guarantee search rankings, traffic, sales or results. We do not provide legal, tax or licensing advice.

13. Your rights

Nothing in these terms removes rights you have under mandatory consumer protection law.

14. Contact

Write to sam@frontstepwebsites.com.