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Terms & Conditions

Last updated June 18, 2026

Effective Date: June 18, 2026

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") govern the services provided by Dietzen Development Inc. ("DietzenDev," "we," "us," or "our"), an Illinois corporation. By engaging us, requesting a quote that leads to work, signing a proposal or order form, setting up billing in our client portal, or otherwise using our services, you ("Client," "you," or "your") agree to these Terms.

If a separate written proposal, order form, statement of work, or service agreement ("Order") is signed between you and DietzenDev, that Order and these Terms together form the full agreement. If anything in a signed Order conflicts with these Terms, the signed Order controls for that engagement.

1. Acceptance of Terms

1.1. These Terms apply to every engagement, quote, proposal, subscription, and service we provide, and to anyone who accesses or uses a deliverable, site, store, or system we build or maintain on your behalf.

1.2. You accept these Terms by any of the following, whichever comes first: (a) signing a proposal, Order, or service agreement (including electronically); (b) setting up or authorizing billing through our client portal; (c) submitting an intake form to begin work; (d) making any payment to us; or (e) instructing us to begin work.

1.3. You represent that you are at least 18 years old and have the authority to enter into these Terms on behalf of yourself or the business you represent. You further represent that you are engaging us for business or commercial purposes and not as a consumer for personal, family, or household use.

1.4. The free Website Review described in Section 3.11 is offered with no fee and no obligation, and is subject only to the limited terms stated in that section and the disclaimers in Section 9.

2. Definitions

2.1. "DietzenDev," "we," "us," "our" means Dietzen Development Inc., an Illinois corporation.

2.2. "Client," "you," "your" means the individual or entity that engages us or uses our Services or Deliverables.

2.3. "Services" means any work, service, subscription, or deliverable we provide, including those described in Section 3.

2.4. "Deliverables" means the websites, online stores, code, designs, configurations, content, reports, documentation, automations, and other materials we create and deliver to you under an engagement.

2.5. "Subscription" means a recurring, term-based service billed monthly, including the Website Subscription, the Ecommerce (Store) Subscription, Managed Hosting, and any Retainer.

2.6. "Term" means the minimum commitment period of a Subscription as stated in the applicable Order or on our website (for example, 24 months for the Website Subscription or the Ecommerce Subscription).

2.7. "Custom Build" means a one-time, fixed-price project (for example, a Custom WordPress build or a fixed-price store build) that you own and manage, distinct from a Subscription.

2.8. "Client Content" means any text, images, logos, video, data, products, catalogs, credentials, trademarks, or other materials you provide to us or instruct us to use.

2.9. "Third-Party Services" means software, platforms, and services we do not own or control, as described in Section 8.

2.10. "Intake" means the completed submission of the information, content, and materials we reasonably need to begin or continue the work (for example, the Website Subscription intake form).

2.11. "Effective Date" means the date stated above or, if none is stated, the date you first accept these Terms under Section 1.2.

2.12. "DietzenDev Parties" means DietzenDev and its owners, officers, directors, employees, and independent contractors. The disclaimers, liability limitations, and indemnities in these Terms run to the benefit of all DietzenDev Parties.

3. Description of Services

We offer the Services described below. Specific scope, pricing, timelines, and inclusions for your engagement are set out in your Order, quote, or proposal, and on our website. Where pricing is stated here, it reflects our published starting prices as of the Effective Date and may change for new engagements; pricing for an active Subscription is governed by Section 5.

3.1. Website Subscription ("The Hands-Off Website")

A managed, fully-handled website service at $299/month with no setup fee. We design, build, host, secure, edit, and publish a monthly blog post for a custom website of up to 8 pages. Your involvement is one intake form (about 30 minutes) and one review/sign-off before launch. Key terms:

  • Term: 24 months from your agreement date, then month-to-month. The price is fixed for the Term.
  • Billing starts at signing. The build is the first thing the Subscription pays for.
  • Ownership: At the end of the 24-month Term, the website is yours outright — files and domain included — and will work on any host you choose (see Section 6).
  • Cancellation/early termination: You can cancel at any time directly from your client portal (see Section 5.2) — no 30-day notice is required. If you cancel before the end of the Term, an early-termination buyout applies (see Section 5.3), after which the site still transfers to you in full.
  • Included edits: Content edits (text, images, hours, and sections within existing pages) are completed within 2 business days. Brand-new pages and features are quoted separately and are not included.
  • Typical launch: 2–4 weeks from completed Intake. Timeline starts when we have your content.
  • Delay credit: If your launch slips more than 30 days past your completed Intake because of us, we credit you one month. Delays caused by waiting on your content or feedback do not count and do not trigger a credit.

3.2. Ecommerce (Store) Subscription

A managed online store built on WooCommerce, starting at $499/month, custom-quoted to your catalog. You manage products, orders, inventory, and pricing; we handle hosting, security, updates, payment and plugin upkeep, and content edits. Key terms:

  • Term: 24 months from your agreement date, then month-to-month. The price is locked for the Term.
  • Billing starts at signing.
  • Ownership: At the end of the Term, the store is yours outright — files, products, and customer data included (see Section 6).
  • Cancellation/early termination: You can cancel at any time from your client portal (see Section 5.2) — no 30-day notice is required. If you cancel before the end of the Term, the early-termination buyout in Section 5.3 applies, after which the store still transfers to you in full.
  • No revenue share: We never take a percentage of your sales. Your payment processor's standard rate is the only per-order fee, and that fee is charged by the processor, not by us.
  • Typical launch: 6–10 weeks from completed Intake, because stores involve catalog, payment, shipping, and tax setup. Timeline starts when we have your products and content.
  • Optional add-ons: An initial bulk product import is an optional add-on, quoted separately.

A fixed-price store build (you own and manage it from day one, and arrange your own hosting and upkeep) is also available; that is a Custom Build under Section 3.3, not a Subscription.

3.3. Custom Builds (Custom Self-Managed)

One-time, fixed-price hand-coded WordPress builds that you own and manage yourself. Scope is set in your Order. Standard inclusions are custom design, a mobile-first responsive build, Core Web Vitals optimization, an on-page SEO foundation, contact/lead-capture forms, Google Analytics 4 integration, a staging environment for review, deployment/DNS/SSL setup, CMS training and documentation, and 30 days of post-launch support. After the 30-day post-launch support window, further work is quoted separately or covered under a Subscription, Retainer, or hosting plan. Fixed-price store builds are handled the same way.

3.4. Managed Hosting

Managed WordPress hosting billed monthly with no long-term contract (you may upgrade or cancel as described in Section 5). Published plans as of the Effective Date:

  • Shared — $40/month: 4GB RAM / 2 vCPU managed server shared among a small number of DietzenDev clients; free SSL and Cloudflare CDN; weekly backups with 30-day retention; server updates and malware scanning; email support.
  • Professional — $60/month: dedicated 4GB RAM / 2 vCPU server; daily backups with 30-day retention; priority email support; monthly performance report.
  • Dedicated — $80/month: higher-performance NVMe server with more CPU/RAM, a WooCommerce-optimized stack, and same-day priority support response.

All plans include free auto-renewed SSL, Cloudflare CDN, uptime monitoring, malware scanning, server and security updates, and direct developer support. Uptime monitoring and security measures are provided on a commercially reasonable basis and are subject to Sections 8 and 9. Hosting does not include WordPress application-level updates, plugin upkeep, or content edits unless those are part of a separate Subscription or Order; updates referenced in hosting plans are server-level and security updates. Hosting is also subject to the acceptable-use and immediate-suspension terms in Section 7.7.

3.5. SEO & AI Search

Technical and on-page SEO is built into our work rather than sold as a stand-alone product or monthly retainer. Every Custom Build and the Website Subscription include an on-page and technical SEO foundation (for example, clean semantic markup, performance and Core Web Vitals optimization, metadata, structured data where appropriate, and analytics integration), and the Website Subscription continues to improve it over the Term. The starting point for any SEO conversation is the free Website Review (Section 3.11). We do not provide keyword campaigns, paid-search management, or backlink building. All SEO and AI-search work is subject to the no-results-guarantee disclaimers in Section 9, including that we cannot guarantee rankings, indexing, or that any page will be surfaced, cited, or shown by any search engine, AI tool, or AI overview.

3.6. Security & Hack Recovery

Flat-rate security services:

  • Security Audit — $149 (one-time): a vulnerability review delivered as a written report. No remediation is performed under the Audit alone.
  • Hack Cleanup — $299 (one-time): malware scan of files and database, backdoor identification and removal, injected-code and spam-link removal, admin-user audit and cleanup, a Google blacklist removal request, post-clean hardening, and a written report. We respond to hack-recovery requests the same business day (response, not resolution). Blacklist removal requires action by third parties (e.g., Google, Norton, McAfee) and is not guaranteed or controlled by us.

Security services reduce risk but cannot eliminate it and are subject to Section 9.7.

3.7. Analytics Setup

Analytics Setup — $149 (one-time): GA4 setup and configuration, Google Search Console verification, Google Tag Manager install, basic event tracking, GA4 data-stream validation, and a 30-day data-accuracy check-in. Analytics is included at no extra charge with a Custom Build or the Website Subscription. Accuracy of analytics data depends on Third-Party Services (Section 8) and is subject to Section 9.

3.8. AI Integration & Automation

Custom, scope-based AI and automation work — for example AI chatbots/assistants, workflow automation, lead qualification and follow-up, AI content pipelines, custom API and tool integrations, and help setting up open-source/local AI assistants. All AI and automation projects are scoped, quoted, and approved before work begins. AI and automation rely heavily on Third-Party Services and AI providers and are subject to Sections 8 and 9, including the absence of any guarantee of accuracy or specific output.

3.9. Consulting & Retainer

  • Consulting — hourly, scope-based: hourly development, code review, and strategy work, quoted and approved before work begins.
  • Retainer — custom, scope-based pricing: a recurring block of development time each month. Scope, hours, rate, and cadence are agreed in writing before work begins. A Retainer is a Subscription for billing and cancellation purposes. Because a Retainer reserves recurring development capacity for you, cancellation requires advance written notice as stated in your Order — up to 30 days before the next billing date (see Section 5.2(b)).

3.10. Pricing and Bundles

Some Services are included with others (for example, analytics and technical SEO are included with the Website Subscription; analytics is included with a Custom Build). What is included in your engagement is governed by your Order and the descriptions above.

3.11. Free Website Review

A no-cost, no-obligation review of your existing site. You submit your URL and contact details; we send a written, plain-English summary of findings. The free Website Review is provided "as is," with no warranty of any kind, creates no client relationship or ongoing obligation, and does not commit either party to any paid engagement. We are not liable for any action you take based on the free Website Review.

4. Quotes, Fees & Payment

4.1. Quotes and estimates. Quotes and estimates are based on the information you provide and the scope described at the time. They are valid for 30 days unless stated otherwise. Work outside the agreed scope ("change requests" or "scope creep") will be quoted and must be approved in writing before we perform it, and may affect price and timeline.

4.2. Custom Build payment (50/50 milestone structure). Unless your Order states otherwise, one-time Custom Builds are billed in milestones — typically 50% due upfront before work begins and 50% due on completion for smaller projects, with additional checkpoints/installments on larger projects as set out in your Order. Work on a milestone begins when the prior milestone's invoice is paid. Final Deliverables, launch, and the transfer of ownership under Section 6 are conditioned on payment in full.

4.3. Subscription billing. Subscriptions (Website Subscription, Ecommerce Subscription, Managed Hosting, Retainer) are billed monthly in advance on a set date each month, by card or bank draft (ACH) through our client portal. You authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method on file for all recurring fees until the Subscription is cancelled in accordance with Section 5.

4.4. Taxes. Fees are exclusive of any applicable sales, use, or similar taxes, which are your responsibility unless we are legally required to collect them.

4.5. Late payment. Invoices and recurring charges are due on the stated date. Amounts not paid when due accrue a late fee of 1.5% per month (or the maximum allowed by law, if lower) on the outstanding balance, plus any bank or processor fees we incur from failed charges. You are responsible for our reasonable costs of collection, including reasonable attorneys' fees.

4.6. Suspension for non-payment. If any amount is more than 7 days past due, we may, after notice, suspend Services — including hosting, edits, support, and access to in-progress or live Deliverables — until the balance is paid. We are not liable for any consequences of a suspension caused by your non-payment, including downtime, lost data, or lost revenue. We may charge a reasonable $75 reactivation fee to restore suspended Services.

4.7. Chargebacks and disputes. If you believe a charge is in error, contact us first so we can resolve it. Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute for a properly owed charge is a breach of these Terms. In addition to pursuing the disputed amount, we may charge a $50 fee to cover processor and administrative costs, suspend Services, and, where applicable, accelerate the remaining Term balance as described in Section 5. You agree that records in our client portal and proposal/Order signatures are sufficient evidence of your authorization to charge.

4.8. No fee withholding. You may not withhold or offset fees on the basis of disputes about Third-Party Services, results, rankings, traffic, or revenue, all of which are addressed in Sections 8 and 9.

5. Subscriptions, Renewal, Cancellation & Buyout

5.1. Term and auto-renewal. Each Subscription has the Term stated in your Order or on our website (for example, 24 months for the Website Subscription and the Ecommerce Subscription). After the initial Term, the Subscription continues month-to-month until cancelled. Managed Hosting has no minimum Term and continues month-to-month from the start. Recurring charges renew automatically each month until cancelled.

5.2. How to cancel.

(a) Website Subscription, Ecommerce Subscription, and Managed Hosting. You may cancel at any time directly from your client portal. No advance written notice is required. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current billing cycle, and no further charges will be made after that cycle. For the Website Subscription and Ecommerce Subscription, cancelling before the end of the Term triggers the early-termination buyout in Section 5.3. Cancelling a month-to-month Subscription — including Managed Hosting and any Subscription whose Term has already converted to month-to-month — carries no buyout.

(b) Retainer. Because a Retainer reserves recurring development capacity, cancellation requires written notice (through the client portal or at [email protected]) as stated in your Order, up to 30 days before the next billing date. This advance-notice requirement applies only to the Retainer.

5.3. Early termination and buyout (Website & Ecommerce Subscriptions).

(a) How it works. The Website Subscription and Ecommerce Subscription bundle a custom website or store — designed, built, and delivered to you up front — together with ongoing hosting, security, maintenance, and content services over the Term. The monthly fee is a single, discounted rate that spreads the value of that up-front build across the Term; it is lower than purchasing a comparable custom build and ongoing services separately. The Term commitment is what makes that discounted rate possible.

(b) Buyout. If you cancel a Website Subscription or Ecommerce Subscription before the end of its Term, an early-termination buyout becomes due equal to the sum of the remaining monthly fees for the balance of the Term. Upon payment of the buyout (together with any other amounts owed), the website or store still transfers to you in full under Section 6 — you are never left with nothing.

(c) Reasonable estimate, not a penalty. You acknowledge that a custom build of the kind delivered under these Subscriptions has a stand-alone value of no less than $4,000 (as published on our website), delivered to you up front and at the start of the Term, before most monthly fees are paid. The parties agree that DietzenDev's actual damages from early termination — including the unrecovered value of the up-front build, the loss of the discount that the Term commitment was given in exchange for, and lost service margin — are difficult or impossible to determine precisely at the time of contracting. The buyout is the parties' good-faith pre-estimate of that loss, is reasonable in light of the value delivered up front, and is intended as liquidated damages and not as a penalty. This allocation is an essential basis of the bargain, and the discounted monthly rate was offered in reliance on it.

5.4. Ownership transfer on cancellation. On any cancellation of a Website Subscription or Ecommerce Subscription — whether at the natural end of the Term or earlier via buyout — and provided all amounts owed (including any buyout) are paid in full, we will: (a) transfer ownership of the website or store to you; (b) provide a complete export of a working site/store, including files, and for stores the product catalog and customer data; and (c) provide reasonable help pointing the domain and site to the host of your choice. Ongoing hosting, maintenance, security, and support from us end on the effective cancellation date unless you separately engage us for them.

5.5. No refunds for partial periods. Subscription fees are billed in advance and are non-refundable, including for partial months. Cancellation stops future renewals; it does not refund the current or prior periods. One-time services are non-refundable once work has begun, except as required by law.

5.6. Price during Term. For the Website Subscription and Ecommerce Subscription, the price is fixed for the Term. For month-to-month Subscriptions (and after a Term converts to month-to-month), we may change pricing on at least 30 days' written notice; continued use after the change takes effect is acceptance of the new price.

5.7. Effect of buyout on disputes. If you initiate a chargeback or stop payment on a Subscription before the Term ends, the entire remaining Term balance (the buyout) becomes immediately due, and ownership transfer under Section 6 is withheld until it is paid.

6. Intellectual Property & Ownership

6.1. Custom Builds. For one-time Custom Builds, ownership of the final, custom Deliverables transfers to you upon payment in full. Until paid in full, all Deliverables and any license to use them remain ours.

6.2. Subscriptions. For the Website Subscription and Ecommerce Subscription, ownership of the website or store transfers to you as described in Sections 5.3–5.4 — that is, at the end of the Term, or earlier upon completion of the buyout — and provided all amounts owed are paid. Before that point, the site or store, and the right to operate it, are provided to you as part of the Subscription and remain ours.

6.3. DietzenDev's retained rights. We retain all right, title, and interest in our own pre-existing and independently-developed materials, including our underlying tools, frameworks, code libraries, components, methods, techniques, processes, and know-how ("DietzenDev IP"), even where DietzenDev IP is incorporated into a Deliverable. Upon ownership transfer, we grant you a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license to use any DietzenDev IP embedded in your Deliverable solely as part of that Deliverable, but you receive no ownership of, and no separate right to resell or redistribute, the DietzenDev IP itself.

6.4. Third-party and licensed assets. Deliverables may include third-party software, themes, plugins, fonts, stock media, libraries, and other assets that are owned by others and licensed (not sold) to you, and that remain subject to their own licenses and any associated fees. You are responsible for maintaining required third-party licenses and subscriptions after ownership transfer. We do not transfer ownership of third-party assets and make no warranty regarding them (see Section 8).

6.5. Client Content license. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, display, and incorporate Client Content as needed to perform the Services for the duration of our engagement and to retain copies as reasonably necessary (for example, in backups). You retain ownership of your Client Content.

6.6. Portfolio / promotional license. Unless you opt out in writing, you grant us a perpetual, non-exclusive license to display, describe, and link to the Deliverables and your project (including screenshots, your name/logo, and a general description) in our portfolio and marketing, identifying you as a client. You may opt out of this portfolio license by notifying us in writing at any time, and we will stop using your project in new marketing within a reasonable period.

6.7. Attribution. Each live website or store we build includes a small, tasteful attribution credit in the footer (for example, "Site by DietzenDev" or a similar mark), linking to our website. You agree to keep this attribution in place on the live site at all times, including after ownership transfers to you. At our sole discretion, we may remove, waive, or modify the attribution (including providing it without a link) — but the obligation to keep it in place runs in our favor and may not be removed by you without our prior written consent. Nothing in this Section grants you any rights in DietzenDev's name, logos, or trademarks beyond displaying the attribution as provided.

7. Client Responsibilities

7.1. Content and materials. You will provide complete, accurate Client Content and materials in a timely manner. Delays in providing content or feedback delay timelines and may delay launch (and, for the Website Subscription, mean the delay credit in Section 3.1 does not apply).

7.2. Approvals and feedback windows. You will review staging links and provide consolidated feedback or sign-off within the windows we communicate (for example, during the design and review steps). If you do not respond within 10 business days of a request for approval, we may treat the relevant item as approved or place the project on hold; projects on hold for more than 60 days may be subject to a $75 reactivation fee to resume.

7.3. Access and credentials. You will promptly provide the access we need — to hosting, domain registrars, the existing site, Google and analytics accounts, payment processors, and other systems — and keep that access valid throughout the engagement. You are responsible for the security of credentials you control.

7.4. Lawful, accurate, non-infringing content. You represent and warrant that your Client Content and your business comply with applicable law and do not infringe or violate any third party's intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or other rights, and are not defamatory, deceptive, or otherwise unlawful. You are solely responsible for the legality and accuracy of the products, claims, prices, terms, and content displayed on your site or store, and for any required legal pages, disclosures, consents, and regulatory compliance (including, where applicable, privacy, accessibility, consumer-protection, and e-commerce/tax rules).

7.5. Your own backups and insurance. While certain plans include backups as a convenience, you are responsible for maintaining your own independent backups of content and data important to you, and for carrying your own appropriate business insurance. We are not your backup of record and are not liable for data loss to the extent you could have mitigated it with your own backups.

7.6. Cooperation. You will designate a primary contact authorized to make decisions and approvals, and will cooperate reasonably so we can perform the Services.

7.7. Acceptable use; immediate suspension. You will not use, and will not allow any third party to use, our hosting, servers, or any Deliverable to: (a) host, transmit, or link to unlawful, infringing, defamatory, or malicious content, malware, or phishing; (b) send spam or engage in unlawful or deceptive messaging; (c) violate any third party's intellectual-property, privacy, or other rights; (d) consume server resources in a way that degrades or threatens the stability, security, or performance of a shared server or of other clients on it; or (e) otherwise violate applicable law or any Third-Party Service's terms. If we reasonably determine that your site, store, content, or use poses a security threat, is unlawful or infringing, is causing or threatening harm to our infrastructure or to other clients, or violates this Section, we may suspend the affected Services or content immediately and without prior notice, and will notify you as soon as practicable. We are not liable for any consequences of a suspension made under this Section. Services suspended under this Section may be restored once the issue is resolved to our reasonable satisfaction, and the reactivation fee in Section 4.6 may apply. This suspension right is in addition to, and independent of, the suspension-for-non-payment right in Section 4.6.

7.8. Personal data; controller / processor roles. For any personal data processed through your website or store (for example, customer names, contact details, orders, and payment-related data handled by your payment processor), you are the data controller (or the equivalent "business" or responsible party), and we act only as your service provider / data processor, processing such data solely to provide the Services and on your documented instructions. As between the parties, you are responsible for: the lawful basis for collecting and processing the data; providing all required privacy notices, disclosures, and consents to your customers and visitors; honoring data-subject / consumer requests; and complying with all applicable data-protection, privacy, and e-commerce laws. We will maintain commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect such data, will not sell it or use it for our own purposes, and will, on your written request at the end of the engagement, return or delete personal data in our possession, except for routine backups and as required by law. We may engage sub-processors (for example, infrastructure and service providers) to deliver the Services. Nothing in this Section makes us responsible for your compliance obligations as controller, and the disclaimers and liability limits in Sections 9 and 10 apply.

8. Third-Party Services & Software

8.1. Reliance on third parties. The Services depend on Third-Party Services we do not own or control, including server and network infrastructure, content delivery networks (e.g., Cloudflare), WordPress core, themes and plugins, payment processors (e.g., Stripe, PayPal), domain registrars, email providers, analytics and search tools (e.g., Google), AI providers and models, and other APIs and platforms.

8.2. No liability for third parties. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not responsible or liable for Third-Party Services, including their outages, downtime, performance, errors, security incidents, data handling, changes, deprecations, discontinuation, suspensions, account actions, or pricing changes. Third-Party Services are governed by their own terms and policies, which you are responsible for accepting and complying with, and which may change at any time.

8.3. Pass-through costs. Fees charged by Third-Party Services (for example, domain registration, premium plugins/themes, payment-processing fees, AI/API usage fees, and email or SMS services) are your responsibility, whether billed by us as a pass-through or paid by you directly. Payment-processor fees on store sales are charged by the processor, not by us; we take no percentage of your sales.

8.4. Changes outside our control. If a Third-Party Service changes, raises prices, deprecates a feature, or shuts down, the work to adapt your site, store, or automation may be outside the original scope and quoted separately.

9. Warranties & Disclaimers

9.1. "AS IS" / "AS AVAILABLE." Except for any limited warranty expressly stated in a signed Order, the Services and Deliverables are provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE," without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

9.2. No guarantee of results. We do not guarantee any specific business outcome. Without limitation, we do not guarantee any particular search engine rankings, search visibility, indexing, organic or other traffic, leads, conversions, sales, or revenue, and you acknowledge that these depend on many factors outside our control (including search-engine and AI-provider algorithms, competition, your market, your pricing, and your own efforts).

9.3. SEO and AI search. SEO and AI-search work follows current best practices but cannot guarantee rankings or that any page will be surfaced, indexed, cited, or shown by any search engine, AI tool, or AI overview. Algorithms change frequently and are controlled by third parties.

9.4. Availability of sites and stores. We do not warrant that any website, store, automation, or other Deliverable will operate uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of harmful components, or that all defects will be corrected.

9.5. Hosting uptime. Any uptime figure, monitoring, or performance target is a goal pursued on a commercially-reasonable-efforts basis, not a guarantee or service-level warranty, unless a specific service-level agreement is signed. Scheduled maintenance, emergency maintenance, Third-Party Service failures, attacks, and force-majeure events may cause downtime for which we are not liable.

9.6. Analytics and automation accuracy. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or continuity of analytics data, tracking, or AI/automation output, all of which depend on Third-Party Services and may be affected by browser, consent, ad-blocker, model, or platform changes.

9.7. Security. Security services and hardening reduce risk but cannot eliminate it. We do not guarantee that a site, store, or system will not be hacked, compromised, infected, or breached, or that data will not be lost, and a Hack Cleanup does not guarantee against re-infection. Blacklist-removal outcomes are controlled by third parties.

9.8. Jurisdictional limits. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties; in those jurisdictions, the above exclusions apply to the fullest extent permitted, and any legally required warranty is limited in duration to 30 days from delivery.

10. Limitation of Liability

10.1. Exclusion of certain damages. To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will the DietzenDev Parties be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any lost profits, lost revenue, lost sales, lost or corrupted data, loss of goodwill, or business interruption / downtime, arising out of or relating to the Services, Deliverables, or these Terms, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.

10.2. Liability cap. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the total aggregate liability of the DietzenDev Parties for all claims arising out of or relating to the Services, Deliverables, or these Terms — whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise — will not exceed the total fees actually paid by you to DietzenDev in the six (6) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

10.3. Allocation of risk. You acknowledge that the fees reflect this allocation of risk, that these limitations are an essential basis of the bargain, and that we would not provide the Services on these prices without them.

10.4. Jurisdictional limits. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations or exclusions of liability; in those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law.

11. Indemnification

11.1. Client indemnity. You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the DietzenDev Parties from and against any third-party claims, demands, suits, losses, liabilities, damages, fines, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your Client Content and materials, including any claim that they infringe or misappropriate a third party's intellectual-property or other rights; (b) your use or operation of the website, store, automation, or other Deliverable, including the products, services, claims, prices, and transactions you offer; (c) your violation of any law or regulation (including privacy, consumer-protection, accessibility, e-commerce, and tax laws); (d) your breach of these Terms or of any third-party terms; and (e) data or transactions processed through your site or store.

11.2. Procedure. We will notify you of a claim subject to indemnification, and you will assume defense with counsel reasonably acceptable to us; we may participate with our own counsel at our own expense. You may not settle any claim in a way that imposes liability or admission on us without our prior written consent.

12. Confidentiality

12.1. Mutual. Each party may receive non-public information of the other that is marked confidential or that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential ("Confidential Information"). Each party will use the other's Confidential Information only to perform or receive the Services and will protect it with reasonable care.

12.2. Exclusions. Confidential Information does not include information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiver, was already known without a duty of confidence, is independently developed, or is rightfully received from a third party. A party may disclose Confidential Information if required by law, giving reasonable notice where permitted.

12.3. Credentials. Access credentials you share with us are treated as Confidential Information; you remain responsible for rotating credentials after the engagement ends.

13. Term & Termination

13.1. Term. These Terms apply from the Effective Date and continue while any engagement, Subscription, or hosting is active.

13.2. Termination for cause. Either party may terminate an engagement for the other's material breach that is not cured within 15 days after written notice describing the breach.

13.3. Termination for non-payment. We may suspend (Section 4.6) and/or terminate Services if you fail to pay amounts owed when due. Termination for non-payment does not relieve you of amounts owed, including any Subscription buyout under Section 5.

13.4. Effect of termination. On termination: (a) you must pay all amounts accrued or owed through the effective date, including any buyout; (b) ownership transfer under Section 6 occurs only if and when all amounts owed are paid in full; (c) our ongoing obligations (hosting, maintenance, support, edits) end; and (d) each party returns or deletes the other's Confidential Information on request, subject to routine backups and legal-retention needs.

13.5. Survival. Sections that by their nature should survive — including Definitions, Fees owed, Intellectual Property & Ownership (including the attribution obligation in Section 6.7), Acceptable Use (Section 7.7), Data Protection roles (Section 7.8), Third-Party disclaimers, Warranties & Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Confidentiality, Governing Law/Dispute Resolution, and General — survive termination.

14. Governing Law, Venue & Dispute Resolution

14.1. Governing law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Services are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

14.2. Venue. The parties consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Effingham County, Illinois, and waive any objection to that venue.

14.3. Informal resolution first. Before starting any formal proceeding, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally by written notice to the other (to [email protected] for DietzenDev) and at least 30 days of good-faith discussion.

14.4. Limitation period. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any claim or cause of action brought by you against the DietzenDev Parties arising out of or relating to the Services or these Terms must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim arose, or it is permanently barred. This one-year limitation does not apply to DietzenDev's claims against you — including claims for unpaid fees, buyout amounts, late fees, costs of collection, or indemnification — which DietzenDev may bring within the full period allowed by applicable law.

15. General

15.1. Changes to these Terms. We may update these Terms from time to time. The current version is posted on our website with its Effective Date. Material changes apply to new engagements and renewals; for active Subscriptions, changes take effect at your next renewal or on at least 30 days' notice. Continued use of the Services after changes take effect is acceptance of the updated Terms.

15.2. Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to be enforceable (or severed if it cannot be), and the remaining provisions stay in full force.

15.3. Entire agreement. These Terms, together with any signed Order, proposal, or statement of work, are the entire agreement between the parties on this subject and supersede all prior discussions and understandings. In a conflict, a signed Order controls over these Terms for that engagement.

15.4. Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a sale or transfer of our business or assets. These Terms bind and benefit the parties and their permitted successors and assigns.

15.5. Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure to perform (other than payment obligations) caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, outages, attacks, third-party-service failures, labor issues, war, civil unrest, illness, and government action.

15.6. Independent contractor. We provide Services as an independent contractor. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship.

15.7. No waiver. Failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of the right to enforce it later.

15.8. Notices. Notices to DietzenDev must be sent to [email protected] or through the client portal. Notices to you may be sent to the email or postal address on file in our client portal or proposal, or posted or delivered to you through the client portal. A notice sent by email is effective when sent (absent a bounce or delivery failure); a notice posted or delivered through the client portal is effective when made available to you in the portal. You agree that our client portal's records — including message, delivery, login, and read logs — are sufficient evidence of when a notice was sent, delivered, and made available to you.

15.9. Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

15.10. Contact. Questions about these Terms: [email protected].