Terms of Service
Effective July 20, 2026 · Last updated July 20, 2026
1. Agreement to These Terms
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you (“Client,” “you,” or “your”) and The Social Elephant, LLC, doing business through Built By Elephant (“Built By Elephant,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By checking the agreement box and completing checkout, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms.
2. Services and Project Scope
We provide website strategy, design, development, setup, managed hosting, maintenance, and related services according to the plan selected at checkout and any written proposal, scope, or change order accepted by both parties.
Plan descriptions are summaries. Final deliverables, page counts, integrations, features, revision rounds, and schedules are limited to the selected plan and any written additions. Requests outside that scope may require a separate quote, added fees, or a revised timeline.
3. Client Responsibilities
You agree to provide accurate information, timely feedback, approvals, text, images, branding, credentials, and other materials reasonably needed for the project. You represent that you own or have permission to use all materials you provide and that they do not violate another party’s rights or applicable law.
Delays in content, feedback, access, or approvals may extend the project schedule. If a project is inactive because of Client delay for 30 days or more, we may reschedule it and charge a reasonable restart fee after notice.
4. Setup Fees and Recurring Hosting
The one-time website setup fee and the first monthly hosting payment shown at checkout are charged when you subscribe. The monthly hosting fee then renews automatically each month using the payment method saved through Stripe until canceled.
Monthly hosting may include hosting infrastructure, SSL, backups, maintenance, updates, monitoring, and the level of support listed for your plan. Taxes and third-party costs may be added when applicable. We will obtain your express consent before charging recurring fees.
5. Cancellation, Site Status, and Refunds
You may cancel recurring hosting at any time by emailing hello@builtbyelephant.io with the business name and account email. We will confirm the cancellation. Cancellation ordinarily takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period, and no further recurring charge will be made.
When the paid hosting period ends, the website will be made inactive and will no longer be publicly available through our hosting service. The website may be reactivated if you resubscribe, subject to account status, applicable fees, and availability of an archived copy.
We may retain an archived copy of an inactive website for up to 90 days after hosting ends. If the hosting subscription remains inactive for more than 90 days, the website, files, databases, and backups may be permanently removed from our systems and archives without further notice. Restoration is not guaranteed, and rebuilding or restoring a removed website may require a new project fee.
Setup fees become non-refundable once strategy, design, development, setup, or other project work begins. Monthly hosting payments and completed work are non-refundable except where required by law. If we cancel a project without cause before providing the paid work, we will refund the unearned portion of fees.
6. Revisions, Changes, and Approvals
Each plan includes only the revisions stated in its description or written scope. Additional revisions, new features, substantial direction changes, or work requested after approval may be billed separately. Your written or electronic approval authorizes us to proceed to the next project stage.
7. Ownership and Licenses
After all applicable fees are paid, you receive ownership of the final custom website content and design deliverables created specifically for you, excluding our pre-existing materials, processes, templates, reusable code, tools, licensed components, and third-party materials.
We retain ownership of those background materials and grant you a non-exclusive license to use them as incorporated into the completed website. Third-party software, fonts, plugins, stock assets, platforms, and services remain subject to their own licenses and terms. Unless you request otherwise in writing, we may display the completed project in our portfolio and marketing.
8. Domains, Accounts, and Third-Party Services
Domains, email, payment processors, booking tools, e-commerce platforms, plugins, and other third-party services may have separate fees and terms. You are responsible for keeping your accounts and payment methods current. We are not responsible for third-party outages, policy changes, suspensions, price changes, security incidents, or discontinued services outside our reasonable control.
9. Hosting, Support, and Acceptable Use
We use commercially reasonable efforts to keep hosted websites available, secure, backed up, and maintained, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service. Planned maintenance, emergencies, internet failures, attacks, and third-party outages may affect availability.
You may not use the website or hosting for unlawful, fraudulent, infringing, abusive, malicious, or harmful activity. We may suspend service when reasonably necessary to protect systems, users, or third parties, or when fees remain unpaid, after notice when practical.
10. E-commerce and Legal Compliance
You are responsible for your products, services, pricing, taxes, refunds, shipping, customer communications, privacy notices, accessibility obligations, and compliance with laws applicable to your business. We do not provide legal, tax, accounting, or regulatory advice, and website delivery does not guarantee compliance with every law or industry standard.
11. Confidentiality
Each party will use reasonable care to protect non-public business, customer, technical, and account information received from the other party and will use it only to perform or receive the services, except when disclosure is required by law or authorized by the other party.
12. Disclaimers
Except as expressly stated in a written agreement, services are provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any guarantee of particular traffic, rankings, sales, leads, revenue, or business results.
13. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or business opportunity. Our total liability arising from the services will not exceed the fees you paid to us for the affected services during the six months before the event giving rise to the claim. These limits do not apply where prohibited by law.
14. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The Social Elephant, LLC and its owners, employees, and contractors from third-party claims, losses, and reasonable costs arising from materials you provide, your products or services, your unlawful use of the website, or your breach of these Terms. We will promptly notify you of a covered claim and reasonably cooperate in the defense.
15. Termination
Either party may terminate project services for a material breach that remains uncured for 10 days after written notice. We may terminate immediately for unlawful activity, fraud, abuse, security threats, or nonpayment. Upon termination, outstanding fees for work performed remain due, and hosting or access may end after any required notice or paid service period.
16. Governing Law and Disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Before filing a claim, the parties agree to make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute informally. Any court proceeding will be brought in a state or federal court with jurisdiction in Nassau County, New York, unless applicable law requires otherwise.
17. Electronic Communications
You consent to receive agreements, notices, invoices, receipts, and project communications electronically. Your checkbox acceptance and electronic checkout have the same effect as a handwritten signature to the extent permitted by law. You may retain a copy of these Terms by saving or printing the standalone Terms of Service page.
18. General Terms
These Terms, the selected plan, and any accepted written proposal or change order are the entire agreement concerning the services and replace prior discussions on the same subject. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain effective. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not transfer this agreement without our written consent; we may assign it in connection with a merger, sale, or reorganization.
19. Changes and Contact
We may update these Terms for future purchases or renewals. Material changes affecting an active subscription will be communicated as required by law. The version accepted at checkout will govern that transaction unless both parties agree otherwise.
Questions, notices, or cancellation requests may be sent to hello@builtbyelephant.io.