Our Terms

TERMS OF SERVICE

Account Terms

  1. You must be 18 years or older or at least the age of majority in the jurisdiction where you reside or from which you use this Service.
  2. To access and use the Services, you must register for an account (“Account”) by providing your full legal name, current address, phone number, a valid email address, and any other information indicated as required. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may reject your application for an account, or cancel an existing Account, for any reason, in our sole discretion.
  3. You acknowledge that The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will use the email address you provide as the primary method for communication.
  4. You are responsible for keeping your password secure. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to maintain the security of your Account and password.
  5. You are responsible for all activity and content such as photos, images, videos, graphics, written content, audio files, code, information, or data uploaded, collected, generated, stored, displayed, distributed, transmitted or exhibited on or in connection with your Account (“Materials”).
  6. A breach or violation of any term in the Terms of Service, including the AUP, as determined in the sole discretion of The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will result in an immediate termination of your services.

Account Activation

  1. Subject to section 2.1.2, the person signing up for the Service will be the contracting party (“Account Owner”) for the purposes of our Terms of Service and will be the person who is authorized to use any corresponding account we may provide to the Account Owner in connection with the Service.
  2. If you are signing up for the Service on behalf of your employer, your employer shall be the Account Owner. If you are signing up for the Service on behalf of your employer, then you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind your employer to our Terms of Service.
  3. Upon completion of sign up for the Service, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will create a Checkout account on your behalf, using your email address. Depending on your location, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may also create a Payments account on your behalf.
  4. You acknowledge that The Global Merchant Pty Ltd Payments will be your default payments gateway(s) and that it is your sole responsibility as the Account Owner to activate and maintain these accounts. If you do not wish to keep either of the payment accounts active, it is your responsibility to deactivate them. For the avoidance of doubt, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is a Third Party Service, as defined in Section 15 of these Terms of Service.

General Terms and Conditions

  1. Domain registration.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd registers domains on the Internet through the relevant governing bodies and hosts websites and related material on the The Global Merchant Pty Ltd server(s) on behalf of clients. These terms and conditions apply to the use and registration of domain names and the web hosting services offered by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd registers domains through approved Domain Registrars. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may, at its discretion, use other approved entities for registration, but in general may limit domains offered based on availability from the registrar concerned.
  3. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s hosting and free registration is sold as a bundled package and cannot be separated, i.e. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not pay for registration if it is not combined with any of their hosting products.
  4. The client will be bound by the terms and conditions of the relevant domain name space (e.g. .com or .co.za) under which any domain name registered on its behalf falls, and should become familiar with them. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may post links to these terms and conditions on the The Global Merchant Pty Ltd website purely as a convenience to the client.
  5. Where The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is acting as a registrar or reseller in registering a domain name for the client, the client may be required to agree to further terms. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will provide the client with a link to these terms, which are incorporated into this agreement by reference.
  6. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will strive to ensure that registration and subsequent DNS propagation is affected in the shortest period of time. However, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd cannot be held liable for any delays that may accompany the registration of domains. Initial Setup fees are non-refundable. Domain name registration fees constitute a once-off payment subject to certain renewal charges.
  1. Free domain registration.
  1. Domain registration may be offered free of charge with Hosting products, depending on the nature and type of TLD (Top Level Domain). This offer is based on the assumption that the domain (and site content) will be hosted with The Global Merchant Pty Ltd for a reasonable period. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to, at their discretion, charge a parking fee where a minimum period (3 months) has not been observed on the Hosting product before downgrading to a Parking product. The fee will depend on the type of domain and applicable administration fees. Waiving such fees will be entirely at The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s sole discretion.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to charge a domain registration fee (in arrears) for any domain name which is registered as a FREE domain with a hosting package that is cancelled (or the domain is transferred) within 6 months of sign up. Such fee(s) will be invoiced exclusively at The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s discretion, and no leniency extended to Clients on previous occasions will in any way prejudice The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s right to enforce this clause. Such fees must be settled before any domain transfer can be effected with the applicable registrar.
  3. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not tolerate any abuse of their free registration policy. Any such abuse will result in the immediate termination of accounts concerned and service agreement, as well as possible further action to recover applicable costs from the client.
  4. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd only offers Free Domain registration for “.co.za” domains with new hosting package signups, or Domain Parking offered as a “Free Gift” in Client admin. Other TLDs or gTLDs are not included in the Free Domain Registration offer. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will register domains as per the clauses above, but will not be responsible for any further costs in relation to the domain, such as Annual Renewal Fees, Redemption fees or any other fees which may become payable in respect of domain ownership. Clients are exclusively responsible for such fees, and The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not enter into any disputes resulting from non-payment. Should such domains be automatically renewed, clients will be billed for such renewal without exception. Clients not wanting to continue with a specific domain must ensure that cancellation is effected before any such renewal is actioned by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd with the registrar concerned.
  1. Domain renewal.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will register a domain for a specified period (generally one year).
  2. Thereafter, the client is solely responsible for ensuring that the domain is renewed at the end of that period, and subsequent periods, until the domain is either cancelled or transferred by the client. This includes domains which have been set to auto-renew. Should the auto-renewal process fail, the onus will be on the client to notify The Global Merchant Pty Ltd of the failure.
  3. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will endeavour to send a courtesy reminder to the client, such as an SMS, email, or a Client admin or The Global Merchant Pty Ltd App notification. Such reminders in no way transfer responsibility to The Global Merchant Pty Ltd for ensuring that the domain is renewed.
  4. Should this reminder fail to reach the client, or should the reminder fail to be issued, this will not constitute a breach of this agreement, as this is solely performed as a courtesy.
  5. Clients registering domains must take note of the registration date, and ensure that renewal is effected.
  6. Clients may manually renew domains by accepting renewal in Client admin, or by selecting auto-renewal in Client admin and ensuring that this is effected by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd.
  1. Domain transfer.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will transfer existing (registered) domains from existing hosting providers to The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s DNS and web servers. Upon requesting the transfer, and accepting the relevant service terms, the client explicitly agrees that it has the authority to do so, being the registrant of the domain in question, or having been nominated as an agent of the registrant. The client thereby indemnifies The Global Merchant Pty Ltd from any disputes regarding ownership of the domain and any claims as a result thereof.
  1. Payment and payment terms.
  1. Payment will be dealt with as per the general terms.
  2. In the case of a website being suspended due to non-payment a reconnection fee will be payable before the website is unsuspended. An additional waiting period of up to 72 hours may be imposed in the case of multiple payment bounces.
  3. If a Client remains in default of a monthly fee in respect of any hosting service for two consecutive calendar months, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may terminate the agreement with immediate effect. Any related client hosting data stored on servers will be permanently removed. The Client will remain liable for all Fees and charges for any period of suspension. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be liable for damages suffered by any person due to the permanent deletion of any hosting data due to a client not keeping their account up to date.
  1. Liability for registration and use of domain names.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd has not and does not conduct pre-registration searches in respect of the client’s use and registration of its selected domain name/s and is therefore not obliged to either advise the domain name client about possible conflicting third-party rights or to take steps to ensure against possible disputes concerning a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to disclose pertinent information to Registrars for public disclosure as per the terms and conditions of the Registrar. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be held liable for any claims of infringement of privacy by fulfilling such registration conditions.
  3. This forms a regulatory requirement by the registrar, and there is a service agreement requirement to the client.
  4. The client indemnifies The Global Merchant Pty Ltd by warranting that the use or registration of the domain name by a client does not interfere with nor infringe the rights of any third party in any jurisdiction with respect to trademark, service mark, trade name, company name, close corporation name, copyright nor any other intellectual property right, and that client has the right to use the domain name as requested.
  5. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd cannot act as an arbiter of disputes arising out of the registration and use of domain names. At the same time, clients acknowledge that The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may be presented with evidence that a domain name registered by a client violates the rights of a third party. In such instances The Global Merchant Pty Ltd shall be allowed to provide a complainant with the client’s name and address and all further communication will exclude The Global Merchant Pty Ltd and The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will have no further obligations to the client. In such instances the client shall be entitled to continue using the domain name registered for the client by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd until a court or other body with jurisdiction directs otherwise.
  1. Registrant contact details for co.za, net.za, web.za and org.za

The ZACR policy indicates that the registrant contact details have to be updated to the legitimate beneficiary of the domain which would be the domain owner and not the reseller.

  1. The registrant, being the legitimate beneficiary of the domain name service, is accurately identified on the domain name record (full legal name); and
  2. The registrant’s designated email address is accurately identified on the domain name record where prescribed.
  1. Hosting services.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd does NOT provide SMTP mail services by default with shared hosting packages.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to suggest suitable alternatives to the client and / or charge for excessive traffic or system resources as it deems necessary, at its sole discretion. Excessive traffic or use of system resources will be determined as set out in the Acceptable Use Policy.
  3. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to move a website between web servers and Internet backbones, both within South Africa and internationally as it deems necessary. If a client moves in excess of their monthly web traffic allocation, then the client will be contacted and various options will be presented.
  4. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right (but does not assume any obligation) to inspect the contents of data that the client transmits, receives or stores on an The Global Merchant Pty Ltd server to ensure compliance with this agreement, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s AUP, or any applicable laws, regulations or codes of practice.
  5. The client must immediately and adequately respond to a denial of service attack (DOS / DDOS). If the client’s facilities are targeted by a DOS attack that affects other network users, the client’s service will be suspended.
  6. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to request additional information relating to hosting of domains or physical and cloud servers that are registered, hosted or managed by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd.
  7. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to suspend or terminate services immediately without liability should additional information not be provided upon request.
  8. Use of Hosting services with The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is strictly subject to 3rd party and upstream licensing requirements or agreements. Should incorrect or incomplete information be supplied service will be subject to suspension or terminations without prior warning.
  1. Backups.
  1. Clients are solely responsible for backing up their data and The Global Merchant Pty Ltd strongly encourages ALL Hosting clients to do so as frequently and completely as possible. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be liable for any data loss or any other losses or damages related to backups or data recovery without exception.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may, in some instances, offer a separate backup service in conjunction with dedicated hosting, and will make such backups available to clients on request as and when they are available. However, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd does not warrant or guarantee the availability, completeness or “up to date” status of such backups.
  3. Clients are ultimately responsible for their own data, and The Global Merchant Pty Ltd strongly encourages such clients to continue to make their own backups as frequently and completely as possible to ensure that they have recourse in the event of any failure.
  4. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd also cannot guarantee the condition or fitness of any backups provided. Such backups are provided “as is” and are used at the client’s own risk and discretion – whether restored by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd by instruction from clients or by clients themselves.
  5. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be liable for any losses or damages relating to any incidents arising out of such backups being provided (or not provided) to clients on request.
  1. Dedicated servers.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd provides servers to clients for the purposes of their hosting needs. However ownership of physical hardware rests solely with The Global Merchant Pty Ltd at all times. Clients may not make any claim to hardware deployed for their hosting, and may not have access to The Global Merchant Pty Ltd property, hardware or hosting infrastructure (such as data centres) without prior consent, which must be obtained by written application with a minimum of 24 hours notice. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd, at its discretion, may refuse such requests within reason.
  1. Cloud hosting.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to manage the cloud environment at its discretion for the overall benefit of cloud hosted clients. Any virtual machine which The Global Merchant Pty Ltd deems at its sole discretion to have a negative effect on the environment may be powered down or suspended.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd strictly forbids the creation of nested VM’s, or virtual instances within a virtual server. This severely degrades overall performance and will be treated as a violation of The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s AUP and Terms & Conditions (contrary to the intended use of the product).
  3. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd also strictly forbids any misuse of shared or cloud resources, such as RAM Disks (use RAM memory as storage disk space), which abuses resources and compromises the integrity of the cloud environment.
  4. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd may also, at its discretion, restrict the server to limited IOPS (Input Output Operations Per Second) where a client’s use of available virtual resources is negatively affecting the overall environment.
  5. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to move a cloud server between our virtual environments and Internet backbones, both within South Africa and internationally as it deems necessary.
  6. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd deploys all Cloud servers with an initial OS disk of 10GB. Additional disks can be added in up to 300GB increments, up to the maximum size allowed by the chosen package.
  1. 100% website uptime guarantee.

The Global Merchant Pty Ltd guarantees that its hosting services will attain 100% availability, subject to the following.

  1. The 100% website uptime guarantee is applicable only if the web server on which a client’s web hosting service resides crashes or goes down at an unscheduled time. This guarantee is not valid if there is any network problem between the client and the web server which prevents the client from seeing the web server, for instance – if the client’s ISP’s link to the respective data centre goes down or is faulty, but the web server The Global Merchant Pty Ltd hosts is still up, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is not responsible for the client not being able to reach their website.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is not responsible if any third party operated network or service experiences problems and outages (i.e. all network infrastructure and links, client’s internet connection, firewall service managed by external parties). If the applicable web server is up and running at all times then the website will be deemed to have achieved 100% uptime.
  3. The 100% uptime guarantee does not apply to any scheduled downtime for maintenance of any of the The Global Merchant Pty Ltd web servers. If there is scheduled maintenance to be done the client will be notified at least 24 hours in advance. The scheduled maintenance will always be done after hours (based on Central African Time (CAT)) and the web server downtime will be kept to a minimum.
  4. The 100% uptime guarantee does not apply if The Global Merchant Pty Ltd suspends the client’s service as allowed in terms of this agreement.
  5. Third party monitoring service reports may not be used for justification due to a variety of factors including the monitor’s network capacity/transit availability. The uptime of the server is defined as the reported uptime from the operating system and the Apache Web Server which may differ from the uptime reported by other individual services.
  6. Disputes arising out of the Uptime Guarantee must be submitted in writing and claims may not exceed fees paid (either monthly or on a pro-rata basis) to The Global Merchant Pty Ltd for services not received during downtime. No direct or indirect losses or damages resulting from downtime may be claimed. Service Level commitments will also be taken into account when reviewing disputes. Where agreed provisions have been met, such disputes will be dismissed.
  7. The services provide access to the internet, which is subject to bandwidth constraints, system failures and all manner of other factors that may impact on the client’s access, for which The Global Merchant Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility.
  1. Use at client’s risk.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will exercise no control whatsoever over the content of the material hosted on, or the information passing through the The Global Merchant Pty Ltd network and in no way moderates such content.
  2. Clients expressly agree that use of The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s server(s) and services are at the client’s sole risk.
  1. Spam / virus filtering.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd provides a spam and virus filtering system to protect clients from unsolicited mail and viruses. The client acknowledges that this system might incorrectly identify a valid message as spam or as a virus and consequently this message might not be delivered to the client. The client acknowledges and agrees that The Global Merchant Pty Ltd shall without limitation have no responsibility for, or liability in respect of any data lost as a result of this system.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to examine incoming or outgoing mail to the extent necessary to determine if it is classified as spam or malicious.
  1. Webmail.
  1. Webmail and other web-based email services made available by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd are provided on an “as is” basis without representations, warranties or conditions of any kind, and the client acknowledges and agrees that The Global Merchant Pty Ltd shall have no responsibility for, or liability in respect of, any aspect of the webmail services, including without limitation for any lost or damaged data or any acts or omissions of The Global Merchant Pty Ltd. As webmail storage space is limited, some webmail messages may not be processed due to space constraints or message limitations.
  1. Limitation on mail size.
  1. Individual mail sent to the client’s POP3/IMAP box or forwarded to the client’s existing email address may be limited to 3000kB in size each.
  1. Takedown notice procedure.
  1. In terms of section 75 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (“the ECT Act”) the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) can instruct The Global Merchant Pty Ltd to perform a site takedown upon receipt of notification of infringements as defined in Section 77 of the Act.
  2. Should The Global Merchant Pty Ltd receive a takedown notice from ISPA, The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will endeavour to:
    1. Notify the client in good time of the takedown notice.
    2. Allow the client reasonable time to remove the disputed, illegal or infringing content.
    3. Takedown any sites or services which are included in the ISPA takedown notice.
  1. Retention of rights.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd makes no claim to the intellectual property (such as data) of clients hosted on their servers. However, all equipment remains the property of The Global Merchant Pty Ltd and retention of data does not directly or indirectly give ownership of The Global Merchant Pty Ltd hardware to clients.
  1. IP addresses.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will issue IP addresses to dedicated servers or to other hosting servers, either as part of the standard product, or upon request (subject to applicable fees). IP addresses will be assigned to clients at The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s discretion and on a first come first serve basis.
  1. Software updates.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will be responsible for updates to Operating Systems and Shared Libraries on Shared Hosting Servers.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will only affect software updates to Operating Systems on Managed Dedicated Servers (including cloud servers). The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not affect other updates on Managed or Unmanaged servers, as this is not part of the service offered.
  1. Disclaimers, limitations and indemnities.
  1. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be liable for any loss or damage, interruption of business, or any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind (including lost profits), regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, delict, or otherwise which may be suffered as a result of or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to the use of our services and products

OR ANY ACTION TAKEN BY THE GLOBAL MERCHANT PTY LTD IN RESPONSE TO THE SERVICES WHICH IT OFFERS.

  1. The client hereby indemnifies and holds harmless The Global Merchant Pty Ltd against any loss whatsoever arising from any dispute or claim or other action occasioned by the client’s use and registration of its selected domain name, even if The Global Merchant Pty Ltd has been advised of the possibility of such damages;
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be liable for any indirect or consequential loss, damage, cost or expense of any kind, irrespective of how such damage or loss was caused, whether arising under contract, delict or otherwise, including, and not limited to, data loss or corruption, loss of profits, contracts, operation time and goodwill.
  3. Neither The Global Merchant Pty Ltd, its employees, affiliates, agents, third party information providers, merchants, licensers or the like, warrant that The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s server service will not be interrupted or error-free; nor do they make any warranty as to the results that may be obtained from the use of the Server service or as to the accuracy, reliability or content of any information service or merchandise contained in or provided through the The Global Merchant Pty Ltd server service, unless otherwise expressly stated in this agreement.
  4. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd expressly limits its liability to the client for damages suffered due to any non-accessibility time or other down time to the pro-rata monthly charge during the system unavailability. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd specifically denies any responsibilities for any damages arising as a consequence of such unavailability.
  5. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is not responsible if an external company network and firewall is set up to block access to services The Global Merchant Pty Ltd provides. If a client’s network is set up to block certain ports or web addresses that compromise the services The Global Merchant Pty Ltd provides it is the client’s responsibility to ensure that their network configurations are changed as necessary.
  6. Clients also hereby indemnify The Global Merchant Pty Ltd against any 3rd party claims against themselves as resellers or services provided to the public or privately. Clients will be solely liable to external parties for losses and may, in no way, petition The Global Merchant Pty Ltd to share or cover such losses or liability, either directly or indirectly. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is also indemnified from direct claims from clients for losses incurred due to 3rd party actions or claims.
  1. No warranties, liabilities or remedies by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd.
  2. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd disclaims, to the extent permitted by applicable law, all warranties and liability for damages by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd or its suppliers for any damages and remedies whether direct, indirect or consequential, arising from the Software Services.
  3. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of or in any way connected with the use of the Products or Software Services.
  4. Any additional applications, products or services which you procure, over and above what is explicitly billed for by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd is considered your risk and/or liability. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be responsible for any direct, indirect or consequential costs or damages arising from the use or procurement of such additional applications, products or services.
  5. Cancellation of services – 30 day Money Back
  • Clients may cancel their services within 30 days based on valid non-performance reasons and request a refund. Cancellation will be dealt with as per the general terms.
  • Cancellation, by the client or The Global Merchant Pty Ltd, will result in any data being permanently removed from The Global Merchant Pty Ltd’s servers. Clients are solely responsible for ensuring that backups are made of web content and email data, or any other data stored on their hosting space. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will not be liable for loss of data, or be obliged to provide any such data once the hosting contract term has expired. Any backups made by The Global Merchant Pty Ltd will be made for legal purposes and not for data retention purposes and will not necessarily be made available to clients on request.

The following will not be refunded!

  1. Refund requests received after 30 days
  2. Websites, themes, plugins, software and related products or services that are on special
  3. Domains that have been successfully registered or transferred.
  4. Companies that have been successfully registered with the relevant authorities
  5. Themes, templates, plugins, software or any other functionality purchased from third parties for your website.
  6. No refund will be given for Website Design once the “Editing Process” starts
  7. No refunds will be made if there are delays in completing projects on time for any external factors or Acts of God beyond our control.
  8. You found a cheaper supplier.
  9. Your website does not generate enough sales
  10. Governing law.
  11. This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, unless the context indicates otherwise.
  12. The Global Merchant Pty Ltd reserves the right to modify, amend or update this agreement at any time.
  13. You will be notified of any changes to this agreement and should you not agree to the changes, you may not access the website or use any services.
  14. Entire agreement.

This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes all prior arrangements and understandings relating to the subject matter of this agreement.