Terms & Conditions - Digital Animals

Agreement to be Bound

By engaging Digital Animals Agency for any service, project, or job — whether by approving a quote, signing a project contract, or otherwise directing Digital Animals Agency to commence work — the client agrees to be legally bound by these Terms & Conditions.

These Terms & Conditions, together with any applicable quote, project contract, or service agreement, constitute the entire agreement between Digital Animals Agency and the client in respect of the relevant services. In the event of any inconsistency between these Terms & Conditions and a specific quote or project contract, the terms of the quote or project contract will prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.

Clients are encouraged to read these Terms & Conditions carefully before engaging Digital Animals Agency. By proceeding with any engagement, the client confirms they have had the opportunity to review these Terms & Conditions and agrees to be bound by them.

Descriptions and Definitions

Digital Animals Agency

In these Terms & Conditions, Digital Animals Agency Pty Ltd and all services provided by it are referred to as “Digital Animals Agency”, “we”, “us”, or “our”. References to “digitalanimals.com.au” refer to the Digital Animals Agency website.

Client

“Client” refers to the business, company, entity, or individual engaging Digital Animals Agency for services. References to the client include any staff member, employee, agent, or third party acting on behalf of the client. The client may also be referred to as “you” or “your” in these Terms & Conditions.

Services

Digital Animals Agency provides clients with a range of digital services including but not limited to:

Website Design and Development
Ecommerce Development and Consulting
Web and Internet Consulting
Website Maintenance and Security
Website and Email Hosting
SEO — Search Engine Optimisation
Digital Marketing
Google Ads and Online Advertising
Social Media Management
Online PR
Email Marketing

Deliverables

Deliverables are the specific outputs, assets, or outcomes to be produced by Digital Animals Agency for a client as part of a project, job, or service engagement. Deliverables will be specified in the relevant quote or project contract where applicable.

A project, job, or task is considered complete when either the client approves it as complete, or when Digital Animals Agency determines it is complete according to the scope or parameters set out in the relevant quote or project contract.

Project Scope

A project scope is a document that defines the work, features, deliverables, and parameters included in a project, job, or service engagement. The project scope is the primary reference point for determining what is and is not included in a project.

Where technical terms are used in a project scope, Digital Animals Agency will provide reasonable explanation to the client upon request. However, the client acknowledges that some technical definitions may require subject matter expertise to interpret fully, and that Digital Animals Agency’s reasonable interpretation of technical terms within a project scope will be treated as authoritative in the absence of written agreement to the contrary.

Estimates, Quotes, and Project Contracts

Estimates

An estimate is an approximation of the time or fees required to complete a project, job, or service. Estimates are guides only and do not represent a fixed or guaranteed price. Final invoiced amounts may differ from an estimate depending on the finalised scope, requirements, or costs.

Digital Animals Agency typically provides estimates during early project discussions or for ad-hoc work. Where a client approves an estimate in principle, Digital Animals Agency will ordinarily follow up with a formal quote.

Quotes

A quote is a specific fee or price set by Digital Animals Agency for a defined project, job, or service. A quote will include the scope, deliverables, and fee for the relevant engagement where practicable.

Quotes are issued to clients via Digital Animals Agency’s online quoting system. Each quote is uniquely numbered and stored online. Quotes remain open for acceptance by the client for 30 days from the date of issue unless otherwise stated. Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to withdraw or revise a quote at any time prior to client acceptance.

Upon approval of a quote by the client, the fee is fixed for the scope defined in that quote. Digital Animals Agency will not vary the fee unless the scope is varied by written agreement between the parties.

Where a client requests changes to the scope of an approved quote, Digital Animals Agency may issue a revised quote or a separate variation quote for the additional work. The original quote fee remains payable in full regardless of any variation.

By approving a quote, the client confirms they have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms & Conditions and the specific terms of the quote.

Project Contracts

Where a project is of sufficient scale or complexity, Digital Animals Agency may issue a formal project contract in place of or in addition to a quote. The project contract will set out the project scope, fees, payment milestones, and any specific terms applicable to that project.

The terms of a project contract take precedence over these Terms & Conditions to the extent of any inconsistency.

Variations

Any work requested by the client that falls outside the agreed scope of a quote or project contract is a variation. Variations are not included in the original quoted fee and will be quoted separately by Digital Animals Agency.

Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to invoice the client retrospectively for work carried out at the client’s direction that was not included in an existing quote or project contract, including work carried out urgently or as a priority at the client’s request. Digital Animals Agency will notify the client of applicable charges as soon as reasonably practicable.

Debugging and Diagnostic Work

Where Digital Animals Agency is engaged to diagnose or debug a specific issue or problem, the following applies:

If Digital Animals Agency can identify and fix the issue within the quoted time, it will do so
If Digital Animals Agency can identify but not fix the issue within the quoted time, it will report its findings and provide a separate quote to carry out the fix
If Digital Animals Agency cannot identify the cause of the issue within the quoted time, it will report on what has been investigated and eliminated, and provide advice or a further quote to continue the investigation

Debugging quotes cover a defined amount of time within which Digital Animals Agency will attempt to both identify and fix the reported issue. Where the issue cannot be fully resolved within that time, a separate quote will be provided for any additional investigation or remediation work required.

Time and Materials

From time to time Digital Animals Agency may carry out work at the client’s direction that has not been formally quoted in advance. In such cases Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to invoice the client for that work on a time and materials basis at the standard hourly rate applicable at the time. Digital Animals Agency will define the work completed and any costs incurred in the relevant invoice or by written communication to the client.

Forms and Responses

Enquiries

Digital Animals Agency provides online enquiry forms for clients and prospective clients to submit general enquiries, callback requests, and quote requests. Digital Animals Agency will respond to enquiries as soon as reasonably practicable but does not guarantee response times.

Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to decline any enquiry or quote request at its sole discretion and without obligation to provide reasons.

Proposals

In response to an enquiry or quote request, Digital Animals Agency may issue a proposal, estimate, or quote. A proposal may include any or all of the following:

Project brief or overview
Project scope
Job or task definition
Description of deliverables and features
Fees and charges
Any specific terms applicable to the service or project

Proposals remain open for acceptance for 30 days from the date of issue unless otherwise stated. Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to withdraw or revise a proposal at any time prior to client acceptance.

Invoices, Suspension and Termination

Pricing and Currency

All fees and charges quoted and invoiced by Digital Animals Agency are in Australian Dollars and are exclusive of GST unless otherwise stated. GST will be added to invoices where applicable.

Payment Terms

Invoices issued by Digital Animals Agency are due and payable upon receipt unless otherwise agreed to in writing between the parties. Digital Animals Agency may specify alternative payment terms in a quote or project contract, in which case those terms apply.

Fees Due in Advance

Fees for ongoing services including but not limited to hosting, SEO, digital marketing, and maintenance subscriptions are due in advance for the applicable service period as stated in the relevant invoice. Such invoices must be paid in full prior to the commencement of the applicable service period.

Project Milestone Payments

For project-based work, payment milestones will be set out in the relevant quote or project contract. Each milestone invoice is due and payable upon issue unless otherwise agreed to in writing. Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to pause or suspend project work where a milestone invoice remains unpaid.

Pricing Variations for Ongoing Services

Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to vary the fees for ongoing services — including but not limited to hosting, SEO, digital marketing, and maintenance subscriptions — from time to time to reflect changes in costs, supplier pricing, platform fees, or market conditions.

Where Digital Animals Agency intends to vary the fees for an ongoing service, Digital Animals Agency will provide the client with no less than 30 days written notice of the variation prior to the new fee taking effect. Written notice may be provided by email to the client’s last known email address.

Continued use of the relevant service by the client after the notice period constitutes acceptance of the revised fee. Where a client does not accept the revised fee, the client may terminate the relevant service by providing written notice to Digital Animals Agency prior to the end of the notice period, in which case no further fees will be charged after the termination date.

Pricing variations under this clause do not require a new quote to be issued or approved by the client.

Overdue Invoices

Where an invoice remains unpaid after the due date, Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to:

Suspend any or all services provided to the client until the outstanding amount is paid in full
Apply an administrative fee of $170.00 (+ GST) per hour for any work required to reactivate suspended services
Refer the outstanding debt to a debt collection agency and charge any associated collection costs to the client
Apply to VCAT for a ruling on the outstanding amount, including any costs and time incurred by Digital Animals Agency in pursuing payment

Where services are suspended due to non-payment, Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any loss, damage, or disruption to the client’s business arising from that suspension.

Refunds

Fees paid for ongoing services including hosting, SEO, digital marketing, and maintenance subscriptions are non-refundable for the term or service period paid, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by Digital Animals Agency.

Fees paid for project-based work are non-refundable where work has commenced on the relevant project stage or milestone, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by Digital Animals Agency.

Suspension

Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to suspend any or all services provided to a client immediately and without notice where:

Any invoice remains unpaid beyond the due date
The client is in breach of any of these Terms & Conditions
Digital Animals Agency determines, in its sole discretion, that continued provision of services poses a risk to Digital Animals Agency, its infrastructure, or other clients

Where services are suspended, Digital Animals Agency will notify the client in writing as soon as reasonably practicable. Suspended services will be reinstated upon resolution of the matter giving rise to the suspension and payment of any applicable reactivation fees.

Termination by the Client

A client may terminate ongoing services at any time by providing written notice to Digital Animals Agency. Where the client has paid fees in advance for an ongoing service, those fees are non-refundable unless otherwise agreed to in writing.

Where a client wishes to transfer their domain name to another provider upon termination, Digital Animals Agency will facilitate the standard domain transfer process. Additional fees may apply where the transfer requires work beyond the standard domain transfer approval process.

Termination by Digital Animals Agency

Digital Animals Agency may terminate any service or agreement immediately by providing written notice to the client where:

The client is in breach of any of these Terms & Conditions and has failed to remedy that breach within 7 days of written notice from Digital Animals Agency
Any invoice remains unpaid for more than 30 days beyond the due date
The client company enters into insolvent liquidation or administration
The client is declared bankrupt
Digital Animals Agency determines, in its sole discretion, that continuation of the relationship is no longer appropriate

Upon termination by Digital Animals Agency for any of the above reasons, the full outstanding balance for any remaining contract term or milestone payments becomes immediately due and payable by the client.

Debt Collection

Where a client fails to pay any outstanding amount after notification by Digital Animals Agency, Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to refer the debt to a collection agency and to apply to VCAT for recovery of the outstanding amount. All debt collection costs, legal costs, and administrative time incurred by Digital Animals Agency in pursuing the outstanding debt will be charged to the client.

Direct Debit Agreements

Where a client has entered into a Direct Debit agreement with Digital Animals Agency, the following terms apply:

The initial payment is due on the date specified in the Direct Debit Request Service Agreement
Subsequent debits occur on the 1st of each month or as otherwise specified in the Direct Debit Request Service Agreement

Minimum Term: Where a Direct Debit agreement specifies a minimum term, the client is liable for the full outstanding balance for the remainder of that minimum term if the agreement is cancelled before the minimum term has been completed, plus any applicable debt collection fees.

No Minimum Term: Where a Direct Debit agreement has no minimum term, the client may cancel at any time by providing no less than 10 business days written notice prior to the next scheduled debit date.

Cancellation of a Direct Debit agreement does not affect any outstanding amounts owed to Digital Animals Agency for services already provided.

Hosting Services

Service Delivery

Digital Animals Agency provides website and email hosting services using dedicated and shared hosting infrastructure. Hosting services are delivered as a managed service. Digital Animals Agency does not ordinarily provide clients with direct access to hosting servers via FTP, cPanel, WHM, shell access, or any similar means.

If a client formally requests and is granted direct server access by Digital Animals Agency, that access voids any applicable warranty or 1st Level Support entitlement for the relevant hosting service.

Third-Party Infrastructure

Hosting services rely on infrastructure provided by third-party hosting and data centre providers. Digital Animals Agency does not warrant the security, availability, or performance of that underlying third-party infrastructure. Digital Animals Agency’s liability for any failure, breach, or outage attributable to a third-party infrastructure provider is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Service Availability

Digital Animals Agency will use reasonable endeavours to maintain the availability of hosting services. However, Digital Animals Agency is not liable for service interruptions, outages, or downtime, whether caused by server failure, third-party infrastructure failure, cyberattack, software vulnerability, or any other event beyond the reasonable control of Digital Animals Agency.

Backups

Digital Animals Agency may maintain backup copies of hosted data as part of its standard hosting management practice. However:

Backups are performed at the discretion of Digital Animals Agency and at intervals determined by Digital Animals Agency
Digital Animals Agency does not guarantee the frequency, completeness, or recoverability of any backup
Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any loss of data, including partial data loss arising from the interval between backups
Clients are solely responsible for maintaining their own independent backups of all website files, databases, email data, and any other data stored on Digital Animals Agency hosting infrastructure

Data Loss

Digital Animals Agency is not liable for the loss, deletion, corruption, or destruction of any data held on hosting infrastructure, whether arising from cyberattack, hardware failure, software fault, human error, third-party action, or any other cause. This exclusion applies regardless of whether Digital Animals Agency was involved in the management of that infrastructure at the time of the loss.

Security Incidents

Digital Animals Agency takes reasonable steps to maintain the security of its hosting infrastructure. However, the client acknowledges that:

No hosting environment can be guaranteed to be free from security vulnerabilities or cyberattack
Critical security vulnerabilities may be disclosed and actively exploited before patches are available from software vendors
Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any loss, damage, or harm arising from a security incident affecting hosting infrastructure, including but not limited to unauthorised access, data exfiltration, data deletion, ransomware, or service disruption
In the event of a security incident, Digital Animals Agency will take reasonable steps to remediate the situation and restore services as soon as practicable

Client Data and Privacy Obligations

Clients are responsible for their own compliance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988, the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and any other applicable privacy or data protection legislation in respect of personal information stored on Digital Animals Agency hosting infrastructure. Digital Animals Agency is not responsible for notifying a client’s customers or any regulatory body in the event of a security incident, and does not accept liability for any failure by a client to meet their own privacy or data breach notification obligations.

1st Level Support

All CMS and ecommerce websites hosted by Digital Animals Agency include a defined monthly allocation of 1st Level Support. This covers standard hosting management tasks such as setting up email accounts, domain parking, and general support for standard CMS or ecommerce functions.

Unused support time does not roll over to the following month. Custom hosting plans may include additional support hours where agreed to in writing.

Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to charge the standard hourly rate for any 1st Level Support usage that exceeds the defined monthly allocation.

1st Level Support is voided if a client accesses the hosting server directly via FTP or hosting control panel.

Application and Software Updates

Digital Animals Agency’s hosting environments are managed services. To protect site stability and integrity, Digital Animals Agency restricts direct client access to hosting servers, control panels, and website files. Clients must not attempt to perform updates to their website, content management system, plugins, extensions, themes, or PHP version directly on any live hosting environment managed by Digital Animals Agency.

Digital Animals Agency offers update services for hosted websites and applications, including WordPress core, plugin, theme, and PHP updates, on a one-off or ongoing subscription basis. These services are quoted and invoiced separately and are not included in standard hosting fees unless otherwise agreed to in writing.

Where Digital Animals Agency has issued a quote for update services and that quote has not been approved by the client within the quote validity period, the quote expires and Digital Animals Agency has no obligation to perform those updates. In such cases, Digital Animals Agency accepts no liability for any security incident, data loss, performance issue, or service disruption arising from outdated or unpatched applications, plugins, themes, or PHP versions on that client’s hosting environment.

Where a client has not engaged Digital Animals Agency to perform application or software updates — whether by declining a quote or recommendation, failing to respond to a recommendation, allowing an update subscription to lapse, or allowing a quote to expire without approval — Digital Animals Agency accepts no liability for any security incident, data loss, performance issue, or service disruption arising from outdated or unpatched software on that client’s hosting environment.

Digital Animals Agency will, where practicable, notify clients when updates are available or recommended. However, Digital Animals Agency is not obligated to perform updates that have not been approved and paid for by the client. The absence of an engaged update service does not create any liability on the part of Digital Animals Agency for vulnerabilities in client-side software.

Client-Requested Hosting Access

Digital Animals Agency does not ordinarily provide clients or third parties with direct access to hosting servers or control panels via FTP, cPanel, WHM, shell access, or any similar means.

Where a client formally requests direct hosting access in writing, Digital Animals Agency may, at its sole discretion, grant that access subject to the following conditions:

Digital Animals Agency will provide written notice to the client of the risks associated with direct server or file-level access prior to granting access
Granting of access voids any applicable warranty, 1st Level Support entitlement, and any other guarantee relating to the affected hosting environment
From the point access is granted, the client assumes full responsibility for any changes made to the hosting environment, website files, databases, or application software, whether made by the client or any third party acting on the client’s behalf
Digital Animals Agency accepts no liability for any damage, data loss, security incident, or service disruption arising from or connected to the client’s direct access to the hosting environment
Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to revoke direct hosting access at any time where Digital Animals Agency determines, in its sole discretion, that the access poses a risk to the hosting environment or to other clients hosted on the same infrastructure

Where a client or any third party acting on the client’s behalf installs, modifies, or removes any software, plugin, theme, extension, or file on the hosting environment without the express written approval of Digital Animals Agency, Digital Animals Agency accepts no liability for any resulting damage, data loss, security incident, or service disruption. Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to invoice the client for any time and costs incurred by Digital Animals Agency in investigating, diagnosing, or repairing any issue arising from such unauthorised changes.

Data Security and Breach Notification

Shared Responsibility

Digital Animals Agency manages the security of its hosting infrastructure. Clients are responsible for the security and content of their own data, applications, and software installed on that infrastructure. This shared responsibility model means that Digital Animals Agency’s security obligations relate to the hosting environment itself — not to the content, configuration, or software that clients install or operate within it.

Infrastructure Security

Digital Animals Agency takes reasonable steps to maintain the security of its hosting infrastructure, including applying security patches and updates to server-level software as they become available. However, the client acknowledges that:

No hosting environment can be guaranteed to be completely secure
Critical security vulnerabilities may be discovered and actively exploited before patches are available from software vendors or before they can be applied to a server
Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any loss, damage, or harm arising from a security incident affecting hosting infrastructure, including but not limited to unauthorised access, data exfiltration, data deletion, ransomware, or service disruption

Application and Software Updates

Digital Animals Agency’s security obligations extend to the hosting infrastructure only. Clients are solely responsible for maintaining the security and currency of all applications and software installed on their hosting environment, including but not limited to content management systems, ecommerce platforms, plugins, extensions, themes, and PHP versions.

Where Digital Animals Agency has provided a quote, estimate, or recommendation to a client for application or software updates — including WordPress core updates, plugin updates, or PHP version upgrades — and the client has declined, delayed, or failed to engage Digital Animals Agency to perform those updates, Digital Animals Agency accepts no liability for any security incident, data loss, or service disruption arising from those unpatched applications or software.

Data Held on Behalf of Clients

Clients are solely responsible for understanding, managing, and securing all data they store on Digital Animals Agency hosting infrastructure. This includes all website files, databases, and email data.

Email hosting in particular may contain personal information belonging to a client’s customers, employees, or other third parties. Clients must not use Digital Animals Agency email hosting infrastructure to store sensitive personal information where that use is not consistent with the client’s own privacy obligations. Sensitive personal information includes but is not limited to: financial account details, payment card data, health or medical information, and government-issued identity document data.

Digital Animals Agency does not monitor, review, or assume responsibility for the content of client email mailboxes or website data.

Security Incidents

In the event of a security incident affecting Digital Animals Agency hosting infrastructure, Digital Animals Agency will:

Take reasonable steps to contain and remediate the incident as soon as practicable
Notify affected clients of the incident and its known impact on their services as soon as reasonably possible
Provide clients with factual information about the nature of the incident to assist clients in assessing their own obligations

Digital Animals Agency’s notification to a client does not constitute an admission of liability or fault with respect to the incident. The scope and timing of any notification will be determined by Digital Animals Agency acting reasonably in the circumstances.

Client Privacy and Breach Notification Obligations

Clients are solely responsible for their own compliance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988, the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme, and any other applicable privacy or data protection legislation, in respect of personal information stored on Digital Animals Agency hosting infrastructure.

Upon being notified of a security incident, clients must independently assess whether the incident triggers any notification obligation to their own customers or to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) or any other regulatory body. Digital Animals Agency is not responsible for:

Notifying a client’s customers or any regulatory body on behalf of a client
Assessing whether a client’s notification obligations have been triggered
Any loss, penalty, fine, or claim arising from a client’s failure to meet their own privacy or data breach notification obligations

Limitation of Liability

Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any loss, damage, cost, or claim arising from a security incident affecting hosting infrastructure, including but not limited to unauthorised access to data, data exfiltration, data deletion, data corruption, ransomware, or service disruption, whether or not Digital Animals Agency was aware of the vulnerability that gave rise to the incident. This limitation applies to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Force Majeure

Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms & Conditions where that failure or delay arises from any cause beyond the reasonable control of Digital Animals Agency.

Events beyond reasonable control include but are not limited to: cyberattack, ransomware, zero-day software vulnerabilities, acts of god, natural disasters, fire, flood, pandemic, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, power failure, telecommunications failure, internet service disruption, third-party infrastructure failure, or any other event that could not reasonably have been anticipated or prevented.

Where a force majeure event occurs, Digital Animals Agency will:

Notify the client as soon as reasonably practicable
Take reasonable steps to minimise the impact on services
Resume normal service delivery as soon as the force majeure event is resolved or sufficiently mitigated

A force majeure event does not entitle the client to a refund of fees already paid, nor does it give rise to any claim for compensation, loss of earnings, or consequential loss against Digital Animals Agency.

If a force majeure event prevents Digital Animals Agency from delivering services for a continuous period exceeding 30 days, either party may terminate the affected service agreement by providing written notice to the other party. Upon termination, no further obligations arise on either side. For the avoidance of doubt, termination under this clause does not entitle the client to any refund of fees already paid to Digital Animals Agency.

Warranties & Liabilities

Limited Warranty — Website and Development Work

Digital Animals Agency provides a limited warranty for websites and digital systems designed and developed by Digital Animals Agency. This warranty covers defects in work performed by Digital Animals Agency that fall within the agreed project scope or written quote specifications.

The warranty period is 90 days from the date the website or system goes live, or from the date Digital Animals Agency notifies the client that the work is ready to launch, whichever is earlier, unless otherwise agreed to in writing.

Where a defect is identified within the warranty period and is determined by Digital Animals Agency to be caused by work performed by Digital Animals Agency, Digital Animals Agency will remedy that defect at no cost to the client.

This warranty does not cover:

Defects caused by third-party software, plugins, themes, extensions, or systems not developed by Digital Animals Agency
Defects arising from changes made to the website or system by the client or any third party after launch
Defects arising from the client’s failure to engage Digital Animals Agency for recommended updates or maintenance
Incompatibilities arising from future browser releases or operating system updates after the date of launch
Any issue outside the agreed project scope or written quote specifications

This warranty is voided if:

The client or any third party is granted or obtains direct access to the hosting environment via FTP, cPanel, WHM, shell access, or any similar means
The client or any third party installs, modifies, or removes any plugin, theme, extension, or software without the express written approval of Digital Animals Agency
The client has any overdue outstanding invoices with Digital Animals Agency at the time the warranty claim is made

Browser and Technology Compatibility

Digital Animals Agency will ensure that websites and applications function correctly when viewed in current versions of major web browsers at the time of launch, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Digital Animals Agency cannot guarantee compatibility with future browser releases or operating system updates. Where a browser or technology update causes a previously functioning website to display or operate incorrectly, Digital Animals Agency will provide a quote to carry out any necessary remediation work.

Search Engine Optimisation

Digital Animals Agency will use reasonable endeavours to improve the search engine ranking of a client’s website. However, Digital Animals Agency does not warrant that any particular ranking position will be achieved or maintained. Search engine algorithms are determined by third parties and are subject to change at any time without notice.

Digital Animals Agency cannot be held responsible for any change to a client’s website ranking or position in search engine results, whether arising from algorithm changes, competitor activity, or any other cause outside Digital Animals Agency’s control.

Intellectual Property and Content

Clients are solely responsible for ensuring that all content, images, data, and materials provided to Digital Animals Agency for use in a website or digital project are owned by the client or are licensed for the intended use. Digital Animals Agency is not responsible for any intellectual property or copyright infringement arising from materials provided by the client.

Upon publication, clients are solely responsible for ensuring that their website and all content on it complies with all applicable laws, codes of practice, and industry regulations, including but not limited to consumer law, privacy law, and advertising standards.

Domain Names

Digital Animals Agency is not responsible for a client’s choice of domain name or any legal consequences arising from that choice, including but not limited to trademark disputes, AuDA regulations, or any applicable international laws.

Client and Third-Party Actions

Digital Animals Agency is not liable for any damage, data loss, security incident, or service disruption caused by the actions of the client or any third party acting on the client’s behalf, including but not limited to the installation of unauthorised software, plugins, or extensions, or changes made to website files, databases, or hosting configurations without the approval of Digital Animals Agency.

Where such actions by the client or a third party cause damage or disruption that requires investigation, repair, or remediation by Digital Animals Agency, Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to invoice the client for all time and costs incurred at the standard hourly rate applicable at the time.

General Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Digital Animals Agency’s liability to a client for any claim arising out of or in connection with services provided by Digital Animals Agency — whether in contract, tort, negligence, or otherwise — is limited to the resupply of the relevant service or the rectification of the specific defect or issue giving rise to the claim, carried out by Digital Animals Agency at Digital Animals Agency’s discretion.

Digital Animals Agency is not liable under any circumstances for any indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive loss or damage arising out of or in connection with its services, including but not limited to:

Loss of revenue or profits
Loss of data or business information
Loss of business opportunity or contracts
Loss of goodwill or reputation
Business interruption
The cost of engaging any third party for any purpose arising from or related to a claim against Digital Animals Agency, including but not limited to remediation, replacement, replication, investigation, forensic analysis, incident reporting, legal advice, consulting, or any other professional service

This exclusion applies regardless of whether Digital Animals Agency was advised of the possibility of such loss and regardless of how the claim arises.

The client will indemnify Digital Animals Agency against any claim by any third party arising from the client’s use of Digital Animals Agency services, the client’s content, or the client’s breach of these Terms & Conditions.

Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in these Terms & Conditions excludes, restricts, or modifies any right or remedy, or any guarantee, warranty, or other term or condition, implied or imposed by the Australian Consumer Law where to do so would be unlawful. Where Digital Animals Agency is permitted by law to limit its liability, Digital Animals Agency’s liability is limited to resupply of the relevant service or payment of the cost of having the service resupplied, at Digital Animals Agency’s discretion.

Intellectual Property, Moral Rights, and Third Parties

Ownership of Work

Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, Digital Animals Agency retains ownership of the intellectual property rights in all creative and technical work produced by Digital Animals Agency, including but not limited to website designs, code, graphics, templates, and digital assets.

Upon receipt of payment in full for the relevant project or service, Digital Animals Agency grants the client a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the delivered work for its intended purpose within the context of the client’s business. This licence does not entitle the client to:

Sell, sublicense, or represent the work as their own
Modify or repurpose the work outside its intended context without the written consent of Digital Animals Agency
Use the work in any manner that would infringe the intellectual property rights of Digital Animals Agency or any third party

Where full payment has not been received, Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to suspend the client’s access to or use of any delivered work until payment is made in full.

Third-Party Intellectual Property

Digital Animals Agency may incorporate third-party software, fonts, stock imagery, plugins, themes, or other licensed materials into work delivered to clients. Intellectual property rights in those materials remain with the respective third-party rights holders.

Where third-party materials are incorporated into a project, Digital Animals Agency will ensure appropriate licences are in place at the time of delivery. Ongoing licence compliance for third-party materials — including renewal of licences, plugin subscriptions, or stock image licences — is the responsibility of the client after delivery unless otherwise agreed to in writing.

Client-Supplied Materials

Clients are solely responsible for ensuring that all content, images, data, copy, and other materials supplied to Digital Animals Agency for use in a project are either owned by the client or properly licensed for the intended use. Digital Animals Agency accepts no liability for any intellectual property or copyright infringement arising from materials supplied by the client.

By supplying materials to Digital Animals Agency, the client warrants that they have the right to use those materials and grants Digital Animals Agency the right to use them for the purposes of delivering the agreed services.

Copyright Notices

Digital Animals Agency may display its own copyright notices on websites and digital work it develops or hosts. The client must not remove, obscure, or alter any such notices without the written consent of Digital Animals Agency.

Moral Rights

As creator of copyright material, Digital Animals Agency asserts the following moral rights in all work it produces:

The right to be attributed as the creator of the work when it is used or published
The right not to have the work falsely attributed to another party
The right not to have the work altered or treated in a manner that is prejudicial to Digital Animals Agency’s honour or reputation

Portfolio and Promotional Use

Digital Animals Agency retains the right to use completed work — and preliminary or concept work produced during a project — for portfolio display, design competitions, educational purposes, marketing materials, and promotional content, unless otherwise agreed to in writing. Where work is used for promotional purposes, appropriate credit will be given to the client where applicable and agreed.

Third-Party Contractors and Suppliers

Digital Animals Agency may engage third-party contractors, developers, designers, or suppliers in the delivery of services to clients. By engaging Digital Animals Agency, the client consents to relevant project information, materials, and data being shared with such third parties to the extent necessary to deliver the agreed services.

Digital Animals Agency will take reasonable steps to ensure that third-party contractors engaged by Digital Animals Agency maintain appropriate confidentiality in respect of client information. However, Digital Animals Agency is not liable for the independent actions or omissions of third-party contractors or suppliers where those parties are engaged directly by the client or where the client has directed Digital Animals Agency to use a specific third party.

Non-Exclusivity

Digital Animals Agency provides services to clients on a non-exclusive basis. Digital Animals Agency may provide the same or similar services to other clients, including clients operating in the same industry or market as the client, provided that in doing so Digital Animals Agency does not breach any confidentiality obligation.

International Compliance

Clients are solely responsible for ensuring that their website and digital assets comply with all applicable laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which they operate or into which they direct their services, including but not limited to intellectual property law, privacy law, consumer law, and advertising standards. Digital Animals Agency is not responsible for the client’s compliance with international laws or regulations.

Privacy

Client Information

Digital Animals Agency collects and holds personal information about clients for the purposes of providing services, issuing invoices, and communicating about projects and services. Digital Animals Agency handles all personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and its associated Privacy Policy, which is published on the Digital Animals Agency website.

Client Data

Digital Animals Agency may access client data — including website content, email account information, and hosting data — in the course of providing services. Digital Animals Agency will not use, disclose, or share client data for any purpose other than the delivery of agreed services, except where required by law.

Clients are responsible for obtaining any necessary consents from their own customers or end users in respect of personal information collected through websites or digital services developed or hosted by Digital Animals Agency.

Confidentiality

Digital Animals Agency and the client each agree to keep confidential any proprietary or sensitive information disclosed by the other party in the course of their engagement, and not to disclose such information to any third party without the prior written consent of the disclosing party, except where disclosure is required by law.

This obligation of confidentiality survives the termination of any agreement between the parties.

Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

Governing Law

These Terms & Conditions and any agreement between Digital Animals Agency and a client are governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Victoria, Australia. Each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the Commonwealth of Australia.

Dispute Resolution

Where a dispute arises between Digital Animals Agency and a client, the parties agree to attempt to resolve the dispute in good faith through direct negotiation before initiating any formal proceedings.

Where direct negotiation does not resolve the dispute within 14 days of one party notifying the other of the dispute in writing, either party may refer the matter to mediation through the Victorian Small Business Commission or another agreed mediator.

Where mediation does not resolve the dispute, either party may pursue the matter through VCAT or such other court or tribunal as has appropriate jurisdiction having regard to the nature and value of the claim.

Nothing in this clause prevents Digital Animals Agency from taking immediate action to recover unpaid debts or to protect its intellectual property rights.

General Provisions

Entire Agreement

These Terms & Conditions, together with any applicable quote, project contract, or service agreement, constitute the entire agreement between Digital Animals Agency and the client in respect of the relevant services and supersede all prior discussions, representations, and agreements between the parties on the same subject matter.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms & Conditions is found to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be severed from the Terms & Conditions and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

Waiver

A failure by Digital Animals Agency to enforce any provision of these Terms & Conditions at any time does not constitute a waiver of that provision or of Digital Animals Agency’s right to enforce it in the future.

Amendments

Digital Animals Agency reserves the right to update or amend these Terms & Conditions at any time. The current version of the Terms & Conditions is published on the Digital Animals Agency website at digitalanimals.com.au. Clients are encouraged to review the Terms & Conditions periodically.

Continued engagement with Digital Animals Agency — including but not limited to payment of invoices, approval of quotes, or continued use of any ongoing service — constitutes acceptance of the Terms & Conditions as published at that time. Where a client does not accept any amended terms, the client may terminate their ongoing services by providing written notice to Digital Animals Agency.

Notices

Any notice required or permitted under these Terms & Conditions may be given by email to the last known email address of the relevant party. Notices sent by email are deemed received on the date of transmission unless the sender receives notification that the email was not delivered.

Agreement Non-Exclusivity

Digital Animals Agency provides services to clients on a non-exclusive basis. Digital Animals Agency may provide the same or similar services to other clients operating in the same industry or market, provided that in doing so Digital Animals Agency does not breach any confidentiality obligation owed to the client.

Terms and Conditions