General Terms and Conditions — Agency Services

Last updated: June 16, 2026

1. Scope and contracting party

These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "Terms") apply to all agency services provided by

Tintenfrei GmbH
Ackersteinstrasse 86
8049 Zurich
Switzerland
Email: salut@tintenfrei.com

(hereinafter "Tintenfrei") to its clients (hereinafter "Client"). The Managing Director is Cristobal Ortiz Ehmann (sole signatory); the company is registered in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich (UID: CHE-370.908.478).

Agency services include, in particular, the conception and implementation of websites (typically on Squarespace), digital marketing, and the design of digital presences. These Terms are addressed to companies, self-employed individuals, and organizations that use our services in the course of their professional or business activity.

These Terms apply together with the respective quote or order confirmation. In case of conflict, the provisions of the quote or order confirmation take precedence over these Terms. Deviating or supplementary terms of the Client apply only if Tintenfrei has expressly agreed to them in writing.

2. Quote and formation of contract

Our quotes are non-binding and, unless otherwise noted, valid for thirty days from the date of issue. The contract is formed once the Client accepts the quote or order confirmation in writing (email is sufficient) or makes the agreed deposit payment.

The specific scope of services, the chosen packages or additional services, and the price result from the quote or order confirmation. Services not expressly listed there are not owed.

3. Prices and payment terms

The prices agreed in the quote apply, stated in Swiss francs (CHF).

Unless otherwise agreed, a deposit of 50% of the order value is due upon placing the order. Invoices are payable within 30 days of the invoice date without deduction. For the "Freiheit" and "Super" packages, staggered partial or milestone payments based on project progress may be agreed instead of a single deposit; the specific staggering is set out in the quote.

Tintenfrei GmbH is not subject to VAT; no value-added tax is charged or stated.

If the Client defaults on a payment, Tintenfrei is entitled to charge default interest of 5% per year and to suspend ongoing work until payment is received.

4. Changes and additional services

Coordination and revision rounds within the agreed scope of the order are included in the price. Our approach is deliberately iterative: content and design are developed and coordinated together over several steps.

Requests for changes that go beyond the agreed scope of the order — for example, additional pages, further functionality, or fundamental changes of concept after approval has already been given — are considered additional services. Such additional services are billed on a time-and-materials basis at an hourly rate of CHF 220. Tintenfrei will inform the Client of the expected additional costs before carrying out additional services that are recognizably substantial.

5. Client cooperation

Timely implementation requires the Client's cooperation. The Client provides the required content, texts, images, logos, access credentials, and approvals in a timely manner and in usable form, generally within 10 working days of our request.

If the Client fails to deliver within this period, Tintenfrei is entitled to invoice the work performed up to that point and to temporarily pause the project. At the Client's request, the project is resumed after the outstanding materials have been delivered, with continuation rescheduled according to the capacity available at that time. Any resulting delays are not at Tintenfrei's expense.

6. Deadlines

Stated deadlines and timeframes are estimates unless expressly agreed as binding. Delays caused by late cooperation from the Client, subsequent change requests, or circumstances outside Tintenfrei's control shall extend agreed deadlines accordingly.

7. Acceptance

The work is deemed accepted upon the Client's approval, or at the latest upon publication of the website. The order is considered complete upon acceptance. Minor deviations that do not materially impair the agreed use do not entitle the Client to refuse acceptance.

8. Usage and copyright

Usage rights to the finished work — namely the website design, the texts created by Tintenfrei, and the code created individually for the Client — pass to the Client only upon full payment of all outstanding amounts. Until then, all rights remain with Tintenfrei.

Tintenfrei reserves an unlimited, non-exclusive right of continued use, without restriction in time or place, to the underlying techniques, design and technical components, and reusable code components. The Client receives the right to use the work for the agreed website; Tintenfrei remains entitled to use the techniques and components employed for other projects as well.

9. Third-party services, font and image licenses

The Client bears all third-party costs — for example, the Squarespace subscription, domain and hosting, as well as font and image licenses. Tintenfrei may advance such costs and licenses upon request; advanced amounts are invoiced to the Client immediately and are due for reimbursement without delay.

For fonts not provided as part of the Squarespace service, as well as for image material, the following applies: required licenses are acquired by Tintenfrei in the Client's name and for the Client's account, unless procured by the Client itself. The Client thereby becomes the licensee and is bound by the respective license terms. Tintenfrei is not liable for legal consequences arising from the use of these font and image licenses, in particular not for third-party claims resulting from use that contravenes the license terms.

10. Warranty

Tintenfrei performs the services competently and with due care.

Obvious defects must be reported at acceptance, or at the latest within 10 working days of acceptance. Hidden defects must be reported within one month of their discovery. If no report is made within these periods, the service is deemed approved.

Where an actual defect exists and has been reported in a timely manner, Tintenfrei has the right and the obligation to remedy it free of charge within a reasonable period. Further claims by the Client only arise if such remediation fails.

Requests for changes and new requirements (see section 4), as well as errors attributable to third-party services, subsequent interventions by the Client, or content supplied by the Client, do not constitute defects.

11. Liability

Tintenfrei's liability per order is limited to half of the order value, whereby any pass-through third-party costs are first deducted from the order value for this calculation. The relevant basis is thus Tintenfrei's net fee; the liability cap corresponds to half of this amount.

Liability for slight negligence is excluded to the extent permitted by law. Liability for gross negligence and intent remains reserved (Art. 100 of the Swiss Code of Obligations).

To the extent permitted by law, Tintenfrei is not liable for indirect damages and consequential damages, in particular not for loss of profit, data loss, or business interruption.

Tintenfrei is not liable for services, failures, or defects of third-party providers and third-party services, namely Squarespace, Cloudflare, Stripe, hosting and domain providers, and providers of font and image licenses, over which Tintenfrei has no influence.

12. Maintenance and support

Maintenance, upkeep, and further development after acceptance are not included in the project price. The order ends upon final acceptance (section 7).

Subsequent maintenance, updates, or further development take place exclusively under a separate agreement — on a time-and-materials basis at an hourly rate of CHF 220 or under a separate support contract.

13. Cancellation and termination by the Client

If the Client prematurely terminates an ongoing project, the services performed up to that point are owed in full — either based on documented time at an hourly rate of CHF 220 or proportionally based on project progress, whichever amount is higher.

The deposit paid is offset against the actual work performed. A refund is made only to the extent that the actual work performed is less than the deposit. Third-party costs already passed through or advanced remain owed in any case.

No usage rights to the partial work pass to the Client until the invoiced amount has been paid in full (section 8). Further statutory claims by Tintenfrei, in particular under Art. 377 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, remain expressly reserved.

14. Reference use

Tintenfrei is entitled to name and showcase the finished, publicly accessible work as a reference — including the Client's name and logo, screenshots, and a link or embedded live view — and to use it in its own portfolio and for marketing purposes.

The Client may object to this reference use in writing (email is sufficient) at any time. Tintenfrei will then remove the reference within a reasonable period.

15. Confidentiality

Both parties treat non-public information of the other party as confidential and use it only for the performance of the project. This obligation continues beyond the end of the project.

Excluded is information that is already publicly known or whose disclosure is legally required. The agreed reference use under section 14 remains unaffected by this confidentiality obligation.

Access credentials and passwords are treated as confidential and are not reused after the end of the project.

16. Force majeure

Events of force majeure — such as natural events, strikes, government measures, or extensive failures of internet or power infrastructure — release the affected party from the obligation to perform on time for the duration of such events. Agreed deadlines are extended accordingly.

17. Final provisions

Amendments and additions to these Terms and to the contract require written form (email is sufficient).

Should any provision of these Terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a provision that comes closest to its economic purpose.

These Terms are governed exclusively by Swiss law, excluding conflict-of-laws rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Zurich, Switzerland.