Please note: It is important to understand that the provider of this offer is located in Germany and therefore only the German language version of our Terms of Service is legally binding. Other language versions such as the one below are for information purposes only and are not intended to serve as an aid to interpretation of the German language version.
German law applies excluding the UN sales law. The sole competent court is the court responsible for the domicile of the provider of these terms.
These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Bachstr. 6A, 24340 Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
Overview
This website is operated by Frauke Spanuth, owner of Croco Designs, Bachstr. 6a, 24340 Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Throughout the site, the terms “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Frauke Spanuth and Croco Designs. Croco Designs offers this website, including all information, tools and services available from this site to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here.
By visiting our site and/ or purchasing something from us, you engage in our “Service” and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions (“Terms of Service”, “Terms”), including those additional terms and conditions and policies referenced herein and/or available by hyperlink. These Terms of Service apply to all users of the site, including without limitation users who are browsers, vendors, clients, merchants, and/ or contributors of content.
Please read these Terms of Service carefully before accessing or using our website. By accessing or using any part of the site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. Payment solidifies your acceptance of these terms. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the website or use any services. If these Terms of Service are considered an offer, acceptance is expressly limited to these Terms of Service.
We cannot be held responsible for anything you feel you did not know by not reading these Terms of Service. Questions and comments about the Terms of Service should be sent to us at croco @ crocodesigns.com (w/o spaces).
Changes to Terms of Service
You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time at this page.
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to update, change or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates and changes to our website. It is your responsibility to check our website periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to our website or the Service following the posting of any changes to these Terms of Service constitutes acceptance of those changes.
Modifications to the Service and Prices
Prices for our services and products are subject to change without prior notification. All prices are US dollars.
We reserve the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part or content thereof) without prior notice at any time.
We shall not be liable to you or to any third-party for any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.
Personal Information
Your submission of personal information through our site and store is governed by our Privacy Policy.
To view our Privacy Policy (en) ».
To view our Privacy Policy (de) ».
Confidentiality
All client information and materials (for example any design questionnaires you sent to us) are considered confidential and will only be used to work on your design project. Client information and materials will not be given out or shared with any third party, unless otherwise requested by the client.
Purchase of Services (Cover Design, Book Interior Design, Website Design and the creation of Promotional/Marketing Items for online and print usage such as (but not limited to) Ads and Bookmarks)
General Notes
By ordering services through Croco Designs you are agreeing to the following:
- We reserve the right to state when a client has exhausted the designer’s services at any time.
- Any work done to an already completed design is done at an additional cost.
- It is the clients’ responsibility to save and create back-ups of any (design) files we send to you. Croco Designs is not responsible for keeping a copy of the final, approved art work and any website design files as well as the original source files (for example .psd files) indefinitely.
- We have made every effort to display as accurately as possible the colors and images of our products that appear at the store. We cannot guarantee that your computer monitor’s display of any color will be accurate.
For Print products:
- We are not liable for any errors or losses of any kind that may arise from the printing of your cover, book or promotional items.
- Once you approve a design, you agree that you are satisfied with it as it is, even if it includes (spelling) errors or inconsistencies whatsoever.
All our designs are exclusively created for use by the clients who commissioned them and may not be used by anyone else. Designs created by Croco Designs may only be used for their original purpose. This means that you are not allowed to republish or sell your design to anyone. Sublicense are not granted. The rights to any photos, graphics and source code are not transferred to the client; each element remains the property of its respective owners. Croco Designs also retains the right to display graphics and other web design elements from any design as examples of our work anywhere on the internet or as hard copies.
Special Notes on Website Design
Installation, configuration and optimization of all CMS (“Content Management System”) software as well as any plugins and add-ons is included in this service. But you are responsible for obtaining proper licensing for all CMS software used.
Croco Designs does provide support for the use of CMS software but additional fees will apply.
All CMS plugins are released under their own licenses and are owned by their respective developers. Croco Designs provides an installation service only.
First we build the site, i.e. all required pages with the content you provided. Only with the content in place, the actual design part will begin:
- We generate a first mock-up (screenshot) of a “sample” page for your review.
- You will have then the chance (a) to approve the design and request changes to it if necessary, (b) to see another page layout (using the same design) or (c) request a different design mock-up.
- After approval of a design mock-up, all page layouts and templates will be generated as well as the design optimized for desktop, tablet and mobile.
- You will then gain access to a live preview of the full site and can request another final round of changes before the new / redesigned site will be launched.
The design includes up to three full mock-ups as well as a number of revisions and changes, within reason, to the chosen design. You can request more concepts, but additional fees will apply.
If you don’t like any of the concepts presented, you can terminate the project anytime. There’ll be no refund (partial or full) for the deposit at this point due to the time and work already invested into the project by then.
We also reserve the right to state when you have exhausted our services at any time.
During the first month after the launch of the new design, we will trouble-shoot any “problems” for free that you may encounter managing the new site.
We design responsive websites. “Responsive” means that the site design will adapt to any screen size (desktop, tablet, phone – landscape and portrait view).
However, we cannot guarantee that the designs will view correctly in every single browser and/or platform out there. We will do our best to ensure that your new design is functional in the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari for Windows and Mac, on desktop, tablet and phone, but cannot guarantee it will be the same for other browsers/platforms (especially older ones or beta versions).
Special notes on Premade Covers
Once a Premade Cover has been sold, it will not be available for purchase to anyone else.
Changes to Premade Covers: Premade covers contain placeholders, for example for book titles, subtitles, authors’ names. These placeholders will be replaced by us according to the specifications of the customer. No additional compensation will be charged for this. Changes beyond that are not owed and in the individual case require our agreement. Additional fees may apply in that case.
Special Notes on Custom Cover Art Design
If this is not a rush order, you’ll receive your first concept(s) within the two weeks. (Timescales are from after receipt of deposit.)
In the case that the eBook cover has already been designed, you can usually expect a turnaround for the print cover flat file within 2–3 days if not otherwise noted.
You have the right to request a second concept if the first one is not what you hoped it would be. But we won’t make changes to both concepts. You have to choose one that we then fine-tune.
If you require more than two different concepts, additional fees will apply. If you prefer to terminate the project at this point, note that no refund will be given due to the time already spent working on the previous concepts.
We also reserve the right to state when you have exhausted our services at any time.
Once you have settled on a concept, we will make a couple of changes (tweaking certain individual elements of the cover, changing colors, moving elements, changing text placement and/or fonts, and resizing) as necessary but within reason.
You are not granted any rights to all earlier, not chosen design concepts in any way whatsoever.
About Licenses and Rights to Stock Photos used in Our Designs, especially Custom and Premade Covers
General Notes
Our designs are usually based on Royalty Free Stock Photos that third parties have made and that we have licensed for the purpose of designing the commissioned items. As a result, we as well as the third parties who have supplied the footage own rights to the covers offered.
Limitations of each license
Limitations of the respective licenses arise in particular (but not exclusively) from the description text of the respective offer for Premade Covers, which is a binding part of the contract.
As a rule, distribution for Custom Covers, Premade Covers and Promotional Items is limited to a specific quantity of copies or sales in the case of eBooks (for example, 250,000 copies). We will inform you about the specific quantity for your project.
If you exceed the license granted to you in factual, local or temporal terms or if you otherwise violate the license terms, you shall fully and unconditionally release us of all third-party claims based thereon.
Explicitly disallowed rights
The clients acquire with the license only those rights which have been expressly granted to them by us. In particular, the rights to edit the cover and sublicense are not granted.
The creation of items for resale, i.e. items that will be distributed to raise commercial revenue (e.g., resale of T-shirts, books, calendars, etc.) with the cover or promotional art is forbidden. The customer has to purchase an extended license for the footage used in this case.
Other Services
Croco Designs also offers the following services:
- Website Maintenance
- Website Transfer to a new host
- Website Optimization
- Trouble-Shooting of Errors and other Problems and
- Restoration and Repair of Infected or Hacked Websites
- Newsletter Design
- Newsletter Formatting
While we will do back-ups, if possible, prior to any work on your website, we can’t be held responsible for lost files during a website transfer or a site restoration for example.
It is your responsibility to save and create regular and frequent back-ups of your website files and databases.
Payment and Refunds
Payment
PayPal is preferred, however, we also accept credit card and wire transfer. Please DO NOT send checks.
An additional Expedition Fee will be charged for last-minute projects, or simply for an expedited turnaround time. Expedition fees will be 25% of the original design fee.
The expedited lead time for covers and promotional materials is 1-3 days.
Payment for Premade Covers
The agreed compensation is due in full immediately and via one of the payment methods offered.
Payment for Website Designs, Custom Covers and Promotional Items
A 50% deposit is due prior to the start of any work. The final payment will be due upon project completion and approval but before final files are and for websites complete control is handed over from us to the client.
Payment plans may be worked out under special circumstances, but a partial deposit must be made before work will start.
If the deposit is not received within seven days of placing the order, the order will be canceled.
Special notes on Website Designs: You receive a price quote based on the scope and complexity of the web design project and the estimate of the time it will take us to complete it. We come up with this estimate from the information we have collected from you about the project, provided by questionnaires and other forms of communication. This is an initial price quote. If, after the initial payment has been made and work started, you decide to change the scope of the project, add any extra services or you misrepresented your needs, you will be billed (usually upon project completion) for any extra time incurred over the initial estimate.
Payment for Other Services
If not otherwise noted, the services are billed at $40/hr, in 15-minute increments.
All emergency work as for the restoration and repair of infected or hacked websites necessary is considered a project with an expedited turnaround time. Therefore the Expedition Fee will be applied.
Refunds
Partial refunds of any deposit paid may be possible but are not guaranteed. It all depends on how much work has already been done / how much time has already been spent working on the design project. Full refunds are only possible when the work on the design hasn’t started yet.
Non-returnable items:
- Gift cards
- Downloadable software products
- Premade Book Covers customized to your needs
Third-Party Links
Certain content, products and services available via our Service may include materials from third-parties.
Third-party links on this site may direct you to third-party websites that are not affiliated with us. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy and we do not warrant and will not have any liability or responsibility for any third-party materials or websites, or for any other materials, products, or services of third-parties.
We are not liable for any harm or damages related to the purchase or use of goods, services, resources, content, or any other transactions made in connection with any third-party websites. Please review carefully the third-party’s policies and practices and make sure you understand them before you engage in any transaction. Complaints, claims, concerns, or questions regarding third-party products should be directed to the third-party.
Severability
In the event that any provision of these Terms of Service is determined to be unlawful, void or unenforceable, such provision shall nonetheless be enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and the unenforceable portion shall be deemed to be severed from these Terms of Service, such determination shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other remaining provisions.
Contact Information
Questions about the Terms of Service should be sent to us at croco @ crocodesigns.com (w/o spaces).