Billing, Cancellation & Refund Policy

The Bit Sprout is not currently accepting managed-website activation payments, completion balances, recurring subscriptions, paid domain work, paid email work, or other add-on payments through this website. A discussion, preview, example, price, or plan ceiling does not create an entitlement or paid commitment.

If the commercial release gate later opens, the first controlled cohort is intended to use one monthly Local validation offer only: USD 29 activation, USD 70 after objective completion acceptance, a 30-day included platform period beginning after successful production launch, and USD 10 per month thereafter. This description is a working validation basis rather than an offer to transact. Other tiers, annual billing, paid add-ons, and broad public availability remain gated unless a later published decision says otherwise.

When commerce is approved, the applicable customer-specific Order will identify the exact useful pages, collections and initial entries, location, form, redirects, exclusions, customer inputs, domain treatment, setup amount, activation amount, completion balance, recurring amount and interval, tax treatment, included period, customer-direct vendor fees, revision allowance, cancellation treatment, and policy versions. Plan maximums are ceilings rather than automatic deliverables.

The intended first-cohort rule is that the USD 29 activation remains refundable until the earlier of the customer's recorded authorization to begin paid production work or 24 hours after provider-confirmed capture. We will not begin paid production during that period unless the customer explicitly asks us to start sooner. After paid production begins, the activation is credited toward setup and is normally non-refundable, except where required by law, charged in error or duplicate, or where The Bit Sprout declines or cannot materially deliver the accepted Order.

1. Activation may begin only the exact accepted Order after qualification, delivery-fit approval, and capacity reservation.
2. A completion balance becomes payable only after the ordered scope passes the published Definition of Complete and the customer explicitly accepts completion.
3. Payment of the completion balance does not itself authorize DNS changes or production launch. Launch requires authority verification, domain and email preflight, rollback evidence, and separate explicit authorization.

Any future recurring service will require clear authorization of the amount, monthly frequency, included-period end, first-charge date, cancellation method, and applicable taxes. The included period begins only after successful production launch and health verification. Customer-controlled delays before launch do not consume it. Cancellation during the included period stops the first recurring charge.

The intended monthly cancellation process stops the next renewal and does not require a retention call. A failed payment enters notice, bounded retry, and a defined grace process rather than immediate destructive deletion or domain seizure. Existing public static delivery is not ordinarily removed instantly because a card expired. The exact effective date and transition are recorded in the customer lifecycle.

Refunds, duplicate charges, partial refunds, disputes, chargebacks, fees, foreign-exchange effects, and settlements are recorded separately against the original Order and provider transaction. A browser success page is not payment evidence; signed provider events and authenticated reconciliation control the ledger. Final paid wording must not limit rights that cannot lawfully be limited.

Prices are intended to be stated in USD plus applicable taxes where required. Domain registration and renewal, business-mailbox licences, booking systems, call or SMS services, CRM products, premium assets, and other customer-specific vendor charges are normally paid directly by the customer. When pass-through payment is unavoidable, the vendor cost and The Bit Sprout service fee are itemized separately. Banks and payment providers may impose charges outside our control.

An upgrade, downgrade, cycle change, add-on, or scope expansion requires a clear price, effective date, accepted amendment, and entitlement impact. A downgrade will not silently delete or unpublish customer content. Website Core is not an unlimited agency retainer; human editing is included only where an approved Order or separately priced service states an explicit bounded allowance.

The customer keeps its domain, business content, transferable owned media, and lead data. The intended standard exit includes a verified lead export and the final approved static website with transferable assets and form-replacement instructions. It excludes The Bit Sprout source code, shared backend, credentials, internal prompts and workflows, and non-transferable assets.

No paid billing programme is active during Stage 0. General validation questions may be sent to hello@thebitsprout.com. The approved billing and cancellation contact will be published and tested before any paid Order becomes available.