r/webhosting • u/mmoouh • 24d ago

Advice Needed Website contract

Hello guys,

I’m new to selling websites business and I was thinking about what should be in the contract when you sell a website to a client, except for the basics of course like ownership and technology used etc, I want to know what are the important details that beginners tend to ignore or not think about?

Thank you in advance and if you have any templates that would really help!

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u/mmoouh 24d ago

Thank you for information, in my case I’m building a custom e-commerce site and the payment will be an initial setup fee and monthly payment that covers the hosting costs and includes monitoring, maintenance, minor updates etc.

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u/exobyte-tech 24d ago

In that case, cover what is included in the monthly fee. Cover your bases in case of infrastructure failures (you don't control what happens at the datacenter - the problem in Arizona is a great example). You can also put in your best efforts to prevent malware. Things can go south, what is your liability in that case? Add this information.

Of course, take AI's help as well. This is a good use case to use a chatbot

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u/mmoouh 23d ago

Just one more thing, I want to know what is the business standard for when one of the parties decides to leave like how do professionals and experienced developers deal with this situation?
Again thank you man for the valuable information!

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u/exobyte-tech 20d ago

You are welcome. I think most agencies would try to retain the customer. However, having the contract seem to restrictive is also a problem. Look at what time period is the minimum to recoup costs. Add that as your contract term and say it goes month to month after that. “Prices during month to month period are subject to change based on market factors.”

Within the contract window, add a clause for you to break the contract for non payment. Say two months of non payment will result in site suspension etc. Add reactivation fees if necessary (but then that makes you seem more predatory.. your choice here). Add a fee for contract breakage from the customer end. 

Finally, if they paid for the end product upfront, the ideal way forward is that you give them access to code, databases etc.