Terms of Service

Who we are and what this covers

Emberline Essentials ("Essentials", "we", "us") is a product of Emberline Studio ("Emberline"), 115 E. Main St STE A1B-1150, Buford, GA 30518. These Terms govern your use of the Essentials storefront at https://emberline-platform.old-wildflower-55a6.workers.dev, the customer portal, and the church or ministry website we host for you (your "Site"). By creating an account or paying for a subscription you agree to these Terms on behalf of yourself and, if you act for a church or ministry, on behalf of that organization (together, "you").

Custom design work by Emberline Studio is governed by a separate signed services agreement, not by these Terms.

The service

Essentials provides: one of our website designs (a "Template") populated with your content; hosting; an editor that changes content but not layout; forms that send each submission to your team by email, with an automatic email reply to the visitor; a submissions inbox; sermon listings pulled from your public YouTube channel; events; links to the giving and live-stream providers you already use; a free Emberline subdomain; and a guided process for connecting a domain you own. The What is included list on the storefront describes the current service. We may improve or change features over time, and we will not remove a core feature you are paying for without 30 days notice.

Essentials does not include text messaging, a mobile app, a members portal, layout changes, custom sections, revisions by a designer, or setup calls.

Accounts and sign-in

You sign in with a one-time link sent to your email. You are responsible for keeping that email account secure and for everyone you invite to your Site. You must give us a working email address and keep it current, because that is how we reach you about billing and your Site. You must be at least 18 and have authority to bind the organization you sign up for.

Subscription, billing and price

Essentials costs $129 per month, billed in advance each month through Stripe, starting on the day you pay. Your subscription renews automatically until you cancel. Prices include everything listed on the storefront; there is no setup fee. We may change the price with at least 30 days notice by email; the new price applies from your next renewal after the notice period, and you can cancel before then.

If a payment fails, we will email you and retry. Your Site stays live for 14 days after the first failed payment. If payment is still outstanding at day 14, we may suspend your Site (see Suspension). You can update your card in the portal at any time.

14-day money-back guarantee

If Essentials is not right for your church, you may request a refund of your first monthly payment within 14 days of that payment, once per organization, by using the refund option in your portal. We refund the full first payment to the original payment method and end your subscription. Your Site comes down at that point. Export your content first if you want to keep it. Payments after the first 14 days are not refundable, except where the law requires otherwise. See the Refund Policy.

Cancellation

You may cancel at any time from the billing page in your portal or by emailing us. Cancellation stops future charges. Your Site stays live until the end of the period you have already paid for, then it is taken down. For 30 days after that you can still sign in to export your content. On day 30 we close your account and archive your Site's files. On day 60 we permanently delete your Site, its content and its submissions (see Export and data after cancellation).

If you want everything deleted sooner, the account owner can choose Delete my site and data in Settings. Your subscription ends with no refund, your Site comes down, and after a 7 day grace period, during which you can undo the request, we permanently delete it all.

Your content and who owns it

Everything you put into your Site, including text, photos, logos, video links, sermon content, event listings and form submissions, is your content. You own it. We claim no ownership of it.

You give us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to store, copy, process, display and transmit your content solely to operate, host, back up, secure and improve the service for you, and to produce the exports you request. That license ends when your content is deleted from our systems, except for backup copies that age out in the normal course and anything we must keep by law.

You confirm that you have the rights needed for everything you upload, including permission from people who appear in your photos and the rights to any music or video you link to.

Our designs and the platform

The Templates, the editor, the portal, our code, our brand and our documentation are owned by Emberline and our licensors. Your subscription gives you the right to use a Template for your Site while you subscribe. It does not give you the right to copy a Template's design or code to use elsewhere, resell it, or remove our credit line where one is shown. Your exported content (your text, images and data files) is yours to use anywhere; the Template design and code are not part of that export.

Acceptable use

You agree not to use Essentials to: break the law; harass, threaten or defame anyone; publish content that is sexually explicit, that incites violence, or that promotes hatred against people based on who they are; publish private information about others without consent, including health details shared in prayer requests; impersonate another person or church; send unsolicited bulk email through our forms; distribute malware; attempt to access other customers' data or probe our systems; or load our infrastructure in a way that harms other customers. We may remove content or suspend a Site that violates this section, and we will tell you why unless the law prevents it.

Form submissions and visitor data

When a visitor submits a form on your Site, we store the submission, email it to the addresses you configure, and send the visitor an auto-reply in your church's name. You are the controller of that visitor data and we process it on your instructions. You are responsible for how your team uses it and for honoring visitors' requests about it. You choose how long submissions are kept in your settings. See the Privacy Policy.

Third-party services and links

Your Site links out to services you choose, such as your giving provider, YouTube and your live stream. Those services have their own terms and we do not control them. If YouTube or another provider changes or blocks access, we will do our reasonable best to adapt, but we cannot guarantee their availability.

Domains

If you connect a domain you own, you keep it in your own registrar account and you are responsible for renewing it. We give you written, registrar-specific steps and we check the connection for you. We do not register, transfer or hold domains on your behalf. If a domain cannot be connected, your Site remains live on its free Emberline address.

Takedown requests

If you believe content on a Site we host infringes your copyright or other rights, email hello@emberline.studio with the URL, a description of the work, your contact details, and a statement made in good faith that the use is not authorized. We will review promptly, may remove or disable access to the content, and will notify the Site owner, who may respond. We may terminate repeat infringers.

Suspension

We may suspend a Site, meaning it shows a short "temporarily unavailable" notice instead of your content, when payment is more than 14 days overdue, when a Site violates the Acceptable use section, or when suspension is needed to protect the service or comply with the law. Suspension for non-payment never deletes your content: nothing is deleted while a Site is suspended, your portal stays open for billing and export, and your Site is restored automatically when payment succeeds. If the subscription is still not brought current when our payment processor stops retrying the charge, it is treated as canceled, and the 30 day and 60 day timeline in Cancellation starts from that day.

Export and data after cancellation

You can export your content at any time while you subscribe, and for 30 days after your subscription ends, as a zip of your text, data files and images, plus a CSV download of your form submissions. On day 30 after your subscription ends we close your account and archive your Site's files; after that you can no longer sign in, but you can write to us and we will send you a copy until day 60. On day 60 we permanently delete your Site, its content, uploads, form submissions and account details, including the Site's repository. This cannot be undone.

We keep only what we must or have a good reason to: billing records, for as long as tax and accounting law requires (generally seven years); the reserved name of your Site's hosting address, so no one else can claim it while a domain may still point to it; the list of guests who asked not to be emailed, so that choice keeps being honored; and security and audit logs for up to 12 months, with email addresses replaced by a one-way hash. Backups age out within 30 days.

Availability and support

We work to keep Sites online around the clock, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted service. Support is by email and through the portal, answered within two business days (Monday to Friday, excluding United States federal holidays). We do not offer phone or video support for Essentials.

Disclaimer of warranties

Essentials is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement and uninterrupted or error-free operation. We do not warrant that your Site will achieve any particular search ranking, attendance, giving or other result.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Emberline and its owners, employees and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost revenue, donations, data or goodwill, arising from or related to Essentials, even if advised of the possibility. Our total liability for all claims arising out of or related to Essentials in any 12-month period is limited to the amount you paid us for Essentials in that period. Some states do not allow certain limitations, so some of these may not apply to you.

Indemnity

You agree to defend and hold Emberline harmless from claims and costs, including reasonable attorney fees, arising from your content, your use of the service in violation of these Terms, or your violation of another person's rights or of the law.

Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms. If a change materially reduces your rights, we will email you at least 30 days before it takes effect. Continuing to use Essentials after the effective date means you accept the change. If you do not, cancel before then.

Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that cannot be resolved by talking it through will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and you consent to their jurisdiction. Before filing, each side agrees to email the other a description of the dispute and to try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days.

General

These Terms, with the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, are the whole agreement between you and Emberline about Essentials. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest stands. We may assign these Terms as part of a sale or reorganization of the business; you may not assign them without our consent. Notices to you go to the email on your account. Notices to us go to hello@emberline.studio, or by mail to Emberline Studio, 115 E. Main St STE A1B-1150, Buford, GA 30518.