1. Introduction and acceptance of terms
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a legally binding agreement between Datenhafen NivaCity (Pty) Ltd, trading as NivaCity (“NivaCity”, “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”), and any individual, business or entity (“User”, “you” or “your”) accessing or using NivaCity’s services, platforms, websites and related products (collectively, the “Services”).
By registering an account, accessing or using any NivaCity Service, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms in their entirety. If you accept these Terms on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that entity.
If you do not agree to these Terms, you must immediately stop using all NivaCity Services.
NivaCity operates infrastructure in data centre facilities in Germany, South Africa, the United States, Finland, Austria and France. These Terms apply regardless of where you access our Services or where your data is processed.
2. Definitions
The following terms have the meanings set out below:
“Services”: all hosting (including shared, WordPress, application and reseller hosting), VPS servers, domain registration, DNS management, email, web design, software development and related services provided by NivaCity.
“User” or “Client”: any individual or legal entity that registers for, accesses or uses the Services.
“Account”: the registered profile and associated credentials through which a User accesses the Services.
“Content”: any data, files, text, images, software, scripts or other material uploaded, stored or transmitted through the Services.
“Development Services”: web design, website development and software development work that NivaCity carries out for a User under a quote.
“Applicable Laws”: all relevant local, national and international laws and regulations that apply to the User’s use of the Services, including data protection, electronic communications, anti-spam and intellectual property laws.
“Personal Information” or “Personal Data”: any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, as defined under POPIA, GDPR and other applicable data protection legislation.
“Responsible Party” or “Data Controller”: NivaCity, in its capacity as the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing Personal Information.
“Operator” or “Data Processor”: any third party that processes Personal Information on behalf of NivaCity.
“Processing”: any operation performed on Personal Data, including collection, storage, use, disclosure or deletion.
“Uptime”: the percentage of time the Services are operational and accessible, measured over a calendar month.
“Force Majeure”: any event beyond NivaCity’s reasonable control, including natural disasters, acts of government, cyberattacks, power failures or internet disruptions.
3. Eligibility
3.1 Age requirement. You must be at least 16 years of age to register for and use the Services. If you are under 18, you confirm that your parent or legal guardian has read and agreed to these Terms on your behalf and accepts responsibility for your Account and its fees. By accepting these Terms, you represent and warrant that you meet these requirements.
3.2 Legal capacity. You represent that you have the legal capacity, or the consent described in 3.1, to enter into a binding agreement under the laws of your jurisdiction.
3.3 Prohibited persons. NivaCity does not knowingly provide Services to individuals or entities subject to international sanctions or export controls, or who are listed on any applicable government restricted-party list.
4. Account registration and security
4.1 Accurate information. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information during registration and to keep your account information up to date. Providing false or misleading information is grounds for immediate suspension or termination of your Account.
4.2 Account security. You are solely responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your Account. You agree to notify NivaCity immediately at [email protected] if you become aware of any unauthorised access or security breach.
4.3 Account sharing. Accounts are registered to a single legal entity or individual. Sharing account credentials with third parties, or using a single Account to serve multiple unrelated businesses without NivaCity’s authorisation, is prohibited.
4.4 Verification. NivaCity may verify account information at any time and may require supporting documentation before activating or maintaining Services.
5. Services and service levels
5.1 Service provision. NivaCity will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide the Services in line with the plan you select.
5.2 Uptime commitment. NivaCity targets a monthly Uptime of 99.9% for shared and reseller hosting services, excluding scheduled maintenance windows and Force Majeure events. NivaCity will give at least 24 hours’ advance notice of scheduled maintenance where reasonably practicable.
5.3 Service modifications. NivaCity may modify, upgrade or discontinue any Service or feature at any time. Where a material change adversely affects your current plan, NivaCity will give reasonable notice.
5.4 Beta services. Features or services marked “beta” or “preview” are provided as is, without warranty, and may be discontinued at any time without notice.
5.5 Resource limits. Services are subject to the resource allocations of your selected plan, including disk space, bandwidth, inodes, email accounts and databases. NivaCity may suspend or throttle accounts that consistently exceed these limits or negatively affect server performance for other users.
5.6 Inode limits. Accounts exceeding inode limits will be notified and given a reasonable period to reduce usage. Continued non-compliance may result in suspension or termination.
6. Acceptable use policy
6.1 General conduct. You agree to use the Services only for lawful purposes and in line with these Terms, this Acceptable Use Policy and all Applicable Laws.
6.2 Prohibited activities. Without limiting the above, you agree not to use the Services to:
- (a) upload, transmit or store content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable;
- (b) infringe any intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks, patents or trade secrets;
- (c) send unsolicited bulk email (spam), unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited faxes in breach of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, CASL or any other applicable anti-spam legislation;
- (d) conduct or facilitate phishing, social engineering, identity theft or fraud;
- (e) host, distribute or facilitate the distribution of malware, viruses, ransomware, spyware or any other malicious code;
- (f) operate any open mail relay, open proxy or anonymisation service used to facilitate abuse;
- (g) conduct port scanning, vulnerability scanning or network probing of systems without authorisation;
- (h) carry out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks or any other activity designed to disrupt or degrade any network or system;
- (i) mine cryptocurrency or carry out computationally intensive activities not associated with normal web hosting operations;
- (j) host or distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any content that exploits minors;
- (k) operate services that breach sanctions or export control laws applicable in the United States, the European Union or South Africa;
- (l) circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, any technical or administrative controls put in place by NivaCity.
6.3 Prohibited hosted services. You may not use NivaCity shared or reseller hosting to provide free public web hosting, free email services, free blogging platforms or free file hosting to third parties. Breach of this clause may result in immediate suspension.
6.4 Enforcement. NivaCity may investigate suspected breaches of this section and take any action it considers appropriate, including content removal, suspension, termination and referral to law enforcement authorities.
7. Anti-spam policy
7.1 Zero tolerance. NivaCity has a zero-tolerance policy towards spam, including Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) and unsolicited faxes.
7.2 Compliance obligation. You must comply with all applicable anti-spam legislation, including the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (United States), Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and any equivalent laws in your jurisdiction.
7.3 Reporting. Suspected spam originating from NivaCity infrastructure may be reported to [email protected].
7.4 Liquidated damages. Because of the substantial costs of spam remediation, including IP reputation damage, blacklist removal and administrative work, NivaCity may pursue liquidated damages against accounts found to be sending spam at a rate of USD 500 per incident, or any higher amount recoverable under applicable law.
7.5 Immediate termination. NivaCity may immediately terminate any Account that it determines, in its sole discretion, is sending spam or is otherwise connected to unsolicited bulk communications.
8. VPS servers
8.1 Unmanaged by default. VPS servers are provided unmanaged unless you have agreed a managed package with NivaCity in writing. You have full root access, and you are responsible for the operating system, software, configuration, security updates and backups of your server, and for everything that runs on it.
8.2 Managed packages. Where you agree a managed package with NivaCity, the scope of management is as set out in that agreement or quote. Anything outside that scope remains your responsibility.
8.3 Shared physical resources. VPS servers run on shared physical hardware. Memory and storage are allocated to your server; processor capacity is shared across the physical host. NivaCity monitors resource use and may limit or suspend servers whose usage degrades service for other customers.
9. Domain registration
9.1 Registry rules. Domain registrations are subject to the rules and policies of the relevant registry and, where applicable, ICANN. By registering, renewing or transferring a domain through NivaCity, you agree to be bound by those rules, including any registry dispute resolution policy.
9.2 Accurate registrant details. You must provide accurate registrant and contact details and keep them up to date. Registries may suspend or cancel domains with inaccurate details.
9.3 Renewals and expiry. You are responsible for renewing your domains on time. Where auto-renewal is enabled and payment is available, NivaCity will attempt to renew before expiry. Expired domains may enter a grace or redemption period set by the registry, during which restoration may carry an additional redemption fee. NivaCity is not liable for the loss of a domain that expires because it was not renewed.
9.4 Transfers. Domain transfers are subject to registry rules, including any transfer locks and authorisation codes. Transfer fees are not refundable once a transfer has completed. If a transfer fails or is cancelled before it completes, the transfer fee is credited back to your NivaCity account.
10. Web design and software development
10.1 Quotes and scope. Development Services are carried out under a written quote that sets out the scope, price and any timeline. Work outside the agreed scope is quoted separately.
10.2 Ownership. Once a project has been paid for in full, ownership of the website or software created for you, including its source code, passes to you. Until full payment, NivaCity retains ownership.
10.3 Third-party components. Websites and software may include third-party components, such as open-source software, themes, plugins, fonts or libraries. These remain subject to their own licences, which you agree to comply with.
10.4 Maintenance. Ongoing updates, backups, support and changes after launch are not included unless agreed and priced separately.
10.5 Hosting. You may host websites and software built by NivaCity with NivaCity or with any other provider. NivaCity is not responsible for the performance, security or availability of third-party hosting.
11. Intellectual property
11.1 User content. You retain ownership of all Content you upload or store through the Services. By using the Services, you grant NivaCity a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, cache and transmit your Content solely as needed to provide the Services.
11.2 User warranties. You represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights, licences and permissions to upload, store and transmit your Content through the Services, and that your Content does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights.
11.3 NivaCity intellectual property. All trademarks, service marks, logos, software, systems and proprietary technology used by NivaCity in connection with the Services are owned by or licensed to NivaCity. You may not reproduce, modify or exploit any NivaCity intellectual property without prior written authorisation. This clause does not affect your ownership of Development Services work under section 10.2.
11.4 Takedown requests. NivaCity respects intellectual property rights and will respond to valid takedown notices submitted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) or equivalent legislation. Notices should be sent to [email protected].
12. Payment, billing and refunds
12.1 Payment obligation. You agree to pay all fees for your selected plan at the prices in effect at the time of purchase. All fees are due in advance unless otherwise stated.
12.2 Billing accuracy. You are responsible for keeping accurate and current billing information in the NivaCity client portal. Inaccurate information may lead to failed payments and service suspension.
12.3 Late payment. Accounts with balances outstanding beyond the due date may be suspended without further notice. NivaCity may charge a reasonable late payment fee where permitted by law.
12.4 Automatic renewal. All Services renew automatically at the end of each billing cycle unless cancelled through the client portal before the renewal date. You authorise NivaCity to charge the payment method on file for renewal fees.
12.5 Price changes. NivaCity may change its prices at any time. Users on active plans will be notified of price increases at least 30 days before they take effect.
12.6 Taxes. All fees exclude applicable taxes. You are responsible for all taxes, duties and levies imposed by your jurisdiction in connection with your use of the Services.
12.7 Refund policy. NivaCity operates on a no-refund basis as standard. Exceptions may be considered, at NivaCity’s sole discretion, where the Services materially failed to meet reasonable expectations. Refund requests must be submitted through a support ticket in the NivaCity client portal within 14 days of the relevant billing date, with a description of the issue and any troubleshooting steps taken. No pro-rated refunds are issued for mid-cycle cancellations.
12.8 Chargebacks. Starting a chargeback or payment dispute without first trying to resolve the matter through NivaCity’s support process is a breach of these Terms. NivaCity may immediately suspend accounts subject to chargebacks and pursue recovery of the disputed amounts plus an administrative fee of USD 25 per chargeback.
13. Cancellation and termination
13.1 Cancellation by you. You may cancel your Account at any time by submitting a cancellation request through the NivaCity client portal. Cancellations may take up to 72 hours to process.
13.2 Termination by NivaCity. NivaCity may suspend or terminate your Account and access to the Services at any time, with or without notice, for any of the following reasons:
- (a) breach of these Terms, including the Acceptable Use Policy in section 6;
- (b) non-payment of fees;
- (c) conduct that poses a risk to NivaCity infrastructure, other users or third parties;
- (d) receipt of a valid legal order requiring termination;
- (e) a determination, at NivaCity’s sole discretion, that continuing to provide the Services is not in NivaCity’s interests.
13.3 Effect of termination. On termination, your right to access the Services ends immediately. NivaCity will keep your data for 7 days after termination, after which it may be permanently deleted. You are responsible for retrieving any data you need before termination.
13.4 Survival. Sections relating to intellectual property, limitation of liability, indemnification, governing law and dispute resolution survive the termination of these Terms.
14. Backup policy
14.1 NivaCity backups. NivaCity makes periodic backups of hosted data as part of managing its infrastructure. These backups exist for disaster recovery at infrastructure level and are not guaranteed to be available for restoring individual accounts.
14.2 Paid backup services. Where you purchase a backup service, such as a VPS backup plan, NivaCity will provide that service as described at the time of purchase, including its schedule and retention period. Sections 14.3 and 14.4 apply to anything that service description does not cover.
14.3 Your responsibility. You are solely responsible for keeping independent backups of all critical data. NivaCity strongly recommends that you keep off-platform backups of your websites, databases and email.
14.4 No guarantee. Except as set out in 14.2, NivaCity does not guarantee the availability, completeness or recoverability of any backup, and is not liable for loss of data arising from backup failures, restoration failures or accidental deletion.
15. Data protection and privacy
15.1 Privacy Policy. NivaCity’s collection, use and processing of Personal Information is governed by our Privacy Policy, available at https://nivacity.com/legal/privacy/, which forms part of these Terms.
15.2 POPIA compliance. NivaCity processes Personal Information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). As a Responsible Party, NivaCity applies reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect Personal Information against loss, damage, unauthorised access or unlawful processing.
15.3 GDPR compliance. For users in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, NivaCity processes Personal Data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the UK GDPR. NivaCity relies on the following lawful bases: contractual necessity, legitimate interests and, where applicable, consent.
15.4 Other data protection laws. NivaCity also processes Personal Information in line with the data protection laws of the other countries in which it is registered, including Zimbabwe and Botswana, as described in the Privacy Policy.
15.5 International data transfers. Because NivaCity operates infrastructure in Germany, South Africa, the United States, Finland, Austria and France, Personal Data may be transferred between these countries. NivaCity applies appropriate safeguards for such transfers, including Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) where required under GDPR, and equivalent measures where required under POPIA.
15.6 ECTA compliance. NivaCity operates in line with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECTA), including its provisions on electronic contracts, consumer protection and domain name administration.
15.7 Data breach notification. If a data breach poses a risk to Users’ Personal Information, NivaCity will notify affected Users and the relevant supervisory authority (including the Information Regulator of South Africa where applicable) within the timeframes required by Applicable Laws.
15.8 Your obligations. Where you collect, store or process Personal Data belonging to your own end users through the Services, you are independently responsible for complying with all applicable data protection laws. NivaCity is not liable for your failure to meet your own data protection obligations.
16. Liability disclaimer and limitation of liability
16.1 No warranty. The Services are provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement.
16.2 Limitation of liability. To the maximum extent permitted by Applicable Laws, NivaCity’s total cumulative liability to you for any claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services will not exceed the total fees you paid to NivaCity in the 3 months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim.
16.3 Exclusion of consequential damages. NivaCity will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, including loss of profits, loss of data, loss of business or reputational harm, even if NivaCity has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
16.4 Force Majeure. NivaCity is not liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms caused by a Force Majeure event.
16.5 Third-party services. NivaCity is not responsible for the availability, accuracy or content of third-party services, platforms or websites linked to or integrated with the Services.
17. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless NivaCity and its officers, directors, employees, agents and affiliates against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to:
- (a) your use of the Services in breach of these Terms;
- (b) your Content;
- (c) your breach of any Applicable Laws;
- (d) any claim by a third party that your Content or your use of the Services infringes their rights.
18. Support and communication
18.1 Support channels. Technical support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through the ticket system in the NivaCity client portal and by email at [email protected]. Billing enquiries are handled during business hours, 08:00 to 17:00 (GMT+2). Response times vary with the severity of the issue and your plan.
18.2 Conduct. NivaCity is committed to professional and respectful interactions. Abusive, threatening or harassing behaviour towards NivaCity staff will not be tolerated and may result in suspension or termination after a warning.
18.3 Escalation abuse. Using chargebacks or payment disputes as a first-resort escalation for low-priority issues that do not affect service functionality is a breach of these Terms and may result in termination.
18.4 Communications. By registering an Account, you consent to receiving transactional and service-related communications from NivaCity by email. Marketing communications are opt-in, and you may unsubscribe at any time in line with our Privacy Policy and applicable anti-spam laws.
19. Refusal of service
NivaCity may, at its sole discretion, refuse, cancel or suspend Services to any User at any time, including in situations involving reputational risk, suspected abuse, legal risk or conflict of interest. This right is exercised without prejudice to any other remedies available to NivaCity.
20. Dispute resolution
20.1 Good faith resolution. If any dispute, claim or controversy arises out of or relates to these Terms or the Services (a “Dispute”), the parties agree first to try to resolve it in good faith through direct communication for at least 14 days from the date one party notifies the other of the Dispute in writing.
20.2 Arbitration. If the Dispute is not resolved through good faith negotiation, it will be referred to and finally resolved by binding arbitration administered by the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) under its rules, which form part of this clause. The seat of arbitration is Johannesburg, South Africa. The language of arbitration is English. The arbitral award is final and binding on both parties.
20.3 Governing law. These Terms are governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, without regard to its conflict of law principles.
20.4 Court jurisdiction. Despite the arbitration clause, either party may seek urgent or interim relief from the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg) where needed to prevent irreparable harm while arbitration is pending.
20.5 International users. Nothing in this section limits the rights of consumers in jurisdictions where mandatory consumer protection laws apply and cannot be excluded by contract.
21. Changes to these terms
NivaCity may amend these Terms at any time. Where amendments are material, NivaCity will give notice by email or by a prominent notice in the client portal at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Continuing to use the Services after the effective date means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Services and submit a cancellation request before the effective date.
22. Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable under Applicable Laws, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent needed to make it enforceable, or removed if modification is not possible, without affecting the rest of these Terms.
23. Entire agreement
These Terms, including the Acceptable Use Policy in section 6, together with the Privacy Policy and any quote issued under section 10, form the entire agreement between you and NivaCity regarding the Services and replace all prior agreements, representations and understandings, whether written or oral.
24. Contact information
For legal notices, data protection enquiries or general questions about these Terms, contact:
Datenhafen NivaCity (Pty) Ltd, trading as NivaCity
General enquiries and legal notices: [email protected]
Abuse reports: [email protected]
Support tickets: https://clientzone.nivacity.com/index.php?/tickets/new/
NivaCity may update this document from time to time. Please review these Terms regularly.