Terms of service

1. Who provides the services

1. The services are provided by Marcin Kuperski, a sole trader registered in Poland's Central Register and Information on Business (CEIDG) trading under the Splendid Copywriting brand.
   • Address: Wesoła 2, 21-040 Świdnik, Poland
   • Email: office@splendidcopywriting.com
   • Phone: +48 61 856 73 91
2. You can check the registration in the CEIDG search at biznes.gov.pl.
3. In these terms, "I" means me and "you" means you.

2. Definitions

• Site: splendidcopywriting.com and its Polish and English pages.
• Form: the brief form on the Contact page.
• Client (you): a person or company that uses the Site or orders copy from me.
• Consumer: an individual ordering copy for purposes not directly connected with their business or profession (Art. 22¹ of the Polish Civil Code).
• Sole trader with consumer protection: an individual running a business who signs a contract directly connected with that business, but not of a professional nature for them, judging by the contract and the business activity registered in CEIDG (Art. 7aa of the Polish Consumer Rights Act).
  • They get, in particular, the consumer right of withdrawal and protection from unfair contract terms (Art. 385⁵ of the Civil Code).
  • Wherever these terms mention consumers, they include these sole traders, to the extent the law gives them consumer rights.
• Business client: a Client who is neither a consumer nor a sole trader with consumer protection.
• Quote: my written proposal for a specific project, sent by email. It sets out the scope, price, start and delivery dates, number of revision rounds, and the copyright model.
• Contract: the agreement to write copy, made when you accept a Quote. It’s usually a contract for a specific work (Art. 627 of the Civil Code). An ongoing monthly arrangement is a contract for services (Art. 750 of the Civil Code).
• Copy: everything I produce under the Contract: texts, names, taglines, microcopy, edits and notes.
• Revision round: one consolidated list of your comments on a given version of the Copy.
• Advance: part of the price paid before work starts. It counts towards the price and is refunded as set out on the Cancellation, withdrawal and refunds page. It is not a non-refundable deposit.
• Working day: Monday to Friday, excluding Polish public holidays.
• Durable medium: a format that lets information be stored and reproduced unchanged, such as an email or a PDF.

3. Services on the Site

1. What the Site offers. Two free online services:
   • access to the Site's content;
   • the Form, which you can use to send me a brief.
2. Technical requirements:
   • a device with internet access;
   • an up-to-date browser (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) with JavaScript enabled;
   • for the Form, a working email address.
3. Start and end of these services.
   • Browsing starts when you open the Site and ends when you close it.
   • Using the Form starts when you begin filling it in, and ends when you send it or decide not to.
   • You can stop either at any time by closing the page.
4. What you mustn't send. Nothing unlawful (for example, anything that infringes other people's rights), and no malware or spam, through the Form. The Form has spam protection and a limit on how often it can be sent from one address.
5. A brief isn't an order. Sending the Form is a request for a Quote. It doesn't place an order or create a Contract (section 4).
6. Nothing stored on your device. The Site doesn't store cookies or install software on your device (Cookie policy). Its scripts only run in your browser while you're on the page.
7. Risks. Using the internet carries risks, such as messages being intercepted, malware, and people impersonating a sender (phishing).
   • Keep your software and antivirus up to date.
   • My emails only ever come from office@splendidcopywriting.com.
   • Please don’t send especially sensitive data, such as health information, through the Form or by email.
8. Complaints about the Site follow the general complaints procedure (section 10).
9. Access to these terms: they're available free of charge on this page, both before you send the Form and at any time afterwards. You can print them or save them as a PDF using your browser's print option.

4. How ordering works

1. Brief and Quote. You send a brief through the Form, by email, or we talk it through on the phone. I usually reply within 2 working days, either with questions or a Quote. Quotes are free and valid for 14 days.
2. What a Quote contains:
   • the scope of the Copy;
   • the price and how to pay;
   • start and first-draft dates;
   • the number of revision rounds;
   • the copyright model (section 8).
   • Consumers also get the information required by the Polish Consumer Rights Act (Art. 12), including their right of withdrawal.
3. Making the Contract. The Contract is made when you accept the Quote by email. The Site isn't a shop and doesn't take orders.
4. Confirmation. Once the Contract is made, I send a confirmation on a durable medium: an email with these terms and the cancellation page attached as PDFs. Consumers receive it before work starts (Art. 21 of the Consumer Rights Act).
5. Rights agreement. At the start we also sign a short copyright transfer agreement, on paper or with a qualified electronic signature (section 8).
6. When work starts. On the date in the Quote, once I have a complete brief and any Advance has been paid.
7. Early start for consumers. If you want work to begin before the 14-day withdrawal period is up, ask for it clearly on a durable medium, for example in the email accepting the Quote. What that means for you is explained on the Cancellation, withdrawal and refunds page.
8. Samples are paid. I don't write free test pieces. If you'd like one, I'll write a paid sample, such as 3 product descriptions or one section of a larger text. Its price counts towards the order if you go ahead.

5. Prices and payment

1. Price lists and Quotes. Prices on the Pricing and service pages show where each service starts. The English pages show EUR and the Polish pages PLN. The binding price and currency are the ones in the Quote.
2. VAT. Prices on the Site and amounts in these terms exclude VAT. Where VAT applies, it's added on the invoice. Your Quote always shows the final amount to pay, and consumers are always quoted gross prices.
3. How you pay:
   • New clients: a 50% Advance before work starts. The rest is due after the final version, on an invoice payable within 14 days.
   • Projects of PLN 8,000 / €1,890 or more: three payments of 40%, 30% and 30%, tied to the stages in the Quote.
   • Returning clients (at least one completed and paid project): no Advance. The invoice follows delivery and is payable within 14 days.
   • Ongoing monthly work: on the schedule in the Quote.
   • Payment is by bank transfer to the account on the invoice.
4. Minimum order: €60 (PLN 250 on the Polish pages).
5. Surcharges. These apply only when you ask for them or we agree them in the Quote:
   • rush: +50% of the price, for a first draft in less than half the usual time, if my calendar allows;
   • extra revision round: 15% of the project price, minimum €60 (PLN 250), always agreed with you first.
6. Late payment by a business client:
   • Statutory late-payment interest for commercial transactions applies: the National Bank of Poland reference rate plus 10 percentage points (Polish Act of 8 March 2013 on counteracting excessive delays in commercial transactions). The rate resets on 1 January and 1 July.
   • A fixed debt-recovery compensation also applies (Art. 10 of that Act): €40 where the amount is up to PLN 5,000; €70 where it's over PLN 5,000 but under PLN 50,000; €100 where it's PLN 50,000 or more.
   • If the Quote sets a longer payment term than 14 days, it won’t exceed 60 days from receipt of the invoice.
7. Late payment by a consumer: statutory interest for late payment applies (Art. 481 of the Civil Code).
8. Pausing work. If payment for an earlier stage is late, I may pause work on the next stage until it's paid. I'll tell you by email first, and the dates in the Quote move by however long the pause lasts.

6. Deadlines

1. Which dates are binding. Turnaround times on the pricing and service pages are indicative (they say "usually"). The date in the Quote is binding.
2. How the time is counted. In working days, from the day I have a complete brief and any Advance has been paid.
3. If a deadline is at risk on my side (for example, through illness), I’ll tell you as soon as I know and suggest a new date.
   • You don't have to accept it. You can give me a reasonable extra deadline, and if I miss that as well, you can withdraw from the Contract (Art. 491 of the Civil Code).
   • If the delay is so serious that finishing on time is no longer likely, you can withdraw straight away, even before the deadline (Art. 635 of the Civil Code).
   • Either way, I refund everything paid for work that wasn't done (details).
4. If the project stalls on your side. If I've been waiting for materials, comments or a decision for more than 30 days, we agree a new date together, based on how my calendar looks at that point.

7. Revisions, sign-off and ongoing work

1. How many rounds. The price includes 2 revision rounds within the same brief, unless the pricing page or Quote gives a different number for that service (naming and taglines, for example, include 1 refinement round).
2. Time for comments. Gather your comments on a version into one list and send it within 14 days of receiving that version. If you need longer, just say so and we’ll move the date for the next version.
3. Revision or new Quote. Revisions within the brief cover tone, wording, emphasis, order and length. A changed brief (a different audience, a different offer, new pages) needs a new Quote.
4. Extra rounds. Each round beyond the number in the Quote is priced as in section 5.5, and only with your agreement in advance.
5. The final version is the version you approve, or the version after the last revision round included in the Quote. Your rights under section 10 don't depend on how the final version was reached.
6. Ongoing monthly work.
   • The minimum term is 3 months. After that, either side can end it with one month’s notice, effective at the end of a calendar month.
   • Each month's scope is agreed by email, and each text includes 2 revision rounds.

8. Copyright and portfolio

1. Rights transfer. Once the full price is paid, I transfer the economic rights (autorskie prawa majątkowe) in the Copy to you.
   • Polish law requires the transfer to be in writing (Art. 53 of the Polish Copyright Act), so at the start of the project we sign a short agreement, on paper or with a qualified electronic signature. An email, a scan or an ordinary e-signature isn't enough.
   • The agreement works on its own: the rights pass to you on the day the full price is paid, with nothing further to sign.
2. Fields of use (Art. 50 of the Act). The agreement lists at least:
   • recording and reproducing the Copy by any technique, in print, digitally or on any medium;
   • putting the original or copies into circulation, lending and renting them;
   • public performance, display, screening, playback, broadcasting and rebroadcasting;
   • making the Copy available to the public so that anyone can access it at a time and place of their choosing (for example, online);
   • use in advertising and promotion.
3. Edits and credit. The agreement also covers:
   • the right to authorise adaptations, such as edits, shortened versions and translations (Arts 2 and 46 of the Act);
   • my undertaking not to exercise my moral rights against you, including the right to be named as the author. You can publish the Copy under your own brand or name.
4. Fee. The fee for the rights transfer and the permissions in point 3 is included in the price in the Quote.
5. Before the full price is paid, you may use the Copy to review it and move the project forward: read it, share it with colleagues, put it on a staging site. Publication follows full payment. If the Quote sets payment after delivery, you can publish straight away, under a non-exclusive licence for the fields in point 2 until the day you pay.
6. A licence instead of a transfer. If you'd rather not, or can't, sign a written agreement, you get a non-exclusive licence instead:
   • for the fields in point 2, unlimited in time and territory, including the right to adapt;
   • I undertake not to license that Copy to anyone else and not to publish it (except in my portfolio, if you agree).
   • The copyright model is set out in the Quote.
7. Your materials. Texts, photos, data and logos you give me stay yours, and I use them only for the project. When I proofread or edit your text, the rights in your original stay with you. Points 1–6 apply to my changes, to the extent they’re a protected work.
8. Names and taglines. Names and short taglines often aren't protected by copyright.
   • For naming projects, I check domain availability and search public trade mark databases. That isn't a registrability search or legal advice.
   • Before you file a trade mark or invest in a name, it's worth having a patent attorney run one.
9. Portfolio.
   • I only show your Copy in my portfolio if you say yes. We record that in the Quote or by email.
   • You can withdraw your permission at any time, and I'll then remove the Copy from my portfolio without undue delay.
   • For agency (white-label) work, I don't reveal that the Copy is mine unless the agency agrees.

9. Confidentiality, materials and responsibility for content

1. Confidentiality. I treat everything you give me for a project as confidential and use it only for that project. If you'd like an NDA before sharing details, we'll sign one.
2. AI tools. I don't paste your brief, materials or Copy into publicly available AI tools without your permission.
3. Other people's data. If the Copy needs other people's personal data, we'll sign a data processing agreement before you send it (Privacy policy, section 11).
4. Rights in your materials. By sending me materials, you confirm you're allowed to use them this way: they're yours, or you have permission from whoever owns them.
5. Facts. You're responsible for the accuracy of the facts I base the Copy on, such as product details, prices, specifications, certifications and results. If something looks doubtful, I'll flag it in the Copy.
6. No legal advice. I don't give legal advice or check Copy against sector-specific rules, such as those on advertising medicines, food supplements, financial or legal services. If advertising in your sector is restricted, have a lawyer check the Copy before it goes live.
7. No promised results. I write so the Copy serves the goal in your brief as well as it can, but I don't promise specific results: sales, enquiries or search rankings. Those depend on a lot more than the words.
8. What I won't write. I don't take on copy that breaks the law, misleads people or infringes anyone's rights.

10. Complaints

1. Where to send them. Complaints about the Site or the Copy go to office@splendidcopywriting.com or by post to the address in section 1.
2. What to include. Tell me what the complaint is about, what's wrong, what you'd like done, and how to reach you. That helps, but a complaint without these details will still be dealt with.
3. When I reply. Within 14 days of receiving the complaint, by email or another way you ask for. If I don't answer a consumer's complaint within that time, the law treats the complaint as accepted (Art. 7a of the Polish Consumer Rights Act).
4. Copy that doesn't match the Quote. If something agreed in the Quote is missing, I'll add or fix it at no extra charge, whatever revision rounds are left.
5. Consumer rights. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits a consumer's statutory rights where the Copy is defective or doesn't conform to the Contract.

11. Liability

1. Business clients. My liability to a business client for losses connected with the Contract is capped at the price of the project concerned, and it doesn't cover lost profits. The cap doesn't apply to intentional harm (Art. 473 § 2 of the Civil Code).
2. Consumers. My liability to consumers follows the general law, and these terms don't limit it.
3. When the Site is down. The Site may occasionally be unavailable, for example during maintenance. You can still email me a brief or talk it through on the phone.

12. Withdrawal and cancellation

1. Where the rules are. They’re on a separate page, Cancellation, withdrawal and refunds, which forms part of these terms. It covers the consumer’s 14-day right of withdrawal, the model withdrawal form, and how Advances are refunded.
2. In short:
   • consumers can withdraw from the Contract within 14 days without giving a reason;
   • business clients who cancel before work starts get the whole Advance back.

13. Out-of-court dispute resolution (consumers)

1. Your options. If you're a consumer and disagree with my answer to a complaint, you can try to settle the dispute out of court. For example, you can:
   • ask a municipal or district consumer ombudsman (rzecznik konsumentów) in Poland for help;
   • apply for mediation, or for the case to be heard by the permanent consumer arbitration court run by a regional Trade Inspection office (Wojewódzki Inspektorat Inspekcji Handlowej);
   • approach a body listed in the register of out-of-court consumer dispute resolution entities kept by the President of UOKiK, Poland’s consumer protection authority (uokik.gov.pl);
   • if you live in another EU country, contact the European Consumer Centre in your country, part of the ECC-Net network. The Polish centre is at konsument.gov.pl.
2. It's voluntary. Taking part is voluntary for both sides. If I don't accept a complaint, I'll tell you on a durable medium whether I agree to this kind of procedure.
3. Courts. None of this affects your right to go to court.

14. Governing law and courts

1. Polish law. Contracts and these terms are governed by Polish law.
2. Consumers abroad. That choice doesn't deprive a consumer who habitually lives in another country of the protection given by the mandatory law of that country (Art. 6(2) of the Rome I Regulation).
3. Courts. Disputes with business clients go to the Polish common court with jurisdiction over my place of business. Disputes with consumers, and with sole traders who have consumer protection, go to the court with jurisdiction under the general rules.

15. Changes to these terms and final provisions

1. Changes. I may change these terms for good reason, such as new legislation, a change in services, or a change in how the Site works. The new version goes on this page with a new "Effective from" date.
2. Which version applies. A Contract is governed by the version in force on the day you accepted the Quote, so changes don't affect projects already under way. For ongoing monthly work, a new version only applies once you accept it by email. Until then, the previous version stays in force.
3. Language. These terms are also published in Polish (Regulamin), and the Polish version governs.
4. Everything else. Anything these terms don't cover is governed by Polish law, in particular:
   • the Civil Code;
   • the Consumer Rights Act;
   • the Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means;
   • the Copyright and Related Rights Act.