Frequently asked about the FGP

The FGP includes three bundled components: your website design and development (paid over your chosen term), fully managed hosting with daily backups and SSL included, and ongoing care plan management at your selected tier (Basic is included, Business and Priority are optional upgrades). Each component is disclosed and priced separately in your agreement, so you always know what you're paying for.

Your monthly payment is the sum of three components: (1) your development repayment — the cash price minus deposit, plus finance charge, divided by your term in months; (2) hosting fee — approximately R450/month for standard hosting; (3) your care plan tier fee — Included for Basic, R550–R1,300/month for Business (depending on site complexity), or R1,100–R3,000/month for Priority. We show every calculation in your proposal before you sign.

A finance charge is the cost of borrowing money. When you finance your website over time, Paippa is lending you the development cost upfront, so we charge a percentage on top of the cash price. This is disclosed as an Effective Annual Rate (EAR). For a 12-month term, the EAR is 8%. For 18 months, 14%. For 24 months, 20%. We show this transparently in your proposal, and you can settle early to reduce the total finance charge.

We have a fair, structured default procedure. You get a friendly reminder on day 1, a formal reminder on day 7, and a phone call on day 14 to understand the issue and explore solutions. Care plan services pause at day 21, but critical security and uptime monitoring continue. If arrears reach 60 days with no engagement, we have the legal right to exercise the cession agreement — but we exhaust all options to work with you first. At any stage, you can settle arrears or arrange a payment plan.

Yes — and we reward it. After 6 monthly payments, you can request an early settlement figure. If you settle 6 or more months ahead of schedule, you receive a 7.5% rebate on the outstanding balance as a goodwill gesture. For example, if your outstanding balance is R10,000, you'd save R750. Early settlement always saves you money on finance charges.

The website belongs entirely to you. We transfer your domain (unlocked, full credentials provided), all site files, your database, and everything else to you within 10 business days of your final payment. You're free to continue with our care plans month-to-month, migrate to another hosting provider, or do whatever you choose. There's no lock-in after the term ends.

Website management covers: monthly security updates and platform patches, SSL certificate renewal (automatic), daily backups with 30-day or 90-day retention depending on your tier, uptime monitoring (99.5% or 99.9% SLA depending on tier), and care plan requests (content updates, design tweaks, performance optimisation — the amount depends on your tier: Basic 1/month, Business 3/month, Priority 5/month).

Explicitly excluded: major redesigns (affecting 30%+ of the site), new pages or sections beyond the original scope, new functionality or feature additions, e-commerce expansion, third-party integrations not in the original build, content creation (copywriting, photography, video), SEO campaign management, paid advertising, and emergency data recovery from client-caused loss. Out-of-scope requests are quoted and approved in writing before we start work.

Yes. If you start on Care Plan Basic and want to upgrade to Business or Priority, we adjust your monthly payment and the upgrade takes effect immediately. You'll pay a pro-rata adjustment for that month, then the new tier pricing applies from the next month onwards. Downgrades are available after your initial 12-month term.

A cession is a security interest in your domain — similar to how a bank holds a mortgage on a house. It protects Paippa in case of default. Importantly: we don't take ownership of your domain. The cession is dormant and only activates if you fall 60+ days behind on payments and we can't reach a solution. Once you settle arrears, the cession is reversed. The moment your term ends and you make your final payment, the cession is released and your domain is 100% yours, no restrictions.

Your website and domain are protected. We hold your site on hosting infrastructure where you have independent access to your files and database — not locked into Paippa's proprietary system. If Paippa ceases to operate, you can access your site, download your data, and migrate to another host without losing anything. This is a deliberate design choice to protect your interests.

Technically, yes — but not recommended mid-term without discussion. Your website is built on our managed hosting as part of the FGP bundle. If you want to move to your own hosting, we can facilitate the technical migration, but you'd still be paying for the included hosting as part of your monthly FGP payment. Most clients stay with us for the managed hosting advantage. After your term ends, you can move your site anywhere.

Submit requests via our helpdesk ticketing system (which you'll receive access to at launch) or send an email to your account contact. Include a clear description of what you need, any supporting files or copy, and your preferred deadline. Your tier determines the response time: Basic gets a response within 48 hours, Business within 24 hours, Priority within 4 hours. Most requests are resolved within 3–5 days.

An SLA (Service Level Agreement) is a commitment to uptime and response times. All FGPs commit to 99.5% uptime. Priority tier escalates to 99.9% uptime. If we miss the SLA in any month, you receive a service credit (a discount on next month's payment). For example, if you're on Priority and we fall below 99.9%, you get a credit. The credit is automatic — no claim needed. SLA breaches are rare, but when they happen, we compensate you.

You own the content (your copy, images, data). We own the site infrastructure (design, build, hosting) until the term ends. It's similar to renting vs. owning a house — you live there, you decorate it, but the landlord owns the building. Once your term ends and you make your final payment, we transfer everything to you and you own the complete website, domain, and all assets. Until then, the cession agreement protects Paippa's investment.

This depends on the platform. If your site is built on WordPress or a CMS, we can grant you access to make content updates yourself. If it's a custom-coded site, changes should go through our care plan request system to maintain integrity and avoid breaking functionality. We'll discuss this during your onboarding call and set up whatever works best for you.

We work with most South African businesses: retailers, service providers, professionals, community organisations, and emerging economy entrepreneurs. We don't work with: adult entertainment, unlicensed gambling, unregistered crypto platforms, pyramid schemes, businesses under fraud investigation, unlicensed firearms dealers, or illegal operations. If you're unsure, ask during your discovery call.

The deposit is 12.5% of your cash price and is collected when you sign the FGP agreement. It's refundable if you cancel within the 5-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Protection Act. After that, the deposit is non-refundable, but it's credited against your first few months of payments. For example, if your cash price is R20,000, the deposit is R2,500 — credited back to you over your first month of payments.

Yes. We can build your site in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, or other South African languages. Content must be provided by you or a translator. If you need translation services, we can quote that separately. The site infrastructure (backend, hosting, management) remains the same regardless of language.

From the day we kick off development to launch is typically 8–10 weeks. This includes: design phase (2 weeks), build phase (4–5 weeks), testing and QA (1–2 weeks), and final deployment (1 week). Timelines depend on complexity and how quickly you provide content. We'll give you a specific launch date at the start of the project and notify you of any changes at least 2 weeks in advance.