phas.au
phas.au
Sign in

Terms of Service

Effective 28 August 2026.

1. Definitions

  • phas / we / us — Hamish Palmer, sole trader, trading as "phas", operator of phas.au and phas.nz.
  • you / customer — the person or entity that opens an account or orders a service.
  • Services — web hosting, domain name registration and management, DNS hosting, transactional email, managed backups, and uptime monitoring, as described on our website at the time of order.
  • Agreement — these Terms together with the documents in clause 2.2.
  • ACL — the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2, Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)).
  • CGA — the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (NZ).

2. Acceptance and the document stack

2.1. Ordering, paying for, or using any Service means you accept this Agreement.

2.2. The following are incorporated into this Agreement by reference and form part of it: the Acceptable Use Policy, the Privacy Policy, and — for domain registrations — the Domain Registration Schedule (Schedule 1 of this document) including the registry policies it names. If a schedule conflicts with these Terms for a particular Service, the schedule wins for that Service.

2.3. You must be at least 18 and provide accurate, complete account information, kept up to date for as long as you use the Services.

3. The Services

3.1. Web hosting. Shared hosting on infrastructure located in the region you choose at checkout (Australia, New Zealand or Singapore, as available). Plan limits (storage, websites, databases) are as published on the pricing page at the time of order; resource governance is set out in the Acceptable Use Policy.

3.2. Domain names. We are a reseller of Synergy Wholesale Pty Ltd, the registrar of record for domains registered through phas. Domain services are governed by Schedule 1.

3.3. DNS hosting. DNS zones we manage for you are served on third-party infrastructure (currently Cloudflare).

3.4. Add-on services. Transactional email (delivered via Postmark), managed backups, and uptime monitoring are optional add-ons with the inclusions published on their product pages at the time of order.

3.5. Third-party dependencies. Parts of the Services are supplied over third-party platforms (Stripe, Cloudflare, Postmark, Synergy Wholesale and the domain registries). We choose and manage these suppliers with care, but we don't control them; where a fault is genuinely and solely upstream, our obligations are to work the problem with the supplier and keep you informed. Nothing in this clause limits your statutory rights against us.

3.6. We may improve or change how a Service is delivered (including changing suppliers), provided the change doesn't materially reduce what you're paying for.

4. Accounts, billing and payment

4.1. Hosting and add-ons are billed as recurring subscriptions (monthly or annual, as chosen at checkout), charged to your saved card by our payment processor, Stripe. Prices are in AUD on phas.au and NZD on phas.nz.

4.2. Domain charges. Domains are charged once at registration or transfer. Renewals are charged to your saved card about 30 days before expiry at the then-current price for the extension — we email you the exact amount about a week before charging, and you can renew earlier yourself or turn auto-renew off at any time from your account.

4.3. GST. Prices shown are the prices you pay and include GST where applicable. phas is not currently registered for GST, so no GST is charged on top of the listed price and receipts are not tax invoices. If we become GST-registered, listed prices will remain GST-inclusive and receipts will become tax invoices.

4.4. If a subscription charge fails, our processor retries over several days and emails you. If every retry fails, the subscription ends and clause 8 (suspension) applies.

4.5. Initiating a card chargeback instead of contacting us first is a breach of this Agreement; we may suspend affected Services while a chargeback is open and recover reasonable costs of responding to it.

5. Cancellation and refunds

5.1. You may cancel any subscription at any time from your account. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you keep access until then. We don't charge cancellation fees.

5.2. We don't offer a discretionary money-back guarantee. Your statutory rights under clause 5.3 are unaffected and are the protection that matters — they can't be signed away.

5.3. Nothing in this Agreement excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy you have under the ACL or (for New Zealand consumers) the CGA that cannot lawfully be excluded. If a Service fails a consumer guarantee, you are entitled to the remedies those laws provide — including, for a major failure, cancellation and refund.

5.4. Domain registrations, renewals and transfers are non-refundable once submitted to the registry, because the wholesale fee is incurred irreversibly at submission. A transfer you cancel before it completes is refunded in full.

6. Your obligations

You must: (a) use the Services lawfully and in line with the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) keep your account credentials and two-factor settings secure, and tell us promptly about any suspected compromise; (c) keep your own off-site copies of your content as clause 9 describes; (d) be responsible for everyone you allow to use your Services, with or without your consent.

7. Our service commitment

7.1. We aim to keep hosted Services available continuously, with planned maintenance announced in advance on our status page (status.phas.au) and performed, where practicable, in low-traffic windows.

7.2. We publish an uptime target rather than a contractual service-level agreement, and we don't offer uptime credits at this stage. We're honest when we miss the target, and your statutory rights (clause 5.3) apply regardless.

8. Suspension and termination

8.1. We may suspend a Service (turn it off, preserving its data) if: (a) payment has failed and the retry process in clause 4.4 has run its course; (b) the Service is being used in breach of the Acceptable Use Policy; (c) we're required to by law, a registry, or a court; or (d) the Service is attacking, degrading, or endangering the platform or other customers — in which case we may act first and notify you straight after.

8.2. Suspension is not deletion. When we suspend for non-payment, your files and databases are not deleted, and we email you saying exactly that.

8.3. We will not delete a suspended account's data until at least 30 days after suspension, and deletion is a deliberate manual step on our side, never an automatic sweep. After that period we may terminate the Service and delete its data permanently.

8.4. We may terminate immediately, without the clause 8.3 holding period, for severe Acceptable Use Policy breaches (illegal content, attacks on others) or where the law requires it.

8.5. On any termination, you should have already exported what you need — clause 9. After deletion, data is not recoverable by us.

9. Backups and data

9.1. You are responsible for keeping your own current off-site backups of your content. Hosting infrastructure can fail, and shared-hosting platform backups are not guaranteed to exist or to be restorable for any particular moment in time.

9.2. Clause 9.1 does not apply to the paid Managed Backups add-on: for accounts with that add-on active, we take and retain backups as described on its product page, and restoring from them on request is part of the service.

9.3. On request while your account is in good standing, we'll provide your data in a portable form (hosting files via panel access; account data via the self-service export).

10. Liability

10.1. Clause 5.3 (non-excludable statutory rights) applies to everything in this clause 10.

10.2. For business customers — where our Services are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use — our liability for failure to comply with an ACL consumer guarantee is limited, at our option, to resupplying the Service or paying the cost of resupply (ACL s 64A). For New Zealand customers in trade who agree in writing, the CGA is excluded to the extent permitted by CGA s 43; for NZ consumers it applies in full.

10.3. Subject to the above, and to the extent permitted by law: (a) neither party is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits, revenue, or goodwill; and (b) our total aggregate liability under this Agreement in any 12-month period is limited to the fees you paid us for the affected Service in the 6 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

10.4. You indemnify us against third-party claims arising from your content or your use of the Services in breach of this Agreement, except to the extent we caused the loss.

10.5. Data loss. Clause 9 sets out who is responsible for backups: you keep your own current off-site copies, unless the Managed Backups add-on applies. Subject to clause 10.1 and to the extent permitted by law: (a) we are not responsible or liable for accidental loss, corruption, or unavailability of content you store on the Services, whatever the cause — including hardware or software failure, provisioning or configuration error, and the acts or omissions of third parties; (b) you release us from, and agree not to bring, any claim for such loss. This clause does not limit our obligation to deliver the Managed Backups add-on as described where your account has it, and does not exclude, restrict or modify any consumer guarantee, right or remedy clause 5.3 preserves.

11. Force majeure

Neither party is responsible for failure caused by events genuinely beyond its reasonable control (natural disaster, war, upstream carrier failure, government action), provided the affected party works to resume promptly. This clause never excuses payment obligations for Services already delivered.

12. Changes to these Terms

12.1. We may update this Agreement. Minor or beneficial changes take effect on publication. For any change that materially reduces your rights or increases your obligations, we'll email the account address at least 30 days before it takes effect, and you may cancel affected recurring Services before the change applies to you without penalty.

13. General

13.1. Governing law: Tasmania, Australia; the parties submit to the courts there. For New Zealand consumers, nothing in this clause deprives you of protections of New Zealand law that apply to you regardless of the governing law.

13.2. Notices from us go to your account email address; keeping it current is your job. Notices to us go to [email protected].

13.3. If part of this Agreement is unenforceable, the rest stands. Our not enforcing something isn't a waiver. You may not assign this Agreement without our consent; we may assign it as part of a business sale on notice to you.

Schedule 1 — Domain Registration Terms

These terms apply to every domain registered, renewed or transferred through phas, in addition to the Terms of Service. phas is a reseller; the registrar of record is Synergy Wholesale Pty Ltd (you can verify a gTLD's sponsoring registrar at lookup.icann.org).

S1.1 All domains

  1. Registry and registrar policies for your domain's extension are incorporated into this Agreement and prevail over it to the extent of any inconsistency: for .au, the auDA .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing and other auDA Published Policies; for gTLDs, the ICANN Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities specification, ICANN Consensus Policies (including the Transfer Policy, UDRP and URS); for .nz, the .nz Rules and the InternetNZ Registrant Core Terms and the Dispute Resolution Service Policy.
  2. You warrant the information you give us for a registration is true, accurate and complete, given in good faith, and that registration and use of the name doesn't infringe anyone's rights. You must keep registrant contact details current — updates within 7 days for gTLDs and 14 days for .au. Wilfully inaccurate details, or failing to respond to an accuracy inquiry within 15 days, is grounds for suspension or cancellation of the domain.
  3. Registrant contact data is provided to the registrar, registry operator, auDA / InternetNZ (as applicable), ICANN-approved escrow agents (gTLDs), and is published per the registry's WHOIS / RDAP / .nz Query Service policy. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture, including the .nz Individual Registrant Privacy Option.
  4. You indemnify the registry operator, registrar and phas against claims arising from your registration or use of the domain. Registration may be suspended, cancelled, locked or transferred where an applicable dispute policy, registry procedure, court order, or error-correction process requires it.
  5. Renewals are your responsibility. With auto-renew on, we operate the process in clause 4.2 of the Terms (30-day-out charge at then-current pricing, exact amount emailed about a week prior). With auto-renew off, an unrenewed domain expires at the registry, stops resolving, and — after the registry's grace processes — is released to the public. We send renewal notices at least 30 days before expiry.
  6. Redemption. An expired gTLD in its redemption period can usually be restored for the extension's published restore fee (materially higher than a renewal — quoted on request from the registrar's published pricing) plus the renewal. Contact us immediately if a domain you want has expired.
  7. Transfers away are your right. The transfer-lock toggle and auth-code reveal are self-service in your account; we don't charge exit fees. gTLD registrations and registrant changes carry the registry's standard 60-day transfer locks.
  8. Designated agent. You appoint phas (and through it the registrar) as your Designated Agent under the ICANN Transfer Policy, authorised to approve a Change of Registrant on behalf of the old and new registrant.
  9. If we charge you and the registration subsequently fails at the registry, our first obligation is to fix it (resubmit or correct); if it can't be completed, we refund the charge in full.

S1.2 .au specifics

  1. You must meet the auDA eligibility and Australian-presence rules for the namespace (e.g. com.au requires a commercial entity with an Australian presence and a name/trademark nexus) for the whole licence period, and you warrant you do. Loss of eligibility, or information that was untrue at registration or renewal, is grounds for cancellation by the registrar or auDA.
  2. .au licences may not be rented, leased, or sub-licensed.
  3. The .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP) applies to your licence.

S1.3 .nz specifics

  1. The InternetNZ Registrant Core Terms apply to your .nz domain in full and prevail over this Agreement for that domain; the points below are the ones most worth knowing, not a substitute for them.
  2. Your authentication ID (UDAI) is available to you on request, free of charge, from your account or from us. Keep it confidential — anyone holding it can move the domain.
  3. .nz registration data is retained for 6 years after a domain is cancelled or transferred away, as the .nz Rules require.
  4. A cancelled .nz domain enters a pending-release period of up to 90 days before the name is released to the public.
  5. Individuals not in significant trade can ask us to apply the Individual Registrant Privacy Option, which withholds phone and address details from the public register.
  6. For .nz domains: fee changes come with at least 30 days' notice; cancellation for non-payment comes with at least 14 days' notice; claims must be raised within 60 days of the event; and liability is as capped in the Core Terms, with your CGA rights preserved in full.

Questions about these Terms: [email protected].