Engagement, Kill-Fee & Cancellation

01 Why no refunds

When you hire us for a project, you're not buying a finished product off a shelf. You're paying for time, thinking, exploration, and the right to use the work we make. By the time you might want to cancel, we've already spent some of that. So instead of refunds, we use a kill-fee: a clear schedule for how much you owe at each phase if either of us walks away.

02 Project phases

Discovery — Briefing, strategy conversations, research, audit, scope alignment. Typically the first 10–25% of project duration.

Design — Concepts, iterations, refinement, presentations, revisions. Typically the middle 50–60% of project duration.

Production — Final file preparation, build, vendor handoff, print, deployment, launch support. Typically the final 15–25% of project duration.

03 Deposits

Most projects start with a deposit. The deposit is required before we begin work, is non-refundable, and applies as credit against the first invoice or the first milestone, whichever comes first. Standard deposit is one third of the total project fee, but it varies by project size and risk profile. The amount lives in your MSA or proposal.

04 Kill-fee schedule — if you cancel

During Discovery: 25%

• Your deposit is applied first; you owe the difference between the deposit and 25% of the total.
• If the deposit was 25% or more, no further fees, but the deposit is not refunded.
• Work produced during discovery is delivered to you on receipt of payment.

During Design: 50%

• You owe 50% of the total project fee, less any payments already made.
• Work produced through cancellation is delivered to you on receipt of payment.
• Final files and source files are not provided unless you complete payment for the full project.

During Production: 75%

• You owe 75% of the total project fee, less any payments already made.
• All design work completed is delivered.
• Production deliverables (print runs in progress, deployments) are completed only if production payment in full is received.

05 If we cancel

If CMYK Ink walks away from a project for reasons that aren't your fault, we refund any unearned portion of payments received. If we cancel because you breached the agreement (non-payment, abusive conduct, materially misrepresenting the project, providing infringing material that we can't lawfully use), you still owe the kill-fee for the phase we're in, plus any costs we've incurred.

06 Stop-work triggers

We may pause active work, with notice, if an invoice is more than 14 days past due, feedback or required materials are more than 30 days overdue, scope changes materially without a corresponding adjustment to the agreement, or we discover material we can't lawfully use.

07 Late payment

Invoices are due within 14 days of issue unless the MSA says otherwise. Past 30 days, we may pause work. Past 60 days, we may terminate and pursue collection. Late fees of 1.5% per month (or the maximum permitted by Arizona law, whichever is lower) may apply to past-due balances.

08 Force majeure

If either of us is prevented from performing because of events outside reasonable control (natural disaster, war, government action, widespread network outage, pandemic-scale public health event), the affected obligations are paused, not breached.

09 Disputes

If we disagree about cancellation, kill-fee math, or any project payment, we agree to try to resolve it informally first. If that fails, the dispute resolution path in the Terms (Policy 02) applies: Arizona law, Maricopa County courts.

10 The MSA controls

This policy is the default position. Your Master Services Agreement may modify any of it for your project. Where the MSA and this policy disagree, the MSA wins.