Terms of Service

These terms are the agreement between you and Ry Limited, a company incorporated in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("we", "us"). Ry.hk is the brand we trade under. "You" means the person or organisation that opens an account or uses the services.

1. What these terms cover

• These terms cover this website and all services we provide, including domain registration, renewal, transfer and domain management, and any other service listed on the site.
• Where a service has its own terms (for example the Domain Registration Agreement), those terms apply alongside these. If they conflict, the service-specific terms prevail.
• We provide services only to individuals aged 18 or over and to duly constituted organisations. By ordering on behalf of an organisation you confirm you may bind it.
• By ticking the acceptance box and completing an order you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the services.

2. Your account

• You must give true, accurate and complete information when registering and keep it up to date.
• You are responsible for keeping your account and password secure. Anything done through your account is your responsibility unless you can show it was our fault or a third party's. Tell us at once if you believe your account has been used by someone else.
• We may require you to verify your email address or phone number. Some features may be limited until you do.
• You should not open multiple accounts to evade limits or claim repeated promotional benefits.

3. Prices, payment and taxes

• The price is the one shown at checkout when you order. Prices on the home and pricing pages are indicative; if they differ from the checkout page, the checkout page governs.
• We quote in US dollars, Hong Kong dollars or renminbi, and you can switch currency on the page. If your payment account is in a different currency, the exchange rate and bank charges are set by your bank or payment provider, not by us.
• Hong Kong does not levy VAT or sales tax on services of this kind, so we do not charge VAT or GST. We are not responsible for any tax, duty or withholding obligation you may have in your own jurisdiction; that is yours to handle.
• Services other than domains are prepaid and must be paid for when ordered or before renewal. If payment is late we may suspend the service or decline to renew it.
• We issue an electronic invoice after payment, downloadable from your client area at any time.
• If you raise a chargeback and it succeeds, we may suspend the affected service, recover the domain service already delivered, and pass on the dispute fee our payment provider charges us.

4. Auto-renewal and cancellation

4.1 The life of a domain, and what each stage costs

The lengths and fees are set by the registry, not by us, and we cannot waive them. Once a domain is past its expiry date it may stop resolving, which takes both the website and the mail down with it.

• Annually billed services such as domains renew automatically by default. You can switch this off in your client area, or tell us at least 3 days before the expiry date.
• Switching auto-renewal off does not entitle you to a refund; when the term ends the domain follows the process in the Domain Registration Agreement.
• Cancellation and refund conditions are set out in the Cancellation and Refund Policy.

5. What you must do

• Comply with the laws of Hong Kong and of any other jurisdiction that applies, and with our Acceptable Use Policy.
• Do not use the services to infringe anyone's intellectual property, to commit fraud, to send commercial electronic messages without the recipient's consent, or for any other unlawful purpose.
• Do not interfere with, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to, our systems, other customers' data or network resources.

6. Our obligations and what we do not promise

We will provide the services with reasonable care and skill. Those implied terms apply to our services under the Supply of Services (Implied Terms) Ordinance (Cap. 457) of Hong Kong, and nothing in these terms excludes or restricts them.

Beyond that we give no other warranty, express or implied. In particular:

• Whether a domain can be registered or transferred, and whether its price changes, depends on the registrar, the registry and ICANN policy and decisions, not on us.
• We do not promise uninterrupted or error-free service, and we cannot promise that a domain will resolve in the way or at the time you expect (DNS propagation is outside our control).
• We may suspend service briefly for maintenance, upgrades or upstream failures, and will give notice where we reasonably can.

7. Suspension and termination

• We may suspend or terminate your service if you do not pay, if you breach these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, if the service is suspected of unlawful or fraudulent use, if the law or a competent authority requires it, or if your use endangers our systems or other customers.
• You may terminate at any time, but fees already incurred and fees that cannot be reversed (such as a registration fee on a domain already registered) are not refundable.
• After termination we keep records as described in the Privacy Policy, and we give you a reasonable opportunity to take away transferable resources such as domains.
• We will not hold a domain hostage to force payment: while you have no unpaid invoices you may transfer a domain away at any time.

8. Intellectual property

The text, layout, marks and code of this website belong to us or to their respective owners. You may not copy, modify, republish or use them commercially without our written permission. Material you provide to us remains yours; we use it only to provide the services.

9. Limitation of liability

• To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability to you is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.
• We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of goodwill, loss of data or loss of anticipated savings.
• Nothing here excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Hong Kong law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, and liability for fraud.

10. Indemnity

If a third party claims against us because of your use of the services, your breach of these terms, or your infringement of another's rights, you agree to indemnify us for the reasonable loss and costs we incur, including reasonable legal costs.

11. Force majeure

We are not liable for interruption or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, strikes, epidemics, government action, or failure of internet backbone or upstream providers.

12. Notices

We give notice through the email address on your account or through announcements in the client area; notice is treated as received 24 hours after it is sent. You must keep that address working: not receiving a notice because the address has failed does not mean we failed to give it.

13. Changes to these terms

We may amend these terms from time to time, publishing the new version on this website with an effective date; for material changes we will also give notice by email or in the client area. Continuing to use the services after a change takes effect means you accept it. If you do not, you may terminate before it takes effect.

14. Assignment

You may not assign your rights or obligations under these terms without our written consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition or transfer of business, and that will not affect your rights.

15. Third party rights

Except where these terms say otherwise, no person who is not a party to them has any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Ordinance (Cap. 623) of Hong Kong.

16. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Hong Kong courts. If a dispute arises we are happy to try to resolve it amicably first.

17. General

• If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
• These terms and the applicable service-specific terms are the entire agreement between us for the services.
• These terms are provided in Chinese and English; the English version prevails in case of ambiguity.

18. Domain-specific provisions

Domain services are also governed by the Domain Registration Agreement; where the two conflict, that agreement prevails. The following points need particular attention:

• Registrant data must be accurate. ICANN and registry rules require us to verify and submit the registrant contact details. If the details are false, out of date or cannot be verified, the domain can be suspended or cancelled and the registration fee is not refunded.
• We are the registrar, nothing more. Whether a domain can be registered or transferred, and whether prices change, is decided by the registry and ICANN. We cannot alter it.
• We do not hold domains on trust. A domain is registered in the name of the registrant you supply. Unless agreed in writing, we do not hold domains for third parties, and the rights and obligations attached to the domain belong to the registrant.
• Registration fees are not refundable. The registry charges the fee the moment the domain is registered, so it is not refunded if you change your mind. The same is stated in the Cancellation and Refund Policy.
• Transfers out are not blocked. Where your account has no outstanding balance, a domain can be transferred away at any time; we do not withhold domains to collect a debt. Close the registrar lock and obtain the transfer code first.
• Dispute procedures. Domain disputes about trademarks and prior rights go through the ICANN Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) or the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS). Country and regional endings such as .hk use the local registry dispute policy. We act on the outcome.
• Premium and reserved names. Some names carry a premium set by the registry or are reserved. Their price and availability can change at any time; the price shown at checkout applies.

19. Privacy and proxy services

On endings that support it we can enable privacy or proxy protection, replacing your personal details in the public record with proxy details. Note that:

• it does not change who owns the domain - the true registrant record stays with the registrar;
• it does not remove your legal responsibility, and does not prevent a court order, a dispute procedure or a competent authority from obtaining the true record;
• it is normally lifted when the domain is transferred, and the new holder can set it again;
• not every ending supports it; where it does not, the page says so plainly.

20. Resellers and managing on behalf of a client

If you order as a reseller or in somebody else name, you confirm that you are authorised to do so, and you are responsible for submitting their registrant details accurately, for passing these terms and the related policies on to them, and for handling their questions about invoices, renewals and technical matters. The contract between you and us is unaffected by who the end user is.

21. Fraud prevention and credit control

We may assess an order for risk and ask for further identity or payment verification. We may hold an order where: the payment instrument plainly does not belong to the account holder; a large batch is registered and transferred away within days; a payment method known to be stolen is used; or promotional mechanisms are repeatedly exploited. A chargeback on a delivered service suspends the service and incurs the payment provider dispute fee, which is passed to the account.

22. Export control and sanctions

You confirm that you are not located in a country or region subject to applicable sanctions or export controls, that you are not a restricted entity or person, and that the services will not be used for a restricted purpose. Where the law requires it, we may suspend or end services for the parties concerned.

23. Electronic communications

You agree that we may send notices, invoices, renewal reminders, security alerts and updates to these documents by email to the account address and by notice in the client area. Those electronic communications are valid written notice. If the account mailbox stops working, that does not excuse the consequences of not receiving them, so keep it current.

24. Changes to services

• We may add, change or retire a feature or product line. For services you have already paid for and that are still within their term, we will act reasonably, including offering an alternative or refunding the unused part.
• Where maintenance, upgrades or an upstream failure interrupt a service, we will announce it in the client area or on the status page as far in advance as we can.
• If an entire product line is retired, we give at least 30 days notice and help you export your domain, order and invoice data.

25. Language and general

• These terms are provided in Chinese and English. If the two differ in meaning, the English version prevails.
• Headings are for readability and do not affect how a clause is interpreted.
• If we do not exercise, or delay exercising, a right under these terms, that is not a waiver of it.
• These terms, together with the specific policies (Domain Registration Agreement, Acceptable Use Policy, Privacy Policy, Cancellation and Refund Policy and the rest), form the entire agreement between us about the services.