Serira Designs

Serira Designs routinely sources Royalty Free Stock Images from www.dreamstime.com, www.istockphoto.com, www.fotolia.com and/or "Unrestricted Free" Images from the web, along with commercial usage allowed: graphics, vectors, psd, brushes, patterns, tiles and icons. I also purchase the lovely icons you normally see in our themes from various businesses but my favourite is: http://dryicons.com/.

For all "off the shelf" themes I elect to purchase the Extended License for Royalty Free Stock Images (if necessary) because the quality and variety of images available is far superior to standard "free images" often found on the web, and of course, I can use these images time and again :-)

To keep my "off the shelf" themes at the low and cost effective pricing that they are, I do not sell, give away, or redistribute any licensed Royalty Free Stock Images I purchase as an individual sale or special addon nor do I release any of these images in direct contravention to the Stock Image Website terms and agreements of "acceptable use".

Custom & OOAK Designs

Custom designs and OOAK designs are wholly different and must be treated differently. Custom Designs and OOAK Designs require exclusive images or graphics as part of the custom design process and is typically sourced by the client (if they wish to do this) and then purchased by me on his/her behalf under Stock Image outlets website terms.

In most cases, I will source the appropriate image/graphic myself and provide the direct URL for my client to visually confirm and authorise purchase. Serira Designs does not purchase these graphics for, or on behalf of, our clients without prior written client confirmation and/or authorisation. Upon purchase, Serira Designs uses the graphic to enhance the client's custom design. Purchasing one-off images for my clients under "Standard License" terms is acceptable and legal, and is not in breach of Royalty Free Stock Image websites.

Important: Please be aware that a "unique purchase" of any of our "off the shelf" themes does not transform that 'off the shelf' theme into a Custom Design or OOAK design. In all instances, an 'off the shelf' theme remains an 'off the shelf' theme and falls under our Stock Image 'Off The Shelf' terms below.

Off The Shelf Themes

I can appreciate that my customers - existing and new - would reasonably expect the same look and feel they see in any of my 'off the shelf' themes in the licensed version they purchase. This is quite normal :-).

Interestingly enough, a vast majority of my clients do not want, need, or require the graphical header I used for that design in their licensed theme. They prefer, for the most part, to purchase a licensed copy of my themes and insert their own logo, their own header graphic and other 'sparkles' and for this reason alone I have decided to provide my themes without graphical headers insitu.

This decision is solely based on constant review of past customer purchases and their current websites, and their customisation practices. In fact, since opening my doors in 2006, not one single client has used the original graphical element(s) in their website header nor has anyone asked me specifically for the stock image I may have used in the header for that theme. That's extraordinary, to say the least, when you consider I design my themes around a lovely graphical header :-)

In the rare case where a customer does want the same graphical header to be available with his/her 'off the shelf' licensed theme, I ask them specifically to state his/her want of this graphic prior to purchasing the 'off the shelf' theme.

Selective Themes Only

Not all my 'off the shelf' themes have this mandatory question applied to them because not all my 'off the shelf' themes use Stock Images in the header. Only some themes have a mandatory Drop Down Option Box that must be selected prior to adding that theme to the basket.

For such a theme, I ask, very clearly, if you want the Stock Image Graphic to be included in your licensed version. If you select "Please include stock image" from the drop down box, then the assumption is that you will use the graphic(s) as it was coded in the theme. Selecting "Please include stock image" tells me that you want the SAME IMAGE I used in my demo store Theme Version for your CubeCart business.

Upon receipt of your payment, and if you selected "Please include stock image" I then make available to you as an extra inclusion: "Downloadable Product Option" which has the Stock Graphic Header available to you in a separate zip folder.

Why Do I Do This?

I considered at length the whys and wherefores of Extended Licenses, Royalty Free Licenses, Copyright, Ownership Rights, the number of 'allowed' copy runs, my customer requirements, expectations and general theme usage, and lastly, but not in the least, my own exceptionally strong views on those who Pirate (ask my daughter!) DVDs, CD's, and Images.

I decided it was more logical if I released extended graphic licensed images within my "off the shelf" themes on a request by request basis purely because 99% of my customers are not using them. On that premise, I could not see the logic of releasing a paid extended licensed stock image when it wasn't going to be used.

Bottom Line: Serira Designs is a small design studio that crafts themes for a very selective niche market that encompasses CubeCart or WordPress. We are not a medium or large sized design house with a score of graphic designers at our fingertips nor do we have thousands of clients with corporate accounts and unlimited funds. We are a niche design house, and a very small one at that. That's why purchasing stock images on a request by request basis is logical.

Most Stock Image Websites offer general usage of their Royalty Free Stock Images and/or Vector Graphics for websites and web design.

Royalty Free Standard License
Royalty Free images can be used and modified for web designs (websites, headers, icons, banners), advertisements (flyers, brochures, posters), powerpoint presentations, book covers and pages, CD covers and many more. Worldwide rights/unlimited projects up to 500,000 printed copies (unlimited online).

They also offer "Extended" user end licenses for those who make or sell web templates. Some call this license W-EL - which means: website use, extended license.

Web Usage (W-EL):
Electronic Items for Resale: this license includes the right to use the photos for web-templates that are sold to more customers, screen-savers, e-cards, powerpoint presentations or as wallpapers on cell phones. Maximum number of electronical items is 10,000 copies (applies as a total of each type of usage). If this amount is exceeded you need to acquire this license once again. The new license will provide you with the standard amount of copies. This is an additional license to the rights included within the regular Royalty-Free license.

To clarify: Web Usage (W-EL) is an additional license for usage of resale of templates.

In all cases Serira Designs pays the correct license fee per instance for any given graphic and/or vector file we elect to use in our 'off the shelf' themes. Purchasing stock images with extended license terms isn't overly expensive. Purchasing Vector graphics with an extended license is. There are times when the cost of a single vector file is way beyond our price range because the extended license fee is shockingly astronomical (beyond $899.00US in some cases) and consequently, we then have no choice but to source other appropriate images or graphics. Most times we are successful. Sometimes we are not, and it is then that we have to re-adjust our creative thinking processes.

So What Does It All Mean?

Serira Designs purchases W-EL rights (or similar licenses depending on the website and/or file) to the image you see in our 'off the shelf' themes which allows us to legally use them time and again. This license does not grant You ownership rights to that graphic nor can you use the graphic in a manner that is contraindicated on any Stock Image Based Website. This license also does not grant you - the customer - copyright rights of that image/graphic nor does it grant you legal access to the original graphic file through us.

It's important to understand what rights you are allowed under Serira Designs Terms and Conditions, as well as your legal obligations to any Stock Image based website. You must be aware of these terms and conditions when you use any stock image otherwise you may well be in breach of their terms and conditions. Please make sure you are using the image within the legal parameters correctly.

Your Involvement, please

On that understanding, on selected "off the shelf" themes only, if you do not select "please include stock image" from the mandatory drop down box prior to adding the theme to your basket, then you will find the graphic I used in my demo store is not available to you nor is it included in the theme you just licensed.

You must select "please include stock image" with your purchase so you have access to the Photoshop file via Downloadable Product Options. I know it sounds like a lot of fuss and bother, but in reality its not. It's just one simple drop down box that alerts me to your specific needs. From there, I can include the downloadable product option access link in your email, which will give you immediate access to a separate zip folder which has your Photoshop Header and/or JPG image you need.

Inventory Images

All graphics and images used as a representation of "Products" within our Demo Stores are not distributed under any circumstances, and are used only to show you how a CubeCart Product can look in your store.