1. Acceptance of terms
By accessing or using EthioLink ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service. These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement under the laws of Ethiopia.
2. Description of service
EthioLink provides:
- URL shortening (Amharic and Latin characters);
- click analytics and reporting;
- QR code generation;
- API access for programmatic link creation and management;
- team workspaces and white-label reporting (Enterprise plans);
- webhooks and SLA monitoring (Enterprise plans).
The Service is available at https://short.et and via the API documented on that site. We may add, change or retire features, and we will give reasonable notice of changes that materially reduce what your plan provides.
3. Account registration
3.1 Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old and capable of forming a legally binding contract under Ethiopian law. By registering you confirm that you meet these requirements and that the information you provide is accurate.
3.2 Account security
You are responsible for:
- maintaining the confidentiality of your password and API keys;
- all activities that occur under your account;
- notifying us immediately at [email protected] of any unauthorized access or suspected compromise.
3.3 Consent and email verification
Registration requires you to accept these Terms and the Privacy Policy; we record the date and time of that acceptance. You must verify your email address before accessing the full Service. Unverified accounts may be deleted after 30 days.
4. Acceptable use policy
You agree NOT to use the Service for:
- Illegal activities: any violation of Ethiopian or international law.
- Malware/phishing: distributing viruses, trojans, spyware or phishing links.
- Spam: sending unsolicited messages or bulk emails.
- Adult content: pornography, sexually explicit material, or content harmful to minors.
- Hate speech: content that promotes violence, discrimination or hatred.
- Harassment: threatening, stalking or harassing any person.
- Intellectual property violations: infringing copyrights, trademarks or patents.
- Abuse of the Service: excessive requests, circumventing rate limits, or attempting to disrupt the Service.
- Reselling: reselling the Service as a competing URL shortener without our written permission.
- Automated misuse: using bots or scripts to create links in violation of these Terms.
We reserve the right to remove any link or suspend any account that violates this policy, and to report unlawful activity to the competent authorities.
5. API terms
5.1 API keys
- API keys are issued to your account and are confidential.
- You must not share, publish or sell API keys.
- You must rotate keys periodically and immediately if you suspect a compromise. Keys can be revoked at any time from the keys page.
5.2 Rate limits
API access is subject to the rate limits of your plan (per key, per minute). Exceeding them returns HTTP 429 and may result in temporary blocking or account suspension if it continues. Enterprise plans have custom limits agreed with us in writing.
5.3 Webhooks
You are responsible for verifying webhook signatures using the x-ethiolink-signature header (an HMAC-SHA256 of the raw request body with your webhook secret). We are not liable for data loss or duplicate processing if you fail to verify signatures or if your endpoint rejects valid deliveries.
5.4 No SLA on Free and Starter
The Free and Starter plans are provided "as-is" without service level guarantees. Uptime and response-time commitments are only available on Enterprise plans, where they are stated separately.
6. Payments and billing
6.1 Paid plans
- Paid plans are billed monthly or annually in Ethiopian Birr (ETB).
- Payments are processed by licensed third-party providers (Chapa, Telebirr); we do not store card details.
- Prices are subject to change with 30 days' notice.
6.2 Upgrades
Business and Enterprise upgrades require administrator approval. Once approved, the upgrade takes effect immediately and an invoice is generated for the billing period. Because your account is granted the plan at approval time, an approved upgrade is a completed sale.
6.3 Cancellation
- You may cancel at any time from your billing dashboard.
- Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
- There are no refunds for partial periods.
6.4 Refunds
Refunds are issued at our discretion. No refunds are given for accounts terminated for policy violations.
7. Intellectual property
7.1 Our property
EthioLink retains all rights to the Service, including its software, design, trademarks, logos and documentation. Nothing in these Terms transfers those rights to you.
7.2 Your property
You retain ownership of:
- the long URLs you shorten;
- your analytics data, as it relates to your links;
- your API integrations and webhook implementations.
7.3 Licence to us
You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to process your data solely to provide the Service. This licence ends when you delete the data or your account, except where we must retain records for legal, tax or audit reasons.
8. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Service you consent to our data practices as described there. It explains what we collect (including salted hashes of IP addresses and a visitor cookie), how long we keep it, and how to exercise your rights under Ethiopia's PDPP.
To be straight about where the Service runs: our servers are hosted on Google Cloud outside Ethiopia (Ethiopia has no Google Cloud region), so personal data is processed abroad on the bases set out in the Privacy Policy. We do not claim in-country hosting. Content delivery, DNS and transactional email are provided by Cloudflare and Brevo respectively.
9. Disclaimers
9.1 Service availability
The Service is provided "as-is" and "as-available." We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Scheduled maintenance, upstream provider outages and security incidents can interrupt the Service, and Free and Starter plans carry no uptime commitment.
9.2 No endorsement
We do not endorse, verify or guarantee the content behind any shortened link. You are solely responsible for the links you create and for complying with the law in every country where your links are opened.
9.3 Third-party services
We are not responsible for the practices of third-party services - including the destinations of shortened links, payment providers, and the hosting, DNS and email providers listed in the Privacy Policy.
10. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by Ethiopian law:
- we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages;
- we are not liable for lost profits, lost data or lost business opportunities;
- our total liability arising out of or relating to these Terms is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.
Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for wilful misconduct.
11. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold EthioLink harmless from any claims, damages, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:
- your use of the Service;
- your violation of these Terms;
- your violation of any third-party rights, including intellectual property or privacy rights.
12. Termination
12.1 By you
You may terminate your account at any time from your dashboard. Paid plans remain subject to the cancellation terms in section 6.3.
12.2 By us
We may suspend or terminate your account if:
- you violate these Terms, including the acceptable use policy;
- you engage in illegal activity;
- your account is inactive for 12 months (we will give at least 30 days' notice);
- we are required to do so by law or court order.
12.3 Effect of termination
- your access to the Service ends immediately;
- your links may continue to redirect for 30 days, unless deleted earlier;
- your data is handled according to our Privacy Policy.
13. Changes to terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified by email or by a prominent notice on the Service before they take effect, and the "Last updated" date above will change. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.
14. Governing law and dispute resolution
14.1 Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
14.2 Dispute resolution
Any dispute arising from these Terms shall first be resolved through good-faith negotiation. If negotiation fails, the dispute shall be submitted to the competent courts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
15. Miscellaneous
- Entire agreement: these Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and EthioLink.
- Severability: if any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect.
- No waiver: our failure to enforce any right does not waive that right.
- Assignment: you may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them without restriction.
16. Contact
EthioLink Legal
Email: [email protected]
For data-protection requests, contact the Data Protection Officer at [email protected] as described in the Privacy Policy.