This agreement lets an IT partner (“Partner”) resell ZDNS Protective DNS to its own clients. It sits alongside the ZDNS Terms of Service, the Fair Use Policy and the Data Processing Agreement, which apply to every client account the Partner manages.
Appointment and client accounts
- Appointment. ZDNS (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/796623/07 (“ZDNS”), appoints the Partner as a non-exclusive reseller of ZDNS Protective DNS in South Africa. The Partner buys from ZDNS and sets its own prices to its clients, subject to the retail price parity rule below.
- One account per client. Each Partner client gets its own ZDNS account, with its own registered public IP addresses, dashboard, whitelist, reports and alerts. Clients never see each other's data.
- Partner view. The Partner sees every one of its clients on its partner dashboard, receives their alerts, and can manage their whitelists and settings. If the Partner asks, ZDNS can also give a client its own login to its dashboard.
- Registered addresses. Every 100 committed seats allow up to 4 registered public IP addresses (one address or a small office range each), and each further pack of 25 seats allows 1 more. Each address can be changed or removed once per calendar month. A change made because a client's internet provider gave it a new address (ZDNS no longer sees lookups from the old one) does not count towards this. More addresses need more committed seats. We may refuse ranges larger than a normal office connection.
Monitoring period and switching on blocking
- Monitoring first. Every new client starts in shadow mode. ZDNS records what it would have blocked and blocks nothing.
- Review after 7 days. After 7 days, ZDNS emails the Partner a review for that client: what was found, and a recommended whitelist of services the client appears to rely on. Card and ID number findings are never recommended for whitelisting.
- The Partner switches blocking on. The Partner turns on blocking for each client from the partner dashboard, once the client has had at least 7 days in shadow mode and the Partner has confirmed it reviewed the findings. The Partner is responsible for that decision and for the whitelist entries it adds.
Commitment, price and changing seats
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Minimum commitment | 100 seats |
| Wholesale price | Set by the number of committed seats, and applied to every seat: 100–199 seats R30, 200–499 seats R28, 500–999 seats R26, 1,000 or more R25, per seat per month. No VAT while ZDNS is not VAT-registered |
| Retail price parity | The Partner bills each of its clients at least the ZDNS retail price for the seats that client uses, currently R50 per seat per month |
| Adding seats | Any time, in packs of 25. Charged from the day they are added, then monthly |
| Lowering seats | From the end of the current billing month, on notice given before that month ends. Never below 100 seats |
| Seats across clients | Seats are not divided per client. The commitment covers all the Partner's clients together, and fair use is measured across all of them as a whole |
| Refunds | None, in whole or in part, including for seats not allocated or not used |
A “seat” is one staff member who uses a client's network. Seat counts are reviewed against the Fair Use Policy.
Payment and overdue accounts
The Partner pays ZDNS for all its committed seats, monthly and in advance, whether or not its own clients have paid the Partner. ZDNS does not bill the Partner's clients and does not chase them for payment.
If a payment is overdue, ZDNS treats the Partner's service as one account:
- ZDNS emails the Partner when a payment fails or is late.
- If it is still unpaid 7 days after it was due, ZDNS may suspend the Partner's whole service. Filtering stops for every client account the Partner manages, not only for some seats.
- During a suspension, DNS keeps working unfiltered for 7 days so the Partner's clients are not cut off. After that, lookups from their registered addresses are no longer answered. The Partner must point its clients' routers back to their own DNS before then.
- Full payment of what is owed restores the service. ZDNS may end the agreement if an amount is still unpaid 30 days after it was due.
The Partner is responsible for telling its clients about any suspension it causes.
Partner responsibilities, data and support
- First-line support. The Partner sets up its clients' routers, handles their questions and whitelist requests, and contacts ZDNS at support@zdns.co.za when it needs help.
- Client terms. Before a client goes live, the Partner makes sure the client accepts terms at least as protective of ZDNS as the ZDNS Terms of Service and Fair Use Policy, and signs the ZDNS Data Processing Agreement or an equivalent.
- Data roles. Each client is the responsible party for the lookup records from its network. The Partner acts as its operator, and ZDNS as a sub-operator. The Partner uses client data only to manage that client's service, keeps it confidential, and tells ZDNS within 48 hours if it believes a partner login was misused.
- Logins. The Partner keeps its partner login private and is responsible for what is done with it.
- Honest selling. The Partner describes ZDNS accurately, as set out in the Terms of Service: it is a DNS filter, not antivirus or a firewall, and it does not catch every leak. The Partner may use the ZDNS name to sell the service but may not claim to be ZDNS.
- Testing. The Partner does not probe, load-test or attack ZDNS systems without written permission.
Term, ending, liability and law
This agreement runs month to month. Either side may end it with 30 days' written notice, ending at the end of a billing month. ZDNS may end it sooner for non-payment as above, or for a serious breach the Partner does not fix within 14 days of being told. When it ends, the Partner's client accounts stop at the same time unless a client signs up with ZDNS directly. ZDNS will give each client 30 days' notice of that where it can.
ZDNS's total liability to the Partner is limited to the fees the Partner paid in the 3 months before the claim arose, and ZDNS is not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing here excludes any liability the law does not allow to be excluded. ZDNS may change this agreement with 30 days' emailed notice. South African law applies, and the High Court of South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal Division, has jurisdiction.
How this agreement is accepted
The Partner accepts this agreement online before its first payment, by ticking the acceptance box in the partner dashboard. ZDNS records the name and email address of the person who accepted it, the Partner's company, the version of this agreement, the date and time, and the internet address used, and emails a copy to the Partner. The person accepting confirms that they are authorised to bind the Partner. A signed copy is available on request from admin@zdns.co.za.