Terms of service

Last updated: September 13, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of hanziink.com and any custom language, calligraphy, illustration, layout, and digital design services offered under the Hanzi Ink brand (collectively, the "Services"). Hanzi Ink is operated by HONGKONG LIGHTIFY TRADING CO., LIMITED ("Hanzi Ink," "we," "us," or "our"), a company registered in Hong Kong SAR.

By submitting a design request, accepting a written proposal, paying an invoice, or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not purchase the Services.

1. What We Provide

Hanzi Ink creates custom Chinese-language and calligraphy artwork, including tattoo-ready digital design files. Our work may include language research, cultural interpretation, character or phrase recommendations, original calligraphy, composition, and related visual design.

We are a design service. We do not provide tattooing, medical advice, legal advice, certified translation, or a guarantee about the work of any tattoo artist or other third party.

2. Requests, Proposals, and Acceptance

Submitting the website inquiry form does not create an order or require payment. After reviewing your request, we will communicate with you and provide a written proposal or Shopify invoice before payment. The proposal will state the agreed design scope, fixed price, included revision rounds, expected delivery timing, and deliverable file formats.

An order is accepted only when we confirm the project and receive the required payment. If a proposal conflicts with these Terms, the specific written proposal controls for that project.

3. Pricing and Payment

The price shown in the written proposal or invoice is fixed for the agreed scope. We do not add hidden charges or require an unapproved price supplement for work already included in that scope. Complex projects will be discussed and priced before payment.

If you later request a materially different concept, additional deliverables, or a new scope that was not included in the original proposal, we may treat it as a separate project. We will not begin or charge for that separate work without your express approval of a new written proposal.

Payment is processed through Shopify or the payment method shown on the invoice. You are responsible for any taxes, currency conversion fees, or bank charges that are clearly disclosed or imposed by your payment provider.

4. Client Information and Cooperation

You agree to provide accurate information about the intended meaning, names, spelling, dates, preferred style, placement, dimensions, and other project requirements. You are responsible for reviewing our questions and providing timely, clear feedback.

You must have permission to share any photographs, artwork, logos, text, or other reference materials that you provide. You must not ask us to create content that is unlawful, hateful, infringing, deceptive, or intended to harm another person. We may refuse a request that we reasonably believe creates legal, safety, or ethical concerns.

5. Creative Interpretation and Revisions

Custom language and calligraphy involve professional judgment and creative interpretation. Differences in style, stroke form, composition, and visual balance are part of the creative process and are not defects when they are consistent with the agreed brief.

The number of included revision rounds will be stated before payment. A revision round means one consolidated set of reasonable changes to an existing concept. A completely new phrase, concept, composition, or direction may be outside the agreed scope and may require a separate project proposal.

Please provide feedback within 14 days of receiving a draft unless we agree otherwise. If we receive no response for 30 days, we may place the project on hold. Restarting a dormant project is subject to our availability, but does not create an automatic refund right.

6. Delivery

All deliverables are digital unless the written proposal expressly states otherwise. We will deliver files through email, a download link, or another agreed electronic method. Estimated timelines begin after payment and after we receive all information reasonably required to start.

Delivery dates are good-faith estimates rather than guarantees unless a specific deadline is expressly agreed in writing. We will notify you if a material delay occurs. Additional details are set out in our Refund & Digital Delivery Policy.

7. Approval and Tattoo Responsibility

You are responsible for carefully reviewing the wording, characters, spelling, orientation, dimensions, placement, and final visual design before approving it or having it tattooed. Please ask questions before final approval if anything is unclear.

Your chosen tattoo artist is responsible for assessing technical suitability for the body location, adapting the design where necessary, following hygiene and safety requirements, and accurately applying the tattoo. Hanzi Ink is not responsible for tattoo execution, skin reactions, healing, placement decisions, later changes to the body, or differences between the approved digital artwork and the finished tattoo.

8. Cancellations and Refunds

Each order is custom-made for an individual client. Before payment, we disclose the price, scope, included revisions, expected timing, and deliverables. By paying the invoice, you request that we reserve creative capacity and begin custom work.

Once payment has been received and work has begun, the order is final and non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law or where we fail to provide the agreed Services and cannot reasonably correct the issue. A change of mind, unused revision rounds, a decision not to get the tattoo, dissatisfaction caused by matters outside the agreed brief, or the work of a third-party tattoo artist does not create a refund right.

If we cancel a project because we are unable to provide the agreed Services, we will issue an appropriate refund, up to a full refund depending on the work already delivered and applicable law. Nothing in these Terms limits consumer rights that cannot legally be waived. Please review our Refund & Digital Delivery Policy before paying.

9. Ownership of the Final Design

After we receive full payment, and subject to any third-party rights identified in the proposal, the final approved custom artwork belongs to you. To the fullest extent legally permitted, we assign to you the transferable economic rights that we own in that final artwork. You may decide how to use, reproduce, modify, display, tattoo, or commercially exploit it.

This transfer applies only to the final approved artwork. Hanzi Ink retains ownership of rejected drafts, unused concepts, working files, methods, templates, tools, and pre-existing materials. Chinese characters, words, traditional expressions, general ideas, and elements that are not legally protectable remain outside the ownership transfer. Any third-party material remains subject to its original owner's rights.

10. Portfolio Use and Publicity

We will not publicly display your custom design, submitted reference images, identifying story, tattoo photographs, name, or other project materials in our portfolio, website, advertising, or social media without first asking for and receiving your express permission.

You may refuse portfolio permission without affecting the price or delivery of your project. Any permission request will explain what we want to display. Where reasonably practicable, you may later ask us to stop future use, although this may not remove material already printed, shared, or archived by third parties.

11. Client-Supplied Materials

You retain ownership of materials you provide. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive permission to use those materials only as needed to evaluate, create, revise, deliver, and administer your project. You represent that this use will not infringe another person's rights.

12. Service Standards and Corrections

We aim to provide culturally informed and carefully reviewed work. If you believe a delivered file materially differs from the agreed brief or contains an error attributable to us, contact us promptly with details. We will review the concern in good faith and, where appropriate, correct the work within the agreed scope.

We do not guarantee that every viewer, translator, calligrapher, or tattoo artist will prefer the same wording or style, because language and art can involve context and judgment.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hanzi Ink will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential losses arising from the Services, including losses caused by a third-party tattoo artist, unauthorized alteration of the files, or use of a draft rather than the final approved design.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising from a project will not exceed the amount you paid for that project. These limitations do not apply where liability cannot legally be excluded or limited, including liability arising from fraud or other mandatory consumer protections.

14. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use personal information, including information and reference images submitted through the design request form. By using the Services, you acknowledge that policy.

15. Age and Authority

There is no minimum age requirement to submit a design idea. However, if you do not have legal capacity to enter into a binding contract or make payment in your jurisdiction, a parent or legal guardian must authorize the purchase on your behalf. The person paying the invoice represents that they have authority to enter into the agreement.

16. Website Use

You may use this website only for lawful purposes. Website content, branding, layouts, photographs, and portfolio materials remain owned by Hanzi Ink or their respective owners and may not be copied or commercially used without permission. This section does not restrict your rights in a final design assigned to you under Section 9.

17. Governing Law and Consumer Rights

These Terms are governed by the laws of Hong Kong SAR, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The courts of Hong Kong SAR will have non-exclusive jurisdiction over disputes, unless mandatory consumer law in your place of residence gives you the right to bring a claim elsewhere.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded. If any provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect.

18. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The version provided or linked before payment applies to that order unless both parties agree otherwise in writing.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms or a project may be sent to studio@hanziink.com. Hanzi Ink is operated by HONGKONG LIGHTIFY TRADING CO., LIMITED, 72-76 Wing Lok Street, 9F Unic C Winning House, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong SAR.