A regular commercial license covers one end product — the client’s live site — not a studio starter kit you clone for every pitch. Put the license on the statement of work before anyone copies a folder. This is a working note from the VicanTheme journal, written for agencies billing a website as a client deliverable. The catalog we keep returning to is HTML templates, because files you can host beat a locked builder when the brand has to last.
If you already know the industry, skip ahead to the recommended demo — Vellum — and use the headings as a checklist rather than a speech.
Regular coverage for one client website
On VicanTheme, a regular license is commercial. You may build a paying client’s website with it. You may modify the CSS. You may hand over the built site. You may not turn the pack into a template you resell, a SaaS skin, or an internal kit copied onto five domains. Vellum for a chambers site is one end product. A second chambers client is a second license.
Agencies get into trouble by treating the ZIP as process. A well-meaning director drops Vellum into a boilerplate repo and ships three firms from one purchase. That is redistribution, even if each site looks different after tokens change. The license follows the end product, not the number of hours you billed. Buy the seat for the domain that will go live. Keep the receipt with the matter file.
What redistribution actually looks like
Redistribution is a shared Dropbox of ZIPs, a starter theme on your GitHub, or a franchise kit the client’s other properties may clone. It is not a contractor helping on the same single site. It is not a staging URL. It is not a PDF of the license in a handover pack.
White-label presentation is allowed in the sense that the live site should look like the client, not like our marketplace. White-label does not mean you remove our license file and pretend you drew the grid. Keep the original pack in an archive the studio controls. Give the client the built assets and the terms that apply to their domain. Do not email the marketplace ZIP to a marketing intern.
How to write the license into the SOW
One line is enough: theme licensed for this website only; additional properties require additional licenses; source pack remains with the agency unless the client’s purchase says otherwise. Finance understands that sentence. Clients who assume they bought a factory will argue later, when a sister brand appears. Put the VicanTheme order id in an appendix. Future you will not remember which card paid.
If the client wants to own the license directly, they should buy it on their account and add you as the implementer. That is cleaner for downloads and updates. If you buy on their behalf, say who holds the login. Updates arrive as new ZIPs, not as patches on their server. Vellum will not merge itself into a custom insights template you built on Friday.
Do this in order
- Open the live demo on a phone.
- Replace photographs before you restyle the CSS.
- Connect the real enquiry or booking tool last.
When client work quietly becomes a product
If you wrap the theme in software that end users pay to access — a branded portal, a paid member area, a site-in-a-box you sell — you have left regular territory. Extended is the conversation. A chambers brochure with a contact form is still regular. A productized intake tool that you sell to many firms, skinned with Vellum, is not. Ask before you invoice, not after a lawyer writes.
Worldwide teams sometimes assume US marketplace folklore or Envato muscle memory. Read our terms for this catalog. The split is one end product versus a product that charges users. It is not a ban on CSS. It is not a yearly tax. It is not unlimited seats because you are an agency. Chamber’s membership enquiry is still one site. A club franchise CMS you resell is a different animal.
Questions people actually ask
Can one license cover a staging site and production?
Yes, when both URLs are the same end product in progress. A second public brand is a second product.
May we keep the ZIP after the client relationship ends?
Keep your archive copy if you were the purchaser. Do not keep deploying it onto new clients without a new license.
Keep reading: Law chambers website design: layout that does the job and Best HTML template for law chambers sites in 2026. Or browse Guides in the journal.
