This is a translation for your convenience. Only the German version is legally binding.
General Terms and Conditions with Customer Information
Table of contents
- Scope
- Conclusion of the contract
- Right of withdrawal
- Prices and terms of payment
- Terms of delivery and shipping
- Retention of title
- Liability for defects (warranty)
- Liability
- Applicable law
- Place of jurisdiction
- Alternative dispute resolution
1) Scope
1.1 These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "GTC") of VitalizeNature GmbH (hereinafter "Seller") apply to all contracts for the delivery of goods which a consumer or entrepreneur (hereinafter "Customer") concludes with the Seller with regard to the goods presented by the Seller in its online shop. The inclusion of the Customer's own terms and conditions is hereby rejected, unless otherwise agreed.
1.2 For the purposes of these GTC, a consumer is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business or self-employed profession.
1.3 For the purposes of these GTC, an entrepreneur is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of their trade, business or self-employed profession.
2) Conclusion of the contract
2.1 The product descriptions contained in the Seller's online shop do not constitute binding offers on the part of the Seller but serve as an invitation for the Customer to submit a binding offer.
2.2 The Customer may submit the offer via the online order form integrated into the Seller's online shop. In doing so, after placing the selected goods in the virtual shopping basket and going through the electronic ordering process, the Customer submits a legally binding contractual offer in respect of the goods contained in the shopping basket by clicking the button that completes the ordering process.
2.3 The Seller may accept the Customer's offer within five days
- by sending the Customer a written order confirmation or an order confirmation in text form (fax or email), whereby receipt of the order confirmation by the Customer is decisive in this respect, or
- by delivering the ordered goods to the Customer, whereby receipt of the goods by the Customer is decisive in this respect, or
- by requesting the Customer to make payment after the Customer has placed their order.
If several of the aforementioned alternatives apply, the contract is concluded at the point in time at which one of the aforementioned alternatives first occurs. The period for accepting the offer begins on the day after the Customer has sent the offer and ends at the end of the fifth day following the sending of the offer. If the Seller does not accept the Customer's offer within the aforementioned period, this shall be deemed a rejection of the offer, with the consequence that the Customer is no longer bound by their declaration of intent.
2.4 If a payment method offered by PayPal is selected, payment will be processed via the payment service provider PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg (hereinafter: "PayPal"), subject to the PayPal User Agreement, available at https://www.paypal.com
2.5 When an order is placed via the Seller's online order form, the text of the contract is stored by the Seller after conclusion of the contract and sent to the Customer in text form (e.g. email, fax or letter) after the Customer has sent their order. The Seller does not make the text of the contract accessible beyond this. If the Customer has set up a user account in the Seller's online shop before sending their order, the order data will be archived on the Seller's website and can be accessed free of charge by the Customer via their password-protected user account by entering the corresponding login details.
2.6 Before submitting a binding order via the Seller's online order form, the Customer can identify possible input errors by carefully reading the information displayed on the screen. An effective technical means of better identifying input errors may be the browser's zoom function, which enlarges the display on the screen. Within the electronic ordering process, the Customer can correct their entries using the usual keyboard and mouse functions until they click the button that completes the ordering process.
2.7 Various languages are available for the conclusion of the contract. The specific choice of languages is displayed in the online shop.
2.8 Orders are generally processed automatically by email. The Customer must ensure that the email address they provide for processing the order is correct, so that emails sent by the Seller can be received at this address.
3) Right of withdrawal
3.1 Consumers are generally entitled to a right of withdrawal.
3.2 Further information on the right of withdrawal can be found in the Seller's cancellation policy.
4) Prices and terms of payment
4.1 Unless otherwise stated in the Seller's product description, the prices quoted are total prices including statutory value added tax. Any additional delivery and shipping costs that may be incurred are stated separately in the respective product description.
4.2 In the case of deliveries to countries outside the European Union, additional costs may be incurred in individual cases for which the Seller is not responsible and which are to be borne by the Customer. These include, for example, costs for the transfer of money by credit institutions (e.g. transfer fees, exchange rate fees) or import duties or taxes (e.g. customs duties). Such costs relating to the transfer of money may also be incurred if the delivery is not made to a country outside the European Union but the Customer makes the payment from a country outside the European Union.
4.3 The payment option(s) will be communicated to the Customer in the Seller's online shop.
4.4 If a payment method offered via the payment service "PayPal" is selected, payment will be processed via PayPal, whereby PayPal may also use the services of third-party payment service providers for this purpose. If the Seller also offers payment methods via PayPal in which the Seller makes advance performance vis-à-vis the Customer (e.g. purchase on account or payment by instalments), the Seller assigns its payment claim in this respect to PayPal or to the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal and specifically named to the Customer. Before accepting the Seller's declaration of assignment, PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal carries out a credit check using the transmitted customer data. The Seller reserves the right to refuse the Customer the selected payment method in the event of a negative result of the check. If the selected payment method is approved, the Customer must pay the invoice amount within the agreed payment period or at the agreed payment intervals. In this case, the Customer can only make payment with debt-discharging effect to PayPal or to the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal. However, even in the event of assignment of the claim, the Seller remains responsible for general customer enquiries, e.g. regarding the goods, delivery time, dispatch, returns, complaints, declarations of withdrawal and returned items or credit notes.
4.5 If a payment method offered via the payment service "Mollie" is selected, payment will be processed by the payment service provider Mollie B.V., Keizersgracht 126, 1015 CW Amsterdam, Netherlands (hereinafter: "Mollie"). To process payments, Mollie may use other payment services for which special payment terms may apply, to which the Customer may be referred separately. Further information on "Mollie" is available on the internet at https://www.mollie.com
4.6 If a payment method offered via the payment service "Stripe" is selected, payment will be processed via the payment service provider Stripe Payments Europe Ltd., 1 Grand Canal Street Lower, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, Ireland (hereinafter "Stripe"). The individual payment methods offered via Stripe will be communicated to the Customer in the Seller's online shop. To process payments, Stripe may use other payment services for which special payment terms may apply, to which the Customer may be referred separately. Further information on Stripe is available on the internet at https://stripe.com
5) Terms of delivery and shipping
5.1 If the Seller offers shipping of the goods, delivery will be made within the delivery area specified by the Seller to the delivery address specified by the Customer, unless otherwise agreed. The delivery address specified in the Seller's order processing is decisive for the processing of the transaction.
5.2 If delivery of the goods fails for reasons for which the Customer is responsible, the Customer shall bear the reasonable costs incurred by the Seller as a result. With regard to the costs of the outbound shipment, this does not apply if the Customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal. If the Customer effectively exercises the right of withdrawal, the provision made in the Seller's cancellation policy applies to the costs of return.
5.3 If the Customer acts as an entrepreneur, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods sold passes to the Customer as soon as the Seller has delivered the item to the forwarding agent, the carrier or any other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment. If the Customer acts as a consumer, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods sold generally only passes upon handover of the goods to the Customer or a person authorised to receive them. Notwithstanding this, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods sold passes to the Customer, even in the case of consumers, as soon as the Seller has delivered the item to the forwarding agent, the carrier or any other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment if the Customer has commissioned the forwarding agent, the carrier or any other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment and the Seller has not previously named this person or institution to the Customer.
5.4 If the Customer acts as a consumer domiciled in Germany or as an entrepreneur, the Seller reserves the right to withdraw from the contract in the event of incorrect or improper self-supply. However, this only applies if the Seller is not responsible for the non-delivery and has concluded a specific hedging transaction with the supplier with due care. The Seller will make every reasonable effort to procure the goods. In the event of non-availability or only partial availability of the goods, the Customer will be informed without undue delay and the consideration will be refunded without undue delay.
5.5 Collection by the Customer is not possible for logistical reasons.
6) Retention of title
If the Seller makes advance performance, it retains title to the delivered goods until the purchase price owed has been paid in full.
7) Liability for defects (warranty)
Unless otherwise stated in the following provisions, the statutory provisions on liability for defects apply. By way of derogation from this, the following applies to contracts for the delivery of goods:
7.1 If the Customer acts as an entrepreneur,
- the Seller has the choice of the type of supplementary performance;
- in the case of new goods, the limitation period for claims for defects is one year from delivery of the goods;
- in the case of used goods, claims for defects are excluded;
- the limitation period does not start anew if a replacement delivery is made within the scope of liability for defects.
7.2 The limitations of liability and shortened periods set out above do not apply
- to claims of the Customer for damages and reimbursement of expenses,
- in the event that the Seller has fraudulently concealed the defect,
- to goods which have been used for a building in accordance with their customary use and have caused its defectiveness,
- to any existing obligation of the Seller to provide updates for digital products, in the case of contracts for the delivery of goods with digital elements.
7.3 In addition, for entrepreneurs, the statutory limitation periods for any existing statutory right of recourse remain unaffected.
7.4 If the Customer acts as a merchant within the meaning of § 1 HGB (German Commercial Code), they are subject to the commercial duty to inspect and give notice of defects pursuant to § 377 HGB. If the Customer fails to comply with the notification obligations set out therein, the goods shall be deemed approved.
7.5 If the Customer acts as a consumer, they are requested to make a complaint to the delivery agent about goods delivered with obvious transport damage and to inform the Seller thereof. If the Customer fails to do so, this has no effect whatsoever on their statutory or contractual claims for defects.
8) Liability
The Seller is liable to the Customer for all contractual, quasi-contractual and statutory claims, including tortious claims, for damages and reimbursement of expenses as follows:
8.1 The Seller is liable without limitation on any legal grounds
- in the event of intent or gross negligence,
- in the event of intentional or negligent injury to life, body or health,
- on the basis of a promise of guarantee, unless otherwise provided in this respect,
- on the basis of mandatory liability, such as under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz).
8.2 If the Customer acts as a consumer domiciled in Germany or as an entrepreneur, the following limitations of liability apply:
If the Seller negligently breaches a material contractual obligation, its liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract, unless it is liable without limitation pursuant to the preceding clause. Material contractual obligations are obligations which the contract imposes on the Seller according to its content in order to achieve the purpose of the contract, the fulfilment of which makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on compliance with which the Customer may regularly rely. Otherwise, any liability of the Seller is excluded, unless it is liable without limitation pursuant to the preceding clause.
8.3 The above provisions on liability also apply with regard to the Seller's liability for its vicarious agents and legal representatives.
9) Applicable law
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to all legal relationships between the parties, excluding the laws on the international sale of movable goods. For consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as the protection granted by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence is not withdrawn.
10) Place of jurisdiction
If the Customer acts as a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law with its registered office in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract is the Seller's place of business. If the Customer has its registered office outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Seller's place of business is the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract if the contract or claims arising from the contract can be attributed to the Customer's professional or commercial activity. In the above cases, however, the Seller is in any event entitled to bring an action before the court at the Customer's registered office.
11) Alternative dispute resolution
The Seller is neither obliged nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
