Disclaimer: The following template was created by a lawyer (https://drschwenke.de) in accordance with the typical requirements associated with an online shop. You should nevertheless only apply the template further to careful scrutiny and adaptation to your specific business model. In order to assist you in doing so, the following template contains additional notes that must be adhered to as well as red passages that require special attention and, where applicable, adaptation. Please delete the notes once you have worked your way through the template. Take legal advice if you are unsure about particular elements. Copyright: You are only permitted to use the template within the respective domain/website if the latter is covered by your Marketpress license. The passing on of this template to third parties (including customers, e.g. as developers) is prohibited.
General Terms and Conditions (including information for customers)
1. Applicability
2. Offers, service descriptions
3. Order process, conclusion of the contract
4. Prices, delivery costs
5. Delivery, product availability
6. Terms of payment
7. Retention of title
8. Product warranty, guarantee
9. Liability
10. Storage of the contract itself
11. Closing remarks
1. Applicability
1.1. The business relationship between [please insert: DemoShop Ltd, owner: Tom Template, 1 Template Street, Post Code Template City] (hereinafter referred to as the “vendor”) and the customer (hereinafter referred to as the “customer”) is exclusively governed by the following General Terms and Conditions in the version valid at the time of order placement.
1.2. A consumer within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for a purpose that can predominantly be attributed neither to his commercial nor to his independent professional activity. 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 his commercial or independent professional activity.
1.3. Deviating terms and conditions of the customer shall not be recognized unless the seller expressly agrees to their validity.
2. Offers, service descriptions
2.1. The display of products in the online shop is to be equated with an invitation to place an order and not a legally binding offer. Service descriptions included in catalogues or on the vendor’s websites are not to be equated with either a promise or a guarantee.
2.2. All offers are valid “as long as stocks last” unless otherwise stated in the respective product description. Errors excepted.
NB: Please enter the correct button labels in the following section.
3. Order process, conclusion of the contract
3.1. The customer is free to select the products of their choice from the vendor’s product range and gather them together in a so-called “basket” using the [Add to basket] button. The customer can then proceed to their basket and amend their selection as required, for example by removing a product from the basket. Once they are happy with their selection the customer can proceed to the final step in the order process using the [Proceed to checkout] button.
3.2. When the customer clicks the [Place order (payment will be taken)] button they make a binding request to buy the goods currently in their basket. Prior to order placement the customer is able to view and amend their order data at any time and can also use their browser’s “Back” function to return to their basket or abort the order process. Essential entries are marked with an asterisk (*).
3.3. The vendor responds by emailing the customer an automatic confirmation of receipt; the email recapitulates the order placed by the customer and can be printed using the “Print” function (order confirmation). The automatic confirmation of receipt only documents the receipt of the customer’s order by the vendor and is not to be equated with order acceptance. A binding purchase contract is only deemed to be concluded if the vendor dispatches or hands over the product ordered to the customer within 2 days or confirms the dispatch of the product ordered within 2 days by sending the customer a second email, order confirmation or an invoice.
3.4. In the case of customers who are companies, the aforementioned period for dispatch, delivery or order confirmation is seven days instead of two.
3.5. If the vendor offers an advance payment option the contract is deemed to be concluded at such time as the customer provides their bank details and fulfils the payment request. If, despite being due and despite the customer being sent a reminder, payment is not received by the vendor within 10 calendar days of the sending of the order confirmation, the vendor is entitled to withdraw from the contract, thus rendering the order invalid and in turn freeing the vendor from their obligation to supply. At this point the order is considered to have been brought to a conclusion with no further consequences for either the customer or the vendor. Products for which advance payment is offered can therefore be reserved for a maximum of 10 calendar days.
4. Prices, delivery costs
4.1. All prices indicated on the vendor’s website are inclusive of statutory value-added tax (VAT) at the valid rate.
4.2. The vendor charges delivery costs in addition to the prices indicated. Delivery costs are clearly explained to the customer on a separate webpage and during the order process itself.
5. Delivery, product availability
5.1. If the customer selects advance payment delivery will occur further to receipt of the invoice amount.
5.2. The vendor is entitled to withdraw from the contract if, at the fault of the customer, delivery of the goods fails despite three delivery attempts. Any payments already made by the customer will be refunded without delay.
5.3. The vendor is entitled to withdraw from the contract if the product ordered is not available because the vendor, through no fault of their own, has not been supplied with the product in question by their supplier. If this situation arises the vendor will inform the customer without delay and, where necessary, offer to supply them with a comparable product. If there are no comparable products available or the customer does not wish to be supplied with a comparable product the vendor will refund any payment already received to the customer without delay.
5.4. Customers are notified of delivery periods and restrictions on delivery (e.g. delivery to specific countries to the exclusion of others) on a separate webpage or in the respective product description.
5.5 In the case of customers who are companies, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods shall pass to the buyers as soon as the seller has delivered the item to the forwarding agent, the carrier or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment; the stated delivery dates and deadlines, subject to other promises and agreements, are not fixed dates.
5.6 The Seller shall not be responsible for delays in delivery and performance due to force majeure and due to unforeseeable events that make delivery significantly more difficult or impossible for the Seller vis-à-vis customers who are entrepreneurs, even in the case of bindingly agreed deadlines and dates. In this case, the Seller shall be entitled to postpone the delivery or service by the duration of the impediment plus a reasonable start-up period. The right to postpone the deadline shall also apply to customers who are entrepreneurs in cases of unforeseeable events that affect the operations of a pre-supplier and for which neither the pre-supplier nor the Seller are responsible. During the period of such hindrance, the customer shall also be released from its contractual obligations, in particular payment. If the delay is unreasonable for the customer, the customer may withdraw from the contract by written declaration after a reasonable period to be set by the customer or after mutual consultation with the seller.
6. Terms of payment
6.1. The customer is free to select one of the available payment types during the order process; their selection is made prior to completion of the order process. Customers are informed about available payment types on a separate webpage.
6.2. If payment on account is available payment must be made within 30 days of receipt of the goods and the corresponding invoice. Full payment must be made in advance in the case of all other payment types.
6.3. If third-party providers are commissioned to process the payment (e.g. PayPal) the general terms and conditions operated by those providers apply.
6.4. If the due date by which payment must be made is defined as a calendar date the customer will be deemed to be in arrears as soon as they fail to comply with that due date and be liable for statutory interest on arrears.
6.5. The customer’s obligation to pay interest on arrears does not preclude the enforcement of other claims for delay-related damages by the vendor.
6.6. The customer only has the right to set-off if their counterclaims are legally valid or acknowledged by the vendor. The customer can only enforce a right of retention if their claims result from the same contractual relationship as the vendor’s claims.
7. Retention of title
The vendor retains the title of the goods supplied until such time as full payment has been made.
For customers who are entrepreneurs, the following shall apply in addition: The seller shall retain title to the goods until all claims arising from an ongoing business relationship have been settled in full; the buyer shall be obliged to treat the purchased item with care as long as title has not yet passed to him. In particular, he is obligated to insure it adequately at his own expense against theft, fire and water damage at replacement value, if this is appropriate or customary in the industry. If maintenance and inspection work has to be carried out, the Buyer shall carry this out in good time at its own expense. The processing or transformation of the reserved goods by the customer shall always be carried out for the seller. If the reserved goods are processed with other items not belonging to the Seller, the Seller shall acquire co-ownership of the new item in the ratio of the value of the reserved goods to the other processed items at the time of processing. In all other respects, the same shall apply to the item created by processing as to the goods subject to retention of title. The customer also assigns the claim to secure the claims against him which arise against a third party through the connection of the reserved goods with a property. Access by third parties to the goods owned or co-owned by the seller must be reported immediately by the customer. The customer shall bear any costs for a third-party action or costs for an extrajudicial release arising from such interventions. The customer is entitled to resell the goods subject to retention of title in the ordinary course of business. The customer already assigns to the seller by way of security all claims arising from resale or other legal grounds with regard to the reserved goods (including all balance claims from current account). The Seller revocably authorizes the Customer to collect the claims assigned to the Seller for its account and in its own name. This direct debit authorization may be revoked if the customer does not properly meet its payment obligations. The Seller undertakes to release the securities to which the Seller is entitled at the Customer’s request when their total sales value exceeds the sum of all outstanding claims of the Seller arising from the business relationship by more than 10% (or by more than 50% if there is a risk of liquidation). The selection of the securities to be released shall be incumbent upon the Seller. With the settlement of all claims of the seller from delivery transactions, the ownership of the goods subject to retention of title and the assigned claims shall pass to the buyer. The choice of the securities to be released is incumbent on the seller.
8. Product warranty and guarantee
8.1. The warranty (liability for defects) shall be determined in accordance with statutory provisions, subject to the following provisions.
8.2. The goods supplied by the vendor are only subject to a guarantee if the customer was expressly informed of such a guarantee and the terms thereof prior to the commencement of the order process.
8.3. If the customer is an entrepreneur, he shall inspect the goods without undue delay, notwithstanding any statutory obligations to give notice of defects, and shall notify the supplier in writing of any visible material defects without undue delay, at the latest within two weeks after delivery, and of any non-visible material defects without undue delay, at the latest within two weeks after discovery. Deviations in quality, weight, size, thickness, width, equipment, pattern and color that are customary in the trade and permissible in accordance with quality standards or minor deviations shall not constitute defects.
8.4. If the customer is an entrepreneur, the choice is between rectification or subsequent delivery of defective goods by the seller.
8.5. Notwithstanding the liability provisions of these Terms and Conditions, material defects shall become statute-barred one year after the transfer of risk for customers who are entrepreneurs, unless longer periods are prescribed by law, in particular in the case of special provisions for the recourse of the entrepreneur. For used goods, the warranty of customers who are entrepreneurs is excluded.
8.6. If the customer, who is an entrepreneur, has installed the defective item within the meaning of Section 439 (3) of the German Civil Code (BGB) in another item or attached it to another item in accordance with its type and intended use, the seller shall, subject to an express agreement and without prejudice to the other warranty obligations, not be obliged to reimburse the customer for the necessary expenses for the removal of the defective item and the installation or attachment of the repaired or delivered item free of defects within the scope of subsequent performance. Accordingly, the Seller shall also not be obliged to reimburse expenses for the removal of the defective item and the installation or attachment of the repaired or delivered defect-free item within the scope of a recourse by the Customer within the supply chain (i.e. between the Customer and its customers).
9. Liability
9.1. The following exclusions and restrictions of liability in connection with the vendor’s liability for compensation apply irrespective of other statutory eligibility criteria.
9.2. The vendor is liable without restriction if damage was caused with wilful intent or gross negligence.
9.3. The vendor is also liable for minor negligence leading to the violation of fundamental obligations whose violation jeopardises the fulfilment of the contractual purpose and the violation of obligations whose fulfilment is a prerequisite for the proper performance of the contract and can normally be relied upon by the customer. In this case the vendor’s liability is nevertheless restricted to foreseeable damage typical to the type of contract involved. The vendor is not liable for minor negligence leading to the violation of obligations other than those mentioned in the previous sentences.
9.4. The above restrictions of liability do not apply to damage to life, limb or health, defects identified after the acceptance of a guarantee regarding the nature of the product or defects kept secret with wilful deceit. Liability under the terms of the German Act on Liability for Defective Products remains unaffected.
9.5. Insofar as the vendor’s liability is excluded or restricted, such exclusion and/or restriction also applies to the personal liability of employees, representatives and agents.
10. Storage of the contract itself
10.1. The customer is able to print out the contract with the aid of their browser’s print function during the last step of the order process (i.e. prior to placing their order with the vendor).
10.2. The vendor will also send the customer an order confirmation containing all order data to the email address provided by the customer. In addition, the customer will receive a copy of the vendor’s general terms and conditions (including the vendor’s cancellation policy and information on shipping costs and the vendor’s terms of shipping and payment) along with the order confirmation or upon delivery of the goods at the latest. If you have registered with our shop you can view the orders you have placed in your profile. We also store the contract in your profile but do not make it accessible on the internet.
10.3. Customers who are entrepreneurs can receive the contract documents by email, in writing or by reference to an online source.
11. Closing remarks
11.1. If the buyer is an entrepreneur, subject to other agreements or mandatory statutory provisions, the place of performance is the seller’s seat, while the place of jurisdiction is the seller’s seat if the customer is a merchant, legal entity under public law or special fund under public law or the buyer is in the country of domicile of the seller has no general place of jurisdiction. The right of the seller to choose another admissible place of jurisdiction is reserved.
11.2. In the case of entrepreneurs, the law of the [Federal Republic of Germany / Republic of Austria] applies to the exclusion of the UN sales law, as long as there are no compelling statutory provisions to the contrary.
11.3. The language of the contract is German.
NB: Please note in the following that the link to http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/ must be clickable
11.4. European Commission consumer platform for Online Dispute Resolution (ODR): http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. We are neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings in front of a consumer arbitration board.