General terms and conditions of Big Difference GmbH & Co. KG

1. General

(1) The contractual partner for contracts concluded via this online shop is Big Difference GmbH & Co. KG, Am Hasselt 20c, 24576 Bad Bramstedt, Phone: +49 4192 8919083, Fax: +49 4192 8919085, Email: info@big-difference.com (hereinafter referred to as "Seller").

(2) The following General Terms and Conditions apply to all contracts concluded via this online shop. Deviating regulations of the customers do not apply, unless the seller has explicitly confirmed this in writing.

(3) The offers in this online shop are directed at consumers and entrepreneurs. A consumer is any natural person who concludes a legal transaction for purposes that predominantly are outside their trade, business or profession (§ 13 BGB). An entrepreneur is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who acts in exercise of their trade, business or profession when concluding a legal transaction (§ 14 BGB).

(4) The business relations between the seller and the customers are subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. For consumers, this choice of law only applies to the extent that the protection provided by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence is not withdrawn. The applicability of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is excluded.

(5) Jurisdiction is Hamburg, insofar as the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law. The same applies if a customer does not have a general place of jurisdiction in Germany or if their place of residence or habitual abode is not known at the time the lawsuit is filed.

(6) Agreements made with the customer individually (including side agreements, supplements, and amendments) shall in any case take precedence over these General Terms and Conditions.

(7) The contract languages are German and English.

(8) The customer can call up and print out the order summary and the General Terms and Conditions in the online shop. The seller saves the text of the contract of the customer's order. The contractual provisions including the General Terms and Conditions are sent to the customer by email after the conclusion of the contract. Registered customers can view ongoing and completed orders after placing an order. For orders as a guest, the text of the contract is no longer separately accessible after the order is placed.

(9) The seller's offers are directed at customers worldwide.

2. Conclusion of Contract and Ordering Process

(1) By listing products in the online shop, the seller makes a binding offer to conclude a contract for these items. The contract for the goods contained in the shopping cart is concluded by the customer accepting the offer by clicking the "ORDER WITH OBLIGATION TO PAY" button. Before sending the order, the customer can change and view the data at any time.

(2) The seller then sends the customer an automatic order confirmation by email, including these General Terms and Conditions and a cancellation policy, in which the customer's order is listed again and which the customer can print out using the "Print" function.

(3) The ordering process via the online shop includes the following steps:

The customer can select products from the seller's assortment and collect them in a so-called virtual "shopping cart" by clicking the "ADD TO CART" button. The content of the shopping cart can be viewed non-bindingly at any time by clicking the "CART" button, and products can be removed from the cart or their quantity changed. By clicking on the "CHECKOUT" button, the customer is prompted to log in with their login data if they already have a customer account, or to set up a customer account. The customer also has the option to place a guest order without registration and setting up a customer account.

During the ordering process, the customer is asked to select a shipping and payment method. When choosing payment methods PayPal, direct debit, credit card, and purchase on account, the customer is redirected to the website of the payment service provider (PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg) after clicking the "CONTINUE WITH ORDER" button. After entering the data necessary to use the selected payment method, the customer is redirected to the seller's "Summary" page. A payment is only triggered when the customer completes the order by clicking the "ORDER WITH OBLIGATION TO PAY" button on the "Summary" page. When selecting the payment methods "Prepayment" and "Payment upon Collection", there is a direct redirection to the seller's "Summary" page after clicking the "CONTINUE WITH ORDER" button.

On the "Summary" page, the customer has the opportunity to review their information. All information (e.g., name, address, payment method, ordered items) can be corrected using the provided editing fields. Until clicking the "ORDER WITH OBLIGATION TO PAY" button, the order is not binding for the customer.

(4) A customer also has the option to inquire by phone or by email, fax, or letter to the seller about a specific item. Upon receiving such an inquiry, the seller separately submits an offer to the customer by email, letter, or fax. A contract is only concluded when the customer accepts this offer.

3. Prices, Value Added Tax, and Payment

(1) If a customer is registered in the online shop as a trader, the prices are displayed net, without the statutory value-added tax. In all other cases, all prices include the statutory value-added tax. Prices are in addition to shipping and packaging costs. The amount of shipping costs depends on the order value for orders within Germany and on the weight and desired destination for orders outside Germany. The shipping costs can be viewed at any time via the link on the product pages. In addition, the shipping costs are displayed on the order summary before placing the order.

(2) For orders within Germany, the seller offers the payment options cash payment on collection, PayPal, direct debit, credit card, purchase on account, and prepayment. For orders to other countries, the seller offers the payment options PayPal and prepayment.

(3) When paying in advance, the seller provides the bank details in the order confirmation. The invoice amount is to be transferred to the account provided within ten days. If the payment has not been made after this period has expired, the seller is entitled to withdraw from the contract.

4. Delivery and Transfer of Risk

(1) The ordered goods will be delivered to the address specified by the customer, unless otherwise contractually agreed. The delivery comes from the seller's warehouse.

(2) The seller reserves the right to make a partial delivery if this is reasonable for the customer. Additional costs arising from partial deliveries will not be charged to the customer.

(3) The availability of the individual goods is indicated in the item descriptions. For goods described as "immediately available", the delivery period, unless otherwise stated in the item description, is five working days from the conclusion of the contract (in the case of prepayment by transfer: seven working days after the payment order). The stated delivery times apply to shipping within Germany. Delivery times for shipping abroad may differ and can be viewed here.

(4) If the customer is a consumer, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods passes to the customer upon handover. If the customer is an entrepreneur, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods as well as the risk of delay passes to the forwarder, the carrier, or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment upon delivery of the goods.

(5) If an ordered item is not available because the seller, through no fault of their own and despite contractual obligations, is not supplied correctly or on time by their supplier, the seller is entitled to withdraw from the contract. The seller will immediately inform the customer that the ordered goods are not available or only available at a later date. In the event of withdrawal, the seller will immediately refund any payments already made.

5. Right of Withdrawal

Consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal for contracts concluded via this online shop, in accordance with the following instruction. A consumer is any natural person who concludes a legal transaction for purposes that predominantly are outside their trade, business, or profession (§ 13 BGB).

Instructions for withdrawal

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is 14 days from the day on which you or a third party named by you, who is not the carrier, has taken possession of the goods. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Big Difference GmbH & Co. KG, Am Hasselt 20c, 24576 Bad Bramstedt, Phone: +49 4192 8919083, Email: info@big-difference.com) by means of a clear declaration (e.g., a letter sent by post, fax, or email) of your decision to withdraw from this contract. You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (with the exception of the supplementary costs resulting from your choice of a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us), without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement. We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to us without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics, and functioning of the goods.

End of the instructions for withdrawal

The model withdrawal form can be found here.

6. Retention of Title, Rights of Retention

(1) The delivered goods remain the property of the seller until full payment is made.

(2) In the case that the customer is an entrepreneur, paragraph 1 also applies to all deliveries from the ongoing business relationship until the settlement of all claims arising in connection with the contract.

(3) If the customer is an entrepreneur, they are entitled to resell the goods subject to retention of title in the ordinary course of business provided that the claims from the resale are transferred to the seller as follows:

The customer hereby assigns to the seller all claims with all ancillary rights arising from the resale to the customer or to third parties, up to the amount of the purchase price claim.

The customer is authorized to collect this claim even after assignment. The seller's authority to collect the claims themselves remains unaffected; however, the seller undertakes not to collect the claims as long as the customer meets their payment obligations.

The seller may demand that the customer disclose the assigned claims and their debtors, provide all information necessary for collection, hand over the related documents, and notify the debtors of the assignment.

In any case, the aforementioned securities automatically expire as soon as their value exceeds the secured claims by more than ten percent.

(4) The customer has the right to offset only if their counterclaims have been legally established, are undisputed, or have been acknowledged by the seller. In the event of defects in the delivery, the customer's counter-rights remain unaffected, in particular their right to withhold a part of the purchase price appropriate to the defect. In addition, the customer is entitled to exercise a right of retention insofar as their counterclaim is based on the same contractual relationship.

7. Defects, Warranty Rights, and Liability

(1) The legal warranty rights exist for the seller's goods. If the customer is a consumer, the legal provisions apply in the event of a defect in the purchased item.

(2) If the customer is an entrepreneur, the following regulations apply to the buyer's warranty rights: The choice regarding the type of supplementary performance is up to the seller. For claims for damages, paragraph 5 additionally applies. The limitation period for warranty claims is 12 months from delivery. Deviating from this, the legal limitation period applies to the following claims of the buyer:

Claims for damages from product liability, for damage resulting from injury to life, body, health, or from the breach of a duty whose fulfillment makes the proper execution of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the buyer regularly relies (so-called cardinal duty) and for other damages based on an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by the seller or their vicarious agents,

Recourse claims according to § 445b para. 1 BGB,

Claims due to the fraudulent concealment of a defect,

As well as warranty claims in the cases of § 438 para. 1 no. 1 and no. 2 BGB.

(3) In the case of the existence of an additional guarantee, in particular a manufacturer's guarantee, the seller points out the existence and the conditions of the guarantee in the product description as well as separately with the delivery of the goods. In the case of the existence of such an additional guarantee, the legal rights of the customer against the seller for warranty for defects are not restricted.

(4) In legal transactions with consumers, the seller is liable according to the legal provisions.

(5) In legal transactions with entrepreneurs, the seller is liable as follows: In the case of intent and gross negligence, the seller is liable according to the legal provisions. For simple negligence, the seller is only liable for the breach of a duty whose fulfillment enables the proper execution of the contract in the first place and on whose compliance the buyer regularly relies (so-called cardinal duty). If the seller is liable for slight negligence, their liability is limited to the foreseeable, contract-typical damage foreseeable at the time of the conclusion of the contract. Otherwise, liability for damages of all kinds, regardless of the basis of the claim, including liability for fault at the conclusion of the contract, is excluded. The above exclusions and limitations of liability do not apply insofar as the seller has assumed a guarantee, for damages that are to be replaced according to the Product Liability Act as well as for damages to life, body, or health. The above exclusions and limitations of liability also apply in favor of the seller's employees and vicarious agents as well as other third parties whom the seller uses to fulfill the contract.

8. Customer Service

The seller's customer service is available by email (info@big-difference.com) and by phone (+49 4192 8919083).

9. Information on Transport Damage

If goods are delivered with obvious damage to the packaging or contents, the customer should immediately complain to the carrier/freight service and contact the seller immediately by email or in another way (fax/post) so that the seller can preserve any rights against the carrier/freight service. A failure to make a complaint or to make a complaint in a timely manner according to sentence 1 does not affect the warranty rights of the customer if the customer is a consumer.

10. Note on the EU Platform for Online Dispute Resolution (ODR Platform) and Notice According to the Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (VSBG)

The European Commission provides a platform for out-of-court online dispute resolution (ODR platform), which is available at www.ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. The seller can be reached by email at info@big-difference.com. The seller is neither obliged nor willing to participate in the dispute resolution procedure.

11. Data Protection

The seller's privacy policy can be viewed on the online shop's website. It can be found here.