Table of Contents
- Scope of Application
- Conclusion of Contract
- Right of Withdrawal
- Prices and Payment Terms
- Provision of Content
- Granting of Rights of Use
- Liability for Defects
- Applicable Law
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
1) Scope of Application
1.1 These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter “T&C”) of Michael Natzmer, trading as “GM MEDIA” (hereinafter “Provider”), apply to all contracts for the provision of digital content—specifically premade book covers customized by designers—concluded between a consumer or business (hereinafter “Customer”) and the Provider via the online marketplace platform. The inclusion of the Customer’s own terms and conditions is hereby rejected, unless otherwise expressly agreed.
1.2 A consumer within the meaning of these T&C is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly neither commercial nor attributable to their independent professional activity.
1.3 A business within the meaning of these T&C is a natural or legal person or a legally capable partnership that acts in the exercise of its commercial or independent professional activity when concluding a legal transaction.
2) Conclusion of Contract
2.1 The product descriptions and premade designs contained in the Provider’s marketplace do not constitute binding offers on the part of the Provider, but rather serve to enable the Customer to submit a binding offer.
2.2 The Customer can submit the offer via the online order form integrated into the marketplace. After placing the selected premade cover into the virtual shopping cart, providing the required customization details (such as author name and book title), and passing through the electronic ordering process, the Customer submits a legally binding contractual offer regarding the items in the shopping cart by clicking the button that concludes the ordering process.
2.3 The Provider may accept the Customer’s offer within five days by:
- sending the Customer a written order confirmation or an order confirmation in text form (email), whereby the receipt of the order confirmation by the Customer is decisive, or
- initiating the provision of the customized content via the marketplace’s messaging center, or
- requesting payment from the Customer after the order has been placed.
If more than one of the aforementioned alternatives applies, the contract shall be concluded at the time when one of these alternatives occurs first. The period for accepting the offer begins on the day after the Customer sends the offer and ends upon the expiration of the fifth day following the sending of the offer. If the Provider does not accept the Customer’s offer within this period, this shall be deemed a rejection of the offer, meaning the Customer is no longer bound by their declaration of intent.
2.4 If a payment method offered by PayPal is selected, payment processing is handled by 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 submitting an offer via the Provider’s online order form, the text of the contract is stored by the Provider after the conclusion of the contract and transmitted to the Customer in text form (e.g., email) after the order has been sent. The contract text will not be made accessible by the Provider beyond this. If the Customer has set up a user account in the marketplace prior to sending their order, the order data will be archived on the Provider’s website and can be accessed by the Customer free of charge via their password-protected user account by entering the corresponding login data.
2.6 Prior to bindingly submitting the order via the online order form, the Customer can identify potential input errors by carefully reading the information displayed on the screen. An effective technical means for better recognition of input errors can be the browser’s zoom function, which enlarges the display on the screen. The Customer can correct their entries during the electronic ordering process using the standard keyboard and mouse functions until clicking the button that concludes the ordering process.
2.7 The English language is available for the conclusion of the contract.
2.8 Order processing and communication usually take place via email and automated order processing. The Customer must ensure that the email address provided for order processing is accurate so that emails sent by the Provider can be received at this address. In particular, when using SPAM filters, the Customer must ensure that all emails sent by the Provider or by third parties commissioned with order processing can be delivered.
3) Right of Withdrawal
Consumers are generally entitled to a right of withdrawal. Detailed information on the right of withdrawal can be found in the Provider’s cancellation policy.
4) Prices and Payment Terms
4.1 The prices stated by the Provider are total prices and are billed in US Dollars (USD). They include statutory value-added tax (VAT), if applicable.
4.2 For payments from countries outside the European Union, additional costs may arise in individual cases for which the Provider is not responsible and which must be borne by the Customer. These include, for example, fees for money transfers by credit institutions (e.g., transfer fees, exchange rate fees).
4.3 The payment options will be specified in the marketplace platform.
4.4 If a payment method offered via the “PayPal” payment service is selected, the payment processing is handled by PayPal, which may also utilize the services of third-party payment service providers for this purpose. If the Seller also offers payment methods via PayPal where the Seller makes advance performance to the Customer, the Seller hereby assigns its payment claim to PayPal or to the specific payment service provider commissioned by PayPal and named to the Customer. Before accepting the Seller’s declaration of assignment, PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal will conduct 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 check result. 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 payments to PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal with debt-discharging effect. However, even in the event of an assignment of claims, the Seller remains responsible for general customer inquiries, e.g., regarding the designs, delivery times, technical platform issues, complaints, declarations of withdrawal, or credit notes.
5) Provision of Content
Customized digital content (premade book covers adjusted with the requested details) is provided to the Customer as follows:
- via digital transmission and download through the marketplace’s internal Messaging Center
6) Granting of Rights of Use
6.1 Unless otherwise stated in the product description in the marketplace, the Provider grants the Customer a non-exclusive right to use the delivered customized book cover for private as well as commercial purposes (e.g., publication of their book).
6.2 Transferring the content to third parties or creating copies for third parties outside the scope of these T&C is not permitted, unless the Provider has expressly consented to a transfer of the contractual license to the third party.
6.3 The granting of rights shall only become effective once the Customer has paid the contractually owed remuneration in full. The Provider may provisionally permit the use of the contractual content prior to this time. A transfer of rights does not take place through such provisional permission.
7) Liability for Defects
Statutory liability for defects shall apply.
8) Applicable Law
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to all legal relationships between the parties, excluding the laws governing the international sale of movable goods (CISG). For consumers, this choice of law applies only to the extent that the protection granted by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence is not withdrawn.
9) Alternative Dispute Resolution
The Provider is neither obligated nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.