Table of Contents
1. Scope of Application
2. Conclusion of Contract, Protection of Minors
3. Right of Withdrawal
4. Prices and Payment Conditions
5. Delivery and Shipping Conditions
6. Retention of Title
7. Liability for Defects (Warranty)
8. Limitations of Liability in Business Transactions with Entrepreneurs
9. Applicable Law
10. Alternative Dispute Resolution
1) Scope of Application
1.1 These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter “GTC”) of the Villa Hochdörffer Winery (hereinafter “Seller”) apply to all contracts for the delivery of goods concluded between a consumer or entrepreneur (hereinafter “Customer”) and the Seller regarding the goods presented by the Seller in its online shop/website. The inclusion of the Customer’s own terms and conditions is hereby expressly excluded, unless otherwise agreed.
1.2 A consumer within the meaning of these GTC is any natural person who concludes a legal transaction for purposes that can predominantly be attributed neither to their commercial nor to their independent professional activity. An entrepreneur within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of his or her commercial or independent professional activity.
2) Conclusion of Contract, Protection of Minors
2.1 The product descriptions contained in the Seller’s online shop/website do not constitute binding offers on the part of the Seller, but rather serve as a basis for the Customer to submit a binding offer.
2.2 The Customer can submit the offer via the online order form integrated into the Seller’s online shop/website. After placing the selected goods in the virtual shopping cart and completing the electronic ordering process, the Customer submits a legally binding contractual offer for the goods contained in the shopping cart by clicking the button that completes the ordering process. Furthermore, the Customer can also submit the offer to the Seller by telephone, fax, email, mail, or via the online contact form.
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, or
– by delivering the ordered goods to the Customer, whereby receipt of the goods by the Customer is decisive, or
– by requesting payment from the Customer after placing the order.
If several of the aforementioned alternatives apply, the contract is concluded at the time one of the aforementioned alternatives occurs first. The period for accepting the offer begins on the day after the Customer sends the offer and ends on the expiry of the fifth day following the dispatch 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.
2.4.1 If a payment method offered by PayPal is selected, payment processing will be carried out 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 Terms of Use, available at https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full or – if the customer does not have a PayPal account – subject to the terms and conditions for payments without a PayPal account, available at https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/privacywax-full. If the customer pays using a payment method offered by PayPal that can be selected during the online ordering process, the seller hereby declares acceptance of the customer’s offer at the time the customer clicks the button that concludes the ordering process.
2.4.2 Advance payment or purchase on account is offered as additional payment options. The Seller may determine the payment method by excluding individual payment options.
2.5 When submitting an offer via the Seller’s online order form, the contract text will be saved by the Seller after the contract has been concluded and sent to the Customer in text form (e.g., email, fax, or letter) after the order has been sent. The Seller will not make the contract text available beyond this time. If the Customer has created a user account in the Seller’s online shop before submitting 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 providing the corresponding login data.
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 for better detection of input errors can be the browser’s zoom function, which enlarges the display on the screen. The customer can correct their input during the electronic ordering process using the usual keyboard and mouse functions until they click the button that completes the order process.
2.7 Only German is available for the conclusion of the contract.
2.8 Order processing and contact are generally carried out via email and automated order processing. The customer must ensure that the email address provided for order processing is correct so that emails sent by the seller can be received at this address. In particular, when using spam filters, the customer must ensure that all emails sent by the seller or third parties commissioned by the seller to process the order can be delivered.
2.9 When ordering alcoholic beverages, the customer confirms by submitting the order that they have reached the legally required minimum age. The seller ensures that the customer has reached the legally required minimum age by incorporating an age verification system. Therefore, the goods will only be handed over after successful age verification and customer authentication.
3) Right of Withdrawal
3.1 Consumers generally have 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 Payment Terms
4.1 Unless otherwise stated in the seller’s product description, the prices stated are total prices that include statutory sales tax. Any additional delivery and shipping costs will be stated separately in the respective product description.
4.2 For deliveries to countries outside the European Union, additional costs may arise in individual cases for which the seller is not responsible and which must be borne by the customer. These include, for example, costs for money transfers by credit institutions (e.g., transfer fees, exchange rate fees) or import duties or taxes (e.g., customs duties). Such costs may also arise in relation to money transfers 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 the payment method “PayPal Direct Debit” is selected, PayPal will debit the invoice amount from the customer’s bank account on behalf of the seller after a SEPA direct debit mandate has been issued, but not before the expiry of the advance notification period. Advance notification (“pre-notification”) is any communication (e.g., invoice, policy, contract) to the customer announcing a debit via SEPA direct debit. If the direct debit is not honored due to insufficient account funds or due to the provision of incorrect bank details, or if the customer objects to the debit despite not being entitled to do so, the customer must bear the fees incurred by the respective credit institution for the chargeback if the customer is responsible for this.
5) Delivery and Shipping Conditions
5.1 Goods will be delivered by post to the delivery address provided by the customer, unless otherwise agreed. The delivery address provided during the seller’s order processing is decisive for the processing of the transaction.
5.2 For goods delivered by freight forwarding, delivery is “free curbside,” i.e., to the nearest public curb to the delivery address, unless otherwise stated in the shipping information in the seller’s online shop and unless otherwise agreed.
5.3 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. This does not apply to the shipping costs if the customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal. If the customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal, the provisions in the seller’s cancellation policy apply to return shipping costs.
5.4 In the case of self-collection, the Seller will first inform the Customer by email that the ordered goods are ready for collection. After receiving this email, the Customer can collect the goods from the Seller’s premises after consultation with the Seller. In this case, no shipping costs will be charged.
6) Retention of Title
If the Seller makes advance payments, it retains ownership of the delivered goods until the purchase price owed has been paid in full.
7) Liability for Defects (Warranty)
7.1 If the buyer is a consumer, the following applies:
• If the purchased item is defective, the statutory liability for defects applies to the consumer.
• The customer is requested to complain to the deliverer about delivered goods with obvious transport damage and to notify the seller of this. Failure by the customer to do so will have no effect on their statutory or contractual claims for defects.
7.2 If the buyer is a business, the following applies:
• Delivered goods must be inspected by the customer immediately after delivery, insofar as this is feasible in the ordinary course of business. If a defect is discovered, we must be notified immediately. If the customer fails to notify us, the goods are deemed accepted, unless the defect was not apparent during the inspection. If such a defect becomes apparent later, notification must be made immediately after discovery; otherwise, the goods are deemed accepted, including with regard to this defect. Section 377 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) remains unaffected. The customer is not released from his obligation to inspect the goods even in the event of recourse by the entrepreneur under Section 478 of the German Civil Code (BGB). If, in such cases, the customer does not immediately report the defect asserted by his customer, the goods shall be deemed approved even with regard to this defect.
• If a defect exists, we are entitled to determine the type of subsequent performance, taking into account the nature of the defect and the legitimate interests of the customer. Subsequent performance under these contracts is deemed to have failed after the third unsuccessful attempt. This clause does not apply in the event of recourse under Section 478 of the German Civil Code (BGB).
• In the event of subsequent performance due to defects, we are only obligated to bear the necessary expenses, in particular transport, travel, labor, and material costs, to the extent that these do not increase as a result of the item being transported to a location other than the customer’s registered office or commercial branch to which it was delivered. This clause does not apply in the event of recourse under Section 478 of the German Civil Code (BGB).
• The customer’s claims for defects, including claims for damages, expire after one year. This does not apply in the case of recourse under Section 478 of the German Civil Code (BGB), nor does it apply in the cases of Sections 438 (1) No. 2 of the German Civil Code (BGB) and 634a (1) No. 2 of the BGB. This also does not apply to claims for damages due to injury to life, body, or health, or due to a grossly negligent or intentional breach of duty by us or our vicarious agents.
• In legal transactions with companies, the choice for subsequent performance is between the removal of a defect or the delivery of a defect-free item. The entrepreneur’s claim for defects in the goods expires after one year.
• For merchants, the inspection and notification periods pursuant to Section 377 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) apply.
8) Limitations of Liability in Businesses
In all cases in which we are obligated to reimburse damages and expenses in business dealings with businesses based on contractual or statutory grounds, we shall only be liable to the extent that we, our executives, or vicarious agents are guilty of intent, gross negligence, or injury to life, limb, or health.
Strict liability under the Product Liability Act remains unaffected. Liability for the culpable breach of essential contractual obligations also remains unaffected; however, except in the cases referred to in sentences 1 and 2, liability is limited to foreseeable, contract-typical damages. The above provisions do not alter the burden of proof to the detriment of the buyer.
9) Applicable Law
All legal relationships between the parties shall be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the laws governing the international sale of movable goods. For consumers, this choice of law applies only to the extent that the protection granted is not withdrawn by mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which the consumer has their habitual residence.
10) Alternative Dispute Resolution
10.1 The EU Commission provides an online dispute resolution platform at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr This platform serves as a contact point for the out-of-court settlement of disputes arising from online sales or service contracts involving a consumer.
10.2 The seller is neither obliged nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
11) Place of Jurisdiction
If the buyer is an entrepreneur or a legal entity under public law, Landau is agreed as the place of jurisdiction.
12) Miscellaneous
If one or more provisions of these General Terms and Conditions are invalid, the remaining provisions of the contract shall remain valid. To the extent that the provisions are invalid, the content of the contract shall be governed by the statutory provisions.
As of November 2022
