GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS
1.0 General and scope
1.1. These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter also: “GTC”) apply to all contracts concluded between HARO Bikes Europe GmbH, Scharmeder Str. 1, 33154 Salzkotten (hereinafter: “Seller”) and the Buyer via the Seller’s online shop (https://www.harobikes.de/) (hereinafter: “Online Shop”).
1.2. A consumer within the meaning of the following provisions 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 (cf. Section 13 of the German Civil Code). An entrepreneur is any natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of their independent professional or commercial activity (cf. Section 14 of the German Civil Code).
1.3. Our deliveries, services and offers are made exclusively on the basis of these terms and conditions. The terms and conditions therefore also apply to all future business relationships with companies, even if they are not expressly agreed again. The inclusion of terms and conditions of a buyer that contradict the terms and conditions of the seller is hereby expressly rejected. Deviating provisions do not apply unless the seller has expressly confirmed this in writing. Individual agreements always take precedence.
1.4. The contract language is German. Orders can also be placed in English.
1.5. We do not save the complete contract text. Before submitting the order via the online shopping cart system, the contract data can be printed out using the browser's print function or saved electronically. After we receive the order, the order data, the legally required information for distance selling contracts and the general terms and conditions will be sent to you again by email.
2.0 Conclusion of contract
2.1 The presentation of the goods in the online shop does not constitute a legally binding offer, but rather a non-binding invitation to order (invitatio ad offerendum).
2.2. By clicking on the "Order with payment" button in the last step of the ordering process, the buyer makes a binding offer to purchase the goods displayed in the order overview. A contract between the seller and buyer is only concluded under the conditions set out in section 2.4 of these terms and conditions. If payment is made via PayPal or advance payment, the order is accepted immediately upon receipt of the buyer's payment.
2.3. Buyers can select goods for purchase in the online shop by placing them in a virtual shopping cart by clicking on the corresponding button. If the order is to be completed, the buyer must click on the virtual shopping cart, where the buyer is guided through the rest of the ordering process. After selecting the item in the shopping cart and entering all the required order and address details in the next step, clicking on the "Next" button opens a page in which the essential item details, including any costs incurred, are summarized again. Up to this point, the buyer can correct his entries or withdraw from the contract declaration. A legally binding offer is only made when the "Order with payment" button is subsequently clicked. Input errors can be corrected by clicking on "Edit" in the relevant field.
2.4. The Seller may accept the Buyer's offer within 5 days of the Buyer's offer being submitted by (1) sending an order confirmation at least in text form in writing, whereby the date of receipt by the Buyer is decisive for the calculation of the deadline; or (2) by delivering the goods to the Buyer, whereby the date of receipt of the goods by the Buyer is decisive; or (3) by requesting payment from the Buyer after placing his order; or (4) if payment by direct debit is offered and the Buyer opts for this payment method, by debiting the total price from the Buyer's bank account, whereby the time at which the Buyer's account is debited is decisive. If the Seller does not accept the Buyer's offer within the deadline, this shall be deemed a rejection of the offer with the consequence that the Buyer is no longer bound by his declaration of intent.
2.5 The Buyer must ensure that the email address provided by him is correct so that the Seller can send statements and notifications to this email address and these can be received by this email address.
2.6. The seller has the right to withdraw from the contract if the buyer is unable to meet his obligations to the seller. This also applies if the buyer files for insolvency. Section 321 of the German Civil Code and Section 112 of the German Insolvency Code remain unaffected. The buyer will inform the seller in writing at an early stage of any impending insolvency.
3. Prices and payment terms
3.1. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the prices quoted are total prices including the applicable statutory sales tax. Packaging and shipping costs, loading, insurance (in particular transport insurance), customs duties and taxes are communicated in the online shop and during the ordering process and may be charged separately.
3.2. Any shipping or delivery costs are not included in the stated price. They can be accessed via a correspondingly designated button in the online shop or in the respective offer, are shown separately during the ordering process and are to be borne by the buyer in addition, unless free shipping has been promised.
3.3. If the delivery is made to countries outside the European Union, additional costs may arise for which the seller is not responsible, such as customs duties, taxes or money transfer fees (transfer or exchange rate fees of credit institutions), which must be borne by the buyer.
3.4. Any costs incurred in transferring money (transfer or exchange rate fees charged by credit institutions) shall be borne by the buyer in cases where delivery is made to an EU member state but payment was made outside the European Union.
3.5. The payment methods available to the buyer are indicated under a correspondingly designated button in the online shop or in the respective product offer. It is at the sole discretion of the seller which payment options are offered.
3.6. Unless otherwise stated for the individual payment methods, the payment claims arising from the concluded contract are due for payment immediately. If the payment method purchase on account is selected, the purchase price is due after the goods have been delivered and invoiced. In this case, the purchase price must be paid without deduction within 7 (seven) days of receipt of the invoice, unless otherwise agreed. The seller reserves the right to only offer the payment method purchase on account up to a certain order volume and to reject this payment method if the specified order volume is exceeded. In this case, the seller will inform the buyer of a corresponding payment restriction in their payment information in the online shop.
3.7. If payment is processed via the “PayPal” payment service, payment is processed solely via PayPal. PayPal can also use the services of other payment service providers for this purpose. If the seller also offers payment methods via PayPal where he makes advance payments to the buyer (e.g. purchase on account or payment in installments), he assigns his payment claim to PayPal or to the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal and specifically named to the buyer. Before accepting the seller’s declaration of assignment, PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal carries out a credit check using the buyer’s transmitted data. The seller reserves the right to refuse the selected payment method to the buyer in the event of a negative check result. If the selected payment method is approved, the buyer must pay the invoice amount within the agreed payment period or in the agreed payment intervals. In this case, the buyer can only pay to PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal with debt-discharging effect.
3.8. In the event of late payment, the seller is entitled to default interest at the statutory rate (currently 5 percentage points above the respective base interest rate for contracts with consumers and 9 percentage points above the respective base interest rate for contracts with entrepreneurs). The seller's other statutory rights remain unaffected.
3.9. In the event of cost increases that are unforeseeable for the Seller (e.g. currency fluctuations, unexpected price increases by suppliers, etc.), the Seller is entitled to pass the price increase on to the Buyer if delivery is to take place later than four months after the conclusion of the contract.
4. Liability / Force Majeure
4.1. In addition to liability for material and legal defects, the seller is liable without limitation if the cause of the damage is based on intent or gross negligence. The seller is also liable for the slightly negligent breach of essential obligations (obligations whose breach endangers the achievement of the purpose of the contract) and for the breach of cardinal obligations (obligations whose fulfilment makes the proper execution of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the user regularly relies), but only for foreseeable, contract-typical damage. The seller is not liable for the slightly negligent breach of obligations other than those mentioned above.
4.2. The liability limitations of the preceding paragraph do not apply in the event of injury to life, body or health, for a defect after the assumption of a guarantee, for fraudulently concealed defects, for liability under the Product Liability Act or the General Data Protection Regulation or the Federal Data Protection Act.
4.3 If the Seller’s liability is excluded or limited, this shall also apply to the personal liability of bodies, employees, representatives and vicarious agents.
4.4. In the event of force majeure or other unavoidable circumstances that affect the performance of the contract, the seller is entitled to postpone delivery for the duration of the hindrance and to withdraw in whole or in part in the event of longer-term delays, without any claims against the seller being able to be derived from this. Force majeure is deemed to be all events that were unforeseeable for the seller or those that - even if they were foreseeable - are outside the seller's sphere of influence and whose effects on the performance of the contract cannot be prevented by reasonable efforts on the part of the seller. The seller is not responsible for delays in delivery and performance due to events that make delivery significantly more difficult or impossible; this also includes subsequent difficulties in procuring materials, operational disruptions, staff shortages, strikes, lockouts, lack of means of transport, official orders, etc., even if they occur with the seller's suppliers or their subcontractors. Any statutory claims of the buyer remain unaffected.
5. Delivery conditions
5.1. The seller delivers the goods in accordance with the agreements made with the buyer. The delivery conditions, the delivery date and any existing delivery restrictions can be found under a correspondingly labeled button in our online shop or in the respective offer. Any shipping costs incurred are listed in the product description and are stated separately by us.
5.2. If the goods are delivered by a forwarding agent, delivery will be made "free curbside", i.e. to the public curb closest to the delivery address, unless the shipping information in the seller's online shop states otherwise or the seller and buyer have made different agreements.
5.3. The seller is entitled to make partial deliveries as long as this is reasonable for the buyer. In the case of permissible partial deliveries, the seller is also entitled to issue partial invoices.
5.4. The seller reserves the right to withdraw from the contract in the event of incorrect or improper self-delivery if this is not the seller's responsibility. The seller will make all reasonable efforts to procure the goods. In the event of unavailability or only partial availability of the goods, the seller will inform the buyer immediately and refund the consideration immediately.
5.5. If the buyer is acting as an entrepreneur, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods sold passes to the buyer as soon as the seller has delivered the item to the freight forwarder, the carrier or any other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment. This also applies if the seller bears the costs of transport. Deviating from this, the transfer of risk takes place when the buyer is notified that the goods are ready for dispatch if the dispatch of the goods is delayed for reasons for which the buyer is responsible. Any storage costs incurred after the transfer of risk must be borne by the buyer. If the buyer is acting as a consumer, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods only passes to the buyer when the goods are handed over to the buyer or a person authorized to receive them.
5.6. If the parties have agreed on self-collection, the seller will first inform the buyer by email that the goods ordered by him are ready for collection. After receiving this email, the buyer can collect the goods after consultation with the seller. In this case, no shipping costs will be charged.
6. Retention of title
6.1. The seller reserves title to the goods delivered until the purchase price owed has been paid in full. If the buyer is an entrepreneur, the seller reserves title to the goods delivered until all of its claims arising from the business relationship with the buyer have been met. In addition, clauses 6.3-6.5 of these terms and conditions apply to contracts with entrepreneurs.
6.2. The buyer may neither pledge nor assign as security goods that are subject to retention of title or legal reservation. The buyer is only permitted to resell the goods as a reseller in the ordinary course of business on the condition that the buyer has effectively assigned to the seller the buyer's claims against its customers in connection with the resale and that the buyer transfers ownership to its customer subject to payment. By concluding the contract, the buyer assigns his claims against his customers in connection with such sales to the seller as security, who simultaneously accepts this assignment.
6.3. If the seller's goods are combined or mixed with an item belonging to the buyer and the latter is to be regarded as the main item, co-ownership of the item shall pass to the seller in the ratio of the invoice value of the seller's goods to the invoice value or, in the absence of such, to the market value of the main item. In these cases, the buyer shall be deemed to be the custodian.
6.4. The buyer must immediately inform the seller of any information about goods owned or co-owned by the seller or about assigned claims. Amounts assigned to the seller or collected by him must be immediately forwarded to the seller if the seller's claim is due.
6.5. If the value of the Seller’s security rights exceeds the amount of the secured claims by more than 10%, the Seller will release the excess portion of the security rights at the Buyer’s request.
7. Warranty
7.1 If the purchased and delivered goods are defective, the buyer is entitled, within the framework of the statutory provisions, to demand subsequent performance, to withdraw from the contract or to reduce the purchase price.
7.2. If the buyer is an entrepreneur, the seller has the right to choose between repair or replacement delivery in the event of subsequent performance. The limitation period for warranty claims for new goods is in this case one year from receipt of the goods. Claims for defects that the seller has fraudulently concealed as well as claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses expire within the regular limitation period. In the case of used goods, rights and claims for defects against entrepreneurs are excluded. The limitation period does not begin again if a replacement delivery is made within the scope of liability for defects.
7.3. The Buyer is also entitled to rights in respect of defects within the framework of a guarantee of quality and/or durability, provided that the Seller has expressly given such a guarantee in the individual case with regard to the item sold.
7.4. If the buyer is an entrepreneur, he is subject to the commercial duty of inspection and notification of defects in accordance with Section 377 of the German Commercial Code (HGB). If the buyer fails to comply with the corresponding notification obligations, the goods are deemed to have been approved.
7.5. As a consumer, the buyer is requested to check the goods immediately upon delivery for completeness, obvious defects and transport damage and to report any complaints to the seller and the carrier as soon as possible. If the buyer fails to do so, this will have no effect on his statutory or contractual warranty claims.
8. Warranties, Crash Replacement Service
8.1. Additional guarantees only apply to the goods delivered by the seller if this has been expressly stated in the order confirmation or another declaration of acceptance for the respective article and agreed with the buyer and provided that the guarantee conditions are in place and have been complied with. An overview of any guarantees and services offered by the seller can be found under the link [...].
8.2. The Seller offers a so-called Crash Replacement Service for HARO carbon frames and HARO carbon forks.
9. Right of withdrawal
9.1 Consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal when concluding a distance selling contract.
9.2. The seller provides information about the right of cancellation in the online shop under the link https://www.harobikes.de/widerrufsbelehrung and provides the buyer with a sample cancellation form.
10. Redemption of vouchers
10.1. Promotional vouchers issued free of charge by the seller as part of advertising campaigns with a specific period of validity and which cannot be purchased by the buyer can only be redeemed in the seller's online shop and only during the period specified on the promotional voucher. The seller excludes the use of the promotional voucher by third parties and the transfer of the promotional voucher to third parties. The seller reserves the right to check the user's entitlement to use the voucher.
10.2. If the promotional voucher cannot be redeemed for individual products, this will be stated in the promotional voucher terms and conditions or in the respective product description in the seller’s online shop.
10.3. Promotional vouchers can only be redeemed before the order process is completed and not afterwards.
10.4. The value of the ordered goods must be at least equal to the balance of the promotional voucher. If the value of the ordered goods is higher than the balance of the promotional voucher, the buyer can use the payment methods available in the online shop to cover the difference.
10.5. Cash payment of the balance of a promotional voucher is excluded. In the event of exercising a statutory right of cancellation, the balance will be credited to the voucher again.
11. Final provisions
11.1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If the buyer has placed the order as a consumer and has his habitual residence in another country at the time of his order, the application of mandatory legal provisions of that country remains unaffected by the choice of law made in sentence 1.
11.2. The place of jurisdiction is the registered office of the seller if the buyer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law. The same applies if the buyer does not have a general place of jurisdiction in Germany or if the domicile or habitual residence of the buyer is not known at the time the action is brought.
11.3. Consumers have the option of using alternative dispute resolution. The following link from the EU Commission (also known as the OS platform) contains information about online dispute resolution and serves as a central point of contact for the out-of-court settlement of disputes arising from online sales contracts or online service contracts: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. The seller is neither willing nor obliged to participate in an arbitration procedure.
11.4. Obligation to provide information in accordance with the Consumer Dispute Settlement Act (Section 36 VSBG): The seller is not willing and/or obliged to participate in further dispute settlement proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
11.5. The seller adheres to the “Guidelines for Google Customer Reviews” (https://support.google.com/merchants/topic/7105962) and the “Trusted Shops Quality Criteria” (https://www.trustedshops.com/tsdocument/TS_QUALITY_CRITERIA_de.pdf).
11.6. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain unaffected. The invalid provision shall be deemed to be replaced by one that comes closest to the meaning and purpose of the invalid provision in a legally effective and economic manner. The same applies to any regulatory gaps.