General terms and conditions of business
1. Scope
The following terms and conditions apply to all orders placed by businesses.
An entrepreneur is a natural or legal person or a legally capable partnership who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of their commercial or independent professional activity.
These terms and conditions also apply to future business relationships with businesses without the need for further notification. If the business uses conflicting or supplementary terms and conditions, their validity is hereby rejected; they will only become part of the contract if we have expressly agreed to them.
2. Contractual partners, conclusion of contract, online dispute resolution
The purchase agreement is concluded with Ernst Schäfer GmbH & Co. KG.
You submit a binding order to us by mail, fax, telephone, or email. Confirmation of receipt of your order will be sent by email immediately after submission and does not yet constitute acceptance of the contract. We can accept your order by sending a declaration of acceptance in a separate email or by delivering the goods within 2 days.
The languages available for concluding the contract are German and English.
The contract texts are saved and archived. You can view the terms and conditions at any time here on this page. For security reasons, your past orders are no longer accessible online.
3. Delivery conditions
We ship goods ex-works (Incoterm EXW Warehouse) via Deutsche Post, DHL, DPD, or FedEx at our shipping costs. If the goods are in stock, delivery within Germany typically takes 1-3 business days, and to all other European countries approximately 3-7 business days. Depending on the payment method, goods are shipped with, before, or after payment is received.
Shipping costs
The prices quoted do not include VAT. In addition to the stated product prices, we charge the following net shipping costs for delivery:
For deliveries within Germany, we charge a flat shipping fee of 6.95 euros.
For deliveries to Euro 1 countries*, we charge a flat shipping fee of 12.50 euros.
For deliveries to Euro 2 countries*, we charge a flat shipping fee of 20.00 euros.
For all other countries (world package), we charge a flat shipping fee of 35.00 euros.
Subsequent deliveries are free of shipping costs.
For DHL cash on delivery (Germany only), we charge €9.90 for shipping and handling. An additional fee of €2.00, payable upon delivery by DHL, is collected by the shipping company.
For orders under 50 euros, we charge a small order surcharge of 4.00 euros.
Palletized shipments are calculated individually.
*Euro 1 countries = Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria
*Euro 2 countries = Remaining EU member states including Norway
For orders shipped to addresses outside of Germany, import taxes, customs duties, and fees may be levied by the destination country. Import duties and taxes are collected by the respective customs office and are the responsibility of the recipient. These are governed by the import regulations of the recipient country.
It is possible to collect ordered goods from our business premises.
Packaging becomes the property of the customer.
We do not deliver to parcel lockers.
4. Gefahrenübergang und Transportschäden
The risk of accidental loss or damage passes to you as soon as we have handed the goods over to the carrier, freight forwarder, or other person or entity designated to carry out the shipment. For merchants, the duty to inspect and give notice of defects as stipulated in Section 377 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) applies. If you fail to give the required notice, the goods are deemed accepted, unless the defect was not discoverable upon inspection. This does not apply if we have fraudulently concealed a defect.
5. Warranty and notification of defects
With respect to businesses, only our own specifications and the manufacturer's product descriptions that have been incorporated into the contract are considered an agreement regarding the quality of the goods; we assume no liability for public statements made by the manufacturer or other advertising claims.
Complaints regarding defects must be sent to the seller no later than 12 days after receipt of the goods.
Once the delivered goods have been cut or otherwise processed, any complaint regarding visible defects is excluded.
Minor, technically unavoidable deviations in quality, color, width, weight, finish, or design may not be objected to. This also applies to customary trade variations, unless the seller has provided a written guarantee of delivery that is true to sample.
In the case of justified complaints regarding defects, the buyer has the right to rectification or delivery of defect-free replacement goods within 12 days of receiving the returned goods. In this case, the seller bears the shipping costs. If the subsequent performance fails, the buyer only has the right to reduce the purchase price or withdraw from the contract.
The foregoing limitations and reductions of time limits do not apply to claims based on damages caused by us, our legal representatives or agents.
in case of injury to life, body or health
in the case of intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty as well as fraudulent intent
in the event of a breach of essential contractual obligations, the fulfillment of which is essential for proper performance
essential for the performance of the contract and on whose compliance the contractual partner may regularly rely (cardinal obligations) within the framework of a guarantee promise, insofar as agreed, insofar as the scope of application of the Product Liability Act is opened.
6. Liability
We are always liable without limitation for claims arising from damages caused by us, our legal representatives or agents.
in case of injury to life, body or health
in case of intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty
in the case of warranty promises, if agreed upon
insofar as the scope of application of the Product Liability Act is opened.
In the event of a breach of essential contractual obligations, the fulfillment of which is essential for the proper execution of the contract and on which the contractual partner may regularly rely (cardinal obligations), due to slight negligence on the part of us, our legal representatives or vicarious agents, our liability is limited to the amount of the foreseeable damage that typically arises at the time of conclusion of the contract.
Furthermore, claims for damages are excluded.
7. Payment
The following payment methods are available to you:
The invoice
The invoice amount is payable without deduction within 30 days. A 4% discount is granted for payments made within 10 days.
Acceptances or bills of exchange are only accepted if they are made no later than 30 days after the invoice date and the term does not exceed 3 months. Checks and bills of exchange are only considered payment after they have been cleared.
SEPA corporate direct debit
If you grant us a SEPA direct debit mandate, payment will be collected from your bank account. The account will be debited 10 days after the goods have been shipped. If you choose SEPA direct debit as your payment method, we offer a 5% discount on the invoice amount.
PayPal
You pay the invoice amount via the online payment provider PayPal. You must be registered with PayPal or register first, authenticate yourself with your login details, and confirm the payment instruction to us (guest access may be possible). If you select PayPal as your payment method, we grant a 4% discount on the invoice amount.
prepayment
If you select prepayment as your payment method, we will provide you with our bank details in the order confirmation and deliver the goods after payment has been received. We grant a 4% discount on the invoice amount for prepayment.
Cash on delivery (Germany only)
If you choose cash on delivery as your payment method, an additional fee of €4.95 will be charged. We offer a 4% discount on the invoice amount for cash on delivery payments.
Ernst Schäfer GmbH & Co. KG reserves the right, in individual cases, for custom-made products or if payment is refused by credit institutions or providers of the respective payment method, to process the order only against payment by cash on delivery or (partial) prepayment. In this case, the customer can either accept this or cancel their order.
Costs incurred due to a chargeback of a payment transaction for insufficient funds or because of incorrect data provided by the customer will be charged to the customer. In the event of late payment, Ernst Schäfer GmbH & Co. KG is entitled to charge default interest at a rate of 8 percentage points per annum above the applicable base interest rate.
Offsetting is not permitted except in the case of undisputed or legally established counterclaims. The buyer is not entitled to withhold payments due to counterclaims arising from other contractual relationships.
8. Retention of title
The goods remain our property until full payment is received.
We retain title to the goods until all claims arising from the ongoing business relationship have been settled in full. You may resell the goods subject to retention of title in the ordinary course of business; you hereby assign to us in advance all claims arising from this resale – irrespective of whether the goods subject to retention of title are combined or mixed with other goods – up to the amount of the invoice, and we accept this assignment. You remain authorized to collect the claims; however, we may also collect the claims ourselves if you fail to meet your payment obligations.
9. Assignability of claims
The customer is not entitled to assign his claims arising from the contract.
10. Final Provisions
If you are an entrepreneur, then German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
If you are a merchant within the meaning of the German Commercial Code, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from contractual relationships between us and you is our place of business.
Should any of these provisions be invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.
Version dated March 1, 2018