Terms of Service
Contractual terms between FUNKE Services GmbH, Jakob‐Funke‐Platz 1, 45127 Essen, Germany, Tel.: +49 (0) 201 804 6746, registered in the Commercial Register of Essen District Court under HRB 26674, represented by Simone Kasik, Christoph Rüth, VAT ID no.: DE301937751 – hereinafter the “Contractor” - and the customer referred to in § 1 of the contract – hereinafter the “Customer”. The following Terms and Conditions of Business apply to our offers and orders placed with us, except when and insofar as explicitly agreed otherwise. Other agreements deviating from these Terms and Conditions shall only become valid with our express written approval.
1. Services
The Customer can select products, in particular web offset print products such as newspapers, magazines, inserts, advertising supplements, club and church newspapers etc. and place these in a so-called shopping basket by clicking on the button “add to shopping basket”. By clicking on “proceed to checkout”, the Customer enters into a binding agreement to purchase the products placed in the shopping basket. The Customer can modify and view the details at any point prior to submitting the order. The order can however only be placed and transmitted after the Customer has accepted the terms and conditions by clicking on the button “Accept Terms & Conditions”, thereby incorporating them into their request. The Contractor shall then send the Customer an automatically generated confirmation email. The automatic confirmation of receipt only documents that the Customer's order has been received by the Contractor and does not constitute an acceptance of the order. The contract shall come into effect only after notice of acceptance by the Contractor, which will be sent as a separate email (order confirmation). In this email or in a separate email, however no later than upon delivery of the goods, the contractual text (comprising the order, Terms & Conditions and order confirmation) shall be sent by us to the Customer by means of a durable medium (email or hard copy).
All offers are subject to change.
The content of the order confirmation is definitive and any additional agreements must be made in writing. The contract shall be concluded in German.
Unless expressly agreed otherwise, prices are calculated in € and net prices in line with German VAT Act (UStG), to which value-added tax is added separately.
The offer price shall only be binding if the documents provided for the purpose of price calculation represent a complete and accurate image of the scope of the print item, particularly with regard to the quality of print templates and manuscripts, and if the later version does not deviate from this. Should divergences in quality or quantity occur, we are entitled to charge for the additional costs incurred separately.
The agreed prices are based on the applicable wages, salaries, material and energy costs and tax rates at the time the contract is concluded. Should any of these cost factors change, each contractual party is entitled to amend the agreed price accordingly.
2. Drafts, sketches
Sketches, drafts, specimen type matter, specimen prints, samples or similar preparatory work that is occasioned by the Customer shall be invoiced.
3. Order cancellation
Cancellation of an order is not possible for individual orders after confirmation. Periodic work may be cancelled within 3 months of the calendar year end.
4. Reproduction, copyright and any other rights
The Customer shall be solely responsible for examining the right of reproduction of all print templates.
We retain the copyright and the right to reproduce our own sketches, drafts and originals. Reprinting, including any deliveries that are not an object of a copyright or another type of commercial rights protection, are not permitted without our consent. Printing plates shall also remain our property if they are separately invoiced.
Page assembly shall become the property of the Customer if this is separately invoiced; otherwise they shall remain our property.
5. Provision of materials by the Customer
Any material procured by the Customer shall be delivered ex works. Any confirmation of receipt shall not include assumption of a warranty for the accuracy of the quantities stated to have been delivered.
Where paper or cardboard have been provided by the Customer, the packaging material and unavoidable waste as a result of printing processes and production runs shall become our property. Where the Customer has provided final artwork or films, the necessary work for producing the printing blocks shall be invoiced.
6. Corrections
We are only obliged to produce template proofs if this has been expressly agreed. Template proofs are not indicative of print and paper quality.
The template proofs or proofs given to the Customer must be checked by the Customer for accuracy and returned ready for printing. We are not liable for any errors overseen by the Customer. Verbally agreed changes must be confirmed in writing.
For work corrected by anyone other than the Customer, our liability for typesetting errors is restricted to gross negligence and intent. The correction of typesetting errors shall be free of charge; in contrast, any changes caused by the Customer or which can be attributed to them (e.g. auto-corrections, subsequent modifications to the print template or changes as a result of manuscript unreadability) will be charged for separately.
Any costs associated with changes made after the declaration of readiness to print, including those of machine downtime, shall be borne by the Customer.
The most recent edition of Duden shall apply to spelling.
7. Company logo
Upon agreement with the Customer, the Contractor may include suitable references to their company on contractual products. The Customer may only withhold consent if they have a valid reason to do so.
8. Delivery times
The delivery time specified by us is based on the time of our order confirmation and prior payment of the sale price (excluding purchases on account).
For the period in which the Customer undertakes chargeable proofs, the delivery time will be paused from the date of dispatch to the Customer until the date of receipt of their response and extended accordingly.
If, after order confirmation, the Customer requires changes to the order which affect the delivery period, a new delivery time shall be arranged once the changes have been confirmed.
We are not responsible for any delays to deliveries where these are caused by circumstances outside of our control. All cases of force majeure (including strikes, lockouts, energy shortages, war, riots, refusal to work, transport failure and all other instances of force majeure) exempt us from the observance of the agreed delivery times and prices, regardless of whether they resulted in adverse effects in their own business, with raw material suppliers and subcontractors or along transport routes.
A breach of the delivery date caused by such does not entitle the Customer to recede from the order or hold the Contractor liable for any damage which may have occurred.
If a delivery is delayed, in all cases the Customer is permitted to exercise its legally entitled rights only after providing a reasonable grace period. For damages arising in connection therewith, we shall assume liability only to the extent we are responsible for such damages.
9. Shipping
The delivery takes place for the account and at the risk of the Customer. Should the Customer fail to accept a delivery within a reasonable period of time following notification of completion, or should shipping be impossible for a longer period of time due to circumstances outside of our control, we shall be entitled, for the account and at the risk of the Customer to store the goods ourselves or with a third party.
Should the Customer delay in taking delivery, the regulations of § 326 BGB (German Civil Code) apply and instead we are entitled to partially rescind the contract and with respect to the other, to demand partial compensation.
Packaging shall be charged at the cost price and shall not be taken back. Boxes and pallets shall be reimbursed at two-thirds of the invoiced price provided they are returned in good condition within 4 weeks.
10. Retention of title
All deliveries are subject to retention of title.
The delivered goods remain our property until full payment of the agreed price. Prior to this, our goods shall be neither pledged nor assigned as collateral without our consent. Reselling the goods by the Customer is only allowed on the condition that the purchase-price demand is transferred to us from the resale. Receivables from the resale of reserved goods are already assigned to us to secure our claims.
11. Right of cancellation
Cancellation policy
Right of cancellation
You have the right to cancel this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason.
The cancellation period is 14 days from the date on which you, or a third party designated by you, who is not the carrier, took receipt of the final goods. You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period is 14 days from the date on which you, or a third party designated by you, who is not the carrier, took receipt of the final goods.
In order to exercise your right of cancellation, you must inform us (FUNKE Services GmbH, Jakob‐Funke‐Platz 1, 45127 Essen, Germany, Telephone +49 (0)201 804 6746, Fax +49 (0)201 804 2841, Email: info@smartpaper24.com) of your decision to withdraw from the contract by means of a clear declaration to this effect (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or email). You can use the cancellation template attached which has not been signed. The timely notification of cancellation within the cancellation window shall be deemed sufficient for compliance with the cancellation terms.
By cancelling this contract we are obliged, within 14 days of receiving your notification of cancellation, to reimburse you for all payments received from you including delivery costs (excluding additional costs arising as a result of choosing a delivery method that is different to the standard, cheapest delivery method that we offer). We will reimburse you using the same payment method as used for the original transaction unless expressly agreed otherwise; under no circumstances will any fees be charged as a result of this refund. We may defer payment of your refund until we have received the goods or have received proof that you have returned the goods to us, whichever is the earliest.
You shall only be liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to ascertain the nature and functioning of the goods.
End of the cancellation policy
Exclusion of the right of cancellation
The right of withdrawal shall not exist for the following agreements, unless otherwise specified:
Contracts for the delivery of goods, which are manufactured to customer specifications or have clearly been tailored to personal needs, contracts for the delivery of goods which can perish quickly or whose "best before" date will soon be exceeded, contracts for the delivery of sealed goods which cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons if their seal has been removed following delivery, contracts for the delivery of goods if these items are inseparably mixed with other goods after delivery due to their characteristics, contracts for the delivery of alcoholic beverages whose price was agreed upon conclusion of the contract but which are delivered no sooner than 30 days after conclusion of the contract and whose actual value depends on market fluctuations over which the contractor has no influence, contracts for the delivery of sound or video recordings or computer software in sealed packaging, if the seal is removed after delivery, contracts for the delivery of newspapers, magazines or illustrations with the exception of subscriptions.
12. Warranty
The Contractor shall be liable for defects subject to the applicable legal requirements. With regard to entrepreneurs, the warranty period for products delivered by the Contractor is one year pursuant to § 14 German Civil Code (BGB). Any additional supplier guarantee shall only apply to delivered products if this has been expressly stated in the order confirmation.
In the case of colour reproductions, minor deviations from the original are not cause for complaint. The same applies to deviations between press proof and production print.
13. Liability
Claims on the part of the customer regarding compensation for damage shall be excluded. This shall not apply to damages claims based on intentional misconduct or gross negligence as well as to claims resulting from death, injury or damage to health on the part of the Contractor, its legal representative or agent. Essential contractual obligations are those which are necessary to fulfil the purpose of the contract.
In the event of an essential contractual obligation, the Contractor shall only be liable for foreseeable damage typical of the contract concerned if this was caused by negligence, unless the claims for damages result from injury to life, limb or health.
The restrictions of clauses 1 and 2 also apply in favour of legal representatives and performing agents for the vendor, if claims are aimed directly at them.
The provisions of the German Law on Product Liability shall remain unaffected.
14. Surplus and deficiency
The Customer is obliged to acknowledge a surplus or deficiency of up to 5% of the ordered goods. This percentage is increased to 10% for colours or particularly heavy printing. In addition, the surplus or deficiency percentages shall increase if the paper was purchased due to the terms of delivery of the trade associations for paper manufacture.
15. Retention requirements
We can only be held to our own standards of care regarding the storage of any manuscripts, originals, lithos, montages, other templates and other items. We are not liable for any loss or damage caused by fire, flooding, theft or other exceptional risk. If and the extent to which such risk should be covered by insurance is at the sole discretion of the Customer. With regard to the abovementioned items, we shall not accept liability for storage beyond that of the production time which has not been arranged and if four weeks have passed since the order was completed without being reclaimed or protested by the Customer.
The storage of raw materials, partly-finished and finished goods, page assemblies and other print documents requires special arrangement and is at the risk of the Customer; this is to be remunerated separately.
16. Terms of payment
Payment can be made by credit card, PayPal or bank transfer.
Please note that your credit card will directly be charged at the moment of transaction. An invoice shall be issued on the day of delivery or partial delivery of the goods, or at the time of dispatch in the absence of dispatch instructions or temporary storage. In the case of larger orders, interim invoices may be issued or part-payments requested. The same applies in the case of exceptionally large volumes of paper. First-time orders are payable upon placing the order.
The Customer shall only be entitled to offset a receivable which is uncontested or has been determined with legal finality.
If the payment period is exceeded, the Customer shall find itself in default. Compensation for default shall be granted to the amount of at least the costs for the bank loan at the time of the payment term. The costs for bank credits shall be charged at a minimum of 2% above the discount rate of the German regional central bank and invoiced on the 31st day following the invoice date.
Should the Customer be in default with payment, all remaining claims shall also immediately become due for payment. The same applies if a significant deterioration is known in the financial circumstances of the client. In the event of late payment or in case of a material deterioration in the financial circumstances of the Customer, we reserve the right to demand immediate payment or provision or security for the agreed price regarding any ongoing orders of our choice. If this demand is not complied with, there exists no obligation to pay compensation and the Contractor is entitled to withdraw from the contract. This also applies to periodical work.
17. Place of jurisdiction
If the client is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the agreed place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship shall be Essen.
18. Complaint handling / Obligation to inform for online settlement of dispute
As of 15 February 2016, the EU Commission established a platform for resolving out-of-court disputes. This gives consumers the opportunity to resolve disputes relating to an online order out of court. The Online Dispute Resolution platform can be accessed by clicking the external link https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/ We are legally obliged to provide our email address within this context. This is info@smartpaper24.com. We endeavour to resolve any potential disputes by mutual agreement. In addition, we are not obliged to participate in arbitration proceedings and unfortunately cannot offer you participation in such proceedings.
19. Final provisions
Should any provision of these General Terms and Conditions of Business become void, this shall not affect the validity of the contract as a whole. The relevant statutory provisions will apply in place of any invalid provision.