General Terms and Conditions

Table of Contents

1. Scope of Application
2. Conclusion of the Contract
3. Right to Cancel
4. Prices and Payment Conditions
5. Shipment and Delivery Conditions
6. Reservation of Proprietary Rights
7. Warranty
8. Exemption in case of violation of third-party rights
9. Applicable Law
10. Place of Jurisdiction
11. Alternative dispute resolution

1) Scope of Application

1.1 These General Terms and Conditions of the company Ciotta Ernest Maria (hereinafter referred to as "Seller”) shall apply to all contracts concluded between a consumer or a trader (hereinafter referred to as "Client”) and the Seller relating to all goods and/or services presented in the Seller's online shop. The inclusion of the Client’s own conditions is herewith objected to, unless other terms have been stipulated.

1.2 A consumer pursuant to these Terms and Conditions is any natural person concluding a legal transaction for a purpose attributed neither to a mainly commercial nor a self-employed occupational activity. A trader pursuant to these Terms and Conditions is any natural or legal person or partnership with legal capacity acting in the performance of a commercial or self-employed occupational activity when concluding a legal transaction.

1.3 Digital content in the sense of these General Terms and Conditions are all data not on a tangible medium which are produced in digital form and are supplied by the Seller by granting certain usage rights precisely defined in these General Terms and Conditions.

2) Conclusion of the Contract

2.1 The product descriptions in the Seller’s online shop do not constitute binding offers on the part of the Seller, but merely serve the purpose of submitting a binding offer by the Client.

2.2 The Client may submit the offer via the online order form integrated into the Seller's online shop. In doing so, after having placed the selected goods and/or services in the virtual basket and passed through the ordering process, and by clicking the button finalizing the order process, the Client submits a legally binding offer of contract with regard to the goods and/or services contained in the shopping cart. The Client may also submit his offer to the Seller by telephone, fax, e-mail, postal service or per online contact form.

2.3 The Seller may accept the Client’s offer within five days,

• by transferring a written order confirmation or an order confirmation in written form (fax or e-mail); insofar receipt of order confirmation by the Client is decisive, or
• by delivering ordered goods to the Client; insofar receipt of goods by the customer is decisive, or
• by requesting the Client to pay after he placed his order.

Provided that several of the aforementioned alternatives apply, the contract shall be concluded at the time when one of the aforementioned alternatives firstly occurs. Should the Seller not accept the Client’s offer within the aforementioned period of time, this shall be deemed as rejecting the offer with the effect that the Client is no longer bound by his statement of intent.

2.4 If the Client chooses "PayPal Express” when placing his order, payment processing is handled by the payment service provider PayPal (Europe) S.a.r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg (hereinafter referred to as “PayPal”). The PayPal terms of use shall apply which can be viewed at: https://www.paypal.com/ie/webapps/mpp/ua/servicedescription-full?locale.x=en_IE.

In case the Client has no PayPal account, the conditions for payments without PayPal account will apply which can be viewed at: https://www.paypal.com/ie/webapps/mpp/ua/legalhub-full?locale.x=en_US.

If the Client chooses “PayPal Express” as payment method, he initiates also a payment order to PayPal by clicking the button finalizing the order process. In this case, the Seller declares his acceptance of the Client’s offer already at the time when the Client initiates the payment transaction by clicking the button finalizing the ordering process.

2.5 When submitting an offer via the Seller's online order form, the text of the contract is stored by the Seller after the contract has been concluded and transmitted to the Client in text form (e.g. e-mail, fax or letter) after the order has been sent. The seller shall not make the contract text accessible beyond this. If the Client has set up a user account in the Seller's online shop prior to sending his order, the order data shall be stored on the Seller's website and can be accessed by the Client free of charge via his password-protected user account by specifying the corresponding login data.

2.6 Prior to submitting a binding order via the Seller’s online order form, the Client may recognize input errors by reading attentively the information displayed on the screen. The enlargement function of the browser to enlarge the display on the screen may be an effective method for better recognizing input errors.
The Client can correct all the data entered via the usual keyboard and mouse function during the electronic ordering process, until he clicks the button finalizing the ordering process.

2.7 The English language is exclusively available for the conclusion of the contract.

2.8 Order processing and contacting usually takes place via e-mail and automated order processing. It is the Client’s responsibility to ensure that the e-mail address he provides for the order processing is accurate so that e-mails sent by the Seller can be received at this address. Particularly, it is the Client`s responsibility, if SPAM filters are used, to ensure that all e-mails sent by the Seller or by third parties commissioned by the Seller with the order processing can be delivered.

3) Right to Cancel

3.1 Consumers are entitled to the right to cancel.

3.2 Detailed informations about the right to cancel are provided in the Seller’s instruction on cancellation.

4) Prices and Payment Conditions

4.1 Unless otherwise stated in the Seller’s product description, prices indicated are total prices including the statutory sales tax. Delivery costs, where appropriate, will be indicated separately in the respective product description

4.2 Payment can be made using one of the methods mentioned in the Seller’s online shop.

4.3 If prepayment by bank transfer has been agreed upon, payment is due immediately after conclusion of the contract, unless the parties have arranged a later maturity date

4.4 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 is to be paid within 7 (seven) days from receipt of the invoice without deduction, unless otherwise agreed. The Seller reserves the right to offer the payment method “purchase on account” only up to a certain order volume, and he may refuse this payment method if the specified order volume is exceeded. In this case, the Seller will inform the Client in his payment information displayed in the online shop of a corresponding payment restriction.

4.5 If the SEPA direct debit payment method is selected, the invoice amount is due for payment after a SEPA direct debit mandate has been issued, but not before the deadline for pre-notification has expired. The direct debit will be collected when the ordered goods leave the seller's warehouse, but not before the deadline for pre-notification has expired. Pre-notification means any communication (e. g. invoice, policy, contract) of the Seller to the Client which announces a debit by means of SEPA direct debit. If the direct debit is not honored due to insufficient account coverage or due to the indication of an incorrect bank account, or if the Client objects to the debit, even though he is not entitled to do so, the Client shall bear the fees arising from the reversal of the respective bank, if he is responsible for this.

4.6 When payments are made using a payment method offered by PayPal, handling of payments takes place via the payment service provider PayPal ((Europe) S.a. r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg (hereinafter called “PayPal”) subject to the PayPal terms of use which can be viewed at: https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full.

In case the client has no PayPal account, the conditions applicable for payments without PayPal account will be effective. They can be viewed at: https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/privacywax-full

5) Shipment and Delivery Conditions

5.1 Goods are generally delivered on dispatch route and to the delivery address indicated by the Client, unless agreed otherwise. During the processing of the transaction, the delivery address indicated in the Seller’s order processing is decisive. However, in case the Client selects the payment method PayPal, the delivery address deposited with PayPal at the date of payment shall be decisive.

5.2 Should the assigned transport company return the goods to the Seller, because delivery to the Client was not possible, the Client bears the costs for the unsuccessful dispatch. This shall not apply, if the Client exercises his right to cancel effectively, if the delivery cannot be made due to circumstances beyond the Client's control or if he has been temporarily impeded to receive the offered service, unless the Seller has notified the Client about the service for a reasonable time in advance.

5.3 If goods are delivered by freight carrier, the goods shall be delivered free curb that is to say to the public curb stones which are closest to the delivery address, unless otherwise stipulated in the shipping information displayed in the Seller’s online shop or unless otherwise agreed.

5.4 Should the Client collect the goods himself, the Seller informs the Client by e-mail that the goods are available for collection. After receiving the e-mail, the Client may collect the goods in consultation with the Seller at the Seller's place of business. In this case shipment costs will not be charged.

6) Reservation of Proprietary Rights

If the Seller provides advance deliveries, he retains title of ownership to the delivered goods, until the purchase price owed has been paid in full.

7) Warranty

7.1 Should the object of purchase be deficient, statutory provisions shall apply.

7.2 Deviating hereof regarding used goods: Claims for defects are excluded if the defect does not occur until one year after delivery of the goods. Defects that occur within one year of delivery of the goods can be asserted within the statutory limitation period.

The shortening of the limitation period does not apply,

• for a product, which was not used, in accordance with its usual application, for building construction and which was the cause of the building's defectiveness,
• for claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses on the part of the Client, and
• if the Seller has fraudulently concealed the defect.

7.3 The Client is asked to notify any obvious transport damages to the forwarding agent and to inform the Seller accordingly. Should the Client fail to comply therewith, this shall not affect his statutory or contractual claims for defects.

8) Exemption in case of violation of third-party rights

If ,apart from delivering the goods, the contract obliges the Seller to process those goods according to specifications defined by the Client, the Client has to ensure that contents made available to the Seller for purposes of processing do not violate third-party rights (for example copyrights and trademark rights. The Client shall indemnify the Seller from claims of third parties asserted against the Seller in connection with the violation of their rights by the Seller’s contractual use of the Client’s contents. The Client will meet any reasonable costs of necessary legal defense including all court and lawyer’s fees according to the statutory rate. This shall not apply, if the Client is not responsible for the violation of rights. In case claims are asserted against the Seller, the Client shall be obliged to furnish the Seller promptly, truthfully and completely with all information that is necessary for the verification of the claims asserted and for a corresponding legal defense.

9) Applicable Law

The law of the Italian republic shall apply to all legal relationships between the parties under exclusion of the laws governing the international purchase of movable goods. For consumers, this choice of law only applies to the extent that the granted protection is not withdrawn by mandatory provisions of the law of the country, in which the consumer has his habitual residence.

10) Place of Jurisdiction

If the Client is a businessman, a legal entity of public law or a separate estate under public law with its seat in the territory of the Italian republic, the Seller’s place of business shall be the sole place of jurisdiction for all legal disputes arising from this contract.. If the Client is domiciled outside the territory of the Italian republic, the Seller’s place of business shall be the sole place of jurisdiction for all legal disputes arising from this contract provided that the contract or claims from the contract can be assigned to the Client’s professional or commercial activities. In any event however, regarding the aforementioned cases the Seller is entitled to call the court responsible for the seat of the Client.

11) Alternative dispute resolution

11.1 The EU Commission provides on its website the following link to the ODR platform: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

This platform shall be a point of entry for out-of-court resolutions of disputes arising from online sales and service contracts concluded between consumers and traders.

11.2 The Seller is not obliged to use ADR entities to resolve disputes with consumers, but he is in priniciple ready for this.