General Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions for business relationships established via the ChessBase Internet Shop between the

ChessBase GmbH
Osterbekstraße 90a 
22083 Hamburg

Telephone: 040 63 90 60 0 
Telefax: 040 630 12 82
Email: info@chessbase.com  

District Court Hamburg HRB 40336
VAT ID DE 118644875

CEO Matthias Wüllenweber
CEO Rainer Woisin

and their customers.

§ 1 Area of validity and definitions

1. The business relationship between ChessBase GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "ChessBase" or "we") and the customer (hereinafter referred to as the "customer" or "you") shall be governed exclusively by these General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter referred to as the "GTC") in the version valid at the time of the order and published in the ChessBase Internet Shop (hereinafter referred to as the "Shop"). Deviating general terms and conditions of the Customer shall not be recognised.
2. The Customer is a consumer insofar as the purpose of the ordered deliveries and services cannot be attributed predominantly to his commercial or independent professional activity. On the other hand, an entrepreneur is any natural or legal person or partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding the contract, acts in the exercise of his commercial or self-employed professional activity.

§ 2 Conclusion of contract

1.      The presentation of products in the shop does not constitute a binding offer to conclude a purchase contract, but merely an invitation to the customer to order the products described in the shop.

2.      The following languages are available for the conclusion of the contract: German, English.

3.      The customer can select products from the shop's range, in particular chess programs, chess databases, program packages, magazine subscriptions, training and learning content and merchandise, and collect them in a so-called "shopping cart" by clicking the "Add to Cart" button. The customer will be informed at the latest at the beginning of the ordering process which means of payment are accepted by ChessBase and whether there are any delivery restrictions (e.g., for certain countries). By clicking on the "Buy" button, the customer submits a binding request to purchase the goods in the shopping cart. In order to be able to recognise and correct possible input errors, the customer can change and view the data at any time before submitting the order. However, the application can only be submitted and transmitted if the customer has accepted these GTC by clicking on the button "Accept GTC" and has thereby included them in his application.

4.      ChessBase will immediately confirm the receipt of the order by sending an automatic confirmation of receipt by e-mail to the customer. In this confirmation, the Customer's order will be listed again. The automatic confirmation of receipt merely documents that the Customer's order has been received by ChessBase and does not constitute an acceptance of the application.

5.      The contract is concluded by ChessBase's submission of the declaration of acceptance, which is sent with a separate e-mail (order confirmation). In this e-mail or in a separate e-mail, but at the latest upon delivery of the goods, the text of the contract (consisting of the order, GTC and order confirmation) and the cancellation policy (with cancellation form) shall be sent to the Customer by ChessBase on a durable medium (e-mail or paper printout) (contract confirmation). The text of the contract will be stored in compliance with data protection laws.

6.      Insofar as ChessBase has not sent the customer an order confirmation within five days after receipt of the order, the customer is no longer bound to his application.

§ 3 Delivery and availability of goods

1.      Delivery times stated by ChessBase are calculated from the time of order confirmation by ChessBase, provided that the purchase price has been paid in advance (except in the case of purchase on account). If no or no deviating delivery time is indicated for the respective goods in the shop, it shall be 3 working days.

2.      If no copies of the product selected by the customer are available at the time of the customer's order, ChessBase will inform the customer immediately. If the product is permanently not available, ChessBase shall refrain from issuing a declaration of acceptance and shall immediately refund any payments already made by the Customer. In this case, a contract shall not be concluded.

§ 4 Retention of title and set-off

1.      The delivered goods remain the property of ChessBase until payment has been made in full.

2.      The customer is only entitled to set-off against claims of ChessBase if his claims have been legally established. The customer shall only be entitled to set off claims against claims of ChessBase if his claims have been legally established, ChessBase has acknowledged them or the claims are undisputed or they originate from the contract on which the order is based. The customer is only entitled to exercise a right of retention if this is based on the contract underlying the order.

§ 5 Prices and shipping costs

1.      All prices quoted by the shop are gross prices including the statutory value added tax applicable in Germany.

2.      Any additional shipping costs incurred will be indicated to the customer as part of the ordering process and are to be borne by the customer unless the customer exercises his right of cancellation.

3.      The goods shall be dispatched by post or digitally, in accordance with the information in the shop. If the goods are sent by post, the shipping risk shall be borne by the supplier if the customer is a consumer.

4.      In the event of a previous dispatch by post, the customer shall bear the direct costs of the return shipment in the event of a revocation.

§ 6 Terms of payment

The customer can pay by credit card (Visa and MasterCard) or PayPal or via ChessBase ducats.

§ 7 Warranty and guarantee

1.      ChessBase shall be liable for material defects or defects of title of delivered products in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions. The limitation period for statutory claims for defects is two years and begins with the delivery of the product. The warranty period for delivered products vis-à-vis entrepreneurs is 12 months.

2.      ChessBase does not assume any warranty for defects resulting from unsuitable or improper use, non-observance of instructions for use, faulty or negligent handling as well as normal wear and tear.

3.      The products supplied by ChessBase are only guaranteed if this is expressly stated in the contract confirmation for the respective article. Details of the scope of such warranties are set out in the terms and conditions of the warranty which may be included with the contract confirmation.

§ 8 Liability

1.      Claims of the customer for damages are excluded. Excluded from this are claims for damages by the Customer arising from injury to life, limb or health or from the breach of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations) as well as liability for other damages based on an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by ChessBase, its legal representatives or vicarious agents. Material contractual obligations are those whose fulfilment is necessary to achieve the objective of the contract.

2.      In the event of a breach of material contractual obligations, ChessBase shall only be liable for the foreseeable damage typical for the contract if this was caused by simple negligence, unless it is a matter of claims for damages by the Customer arising from injury to life, body or health.

3.      The limitations of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall also apply in favour of the legal representatives and vicarious agents of ChessBase, if claims are asserted directly against them.

4.      The limitations of liability resulting from paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if ChessBase has fraudulently concealed the defect or has assumed a guarantee for the quality of the item. The same shall apply insofar as ChessBase and the Customer have reached an agreement on the quality of the item. The provisions of the Product Liability Act shall remain unaffected.

§ 9 Buying ducats

1.      Ducats are an internal unit of account on the playchess.com server. Ducats can be used to pay for services on the server. Furthermore, ducats can be used to make purchases in the shop. Ducats may neither be exchanged to other customers and users against money, regardless of the currency, nor accepted from other customers and users against payment of money, regardless of the currency. A claim against ChessBase to exchange the ducats for money is excluded.

2.      ChessBase reserves the right to delete ducat balances that were acquired in violation of these GTC without replacement.

§ 10 Dispute settlement procedure

ChessBase refers to the online dispute resolution platform provided by the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. ChessBase is not obliged to participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer arbitration board and is generally not prepared to do so.

§ 11 Cancellation policy

In principle, consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal when concluding a distance selling transaction, which ChessBase informs about below in accordance with the statutory model. 

Right of withdrawal

You have the right to cancel this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The right of withdrawal does not apply to contracts for the delivery of audio or video recordings or computer software in a sealed package if the seal has been removed after delivery.

The revocation period is fourteen days from the day on which you or a third party named by you who is not the carrier has or has taken possession of the goods. In the case of a contract for several goods which you have ordered as part of a single order and which are delivered separately, the withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day on which you or a third party named by you, who is not the carrier, have taken or has taken possession of the last goods. In the event of a contract for the delivery of goods in several partial consignments or pieces, the withdrawal period shall be fourteen days from the day on which you or a third party named by you, who is not the carrier, have taken possession of the last partial consignment or the last piece. In the case of a contract for the regular delivery of goods over a fixed period of time, the withdrawal period shall be fourteen days from the day on which you or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you has taken possession of the first goods. In the case of digital content that is not delivered on a physical medium, the withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day the contract is concluded.

In order to exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (ChessBase GmbH, Osterbekstraße 90a, 22083 Hamburg, Phone: 040 63 90 60 0, Fax: 040 630 12 82, Email: info@chessbase.com) by means of a clear declaration (e.g. letter sent by post, fax or email) of your decision to withdraw from this contract. You can use the attached model withdrawal form for this purpose, which is, however, not mandatory. In order to comply with the withdrawal period, it is sufficient that you send the notification of the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the expiry of the withdrawal period.

Consequences of cancellation

If you withdraw from this contract, we must repay you all payments that we have received from you, including the delivery costs (with the exception of the additional costs resulting from the fact that you have chosen a type of delivery other than the inexpensive standard delivery offered by us), without delay and at the latest within fourteen days from the day on which we received the notification of your withdrawal from this contract. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no case will you be charged for this repayment.

We may refuse repayment until we have received the goods back or until you have provided proof that you have returned the goods, whichever is the earlier. You must return or hand over the goods to us without delay and in any case no later than fourteen days from the day on which you notify us of the cancellation of this contract. The deadline is met if you send the goods before the expiry of the period of fourteen days. You shall bear the direct costs of returning the goods.

You only have to pay for any loss in value of the goods if this loss in value is due to handling of the goods that is not necessary for checking the condition, properties and functioning of the goods.

Sample cancellation form

To ChessBase GmbH, Osterbekstraße 90a, 22083 Hamburg, Fax: 040 630 12 82, Email: info@chessbase.com.

I/we (*) hereby revoke the contract concluded by me/us (*) for the purchase of the following goods (*)/the provision of the following service (*)

- Product

- Ordered on (*)/received on (*)

- Name of the consumer(s)

- Address of consumer(s)

- Signature of consumer(s) (only in case of paper communication)

- Date(s)

(*) Delete where inapplicable

§ 12 Notes on data processing

1.      ChessBase collects data of the customer in the context of the processing of contracts. In doing so, ChessBase observes the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other relevant laws. Without the Customer's consent, ChessBase will only collect, process or use the Customer's personal data to the extent that this is necessary for the performance of the contractual relationship. In order to process the contract, it may be necessary, depending on the selected method of payment, to transmit personal data - limited in content and scope to what is necessary for the payment transaction - to the respective payment institution selected by the customer.

2.      Without the consent of the customer, ChessBase will not use the customer's data for the purposes of advertising, market or opinion research.

§ 13 Final provisions

1.      The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If the customer 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 this country shall remain unaffected by the choice of law made in these GTC.

2.      If the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from contractual relationships between the customer and ChessBase shall be the registered office of ChessBase.

3.      The remaining parts of the contract shall remain binding even if individual points are legally ineffective. The invalid points shall be replaced by the statutory provisions, if any. Insofar as this would represent an unreasonable hardship for one of the contracting parties, the contract shall, however, become ineffective as a whole.