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Privacy Policy

General Information

Pursuant to our statutory obligations, we would like to inform you about the collection and use of your personal data.

When you use our website, personal data about you will be collected. This may happen by you entering the data yourself, for example your e-mail address. But our system also collects your data automatically, for example whenever you visit our website. This happens irrespective of the device or the software that you use to visit our website.

All data that you enter in our app is provided voluntarily; there are no disadvantages to you if you do not provide data. But without certain data, we are unable to provide services or to conclude contracts. Whenever such information is necessary, we will point it out to you.

On this website, the user’s personal data is only collected within the framework of the existing data-protection law, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The legal terms used in the text are defined in Art. 4 of the GDPR.

The GDPR allows data processing in three cases in particular:

  • in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 (a) and 7 GDPR, when you have consented to us processing your data; in this Privacy Policy and in the cases of consent pursuant to Art. 4 no. 11 GDPR, we will inform you in detail and each time for what purposes and under what circumstances your data will be processed by us;
  • in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR, when processing your personal data is necessary for negotiating, concluding or performing a contract;
  • in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR, if the balancing of interests leads to the conclusion that the processing is necessary to protect our legitimate interests; this means in particular our interests to analyse, optimise and secure the offers on our website – meaning primarily the analysis of user behaviour, setting up profiles for advertisement purposes and storage of access data as well as the use of third-party providers.

Inventory Data

We collect inventory data as far as it is necessary to establish, negotiate or amend a contract (including one without remuneration) between us and the user. This can be: customer data (for example name, address), contact data (for example e-mail address, phone number), service data (for example services ordered, duration, payment). Upon establishing the user relationship, we will ask you for this data (for example name, address and e-mail address) and will also tell you which of the information is required to establish the user relationship.

Usage Data

We also collect usage data to allow users to use the services on our website. These may consist of: usage information (for example visited websites or parts, duration of visit, interest in services), content data (for example data, text, images, sounds, videos entered or uploaded by you), meta data (for example identity of your device, location, IP address).

We will only combine usage data if and insofar as it is necessary for billing purposes. Otherwise, we will only put together usage data pseudonymously and only insofar as you have not objected. You may send this objection to the address indicated in the “About Us” section or the responsible authority indicated in this Privacy Policy at any time.

The legal basis for this data processing are our legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR in analysing the website and your use, possibly also the statutory permission to store data as part of the negotiation of a contract pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR.

Hoster

Digital Ocean LLC

Our Website is presented in the Internet by a service provider. We use the service Digital Ocean LLC, 101 Avenue of the Americas 10th Floor New York, NY 10013 United States. We have concluded a data processing agreement with our provider. With this contract, our provider is obliged to process the data according to our instructions. You can find more information on data processing at our provider in his privacy policy at https://www.digitalocean.com/legal/privacy-policy. The legal basis for this data processing is on the one hand our legitimate interest in a technologically perfect online offering and its design and optimization in an economically efficient manner pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR, and, on the other hand, our contractual or pre-contractual legal relationship in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR.

Furthermore, our provider stores information, the so-called server log files, each time the website is used; this is information which is automatically transferred by your browser. In detail, this data consists of:

  • your IP address
  • type and version of your browser
  • host name
  • time of visit
  • the page from which you came to our page
  • name of the page opened
  • exact time of usage as well as
  • the amount of data transferred

This data will only be used for statistical purposes and do not allow us to identify you as a user.

Advertisements

Before sending you advertisements, we will ask for your explicit consent pursuant to Art. 4 no. 11 GDPR, except in cases of advertisements for similar products to the one you already acquired. This will happen in particular when you grant us consent to mail our newsletter or when you fill out a contact form. You may withdraw your consent at any time in accordance with the subsequent section “Consent”.
INSOFAR AS WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA FOR DIRECT MARKETING, YOU MAY ALSO OBJECT TO THE USE OF YOUR DATA FOR THAT PURPOSE AT ANY TIME. THIS MAY BE DONE THROUGH ANY OF OUR MEANS OF CONTACT, PARTICULARLY BY E-MAIL TO THE E-MAIL ADDRESS LISTED IN THE “LEGAL NOTICE” SECTION WITHOUT ANY FORMAL REQUIREMENTS. WE WILL THEN NO LONGER USE YOUR DATA FOR DIRECT MARKETING.

First Contact through Electronic Request

If you contact us in electronic form (for example by mail, fax, phone, messenger, etc.), we store and process the data which you have given us (for example name, contact information, content of the request). This is based on our legitimate interest in an effective communication with customers in accordance with Article 6 para. 1 (a) GDPR and, as far as it concerns a request to enter into or to perform a contract, also with Article 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR.

We will only pass on this data to third parties as far as required for the performance of the contract (in accordance with Article 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR), by the overwhelming interest in effective services (in accordance with Article 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR) or based on your consent (in accordance with Article 6 para. 1 (a) GDPR) or if there is another legal permission or obligation.

You may ask us at any time and without any cost to provide information about the purpose of the processing, the origin and the recipient, if any, of your data. You may also request that we correct, delete or limit the processing of your personal data. You may object against the (further) processing of your data at any time and you have a right for the data to be made transferable as well as the right to file a complaint with the competent supervisory agency.

In general, your data will only remain stored as long as required by the purpose of the respective data processing. A longer storage is an option, in particular when required in order to pursue our rights, for other legitimate interests of ours or when there is a statutory duty to keep the data longer (for example record-keeping under tax law, statute of limitations).

Consent

Whenever we ask you for your consent for the processing of your data, we will inform you in clear language and in an easily accessible way about the cases for which you will be granting your consent. Any consent that we ask you for is voluntary. Any advantage that you wish to gain by granting consent is also available without consent; simply ask us.

Regarding any consent, you have the right to revoke any consent given to us for the processing of your personal data at any time. You just need to contact us without any particular formal requirement, for example through our contact form, an e-mail to the e-mail address indicated in the “About Us” section or a link to unsubscribe (if offered by us). Your withdrawal has no effect on the legality of the data processing carried out up to that point.

Storage Period

Generally, your data will only remain stored as long as required by the purpose of the respective data processing. Storage beyond that is possible in particular if it is still required for pursuing our rights or for other legitimate interests of ours.

For your inventory data which were necessary to perform a contract (including one without remuneration), this means that we store this data until the complete performance or termination of the contractual relationship plus the limitation period (which is generally 2 or 3 years) plus an adequate extra time for potential interruptions of the limitation period.

For your usage data which was collected in the course of your use of the website, this means that we will store it only for the time still required for the proper functionality of our website and as long as we still have a legitimate interest. Statistical information will be primarily stored by us in pseudonymous form.

Beyond that, we still store your data for as long as we are required to do so by law. This concerns in particular the tax-law requirements to keep records, usually for 6 or even 10 years.

Based on our legitimate interest in a flawlessly functioning online offer and its economic and efficient design and optimization according to Article 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR, our website uses cookies and where required technologies with a similar target bearing, like pixel, web-beacons or tags, in order to allow you to use our offer better, more effectively and in a more secure way. A cookie is a record of information that is stored on your terminal device (computer, tablet, smartphone, etc.). These can be “session cookies”, which are automatically deleted when you leave our website. Other cookies are stored on your computer permanently until you delete them. That allows us to recognize your browser when you visit our website again and to provide you with features or offers according to your previous usage.

Our website only uses cookies which are necessary for the use of our website and in particular no external tracking or advertising cookies.

Your browser allows you to prevent the use of cookies in general or in specific cases. Please check the instructions for your browser to find out more about this. You can also delete cookies following these instructions which we have listed for you:
- for Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
- for Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac
- for Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox
- for Edge: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
- for Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/278835/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer

Blocking cookies may limit the functionality of our website and of other websites visited by you.

More information on this topic, in particular how you can administer, limit or completely disable third-party cookies and technologies with a similar purpose, can be found at:
- https://www.aboutads.info/choices
- https://www.youronlinechoices.eu
- https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices

Users‘ Rights

You may request us anytime to provide information about the personal data stored about you free of charge. To avoid misuse, this will require personal identification.

Deletion, Correction, Limitation

You may at any time demand from us that we correct (or complete) incorrect data as well as a limitation of the processing of data or deletion of your data. This applies in particular if the reason for processing the data is no longer valid, if a required consent has been revoked and there is no other legal basis or if our data processing is unlawful. We will then correct, block or even delete your personal data without delay as far as permitted by law.

Objection

The right to object to advertisement is governed by our text regarding consent:
Regarding any consent, you have the right to revoke any consent given to us for the processing of your personal data at any time. You just need to contact us without any particular formal requirement, for example through our contact form, an e-mail to the e-mail address indicated in the “About Us” section or a link to unsubscribe (if offered by us). Your withdrawal has no effect on the legality of the data processing carried out up to that point.

Data Transfer

You may request us to transfer the data stored about you in machine-readable form.

Complaint

If you feel that our data processing has violated any of your rights, you may file a complaint with the competent regulatory agency (here you find a list of the agencies).

Changes to the Privacy Policy

If and when factual or legal reasons will compel us to amend the Privacy Policy, we will update this page accordingly. This will not change the consent provided by the user.

Data Entry

Encryption of Data Entry

When you enter data on our website, whether in a contact form, during the registration process, when you log in or for payment purposes, the website, where you enter the data, is encrypted. Thus, third parties can not read what you enter. You will recognise the encryption by the lock symbol in your browser and by the URL beginning with “https“ instead of “http“.

Contact Forms

General contact form

When you fill out a contact form or when you send us an e-mail or another electronic message, your information will be stored for the processing of the request, for possible follow-up questions or for other related questions and will only be used to follow up with the request.

Your data will be transferred in an encrypted manner, preventing third parties from reading your data while it is being entered.

Basis for this storage is the safeguarding of our legitimate interests in regard to communication with interested users pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR and in the case of inquiries prior to entering into a contract also the performance of a contract pursuant to Art. 6 para (b) GDPR.

Your data remains stored for as long as the processing of the request requires, in particular as long as the storage is still necessary to perform the contract, to pursue our rights or for our other legitimate interests or we are compelled by law to keep your data stored (for example based on tax-law requirements to maintain files).

Registration

If you register on our website, we will ask for compulsory and potentially also non-compulsory data in accordance with our registration form for the purposes listed hereinafter.

Your data will be entered in an encrypted manner, so that third parties cannot read your data while being entered.

The legal basis for this storage is our legitimate interest in communication with interested users in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR and also the storage of contractual data in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR in case of contracts, including non-remunerated ones.

Your data will remain stored for as long as you remain registered, particularly as long as the storage is still required to perform the contract, to pursue our rights or for our other legitimate interests or for as long as we are required by law to store your data (for example pursuant to tax-law requirements to store documents).

Membership Area

If you register for our membership area, we will ask for data in accordance with our registration form, because we do not permit the anonymous use of our member-only services. We will only use your data to provide you with the information necessary for using the membership area (all content, services, products and other things available only for members).

When you registered, we informed you that you can object to the use of your e-mail address for future advertisement at any time and without any fees by clicking the unsubscribe link included in every e-mail or by sending us an e-mail to the e-mail address listed in the “Legal Notice” section without any further formal requirement. We retain the right to send you ads for similar products, unless you object.

Blog / Comments

Comments

If you comment something on our page, we will save your IP address to make sure that only lawful comments will be published. After reviewing and allowing the comment by us, this data will be deleted. We will also save your comment as well as the information entered together with it (for example user name or e-mail address).

Basis for this storage is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (a) GDPR, which you provide to us by filling in the comment field. You may revoke this consent at any time, you just need to contact us without any particular formal requirement (for example by unsubscribing, contact form or e-mail). This withdrawal has no effect on the legality of the data processing that has occurred up to that point.

Your data remains stored for as long as the comment is saved, for as long as required for us to pursue our rights or for our other legitimate interests or for as long as we are required by law to keep your data.

You can also subscribe to subsequent comments. In this case, you will receive a confirmation email to verify that you have entered the email address yourself. In it you will find instructions on how to unsubscribe from the comment subscription at any time.

Newsletter

Mailgun

If you subscribe to the newsletter offered on our page, we will inform you in detail about the information we will send you, which of your data will be stored and for what it will be used. We will not pass on your data to third parties and we will only use it for mailing the newsletter.

We will only mail you the newsletter if you have provided us with prior consent. To that purpose, you will receive an e-mail from us with a link and further details and we will ask for your consent. By confirming that link, you declare your consent to receive the newsletter and advertisement from us.

The basis for the storage is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (a) GDPR, which you grant us when you register for the newsletter. You may withdraw that consent at any time, for which any notice to us, without any formal requirement, is sufficient (for example through the contact form or by e-mail or by using the link to unsubscribe, which is included in each e-mail). This withdrawal has no effect on the legality of the data processing carried out up to that point.

Because we are legally required to record your consent as part of the double opt-in, your subscription to the newsletter, the mailing of our consent e-mail and your consent by clicking on the link will be recorded and stored with location and time as well as with your IP address.

For mailing the newsletter, we use (as part of our legitimate interest in a technologically perfect processing of our customer data and analysis) the provider:
Mailgun Technologies Inc
112 E Pecan St. #1135
San Antonio Texas 78205, USA
https://www.mailgun.com/legal/privacy-policy/.

Thus, your data will be forwarded to the USA.

In our newsletter, we will also explicitly ask you to provide your consent to transmitting data to our newsletter provider and to the USA. You will declare this consent by clicking on the link, but you may revoke it at any time. For the handling of your data by our newsletter provider, we refer you to our newsletter provider's privacy policy. Our newsletter provider will only use your data for mailing the newsletter and for evaluating that mailing on our behalf. In addition to that, our newsletter provider will only use your data to improve its own service. But our newsletter provider will not use the data to contact you directly or to pass on your data to third parties.

The mails used by our newsletter provider contains a “web beacon“, which will inform our newsletter provider about the opening of the newsletter and/or the clicking on a link contained therein by you. As part of that process, information regarding your browser, your location and your IP address will be transmitted to our newsletter provider. This information will be used to optimise our communication with you.

Our newsletter provider will also use this data, but only in a pseudonymous form (meaning that they cannot identify you) to analyse and optimise their own services. Your data will never be used by the newsletter provider in order to contact you.

Your data will remain stored for as long as you are in our mailing list, as long as the storage is required to enforce our rights or as long as it is necessary for our legitimate interests or as long as we are required by law to keep your data stored.

Social Media

We refer with links to our social media presences. When you follow any such link to the social media site, your data will be broadcasted to that site. The social media site will normally store a cookie in your browser and to your account information there, especially, if you are logged into your social media account on the site. The social media site can analyse your use of the platform and your browsing habits and will use these for targeting advertisements based on your interests. That can lead to ads being shown to you when browsing in and outside of the social media site. Please inform yourself about the use of your data on these sites and use them only, when you agree to that use of your data, that happens on that social media site, in particular, when you are not using that social media site for the first time. We have added links to all the privacy policies of the social media site for your information.

Our page uses links to our presence on the social network Twitter, provided by Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07 IRELAND
.

It is just a normal link, which means that upon opening our page, Twitter won't learn anything of your visit to our website. But when you click on the link, you will be taken to Twitter, and then Twitter will also learn that you visited our page.

Thus, your data may be forwarded to the USA.

However, we have ensured that your data is only transferred to the USA on the basis of a contract in accordance with the standard contractual clauses. According to the GDPR and the EuGH, this is a legal basis for the transfer of data to the USA. This applies in particular since the US Presidential Decree of 07.10.2022.

We have concluded an data processing agreement with this provider, according to which this provider will only process your data on our behalf within the scope of the GDPR and according to our instructions. Further information can be found in the privacy policy of Twitter at https://twitter.com/privacy?lang=en.

Our website uses links to our presence in the social network of YouTube by YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Avenue, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA, represented by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Irland. It is just a normal link. Thus, when you open our site, YouTube will not learn of your visit to our website. But once you click on the link, you will be led to YouTube, allowing YouTube to learn that you have visited out site.

The data collected by Google may be transferred by Google to countries outside of the EU, in particular to the USA.

However, we have ensured that your data is only transferred to the USA on the basis of a contract in accordance with the standard contractual clauses. Furthermore this provider is certified according to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. This means that the transfer of data to the USA is possible in a legally secure manner on the basis of the adequacy decision concluded on 10.07.2023.

You may find further information in YouTube’s privacy policy at
https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Website Analysis

Plausible Analytics

Based on our legitimate interest in a technologically perfect online offering and its design and optimisation in an economically efficient manner pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR, we use the services of Plausible Analytics, a web analysis tool.
Plausible uses no cookies and thus, no sensible data is stored on our side.

Payment providers

Stripe

If you choose one of the payment options of our partner Stripe, provided by Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd., 1 Grand Canal Street Lower, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, Ireland, the data entered by you when ordering will be sent to Stripe in order to facilitate the contractual payment. Detailed information about this can be found in the privacy policy of Stripe:

https://stripe.com/privacy

The legal basis for passing on your data to Stripe is primarily the processing of your contractual data according to Art. 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR as well as our legitimate interest in a technologically perfect online offering and its design and optimisation in an economically efficient manner pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR.

Our Social Media Fan Page(s) - General Information

Beside our website, we also use fan page(s) on social media platforms. Above, we have already informed you about the data processing on our website and we have in particular made sure that the fact alone that you access our website is not yet forwarded to the social media platform. Following the ECJ ruling dated 5 June 2018 about social media presences, we want to inform you about the data processing during your visit to our social media fan page(s):

On the basis of our legitimate interest in a timely customer communication pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR as well as for advertising and public relations purposes, we present ourselves and our offers on social media fan page(s).

Our social media fan page(s) usually can be accessed online independently of you having a user account with the relevant platform or not. But in either case, your data will be processed by the social media platform.

Each time the social media platform is accessed, your IP address will be collected and stored. Usually, a cookie will also be placed on your page, which will save your visit and further data about your visit to the social media platform.

If you are logged in with the social media platform, your visit will also be spotted by a cookie or through other technological means and will be attributed to your user account. Thus, the social media platform is usually able to analyse your user behaviour. In this process, a user profile with your interests is generated, which the social media platform will use to provide you with a user experience tailored to your interests, in particular advertisement tailored to your interests within and outside of the social media platform – even across different devices, if applicable. Your data may also be used for market research. For the details, we refer you to the following privacy policies of the social media platform(s) used by us.

We can usually also use the data of the social media platform in order to allow you to use our fan page in accordance with your interests or to approach you with advertising.

When you interact with our fan page and if you are logged in with the relevant social media platform, according to the social media page's terms of use, we can usually also recognise your user profile and see your content.
If you do not want this, we point you to our explanations about cookies above, with general information about cookies and their deactivation. There, we have laid out in general terms how you can prevent or limit cookies being stored on your devices. Further information about the respective social media platform can be found hereinafter.

According to the aforementioned ECJ ruling dated 5 June 2018, we are always jointly responsible for our social media fan page(s) together with the relevant social media platform. This means that you may also exercise your general rights, which we have listed in detail above under the heading “Users' Rights”, against us. To that purpose, we refer you to our contact details at the beginning of this Privacy Policy. Please keep in mind, though, that we have no conclusive knowledge of the exact scope of the processing of your data by the social media platform and have even less influence on it. Therefore, we kindly ask you to contact the relevant social media platform in the first place regarding your rights.

We generally leave your data on the social media platform and do not import it onto our server. But if that should occur, our general information regarding the storage period will apply.

Further information about the processing of your data and the storage period on the social media platform can be found in the respective privacy policy of the social media platform, which we have listed hereinafter.

Twitter

We have a presence on the social media platform Twitter.

Jointly Responsible
Twitter International Company
Attn: Data Protection Officer
One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street
Dublin 2, D02 AX07 Ireland
Contact

When using this provider, it may happen that your data is transferred to the USA. However, we have ensured that your data is only transferred to the USA on the basis of a contract in accordance with the standard contractual clauses. According to the GDPR and the EuGH, this is a legal basis for the transfer of data to the USA. This applies in particular since the US Presidential Decree of 07.10.2022.

We have concluded an data processing agreement with this provider, according to which this provider will only process your data on our behalf within the scope of the GDPR and according to our instructions. Further information can be found in the privacy policy of Twitter at https://twitter.com/privacy?lang=en.

Twitter also provides us with statistics. These are created without our participation and then provided to us. The data will include interactions, for example, as well as statistical data.

When you are logged in, you can influence the processing of your data by Twitter considerably and in different ways.

Here you can change your privacy settings on Twitter.

Last updated on 22 November 2023