General Terms and Conditions (including information for customers)
1. Applicability
2. Offers, service descriptions
3. Order process, conclusion of the contract
4. Prices, delivery costs
5. Delivery, product availability
6. Terms of payment
7. Retention of title
8. Customer account
9. Product warranty, guarantee
10. Liability
11. Storage of the contract itself
12. Data protection
13. Usage Rights and Licensing
14. Final provisions
1. Applicability
1.1. The business relationship between The Graphic Vault Design, owner: Irina Svitkovskaja, Hermann-Albrecht-Str. 30, 75443 Ötisheim, Germany (hereinafter referred to as the “vendor”) and the customer (hereinafter referred to as the “customer”) is exclusively governed by the following General Terms and Conditions in the version valid at the time of order placement.
1.2. A consumer within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for a purpose that can predominantly be attributed neither to his commercial nor to his independent professional activity. An entrepreneur is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of his commercial or independent professional activity.
1.3. Deviating terms and conditions of the customer shall not be recognized unless the seller expressly agrees to their validity.
2. Offers, service descriptions
2.1. The display of products in the online shop is to be equated with an invitation to place an order and not a legally binding offer. Service descriptions included in catalogues or on the vendor’s websites are not to be equated with either a promise or a guarantee.
2.2. All offers are valid as stated in the respective product description. Since the products are digital content, there are no physical stock limitations unless otherwise specified for limited editions. Errors excepted.
3. Order process, conclusion of the contract
3.1. The customer is free to select the products of their choice from the vendor’s product range and gather them together in a so-called “cart” using the “Add to cart” button. The customer can then proceed to their cart and amend their selection as required. Once they are happy with their selection, the customer can proceed to the final step in the order process by clicking the “View cart” and then the “Proceed to checkout” button.
3.2. When the customer clicks the “Place order” button, they make a binding request to buy the goods currently in their cart. Prior to order placement, the customer is able to view and amend their order data at any time. Essential entries are marked with an asterisk (*).
3.3. The vendor responds by emailing the customer an automatic confirmation of receipt; the email recapitulates the order placed by the customer and can be printed using the “Print” function (order confirmation). The automatic confirmation of receipt only documents the receipt of the customer’s order by the vendor and is not to be equated with order acceptance. A binding purchase contract is only deemed to be concluded if the vendor dispatches or hands over the product ordered to the customer within 2 days or confirms the dispatch of the product ordered within 2 days by sending the customer a second email, order confirmation or an invoice. For digital products, this usually happens immediately after payment is completed.
3.4. In the case of customers who are companies, the aforementioned period for dispatch, delivery or order confirmation is seven days instead of two.
3.5. If the vendor offers an advance payment option (e.g., bank transfer), the contract is deemed to be concluded at such time as the customer provides their bank details and fulfils the payment request. If, despite being due and despite the customer being sent a reminder, payment is not received by the vendor within 10 calendar days of the sending of the order confirmation, the vendor is entitled to withdraw from the contract, thus rendering the order invalid and in turn freeing the vendor from their obligation to supply. At this point the order is considered to have been brought to a conclusion with no further consequences for either the customer or the vendor. Products for which advance payment is offered can therefore be reserved for a maximum of 10 calendar days.
4. Prices, delivery costs
4.1. All prices indicated on the vendor’s website are final prices. They do not include value-added tax as the vendor is a small business owner according to § 19 UStG.
4.2. There are no delivery costs for digital products delivered via download or email.
5. Delivery, product availability
5.1. If the customer selects advance payment, delivery will occur further to receipt of the invoice amount. Digital content will be provided in the form of a download or via email.
5.2. Digital products are delivered by providing a download link or by sending the file via email. The customer is responsible for providing a correct email address and ensuring the technical requirements for the download are met.
5.3. The vendor is entitled to withdraw from the contract if the product ordered is not available because the vendor, through no fault of their own, has not been supplied with the product in question by their supplier. If this situation arises the vendor will inform the customer without delay and, where necessary, offer to supply them with a comparable product. If there are no comparable products available or the customer does not wish to be supplied with a comparable product the vendor will refund any payment already received to the customer without delay.
5.4. Customers are notified of delivery periods (e.g. immediate download) and restrictions on delivery on the respective product description.
5.5 In the case of customers who are companies, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods or digital content shall pass to the buyers as soon as the seller has delivered the item by making the content available for download or sent by email.
5.6 The Seller shall not be responsible for delays in delivery and performance due to force majeure and due to unforeseeable events (e.g. server failures or internet disruptions) that make delivery significantly more difficult or impossible. In this case, the Seller shall be entitled to postpone the delivery by the duration of the impediment plus a reasonable start-up period. During the period of such hindrance, the customer shall also be released from its contractual obligations, in particular payment. If the delay is unreasonable for the customer, the customer may withdraw from the contract by written declaration after a reasonable period to be set by the customer or after mutual consultation with the seller.
6. Terms of payment
6.1. The customer is free to select one of the available payment types during the order process; their selection is made prior to completion of the order process. Customers are informed about available payment types during the order process.
6.2. Full payment must be made in advance. If payment on account is available in exceptional cases, payment must be made within 30 days of receipt of the digital content and the corresponding invoice.
6.3. If third-party providers are commissioned to process the payment (e.g. PayPal) the general terms and conditions operated by those providers apply.
6.4. If the due date by which payment must be made is defined as a calendar date the customer will be deemed to be in arrears as soon as they fail to comply with that due date and be liable for statutory interest on arrears.
6.5. The customer’s obligation to pay interest on arrears does not preclude the enforcement of other claims for delay-related damages by the vendor.
6.6. The customer only has the right to set-off if their counterclaims are legally valid or acknowledged by the vendor. The customer can only enforce a right of retention if their claims result from the same contractual relationship as the vendor’s claims.
7. Retention of title
The vendor retains the title of the goods or digital content supplied until such time as full payment has been made.
For customers who are entrepreneurs, the following shall apply in addition: The seller shall retain title to the goods or digital content until all claims arising from an ongoing business relationship have been settled in full. Access by third parties to the goods or digital content owned by the seller must be reported immediately by the customer. The customer is entitled to use or resell the goods/content only in the ordinary course of business and in accordance with the provided license terms. The customer already assigns to the seller by way of security all claims arising from resale or other legal grounds with regard to the reserved goods. The Seller revocably authorizes the Customer to collect the claims assigned to the Seller for its account and in its own name. This direct debit authorization may be revoked if the customer does not properly meet its payment obligations.
With the settlement of all claims of the seller from delivery transactions, the usage rights shall pass to the buyer strictly according to the Global Commercial License Agreement as specified in Section 13 of these terms.
8. Customer account
8.1. The seller provides the customers with a customer account. Within the customer account, the customers are provided with information about the orders and their customer data stored with the seller. The information stored in the customer account is not public.
8.2. To place an order, customers must create a customer account. A guest order is not possible.
8.3. Customers are obliged to provide truthful information in the customer account. Customers are responsible for any disadvantages that may arise due to incorrect information (e.g., incorrect email address for delivery).
8.4. The customer account may only be used in accordance with the applicable legal provisions and the GTC of the seller. Any other type of use, in particular by external software, such as bots or crawlers, is prohibited.
8.5. The seller reserves the right to take appropriate measures (e.g., (partial) deletion of content, warnings, or account suspension) if customers violate legal provisions or these GTC.
8.6. Customers may terminate the customer account at any time. The seller can terminate the customer account at any time with a reasonable period of notice of two weeks (e.g., in the event of business closure). The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected.
8.7. It is the customer’s sole responsibility to back up and permanently store the purchased digital files after the download has been provided. The seller is not obligated to provide the digital content for re-download indefinitely or for the lifetime of the customer account. From the moment of account termination, the information stored in the account is no longer available.
9. Product warranty and guarantee
9.1. The warranty (liability for defects) shall be determined in accordance with statutory provisions, subject to the following provisions.
9.2. A guarantee is only provided for the goods supplied by the vendor if the customer was expressly informed of such a guarantee and the terms thereof prior to the commencement of the order process.
9.3. If the customer is an entrepreneur, they shall inspect the digital content without undue delay and shall notify the vendor in writing of any defects (e.g., corrupted files) without undue delay, at the latest within two weeks after delivery. Minor technical or optical deviations that are customary in the trade and permissible in accordance with quality standards (e.g., slight color deviations based on the customer’s monitor settings) shall not constitute defects.
9.4. If the customer is an entrepreneur, the choice between rectification (e.g., providing a repaired file) or subsequent delivery of the digital content lies with the seller.
9.5. For customers who are entrepreneurs, material defects shall become statute-barred one year after the transfer of risk.
10. Liability
10.1. The following exclusions and restrictions of liability in connection with the vendor’s liability for compensation apply irrespective of other statutory eligibility criteria.
10.2. The vendor is liable without restriction if damage was caused with wilful intent or gross negligence.
10.3. The vendor is also liable for minor negligence leading to the violation of fundamental obligations whose violation jeopardises the fulfilment of the contractual purpose and the violation of obligations whose fulfilment is a prerequisite for the proper performance of the contract and can normally be relied upon by the customer. In this case the vendor’s liability is nevertheless restricted to foreseeable damage typical to the type of contract involved. The vendor is not liable for minor negligence leading to the violation of obligations other than those mentioned in the previous sentences.
10.4. The above restrictions of liability do not apply to damage to life, limb or health, defects identified after the acceptance of a guarantee regarding the nature of the product or defects kept secret with wilful deceit. Liability under the terms of the German Act on Liability for Defective Products remains unaffected.
10.5. Insofar as the vendor’s liability is excluded or restricted, such exclusion and/or restriction also applies to the personal liability of employees, representatives and agents.
11. Storage of the contract itself
11.1. The customer is able to print out the contract with the aid of their browser’s print function during the last step of the order process (i.e. prior to placing their order with the vendor).
11.2. The vendor will also send the customer an order confirmation containing all order data to the email address provided by the customer. In addition, the customer will receive a copy of the vendor’s general terms and conditions (including the vendor’s cancellation policy and terms of payment) along with the order confirmation. Since the customer must register for a customer account to place an order, they can view their placed orders and order history in their profile. The vendor stores the contract data but does not make the full contract text publicly accessible on the internet.
11.3. Customers who are entrepreneurs can receive the contract documents by email, in writing or by reference to an online source.
12. Data protection
12.1. The vendor processes personal data of the customers for appropriate purposes and in accordance with the statutory provisions (GDPR).
12.2. Further information on the nature, scope, and purpose of the processing of personal data can be found in the Privacy Policy, which is available on the vendor’s website.
13. Usage Rights and Licensing
13.1. All digital products (the “Graphics”) purchased from the vendor are subject to the Global Commercial License Agreement. By purchasing the Graphics, the customer (the “Licensee”) agrees to these terms.
13.2. Grant of License: The vendor grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable, perpetual, worldwide license to use the Graphics solely in modified form (e.g., integrated into designs with added elements/text). The original files may not be used as-is.
13.3. Permitted and Prohibited Uses:
- Permitted: Use for physical and digital products (apparel, posters, etc.) and personal projects.
- Prohibited: No resale or redistribution of original or modified digital files. No use in logos, trademarks, or branding. No use for AI training, datasets, or in “on-demand” customizable products. Use for illegal or discriminatory purposes is strictly prohibited.
13.4. Sales Volume Limit: A lifetime sales cap of 250,000 units per design applies. For large companies (50+ employees or >€1M annual revenue), a separate extended license is required.
13.5. Full License Terms: The comprehensive version of the license, including all legal details and liability disclaimers, is available for download on our “License Agreement” page. In the event of any conflict between these summary terms and the full License Agreement (PDF), the provisions of the full License Agreement shall prevail.
13.6. Termination: This license terminates automatically if the Licensee breaches any terms. Upon termination, the Licensee must cease all use and destroy all copies of the Graphics.
13.7. Indemnification: The Licensee agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Vendor from and against any and all claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorney’s fees) arising out of or in connection with any third-party claim regarding the Licensee’s specific use of the Graphics, especially when combined with other elements, trademarks, or brand names not provided by the Vendor.
14. Final provisions
14.1. 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 (CISG), as long as there are no compelling statutory provisions to the contrary.
14.2. The language of the contract is English.
14.3. If the customer is an entrepreneur, a merchant, or a legal entity under public law, the place of performance and the place of jurisdiction for all disputes is the vendor’s place of business (Ötisheim, Germany). The vendor reserves the right to choose another admissible place of jurisdiction.
14.4. Dispute resolution: The vendor is neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board (Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle).
14.5. Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become invalid in whole or in part, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.