Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions with Customer Information

Table of contents

Scope of application
Conclusion of contract
Right of withdrawal
Prices and payment terms
Delivery and shipping conditions
Retention of title
Warranty liability
Redemption of promotional vouchers
Applicable Law
Place of Jurisdiction
Alternative Dispute Resolution

Scope of application
1. These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "Terms and Conditions") of GbR Marco Ringel, Christoph Ludwig (hereinafter "Seller") apply to all contracts for the delivery of goods that a consumer or entrepreneur (hereinafter "Customer") concludes with the seller regarding the goods presented by the seller in their online shop. The inclusion of the customer's own terms and conditions is hereby rejected unless otherwise agreed.
2. For contracts for the delivery of goods with digital elements, these Terms and Conditions apply accordingly, unless otherwise regulated. In this case, the seller owes, in addition to the delivery of the goods, the provision of digital content or digital services (hereinafter "digital products") that are contained in or connected with the goods in such a way that the goods cannot fulfill their functions without them.
3. Consumer within the meaning of these Terms and Conditions is any natural person who concludes a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly neither commercial nor independent professional.
4. Entrepreneur within the meaning of these Terms and Conditions is a natural or legal person or a legally capable partnership who acts in the exercise of their commercial or independent professional activity when concluding a legal transaction.
Conclusion of contract
1. The product descriptions contained in the seller's online shop do not constitute binding offers by the seller but serve to submit a binding offer by the customer.
2. The customer can submit the offer via the online order form integrated into the seller's online shop. After placing the selected goods in the virtual shopping cart and completing the electronic ordering process, the customer submits a legally binding contract offer regarding the goods contained in the shopping cart by clicking the button that completes the ordering process. Furthermore, the customer can also submit the offer by phone, fax, email, postal mail, or via the online contact form to the seller.
3. The seller can accept the customer's offer within five days,
  - by sending the customer a written order confirmation or an order confirmation in text form (fax or email), whereby the receipt of the order confirmation by the customer is decisive, or
  - by delivering the ordered goods to the customer, whereby the receipt of the goods by the customer is decisive, or
  - by requesting payment from the customer after the customer has placed their order.
  If several of the aforementioned alternatives apply, the contract is concluded at the time when one of the aforementioned alternatives occurs first. The acceptance period for the offer begins the day after the offer is sent by the customer and ends at the end of the fifth day following the sending of the offer. If the seller does not accept the customer's offer within the aforementioned period, this is considered a rejection of the offer, meaning the customer is no longer bound by their declaration of intent.
4. When submitting an offer via the seller's online order form, the contract text is stored by the seller after the contract is concluded and sent to the customer in text form (e.g., email or letter) after the order is sent. No further access to the contract text by the seller will be provided. If the customer has created a user account in the seller's online shop before sending their order, the order data will be archived on the seller's website and can be accessed by the customer free of charge via their password-protected user account using the corresponding login data.
5. Before submitting the order bindingly via the seller's online order form, the customer can detect possible input errors by carefully reading the information displayed on the screen. An effective technical means to better detect input errors can be the browser's zoom function, which enlarges the display on the screen. The customer can correct their entries during the electronic ordering process using the usual keyboard and mouse functions until they click the button that completes the order process.
6. Only the German language is available for concluding the contract.
7. Order processing and contact usually take place via email and automated order processing. The customer must ensure that the email address provided for order processing is correct so that emails sent by the seller can be received at this address. In particular, when using spam filters, the customer must ensure that all emails sent by the seller or third parties commissioned by the seller for order processing can be delivered.
8. When selecting a payment method offered by PayPal, the payment processing is carried out by the payment service provider PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg (hereinafter: "PayPal"), subject to the PayPal terms of use, available at https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full or - if the customer does not have a PayPal account – subject to the terms for payments without a PayPal account, available at https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/privacywax-fullIf the customer pays using a payment method offered by PayPal selectable during the online ordering process, the seller hereby declares acceptance of the customer's offer at the moment the customer clicks the button completing the ordering process.
Right of withdrawal
1. Consumers generally have a right of withdrawal.
2. Further information on the right of withdrawal can be found in the seller's cancellation policy.
Prices and payment terms
1. Unless otherwise stated in the seller's product description, the prices indicated are total prices including statutory VAT. Any additional delivery and shipping costs will be specified separately in the respective product description.
2. The payment option(s) will be communicated to the customer in the seller's online shop.
3. If prepayment by bank transfer is agreed, payment is due immediately after the contract is concluded, unless the parties have agreed on a later due date.
4. When selecting the payment method "PayPal Invoice," the seller assigns their payment claim to PayPal. Before accepting the seller's assignment declaration, PayPal conducts a credit check using the transmitted customer data. The seller reserves the right to refuse the payment method "PayPal Invoice" to the customer in case of a negative credit check result. If the payment method "PayPal Invoice" is approved by PayPal, the customer must pay the invoice amount to PayPal within 30 days of receiving the goods, unless PayPal specifies a different payment term. In this case, the customer can only make payments to PayPal with discharging effect. However, the seller remains responsible for general customer inquiries, e.g., about the goods, delivery time, shipping, returns, complaints, cancellation declarations and submissions, or credit notes, even in the case of claim assignment. Additionally, the General Terms of Use for using PayPal's invoice purchase apply, which can be viewed at https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/pui-terms.
5. When selecting the payment method "PayPal Direct Debit," PayPal will debit the invoice amount from the customer's bank account on behalf of the seller after a SEPA direct debit mandate has been issued, but not before the deadline for the pre-notification period has expired. Pre-notification ("Pre-Notification") is any communication (e.g., invoice, policy, contract) to the customer announcing a debit via SEPA direct debit. If the direct debit is not honored due to insufficient account balance or incorrect bank details, or if the customer objects to the debit without being entitled to do so, the customer must bear the fees incurred by the respective bank's chargeback if the customer is responsible for this.
Delivery and shipping conditions
1. If the seller offers shipping of the goods, delivery is made within the delivery area specified by the seller to the delivery address provided by the customer, unless otherwise agreed. The delivery address specified in the seller's order processing is decisive for the transaction. Deviating from this, if PayPal is selected as the payment method, the delivery address stored by the customer at PayPal at the time of payment is decisive.
2. For goods delivered by freight, delivery is made "free curbside," meaning up to the public curbside closest to the delivery address, unless otherwise specified in the shipping information in the seller's online shop or unless otherwise agreed.
3. If delivery of the goods fails for reasons attributable to the customer, the customer bears the reasonable costs incurred by the seller as a result. This does not apply to the costs of sending if the customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal. For return shipping costs, the regulation set out in the seller's withdrawal instructions applies if the customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal.
4. If the customer acts as a business, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the sold goods passes to the customer as soon as the seller has delivered the item to the carrier, freight forwarder, or other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment. If the customer acts as a consumer, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the sold goods generally only passes to the customer upon delivery of the goods to the customer or an authorized recipient. Deviating from this, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the sold goods also passes to the customer even if they are a consumer as soon as the seller has delivered the item to the carrier, freight forwarder, or other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment, if the customer has commissioned the carrier, freight forwarder, or other person or institution designated to carry out the shipment and the seller has not previously named this person or institution to the customer.
5. The seller reserves the right to withdraw from the contract in the event of incorrect or improper self-supply. This only applies if the non-delivery is not the seller's fault and the seller has concluded a specific cover transaction with the supplier with due diligence. The seller will make all reasonable efforts to procure the goods. In the event of non-availability or only partial availability of the goods, the customer will be informed immediately and the consideration will be refunded immediately.
6. Self-collection is not possible for logistical reasons.
Retention of title
1. If the seller advances payment, they reserve ownership of the delivered goods until full payment of the purchase price owed.
Warranty liability
1. Unless otherwise specified in the following provisions, the provisions of statutory warranty liability apply. Deviating from this, the following applies to contracts for the delivery of goods:
2. If the customer acts as an entrepreneur, - the seller has the choice of the type of subsequent performance;
  - the limitation period does not start anew if a replacement delivery is made within the scope of warranty liability.
3. The above liability limitations and time reductions do not apply - to the customer's claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses,
  - in the event that the seller has fraudulently concealed the defect,
  - for goods that have been used according to their usual purpose for a building and have caused its defectiveness,
  - for any existing obligation of the seller to provide updates for digital products, in contracts for the delivery of goods with digital elements.
4. Furthermore, for entrepreneurs, the statutory limitation periods for any existing statutory recourse claims remain unaffected.
5. If the customer acts as a merchant within the meaning of § 1 HGB, they are subject to the commercial inspection and complaint obligation according to § 377 HGB. If the customer fails to fulfill the notification obligations regulated there, the goods are deemed approved.
6. If the customer acts as a consumer, they are requested to report goods with obvious transport damage to the carrier and inform the seller. Failure to do so has no effect on their statutory or contractual warranty claims.
Redemption of promotional vouchers
1. Vouchers issued free of charge by the seller as part of promotions with a specific validity period and which cannot be purchased by the customer (hereinafter "promotional vouchers") can only be redeemed in the seller's online shop and only within the specified period.
2. Individual products may be excluded from the voucher promotion if a corresponding restriction arises from the content of the promotional voucher.
3. Promotional vouchers can only be redeemed before completing the order process. Subsequent crediting is not possible.
4. Multiple promotional vouchers can be redeemed in one order.
5. The value of the goods must be at least equal to the amount of the promotional voucher. Any remaining balance will not be refunded by the seller.
6. If the value of the promotional voucher is insufficient to cover the order, one of the other payment methods offered by the seller can be chosen to pay the difference.
7. The balance of a promotional voucher will neither be paid out in cash nor bear interest.
8. The promotional voucher will not be refunded if the customer returns the goods paid for in whole or in part with the promotional voucher within the scope of their statutory right of withdrawal.
9. The promotional voucher is transferable. The seller can fulfill its obligation by performing to the respective holder who redeems the promotional voucher in the seller's online shop. This does not apply if the seller has knowledge or grossly negligent ignorance of the lack of authorization, legal incapacity, or lack of power of representation of the respective holder.
Applicable Law
1. For all legal relationships between the parties, the law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the laws on the international sale of movable goods. For consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as the protection granted by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence is not withdrawn.
Place of Jurisdiction
1. If the customer acts as a merchant, a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law with its registered office in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract is the seller's place of business. If the customer has its registered office outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the seller's place of business is the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract if the contract or claims arising from the contract can be attributed to the customer's professional or commercial activity. However, in the above cases, the seller is in any case entitled to bring an action before the court at the customer's place of business.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
1. The EU Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution on the internet at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odrThis platform serves as a contact point for the out-of-court settlement of disputes arising from online purchase or service contracts involving a consumer.
2. The seller is neither obligated nor willing to participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer arbitration board.

Our story begins long before the first honeycomb

A teacher and a master carpenter have been close friends for over 25 years. They met through their wives, who were already friends in kindergarten. From this connection, a friendship developed that still forms the foundation of PSK Beekeeping today. When Marco took over beekeeping from his father Hanni, a new passion began for him – and at the same time a big annoyance. He was immediately fascinated by working with the bees, but documenting the colonies was tedious and impractical. Paper hive books got wet, stuck together, or disappeared somewhere between hives and tools. And the smartphone? Hardly usable with fingers stuck together with propolis. Many methods were tried: paper cards, spreadsheets, apps – but no solution ever felt quite right. Marco was looking for a system that works quickly, reliably, and directly at the hive without constantly having to reach for the phone. That’s how an idea was born: a form of documentation as simple as a glance at the colony itself. This is where Christoph came into play. With his craftsmanship perspective and Marco’s beekeeping experience, the two began tinkering – first with simple materials, many experiments, and even more discussions. From these attempts, the foundation was finally developed for something that many beekeepers use today: the PSK.

The first trade fair and the step into the digital world

The first PSKs were initially an experiment. Marco and Christoph tested materials, improved the scales, and tried out new variants again and again. But at some point, they wanted to know: Does the idea also work outside their own apiary? The answer was to come at a trade fair. At EuroBee in Friedrichshafen, they presented the PSK to a larger audience for the first time. For the two founders, this was a special moment because suddenly experienced beekeepers stood before them, took the cards in their hands, asked questions, and tried the system themselves. Many visitors understood the idea immediately. They took the pins, looked at the scales, and said, "That actually makes total sense." The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and confirmed Marco and Christoph in their assumption: The PSK solves a real problem in beekeeping. At the same time, a new idea emerged at this fair. Many beekeepers found the analog system excellent but also wished for a way to store the data digitally and analyze it long-term. This led to the next major development step. A third man joined the team: Tim, a computer scientist from Göttingen. He developed an app that can automatically recognize the position of the pins on the card. With a simple photo, the PSK can be scanned, and the app transfers the information directly into a digital history. This created the system that defines PSK Beekeeping today: a robust analog documentation directly at the apiary and intelligent digital analysis in the background.

New ideas about beekeeping

More than just a single product gradually developed from the PSK. Around the work at the beehive, new ideas kept emerging, many inspired by direct exchange with the beekeeper community. A special project is “Beekeeper – The Game”, a board game for the whole family. In it, two to four players manage their own beehive through a complete beekeeping year. It involves decisions, events, and typical challenges from beekeeping – presented playfully and with a lot of humor. The game quickly became a popular product for beekeepers and everyone interested in bees. Another project is the Beekeeper Advent Calendar. The idea behind it was a calendar that not only contains small surprises but truly useful and creative products for the beehive. That’s why the calendar was designed with multiple layers, so larger items can also fit inside – from tools to accessories to special small gift ideas for beekeepers. During the development of this advent calendar, a new product line also emerged: the Holy series. Originally, a special scented smoke material for the smoker was developed, which provides pleasant, aromatic smoke blends. The idea was so well received that it became an independent brand, which is now being further developed independently of the advent calendar. Alongside these product ideas, interest in the PSK itself also grew. More and more beekeepers from other countries discovered the system. Therefore, the card was gradually translated into more and more languages and offered internationally. Today, it is available in more than ten languages and is used in many countries across Europe and beyond. What started as a small idea at the home beehive has thus gradually developed into a growing range of products around modern and practical beekeeping.

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Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions with Customer Information

Our story begins long before the first honeycomb

The first trade fair and the step into the digital world

New ideas about beekeeping