General Terms and Conditions
Sales and Payment Terms for the Online Shop
pursuant to Articles 312b+, German Civil Code
Article 1, Scope of Application, and Provider
1.1 These terms and conditions apply to the purchase of online tickets and other articles (hereinafter “Goods”) from Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG, Hardenbergplatz 8, 10787 Berlin, Germany, commercial register at the District Court of Charlottenburg (HRB 4306) (hereinafter “Zoo Berlin”) via the Internet portal www.zoo-berlin.de or www.aquarium-berlin.de. The terms and conditions of a given customer, where these exist, shall not be subject of the contract, even if Zoo Berlin has not explicitly objected to them.
1.2 The product spectrum offered on the Internet pages of www.zoo-berlin.de or www.aquarium-berlin.de is solely intended for consumers as defined by Article 13, German Civil Code, having a place of residence and delivery address located inside the Federal Republic of Germany (hereinafter “Customers”). Consumers are defined as natural persons to the extent that the Goods ordered by them cannot be associated with their commercial or self-employed professional activity.
If you are an entrepreneur, please call Zoo Berlin at
the phone number +49 (0)30 / 25 401 - 224.
1.3 Zoo Berlin carries no products for minors.
Article 2, Purchase Order as Contractual Offer
2.1 If the Customer orders Goods and online tickets for the Berlin Zoo by clicking the button “Bestellung abschließen” (“Finalise Purchase”), this is deemed an offer to Zoo Berlin to enter into a contract.
2.2 All purchase order data will be displayed to the Customer once the required information has been entered, and before the purchase order is submitted. The Customer is thus given the opportunity to correct incorrect entries, if any.
2.3 Zoo Berlin will confirm receipt of the offer pursuant to Article 2.1, above, via e-mail (hereinafter “Confirmation of Receipt”). The Confirmation of Receipt does not constitute an acceptance of the Customer’s offer to enter into a sales contract involving Goods or online tickets.
Article 3, Adoption of the Contract for the Ordering of Goods
3.1 The offer will be accepted by Zoo Berlin whenever the actual purchase order for Goods is placed, to which end Zoo Berlin will confirm receipt of the purchase order in writing vis-à-vis the Customer; which may also be done in the form of an e-mail confirmation of shipment (hereinafter “Shipping Confirmation”). With this acceptance the contract is deemed adopted.
Article 4, Adoption of the Contract for the Ordering of Online Tickets (Single-Day Tickets)
4.1 Zoo Berlin will communicate its acceptance of the contract offer once the Customer has submitted the purchase order of online tickets by automatically providing said Customer with the option to download the ordered online tickets in PDF file format, and to print these.
4.2 Any risk to the effect that the Customer may not be able to download or print the online tickets for technical reasons shall be borne by the Customer, provided Zoo Berlin is not responsible for the failure.
4.3 Online tickets are regular one-day tickets to the Berlin Zoo as printed. They are not good for the admission to any special event.
4.4 Purchase orders of online tickets are limited to 10 (ten) admissions per ticket type per purchase order that is placed by any one Customer on a given day.
Article 5, Prices and Shipping Costs
5.1 Prices listed are consumer prices that include the statutory value-added tax. The amount due shall be the amount listed at the time a binding purchase order is placed. Purchase orders of Goods are subject to an additional shipping charge whose amount depends on the shipping mode, the size and the weight of the ordered goods, as well as on the place of delivery. Shipping costs may vary depending on whether the destination of the Goods delivery is located
(a) in Germany,
(b) outside Germany but inside the European Union, or
(c) outside the European Union.
The online shopping cart will itemize the shipping costs together with the purchase order.
5.2 Zoo Berlin will bear the regular costs of return shipments whenever Goods are returned by Customers exercising their power of revocation.
Article 6, Payment
6.1 The Customer shall authorize payment of online tickets and Goods plus shipping and handling is effected immediately after placing a purchase order, using his or her credit card (Visa, MasterCard).
6.2 Once the credit card number has been entered along with the purchase order, Zoo Berlin will authorize the financial institute commissioned for the handling of payments to collect the purchase price sum from the credit card account the Customer identified in his or her purchase order.
6.3 If a Customer defaults on his or her payment, Zoo Berlin is entitled to charge interest on arrears equivalent to 5 percentage points over and above the official basic interest rate p.a. at the time the contract was concluded. If the Zoo Berlin sustains a demonstrably higher damage because of the default, Zoo Berlin shall be entitled to enforce such damage.
6.4 The Customer shall be permitted to set off the remuneration of any counterclaim that has been legally asserted or are not disputed by Zoo Berlin.
6.5 The Customer shall be entitled to exercise the right of retention only to the extent that his or her counterclaim is based on the same contractual relationship.
Article 7, Delivery of Ordered Goods
7.1 The Goods shall be delivered to the delivery address specified by the Customer.
7.2 To the extent that they are in stock, Goods are normally shipped within 5 (five) work days after receipt of purchase order and payment. Delivery periods, where stated in the confirmation of receipt, are non-binding.
7.3 The obligation to deliver shall be waived whenever Zoo Berlin has in turn received no delivery, and cannot be held responsible for the unavailability of the Goods. In the event that ordered Goods are unavailable, the Customer shall be notified directly via e-mail, and the purchase price, where already paid, shall be reimbursed.
7.4 In the event that delivery becomes impossible altogether due to force majeure, Zoo Berlin shall be exempt from any obligation to perform. Zoo Berlin shall reimburse any purchase price already paid.
7.5 Moreover, Zoo Berlin may refuse to perform whenever the performance would require an effort that lies not within the responsibility of Zoo Berlin, and that is out of all proportion to the contents of the sales contract and rules of good faith even when taking into account the Customer’s interest to have the sales contract fulfilled. In such an event, Zoo Berlin would notify the Customer immediately. Zoo Berlin would then reimburse any purchase price that may already have been paid.
Article 8, Power of Revocation
8.1 The Customer may revoke a sales contract involving Goods and online tickets without stating reasons within a period of two weeks. The return period begins with the receipt of the Goods or the issue date of the ticket and of the receipt of the revocation instructions in writing.
8.2 With Goods, a revocation takes the form of return shipment of the Goods or a written explanation. The revocation period pursuant to Art. 8.1, above, shall be deemed observed if the Goods or the revocation notice are despatched in time to Zoo Berlin.
8.3 The Customer shall bear the costs of the return shipment whenever the Goods were delivered as ordered and whenever the value of the Goods returned does not exceed the amount of Euro 40.00, or, if the object value does exceed this amount, whenever the Customer has not yet paid the contractual consideration or contractually agreed partial payment, where applicable. Otherwise, the return shipment shall be free of charge for the Customer. Return shipment shall in any case be effected at the risk of Zoo Berlin.
8.4 The power of revocation shall be void for purchases of CDs, DVDs and video tapes if any of these products has been unwrapped.
8.5 The purchase of online tickets can be revoked in the following manner:
(a) via e-mail, facsimile or letter to the customer service address specified in the revocation instructions, stating the transaction number or
(b) by returning the tickets to the administration of Zoo Berlin.
Article 9, Consequences of Exercising the Power of Revocation
9.1 If a Customer exercises his or her power of revocation, either party shall return benefits already received or surrender gains derived (e. g. the amenity and advantage of using), if any.
9.2 In the case of online tickets, a given ticket shall be voided as a consequence of the return pursuant to Art. 8.5, above. Zoo Berlin draws attention to the fact that the barcode scanning of online tickets at the point of admission will reveal whether a given online ticket has already been used. Revocation is ruled out if the ticket returned by the Customer has already been used.
9.3 Zoo Berlin will reimburse the price of purchase directly after receipt of the returned Goods, or after voiding the online ticket, respectively, subject to the following provisions.
9.4 Pursuant to the provision of Article 357, Section 3, Sentence 3, German Civil Code, the Customer shall have to compensate the loss of value of a given item if the Goods returned show a deterioration, unless said deterioration is exclusively attributable to the inspection of the Goods. At issue here is not just a possible deterioration of the product itself, but that of any other factor, too, that is part of the delivery and relevant for the resale. In order to avoid having to compensate the loss in value of the deteriorated Goods, the Customer is hereby specifically asked in his or her own best interest
(a) to erase any visible trace of usage prior to returning the Goods,
(b) to return all accessories and the documentation included in the delivery, too, and
(c) to use the original packaging, undamaged where possible, for the return shipment even if it has been damaged in the process of opening it to conduct a functional test. While the Customer is not obliged to do this, using the original packaging for the return shipment may avoid a situation in which Zoo Berlin would have to demand compensation for loss of value caused by missing original packaging.
9.5 If the Customer chooses a needlessly expensive shipping mode, he or she may be obliged to repay Zoo Berlin for the price difference between the costlier and a less costly shipping mode.
9.6 The compensation to be paid by the Customer, as well as the compensation for the amenity and advantage of using are set off against the purchase price to be reimbursed.
Article 10, Warranty
10.1 A product already defective at the time of delivery (warranty event) shall, at the Customer’s discretion, either be replaced by Zoo Berlin with a non-defective one, or else be professionally repaired (remedying a defect). The Customer is advised that no warranty applies if the product at issue was despatched by Zoo Berlin in the quality agreed (passing of risk). Specifically, no warranty applies in the following cases:
(a) in the case of damages occasioned on the Customer side due to misuse or improper usage;
(b) in the case of damages occasioned on the Customer side by exposing the product to harmful external influences (in particular extreme temperatures, humidity, unusual physical or electrical stress, voltage fluctuations, static electricity, lightning stroke, fire).
10.2 If the mode of remedying the defect that was requested by the Customer (either substitute delivery or repair) necessitates an effort out of all proportion to the Customer’s interest in the performance when taking into account the product price, the contract contents, and the rules of good faith – specifically taking into account the value of the purchased item in a non-defective state, the significance of the defect, and the question whether the remediation alternative may be resorted to without subjecting the Customer to a considerable disadvantage – then the Customer’s claim shall be limited to the respective remediation alternative. The right of Zoo Berlin to refuse even the alternative remediation of a defect under the aforementioned conditions remains unimpaired.
10.3 In either case, be it the repair or the substitute delivery, the Customer shall be obliged to send, at the expense of Zoo Berlin, the product back to Zoo Berlin, stating the order number.
10.4 The Customer may, at his or her discretion, terminate the contract or reduce the price of purchase if the repair or substitute delivery fails to restore the product quality in keeping with the contract within a reasonable period of time.
Article 11, Period of Limitation
The statutory warranty granted by Zoo Berlin ends 2 (two) years after the delivery of the Goods to the Customer.
Article 12, Liability for Damages
12.1 In cases of ordinary negligence, Zoo Berlin shall be liable only for the violation of obligations essential to the contract and limited to foreseeable damages. This limitation does not apply to personal, bodily or health injuries. Zoo Berlin shall not be liable for other damages due to ordinary negligence that are caused by a defect of the purchase item.
12.2 Independent of any culpability of Zoo Berlin, the liability of Zoo Berlin remains unimpaired in cases of malicious non-disclosure of a given defect or cases of underwritten guarantees.
12.3 A manufacturer’s guarantee is a guarantee provided by the respective manufacturer, and does not constitute a guarantee underwritten by Zoo Berlin.
12.4 The personal liability of any legal representative, person performing obligations for which Zoo Berlin is vicariously liable, or member of staff for damages caused by ordinary negligence is ruled out.
Article 13, Use of Data
13.1 By granting his or her consent to the privacy policy of Zoo Berlin when entering into a contract, the Customer agrees that Zoo Berlin may save, process and use the personal data submitted by that Customer, to the extent that doing so is required to fill his or her purchase order.
13.2 For payment transaction, the user will be referred via hyperlink to an Internet page operated by Dresdner Bank AG. Zoo Berlin draws attention to the fact that additional personal user data (card number, card verification code, card expiration date, card holder’s name) of the Customer will be collected, processed and used on that page for the transaction of payment; the data being encrypted using SSL (secure socket layer) technology. Zoo Berlin is not responsible for any data collected by Dresdner Bank AG. The usage and data protection policies of Dresdner Bank AG apply exclusively.
Article 14, Other
14.1 All contracts concluded with Zoo Berlin pursuant to Art. 1, above, are exclusively subject to the substantive law of the Federal Republic of Germany, with the applicability of the UN sales law expressly ruled out.
Status: 2. August 2007
Revocation Instructions
Revocation Instructions / Power of Revocation:
You may revoke the contract in writing without stating reasons within two weeks (e. g. via letter, facsimile, e-mail) or, in the case of Goods, by returning the Goods. The period commences with receipt of these instructions at the earliest. The evocation period is deemed observed if the revocation or the Goods are sent off in time.
Please address your revocation notice to:
Address:
Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG
Abt. Kundenservice
Hardenbergplatz 8
10787 Berlin, Germany
Fax: +49 (0) 30 - 25 401 - 228
E-mail: 
kundenservice@zoo-berlin.de
Consequences of Revocation and Return Shipment
In the event of an effective revocation, either party shall return any benefit received as well as any gain derived (e. g. interest), if any. If you are unable to return the received benefits, be it whole or in part or only in a deteriorated state, you shall compensate us in an amount matching the loss in value suffered. This does not apply if the deterioration of the item is due exclusively to an inspection comparable to the kind of inspection possible in a physical retail location. In any case, you may be able to avoid the obligatory compensation for loss in value by handling the object as carefully as you would your own property, and by abstaining from any activity that might impair its value. You shall bear the costs of the return shipment whenever the Goods were delivered as ordered and whenever the value of the item returned does not exceed the amount of Euro 40.00, or, if the item value does exceed this amount, whenever you have not yet paid the contractual consideration or contractually agreed down payment, where applicable. Otherwise, the return shipment shall be free of charge for you. Items not suitable for shipment by a parcel service shall be picked up at your location. You shall meet any obligation prerequisite for the reimbursement of payments within 30 days of having despatched your revocation notice.
– End of the revocation instructions –