General Terms and Conditions (T&Cs)

1. Scope and Definitions

1. These T&Cs apply to the use of the platform helllo.me, operated by Alec Winter, Blumenau 89, 22089 Hamburg, Germany (hereinafter "Provider").
2. helllo.me is a service for creating and publishing digital business cards (hereinafter "Platform" or "Service").
3. "User" means any natural person who creates an account on the Platform.
4. "Content" means all data uploaded or entered by the User, including but not limited to text, images, links, and contact information.
5. Deviating conditions of the User are not recognized unless the Provider expressly agrees to their validity in writing.

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2. Conclusion of Contract and Requirements

1. The user agreement is concluded upon registration on the Platform and acceptance of these T&Cs.
2. Use is permitted exclusively to natural persons aged 18 years or older or legal entities. Minors are not permitted to use the Service.
3. By registering, the User represents that they are of legal age and have full legal capacity.
4. Only one user account per natural person is permitted. The creation of multiple accounts is not allowed.
5. The User is obliged to:
   • Provide truthful information during registration.
   • Keep their access credentials confidential and protect them from third-party access.
   • Notify the Provider immediately if there is any suspicion that unauthorized third parties have obtained knowledge of the access credentials.

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3. Services and Availability

Scope of Services

1. The Provider provides the technical infrastructure for creating, managing, and publishing digital business cards.
2. Free functions (Free Tier) as well as paid additional functions (Pro, Team) are described on the website.
3. There is no entitlement to the permanent free availability of certain functions. The Provider reserves the right to modify the scope of the free offering.

Newsletter Service

1. Users may optionally subscribe to a newsletter containing information about new features, tips, and platform updates. Subscription requires explicit opt-in and can be cancelled at any time via account settings.

Availability (SLA)

1. The Provider strives for a platform availability of 99.9% on an annual average.
2. Excluded from this are:
   • Scheduled maintenance work (with advance notice where possible)
   • Disruptions at third-party providers (Vercel, Supabase, AWS, DNS providers)
   • Force majeure (natural disasters, war, pandemics)
   • Attacks on IT infrastructure (DDoS, hacking)
3. Downtime does not give rise to claims for damages unless the Provider is responsible for the disruption.

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4. User Content (User Generated Content)

Responsibility

1. The User is solely responsible for all Content they publish on the Platform. The Provider does not review Content prior to publication.
2. The User guarantees that their Content:
   • Does not violate applicable law (in particular criminal law, copyright law, trademark law, personality rights).
   • Does not infringe the rights of third parties.
   • Does not contain false statements of fact.

Prohibited Content

1. The following Content is expressly prohibited on the Platform:
   • Content glorifying violence, racist, discriminatory, or inciting hatred
   • Pornographic or sexually explicit content
   • Content that endangers or exploits minors
   • Terrorist propaganda or instructions for committing crimes
   • Hate speech against individuals or groups based on origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age
   • False identities or identity theft (impersonation)
   • Spam, phishing, or fraudulent content
   • Malware, viruses, or malicious links
   • Copyrighted content without usage rights
   • Content that violates the Digital Services Act (DSA) or similar legislation

Grant of License

1. By uploading Content, the User grants the Provider a simple, worldwide, royalty-free license, limited to the duration of the contractual relationship, to:
   • Store and reproduce the Content on helllo.me.
   • Make the Content publicly accessible under the chosen subdomain.
   • Use the Content in aggregated, anonymized form for statistical purposes.
2. The User retains all rights to their Content. Upon deletion of the account, the rights granted to the Provider expire.

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5. Reporting Illegal Content (DSA Notice Procedure)

Reporting Mechanism

1. Any person may report Content to the Provider that they consider to be illegal by email to: contact@helllo.me
2. The report should include:
   • A sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the Content is illegal.
   • The URL or unique identification of the relevant Content.
   • The name and email address of the person reporting (for response purposes).

Review and Measures

1. The Provider will review each report promptly, diligently, and in a non-arbitrary manner.
2. If Content is found to be manifestly illegal, it will be removed or disabled without delay.
3. The affected User will be informed of the measure and given the opportunity to respond.
4. The Provider will inform the reporting person of the decision taken.

Abuse of Reporting Mechanism

1. Abusive or manifestly unfounded reports may be disregarded. In case of repeated abuse, the Provider reserves the right to take legal action.

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6. Suspension and Termination by the Provider

Suspension

1. The Provider is entitled to temporarily or permanently suspend a user account if:
   • The User violates these T&Cs, in particular by publishing prohibited Content.
   • There is a reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense.
   • The User has provided false information during registration.
   • The User misuses the Platform (e.g., spam, scraping).

Prior Warning

1. Before a permanent suspension, the User will generally receive a warning with a deadline for remedy, unless:
   • The violation is particularly serious (e.g., criminal content).
   • A warning would be ineffective or unreasonable.

Termination for Cause

1. The Provider may terminate the contractual relationship for cause without notice. Cause exists in particular in the event of serious or repeated violations of these T&Cs.

User's Rights

1. The User may object within 14 days of receiving the suspension notice. The Provider will review the objection and communicate the decision.

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7. Payments (Merchant of Record)

1. The sale of subscriptions is handled via Creem as the Merchant of Record (MoR).
2. The purchase contract for the paid service is concluded directly between the User and Creem. The Terms of Creem apply.
3. Creem is responsible for payment processing, taxes, refunds, and invoicing.
4. Paid functions on the Platform are activated upon confirmation of payment by Creem.
5. For payment questions or refund requests, please contact Creem directly or use the customer portal.

Prices

1. All prices displayed on the Platform are final prices including applicable value-added tax (VAT). Creem calculates the applicable VAT based on the User's country of residence.

Automatic Renewal

1. Subscriptions are automatically renewed for the selected term (monthly or annually) unless cancelled before the end of the current term.
2. Cancellation can be made at any time through the customer portal (Creem). Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

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8. Liability

Provider's Liability

1. The Provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence as well as for damages arising from injury to life, body, or health.
2. In the event of slight negligence, the Provider is only liable for the violation of an essential contractual obligation (cardinal obligation). Liability in this case is limited to the typical, foreseeable damage.
3. Liability for data loss is limited to the typical restoration effort that would have arisen if regular and appropriate backups had been made.
4. Liability for User Content is excluded. The Provider does not adopt User Content as its own.
5. Insofar as liability is excluded or limited, this also applies to the personal liability of employees, representatives, and vicarious agents of the Provider.

Liability for User Content (Indemnification)

1. The User shall indemnify the Provider against all third-party claims arising from Content posted by the User. This includes the costs of reasonable legal defense.
2. The User is obliged to inform the Provider immediately of any impending or pending proceedings and to assist in the defense.

Hosting Provider Privilege under DSA

1. The Provider is a hosting service provider within the meaning of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Liability for stored User Content only arises from the point of knowledge of illegal content, provided the Provider does not act promptly to remove or disable access to such content.

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9. Right of Withdrawal for Consumers

Cancellation Policy

If you are a consumer (a natural person acting for purposes that are outside your trade, business, craft, or profession), you have a statutory right of withdrawal.

Right of Withdrawal: You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.

To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Alec Winter, Blumenau 89, 22089 Hamburg, Email: contact@helllo.me) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by a clear statement (e.g., email).

Expiry of Right of Withdrawal for Digital Content

The right of withdrawal expires prematurely if:

• You have expressly consented to us beginning execution of the contract before the expiry of the withdrawal period, and
• You have confirmed your knowledge that you lose your right of withdrawal by giving such consent.

Note: For subscriptions through Creem, Creem's cancellation policies apply additionally.

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10. Termination by the User

1. The free user relationship may be terminated at any time by deleting the account in the settings. Upon deletion, all data will be irrevocably removed.
2. Paid subscriptions must be canceled through the customer portal (Creem). The cancellation deadlines displayed there apply.
3. Upon cancellation of a paid subscription, access remains available until the end of the paid period.
4. There is no entitlement to a pro-rata refund upon early termination unless otherwise required by law.

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11. Amendments to the T&Cs

1. The Provider reserves the right to amend these T&Cs with effect for the future if this is necessary due to changed legal frameworks, technical developments, or new functions and the amendment is reasonable for the User considering the Provider's interests.
2. The User will be informed of amendments at least 30 days before they take effect by email or platform notification.
3. If the User does not object within 30 days of receiving the amendment notice, the amended T&Cs are deemed accepted. The User will be specifically informed of this legal consequence in the amendment notice.
4. In case of objection, the Provider may terminate the contractual relationship with a notice period of 14 days to the end of the month.

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12. Final Provisions

Applicable Law

1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). Mandatory consumer protection provisions of the User's country of residence remain unaffected.

Jurisdiction

1. If the User is a merchant, legal entity under public law, or special fund under public law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract is Hamburg.
2. For consumers, the statutory place of jurisdiction applies.

Online Dispute Resolution

1. The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR): https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. We are neither obliged nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

Severability Clause

1. Should individual provisions of these T&Cs be or become wholly or partially invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid provision shall be replaced by the statutory regulation. The same applies to any gaps in the contract.

Written Form

1. Amendments and additions to these T&Cs require text form (email is sufficient). This also applies to the waiver of this written form requirement.

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13. Contact

For questions regarding these T&Cs:

Alec Winter Blumenau 89 22089 Hamburg Germany

Email: contact@helllo.me