Dispatch and payment
1. dispatch
The following conditions apply: The goods are delivered worldwide with restrictions for various countries, see description below.
1.1 Shipping costs
All prices are inclusive of VAT (except for net buyers and customers with a customer and delivery address in a non-EU country, who will be shown the net prices).
1.1.1 Domestic deliveries (Germany)
Private customers: €4 flat rate, free shipping from €30.
Business customers (customer group dealers/therapists): 4 € flat rate, free shipping from 150 euros.
1.1.2 Deliveries abroad
We calculate the shipping costs abroad as a flat rate as follows:
For shipping to the European Union:
Private customers: €11 flat rate, free shipping from €130.
Business customers (customer group retailers/therapists): 11 € flat rate, free shipping from 300 euros.
For shipping to non-EU countries (e.g. Switzerland, Norway etc):
Private customers: €15 flat rate, free shipping from €150.
Business customers (customer group retailers/therapists): 15 € flat rate, free shipping from 400 euros.
This category also includes the USA, Canada, Thailand and Peru. Unfortunately, we had to deactivate all other non-EU countries worldwide due to extremely high problem rates (expensive returns, cases of fraud).
Delivery to France is unfortunately no longer possible thanks to the new bureaucratic hurdles, which would involve enormous financial and time expenditure: New information obligations for online retailers who sell goods to/from France (it-recht-kanzlei.de)
Unfortunately, more and more countries are joining this nonsense! We can't possibly invest 500 euros in an annual licence for every EU country just for permission to send our shipping boxes there. We are therefore now also removing the following countries from our shipping list(as of 12.2023) Poland, Slovak Republic, Lithuania and Greece!
Special shipping conditions apply to Austria . A delivery there is generally no problem, as long as we can send B2B, i.e. from us to an address of a trader.
1.1.3 Important note on customs and duties, especially for Swiss customers:
Any customs duties and import sales tax are to be borne by the buyer.
Here are the possible additional costs for our Swiss customers (99% of non-EU buyers):
Approx. 8% VAT, regardless of the parcel value. Customs costs are only incurred from 150 euros value of goods, 11.50 CHF in principle plus 1 € / kg.
1.2 Delivery periods
Unless otherwise stated in the respective offer, the goods will be delivered domestically (Germany) within 1 - 3 days, for deliveries abroad within 5 - 10 days after conclusion of the contract (in the case of agreed advance payment after the time of your payment instruction).
Please note that there is no delivery on Sundays and public holidays.
If you have ordered items with different delivery times, we will dispatch the goods in a single consignment, unless we have agreed otherwise with you. In this case, the delivery time is determined by the item with the longest delivery time that you have ordered.
1.3 Contracted delivery services
In principle, we work with the entire spectrum offered by DHL / Deutsche Post (parcels, goods mail, national and international).
Unfortunately, there is now a rampant strike culture in Germany. In 2023/2024 in particular, DHL parcels often arrived up to a week late to customers.
This happens when DHL uses the German railway to transport its parcels, sends them internationally by air freight - and then DHL, the railway and airports take turns striking every week!
Due to these problems, we have also opened a business account with Hermes and reserve the right to send parcels via Hermes instead of DHL should such extremes occur again.
In each case only if it is foreseeable that DHL parcels would arrive unreasonably late and in such a way that it is only to the advantage of our customers.
1.4 Measures for your and our security
We generally recommend that customers do not select"Leave in a safe place" or"Leave with neighbour". If a customer selects these options themselves when completing the DHL options, they will lose both DHL's and our liability in the event of parcel loss!
Since 2021, there has been a sharp increase in cases of fraud in which fake customers, for example, select the "Drop off at secure drop off location" option themselves using a false identity in order to then fraudulently take parcels there. In cases of doubt, we therefore also decide independently whether to fulfil this request or whether to select the "Hand over in person" or "IdentCheck" options for higher-value parcels. Parcels worth over €400 will only be dispatched if the buyer provides their date of birth, as otherwise no "Ident Check" is possible. In this case, we decide whether Ident Check is necessary based on the risk profile, e.g. if it is a regular customer with whom there have never been any problems or a new customer unknown to us.
We ask for your understanding for these measures, which are primarily for the security of our customers. Unfortunately, identity theft is now a widespread phenomenon on the Internet, and you can't avoid it by choosing another online shop - on the contrary, we don't know of any other shop that handles it as critically and for the benefit of its customers as we do.
Additional costs incurred by DHL due to these services are of course borne by us.
2. payment
2.1 Accepted payment methods
Our payment methods are managed by the Dutch payment service providerMollie. There is no data transfer to the USA or any other non-EU country!
Mollie manages the following payment methods:
- Payment by credit card
- Payment by PayPal
- Payment by instant bank transfer
- Payment via the Dutch payment method iDEAL and the Belgian payment method Bancontact.
We operate and manage the following payment methods ourselves:
- Payment by invoice
- Payment in advance
For the rare cases in which payment does not work via Molli due to technical problems, we have the payment service provider Deltra Software GmbH as a second option, where all possible payment methods can be used again. Every customer also receives a link to their customer centre with the shipping confirmation.
Deltra is an absolutely trustworthy provider; the general public is more likely to be familiar with the WISO financial and tax programmes and Orgamax, which are programmed by this company.
2.2 Further details on payment
The invoice amount must be paid within 14 days in the case of payment on account.
Prepayment must be made within 10 days, otherwise the purchase will be cancelled and the goods released for resale.
If payment is made by credit card, your credit card account will be debited upon conclusion of the contract.
Our bank details:
Account holder: EnergyVital Naturprodukte GmbH
Bank: EthikBank
IBAN: DE24 8309 4495 0003 4934 15
BIC/Swift-Code: GENODEF1ETK
If you have any questions, please find our contact details in the imprint.
3. procedure for delivery problems
3.1 Returns due to "address cannot be found"
Unfortunately, parcels are often returned to us, e.g. because either customers write their address incorrectly or their name is missing from the address or DHL is unable to find this data for some reason.
Each return costs us 4 euros! This is automatically charged by DHL.
Unfortunately, the law prohibits passing these costs on to the customer, so it is usually our loss.
Experience has shown that it is usually pointless to resend parcels that are returned to the same address. Even the time-consuming communication with customers to solve such problems usually costs so much time and money that we end up paying for it.
That's why we're now doing what large mail-order companies such as Amazon have been doing for a long time:
- Returned parcels or the orders for them will be cancelled immediately, without time-consuming and costly queries, and the purchase amount refunded.
- If you still need the goods, please place a new order. However, please ensure that a new correct address is used.
If the customer returns the goods to the same address for a subsequent order, we will invoice the customer for the return costs charged by DHL.
Due to the high volume of orders, it is unfortunately not possible for us to check in advance whether the address has been corrected or whether the same address has been used again, which has already led to problems.
3.2 Information on cancellation
The legally stipulated procedure in the event of a desired cancellation is described in our General Terms and Conditions.
Please note that refusing to accept a parcel or sending it back without a cancellation form etc. is not a valid cancellation.
In this case, DHL will charge us 4 euros for the return costs, which we will invoice to the customer or deduct from the refund amount in the event of a non-valid cancellation.
We therefore ask you to comply with the legally and humanly required procedure, in the best case we are also happy to send a return note at our expense as a gesture of goodwill, e.g. if the customer has good reasons for not wanting to keep the goods. Returns that have not been agreed or wilful causation of expenses (ordering on suspicion and then refusing to accept) exclude goodwill.
3.3 Note on forwarding the e-mail address to DHL
For data protection reasons, we are not allowed to pass on the e-mail address to DHL without being asked.
Therefore, since 12.2023 we have a checkbox on the order completion page where customers can tick that we may pass on the address.
We have set this up because in recent months, parcels have been returned to us too often because customers did not know that they were waiting for them at the post office or Packstation. As we were not allowed to pass on the e-mail address, they were not notified.
However, it would also be the duty of customers who have their parcels delivered to the Packstation or branch to check their app from time to time to see whether parcels have arrived or not.
As a gesture of goodwill, we usually covered the costs anyway (each return costs us 4 euros!).
With the introduction of the option to consent to email forwarding to DHL, customers can now decide for themselves whether or not they want to be informed promptly by DHL about parcels.
We will therefore only cover the costs for "Returns due to non-collection" if "Email forwarding permitted" is ticked.
If this is not the case, customers will bear the costs for self-inflicted returns. Returns due to non-collection or refusal to accept are not a cancellation!
Current information from the Händlerbund!
4. further tips for the safe receipt of parcels
As described above, we strongly advise against leaving parcels on the patio or similar, as this is bound to cause trouble and increase the risk of parcels being stolen.
In principle, the loss then becomes the customer's problem, but the loss of a parcel always puts a strain on the trust between the seller and the customer.
As a rule, customers do not return after such problems, which is why it is also in our interest to avoid this.
Of course, there are customers for whom the DHL Packstation is not a solution because the nearest one is kilometres away, e.g. in the countryside.
Here is a solution where at least the household contents insurance would cover you if a parcel is stolen.
You can also screw your "private packing station solution" onto your house in the form of an oversized letterbox. As these are fitted with a lock that a thief would have to visibly break open, the household contents insurance would probably cover the theft.
Here is an overview of the general offer:
https://www.amazon.de/paketkasten-Baumarkt/s?k=paketkasten&rh=n%3A80084031
For example, this product would be suitable for our standard package "Cardboard box 215 x 155 x 115 mm, 1.02 b (single-wall), with automatic bottom":
https://www.amazon.de/Paketbriefkasten-Barcodescannung-Smart-Parcel-Box/dp/B01MXVMTPU/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=paketkasten&qid=1706958645&s=diy&sr=1-8&th=1
The following is suitable for our largest parcels (305 x 215 x 155 mm). We could also split very large parcels into 2 deliveries over 2 days if the buyer requests this in advance.
https://www.amazon.de/Profirst-Paketbriefkasten-Briefkasten-Paketfach-Paketbox/dp/B01H5C6LDU/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=paketkasten&qid=1706958645&s=diy&sr=1-17
If you are expecting very large parcels and/or already have a nice letterbox that you would like to keep, this product, which is screwed under the letterbox or elsewhere, is a good option:
Of course, it doesn't just fit our parcels, but also those from Hermes, DPD etc. and even things that someone wants to drop off who has borrowed the borer machine, for example - a really sensible purchase for the future!
(These links are private tips from us, we don't get any commission for them, which is why labelling them as "advertising" is superfluous!)
Here is a current message from our own household contents insurance with ARAG:
Hello Mr Müller,
Our household contents insurance covers such cases.
"Theft from locked containers outside buildings: We provide insurance cover for insured property against theft under ARAG household cover "Comfort" and "Premium" if a thief breaks open a locker or safe outside buildings or uses false keys or other tools not intended for proper opening. The insurance does not cover the valuables specified in No. 18.1* or electronic devices and cameras/film cameras, including accessories. Compensation is limited per insured event a) in ARAG Household cover "Comfort" to 5,000 euros b) in ARAG Household cover "Premium" to the sum insured."
Unfortunately, I do not know what the situation is with the competitors, as each company offers different variants with their own insurance conditions.
Yours sincerely
ARAG
*Accordingly, not insured in a parcel box:
aa) Cash and amounts loaded onto cash cards (e.g. chip cards); bb) Documents including savings books and other securities; cc) Jewellery, precious stones, pearls, stamps, coins and medals as well as all items made of gold and platinum; dd) Furs, hand-knotted carpets and tapestries as well as works of art (e.g. paintings, collages, drawings, graphics and sculptures) and silver items not mentioned in cc).
This would guarantee all-round protection, i.e. parcel delivery even when you are not at home, without a cumbersome packing station, with full insurance cover when using one of the parcel box solutions recommended by us!