Terms of Service

This is a convenience translation. In case of discrepancies, the German version of these Terms prevails.

1. Scope and Provider

These Terms of Service govern your use of the Gartenkern platform (gartenkern.de and its subdomains, the "Platform").

Provider (data controller under GDPR):

Robert Gürgens
Software- und IT-Dienstleistungen (software and IT services)
Suhler Straße 17
12629 Berlin
Germany

Email: support@gartenkern.de

Small-business operator under § 19 of the German VAT Act (UStG); VAT is not shown on invoices.

By creating an account, you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy.

2. Service Description

The Platform provides tools for managing private garden data: garden layout, planting journal, plant knowledge base, task calendar, photo management, and optional sharing through unlisted links.

Some features require paid plans. Which ones is shown on the pricing page and in your account area.

3. Minimum Age

Use is permitted from age 16 (GDPR Art. 8 (1)). By registering you confirm you are at least 16 years old.

4. Contract Formation, Plans, and Payment

The basic plan is free. A contract for a paid plan is formed when you click the button confirming the obligation to pay during checkout and we confirm your order by email.

• Prices: the prices shown on the pricing page at the time of your order apply. They contain no VAT due to § 19 UStG.
• Billing period: monthly or yearly, depending on the plan you choose.
• Payment: via Stripe or PayPal. Charges are made in advance for each billing period.
• Renewal: the subscription renews automatically for the same period unless you cancel before it ends.
• Trial: where we offer a free trial for a plan, we disclose its duration and the follow-on cost before you order.

5. Right of Withdrawal for Consumers

If you are a consumer within the meaning of § 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the following right of withdrawal applies to paid plans.

Withdrawal policy

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 the contract was concluded.

To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us

Robert Gürgens, Software- und IT-Dienstleistungen, Suhler Straße 17, 12629 Berlin, Germany, email: support@gartenkern.de

of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (for example a letter sent by post or an email). You may use the model withdrawal form below, but it is not obligatory.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you without undue delay and in any event not later than fourteen days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

If you requested the service to begin during the withdrawal period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been provided until you have communicated to us your withdrawal from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract.

End of the withdrawal policy

Model withdrawal form

If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete and return this form.

To: Robert Gürgens, Software- und IT-Dienstleistungen, Suhler Straße 17, 12629 Berlin, Germany, email: support@gartenkern.de

I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract of sale of the following goods (*) / for the provision of the following service (*)

Ordered on (*) / received on (*)

Name of consumer(s)

Address of consumer(s)

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper)

Date

(*) Delete as appropriate.

6. User Obligations

You commit to

• providing truthful information about yourself and keeping your account credentials confidential,
• not abusing the Platform, in particular uploading no unlawful content, circumventing no security mechanisms, and performing no automated bulk access without our consent,
• respecting third-party rights, so no copyrighted images without licence and no personal data of others without consent,
• complying with child protection and criminal law.

7. Content and Licence

Your content (journal entries, photos, plantings, garden layouts) remains your intellectual property. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable licence to store, process, and display it within your account and to recipients you choose (shared workspaces, unlisted share links), solely for operating the Platform.

Visibility levels

For content you deliberately share beyond your own account there are three levels. You choose the level per item, and you can lower it again at any time.

At the Community and Public levels we display your contribution without your name. The licence covers display on gartenkern.de only. We do not sell your content, do not pass it to third parties, and do not train AI models on it.

If you lower the level or delete the content, the extended licence ends. We cannot recall copies already served into caches or search engine indexes, but we request their update as far as we are able.

What you check before sharing

For content you set to Community or Public you are responsible for having the right to do so. Specifically:

• People shown in photos must consent.
• Third-party images (from the web, from books, taken by others) may only be shared if you hold the rights.
• No content that infringes third-party rights, youth protection law, or criminal law.

If we notice an infringement or are notified of one, we remove the content under Section 9.

8. Platform Safety and Automated Checks

To protect the Platform we check uploaded files automatically for technical integrity, limit the request rate to prevent automated abuse, and log upload attempts. For security reasons we do not name the individual mechanisms we use.

For every uploaded image we compute a technical checksum that describes the image as a sequence of numbers. We compare that checksum against the checksums of content we previously removed after a report. If it matches, we reject the upload. This prevents already removed content from being uploaded again. Only the checksum is stored, never the image itself. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in an abuse-free platform (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

We do not match image uploads against third-party hash databases of known abuse material, and we do not scan image content using machine learning. Should we introduce such a process, we will change these Terms and tell you beforehand.

If we become aware of child sexual abuse material, we delete the content, suspend the account immediately, and report it to the competent authorities.

9. Notice-and-Action, Statements of Reasons, Complaints (DSA Art. 16, 17)

You can report content via the "Report content" button in the footer of every public page or by email to abuse@gartenkern.de, also anonymously (DSA Art. 16).

If we take action against your content (suspension, removal, visibility restriction), you receive a Statement of Reasons (DSA Art. 17) by email.

You may appeal any of our decisions within 6 months, free of charge, via the address stated in the Statement of Reasons. We re-examine every appeal and inform you of the outcome.

As a micro-enterprise within the meaning of DSA Art. 19, we are exempt from the obligations of Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter III of the DSA, in particular from operating a formal internal complaint-handling system. We offer the appeal described above voluntarily.

Your right to turn to an out-of-court dispute settlement body under DSA Art. 21, or to seek redress before state courts, remains unaffected.

10. Availability, Maintenance, Data Safety

We aim for high availability but provide no guarantee. Maintenance windows are announced in advance where planning permits.

We operate daily encrypted off-site backups. We still recommend that you back up important content yourself.

11. Liability

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence and for damages from injury to life, body, or health. Otherwise, liability is limited to typically foreseeable damage at contract conclusion.

Plant-related content (care tips, herbal information, companion-planting recommendations, recognition results) is not medical or horticultural advice. The disclaimer on each plant page applies.

12. Term, Cancellation, and Data Deletion

You may cancel a paid subscription at any time with effect from the end of the current billing period. There are three ways to do so:

• the "Cancel contracts here" button in the footer of every page, which takes you to the cancellation page without signing in (§ 312k BGB),
• the "Cancel subscription" button in your account settings under "Billing",
• informally by email to support@gartenkern.de.

For the first route you need your contract number (format GK-YYYY-NNNNNN). You will find it in your order confirmation and in your account settings under "Billing". We confirm receipt of your cancellation without undue delay by email, stating its content, the time of receipt, and the date the contract ends.

You may have your account deleted entirely at any time on request at dpo@gartenkern.de. A 30-day grace window applies during which you can revoke deletion. After that, your data is irrevocably deleted per GDPR Art. 17 (see Privacy Policy).

We may terminate your account for cause if you seriously or repeatedly violate these Terms, in particular for abuse under Section 6 or unlawful content under Section 8.

13. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

German law applies, excluding the UN Sales Convention. If you are a consumer with habitual residence in the EU, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your state of residence remain unaffected. Place of jurisdiction for merchants is Berlin, Germany.

14. Severability and Changes

Should any provision of these Terms be invalid, the remaining provisions remain in effect.

We will notify you of changes to these Terms by email to your registered address at least 30 days before they take effect. If you do not object within that period, the amended Terms are deemed accepted. We will point out this deemed acceptance and your right to object separately in the notification.