General Terms and Conditions for the use of biopinio market research packages
1 Contracting party / scope of application
1.1 “biopinio” is a registered trademark of POLLION GmbH, hereinafter referred to as “POLLION”. The current version of the outlined conditions and general terms of business for the biopinio market research projects shall apply, from the beginning of the contractual relationship between POLLION and the client company, hereinafter referred to as the “client”, for the present order as well as for all future orders.
1.2 These general terms and conditions refer to services by POLLION that are performed using the mobile application “biopinio” and its users. When “biopinio credits” are ordered, a contractual relationship shall come into effect electronically, with the aim of performing market research services of POLLION for the client.
1.3 Services by POLLION shall be performed exclusively on the basis of these general terms and conditions, and shall only be performed for contractors within the meaning of § 2, paragraph 1 of the VAT Act. A contractor, under § 2, paragraph 1 of the VAT Act, is somebody who independently performs commercial or professional activities. Any continuous activity that is performed for earning returns shall be considered to be commercial or professional, even if there is no intention of making a profit.
1.4 Contradictory, deviating, or supplementary terms and conditions of the client shall not be deemed a component of the contract (even upon knowledge thereof), unless they have been explicitly agreed upon in writing. Should POLLION choose to maintain silence with respect to deviating offers by a client, this shall not imply that it accepts these offers.
2 biopinio Credits
2.1 Definition
In order to carry out market research projects, biopinio credits must be purchased by the client before the beginning of the project. biopinio credits refer to non-refundable credit points that can be used for one or more market research projects. POLLION shall provide the client, in aggregated form, with the answers given by testers to questions. Each answer given by a tester to a question shall require one or more biopinio credit(s) here. The number of biopinio credits required shall be determined by the number of testers used at the beginning of the survey and the sum of the fee-based questions. The conditional, lower number of answers to certain questions shall not be reduced in the calculation due to the filtering procedure, but with the total number of possible answers within the market research project. For product tests, the number of testers equals the gross number of testers at the start of the study. Any free questions for which biopinio credits are not charged must be agreed upon between the contracting parties before the beginning of the survey. biopinio credits shall be required for additional services according to clause 4.
2.2 Validity
biopinio credits shall be valid for 12 months from the date of ordering. Unused biopinio credits shall expire if the client does not renew the order before the expiration of this 12-month period. In this case, the validity of all of unused biopinio Credits shall be extended by another 12 months.
POLLION shall inform the client at least once every quarter about the number of credits remaining and the date of expiry of the hitherto unused biopinio credits.
2.3 Offered biopinio market research packages
POLLION offers biopinio credits as payment for the services of the market research packages according to the currently valid price sheet in addition to the statutory VAT. Special conditions shall be granted when larger amounts of biopinio credits are ordered. The packages here must be ordered in their entirety.
POLLION shall reserve the right to amend the conditions mentioned here and the price in euros per biopinio credit for the different market research packages offered. Clients of POLLION who have unused biopinio credits shall be informed at least 4 weeks prior to making the amendments, in order to give them a chance to reorder biopinio credits if needed, under the old conditions. The prices valid at the time of the last order shall continue to apply for biopinio credits that have not yet been used.
2.4 Conditions for market research subscriptions
POLLION also offer subscription plans with periodic billing (see price list). These market research subscriptions are due at the beginning of the billing period (month, quarter, etc.) and offer a certain number of biopinio credits (biopinio credit budget). The minimum subscription length is 12 months and without cancellation renews itself for another 12 months. A cancellation has to be communicated in writing at least one month before the end of subscription period. The client has immediate access to all biopinio credits even if the biopinio credit budget is negative because of this temporarily. POLLION produces periodic statements giving an overview of the current biopinio credit budget. Should the entire annual biopinio credit be consumed in advance and should the client require further biopinio credits, a higher monthly subscription plan with a new minimum subscription length needs to be ordered.
3 Inclusive services
3.1 Consulting when preparing the questionnaire and study design
The contractual object of all market research projects is the in-depth consultation of the client by POLLION in order to achieve the best possible study design. The result of this process is the formation of a questionnaire approved by the client for the survey to be conducted using biopinio.
3.2 Demographic Limitations of the Testers
Depending on the study design intended, and upon request by the client, the participant group of the survey can be limited on the basis of specific demographic characteristics. This group of participants must be specified either before or at the latest when the questionnaire is approved. This is free for age, gender, place of purchase, state, bio shopping habits, eating behaviour, income, and education, among others. POLLION would like to point out that if the group of testers is too strictly limited, the test groups might be too small.
3.3 Giving incentives to the testers
With the placing of the order of biopinio credits, all incentives required for the survey shall be paid unless otherwise stated by POLLION. POLLION shall give enough incentives for the testers. The client shall be entitled to provide other incentives, e.g. product samples, at his own expense.
3.4 Accessing the Dashboard
The client shall receive access to the biopinio dashboard for twelve months from the date on which a biopinio market research package is ordered, i.e. the date of the conclusion of the contract. All the evaluations of his survey projects shall be available here except if noted otherwise at the start of the project. This is in most cases a general overview for each individual question as well as the means of analysing each question according to important demographic data (e.g. gender) for all types of offers. The aggregate basic data and graphics for each question can be downloaded from the biopinio dashboard. POLLION shall make commercially reasonable efforts to ensure 99 % availability of the biopinio dashboard.
3.5 Evaluations in the Dashboard
POLLION shall provide its own evaluation of the results of a survey usually free of charge upon request of the client. For certain types of studies (see price list) an evaluation can be added, but for a fee.
4 Optional Services
The following services shall be charged separately. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the contracting parties, these services must be performed by POLLION no later than four (4) weeks after the end of the survey.
4.1 Special evaluations and cross-analyses
A simple analysis of each question about important demographic background variables such as gender, age and income can be performed using the biopinio dashboard. Upon request by the client, further evaluations and cross-analyses can be agreed upon. Depending upon the cost, an offer shall be prepared for every evaluation variable with respect to the biopinio credits required for this. If this additional service is agreed upon in the contract, the results in the dashboard shall be shown in a separate section.
4.2 Evaluating open questions about clusters
Answers to open questions shall be given with lists of quotes and the most frequently used individual words as a so-called “word cloud”. For the thematic evaluation of such questions regarding clusters, a separate invoice shall be made according to the number of answers for each open question. A flat rate of one (1) biopinio credit per question and answer shall be fixed additionally here. Once the offer is accepted and the biopinio credits are purchased, the services agreed upon shall be performed within a maximum of four (4) weeks after the end of the survey.
4.3 PowerPoint and PDF Presentations
Extra costs shall be incurred for preparing a PowerPoint or PDF presentation. Depending on the amount desired, an offer on the biopinio credits required shall be submitted to the client. Once the offer is accepted and the biopinio credits are purchased, the services agreed upon shall be performed within a maximum of four (4) weeks after the end of the survey.
5 Additional costs to be borne by the client
5.1 Product samples and coupons
The product samples needed for the tests shall be provided to POLLION by the client free of charge directly following the conclusion of the contract. The periods agreed upon between the contracting parties for performing the POLLION services shall only begin after the product samples are submitted to POLLION.
The cost of the reward coupons for testers must be borne by the client.
5.2 Delivery Charges
The cost for delivering product samples to the testers shall be borne by the client. If a shipment of less than 500 g is delivered, a flat rate of €4.25 per delivery shall be charged for handling, packaging material postage. For smaller and larger shipments, the cost between the contracting parties shall be agreed upon separately beforehand.
The delivery charges shall be invoiced to the client on the date on which they are created and shall be due for payment.
5.3 Collecting product samples from the store
Instead of being delivered, the product samples can also be collected from the shops of selected partners by retail. This is indicated for reasons regarding the shelf life of fresh food and frozen food. Products for which the provisions of the Youth Protection Act must be adhered to (e.g. alcoholic beverages) when they are sold shall not be delivered and must be collected at the shop.
Offers for collection at the shop shall be prepared individually and agreed upon beforehand.
5.4 End Consumer Company Panel
biopinio can also be used a specific end consumer company panel consisting of the end consumers of the client. If additional end consumers for such a consumer panel are recruited directly by the client by means that are available to him, this cost of recruiting shall be paid by the client. Unless otherwise agreed upon, company panel testers may also participate in other biopinio surveys.
5.5 Additional Costs
If additional special costs are incurred by POLLION within the framework of a project (e.g. for printing QR code stickers or for project-specific travel expenses), these must be borne by the client and shall be agreed upon between the contracting parties between they are incurred.
6 Questions of Liability
6.1 General liability provisions
POLLION shall be liable for conveying the aggregated information about the end consumer behaviour as agreed upon in the contract and other related contractual obligations, within the scope of the market research services to be performed for the client. POLLION does not guarantee that the data collected, evaluated, and analysed by it in accordance with the rules and methods of the market and social research will be able to be used by the client in a specified commercial way, and shall not assume any liability for business decisions of the client that could be based on the results of the market research services of POLLION.
6.2 Interuptions and Impairments
POLLION shall not be liable for interruptions or impairments in the existing duties to be performed by it. This is subject to the condition that this interruption or impairment is based on extraordinary or unforeseeable circumstances that are beyond the control of POLLION. These circumstances refer in particular to events caused by force majeure, industrial disputes, regulatory action or events that come under the sphere of responsibility of third parties.
6.3 Product damages
The client shall release POLLION from any claims made against POLLION owing to damages due to product tests. He shall assume the responsibility for performing all the tests before using the product samples and guarantee their that they are harmless when properly used in the test as prescribed.
7 Other Provisions
7.1 Publishing on the Internet and Social Media
POLLION shall not release the products tested in product tests or of concepts on the Internet or in media on an individual basis without the consent of the client. Upon initial registration on the biopinio app, biopinio users submit a declaration under data protection law that also prohibits this.
POLLION reserves the right to report in general terms about current tests, and also release photos when delivering raffle products and incentive products, without naming the client and products. This can be prevented upon if requested by the client
7.2 Place of fulfilment
The place of fulfilment is the registered office of POLLION.
7.3 Place of Jurisdiction
The sole place of jurisdiction of any disputes arising out of this contractual relationship shall be the registered office of POLLION, if the client is a businessman, a legal entity under public law or special fund under public law, provided there are no mandatory provisions that contradict this.
Version dated 01.02.2017