General Terms and Conditions (GTC)
for the shop of Makuyuni e.V. — makuyuni.org/shop · Version: 15 September 2026 This is a translation for your convenience. The German version is the only binding one (see § 14).
Scope, contracting party and how ordering works
(1) These General Terms and Conditions apply to all orders placed by consumers in the shop of Makuyuni e.V.
(2) Your contracting party is:
Makuyuni e.V.
Alteburger Straße 32, 50678 Köln, Germany
Registered at Amtsgericht Köln (Cologne Local Court), register of associations VR 19801
Represented by the board: Andreas Klein, Jan Grandisch, Daniel Vogelgesang, Olivia Vogelgesang, Dana Bergmann, Oliver Blank
Email: post@makuyuni.org · Phone: +49 173 8888987
(referred to below as "we", "us" or "Makuyuni e.V.")
Buyers within the meaning of these GTC are all customers who place an order in the shop (referred to below as "you").
(3) How an order works. You will find the catalogue and the cart at makuyuni.org/shop. When you go to the checkout, you move over to the checkout of our service provider Squarespace at makuyuni.squarespace.com. There you enter your delivery address, choose the payment method, pay and place your order as a binding one. The order confirmation also runs through that checkout.
(4) Your contracting party is and remains Makuyuni e.V. only. Squarespace handles the ordering process for us on a technical level and does not become your contracting party. Always address claims arising from the purchase contract to us.
(5) Incorporation. These GTC apply to the entire ordering process. That includes the catalogue and the cart at makuyuni.org as well as the outsourced checkout at Squarespace. By placing your order you accept them.
(6) Makuyuni e.V. is a non-profit association run entirely by volunteers. Regardless of the absence of any intention to make a profit, Makuyuni e.V. acts as an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 14 BGB when it sells goods for payment. The consumer protection provisions of German distance selling law therefore apply in full.
(7) Only these GTC apply, in the version valid at the time of your order. Deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms do not become part of the contract unless we expressly agree to them in text form.
Conclusion of contract
(1) The presentation of items in the shop is not a legally binding offer on our part. It is a non-binding invitation to you to order goods.
(2) By clicking the order button at the end of the ordering process, you submit a binding offer to conclude a purchase contract.
(3) After you send your order, you will receive an email without undue delay confirming that your order has arrived (acknowledgement of receipt). This acknowledgement of receipt is not yet an acceptance of your offer.
(4) The purchase contract comes into being only when we accept your offer, either by a separate order confirmation or by actually delivering the goods.
(5) Our team works entirely on a voluntary basis, alongside jobs, studies and family. Processing can therefore take longer than at commercial shops. We will get back to you within five working days.
Contract text, contract language and input errors
(1) The technical steps leading to the contract are:
You select an item at makuyuni.org/shop and add it to the cart.
In the cart you check the items, the quantities and the total.
Via "Proceed to Checkout" you move over to the checkout of our service provider Squarespace.
There you enter your delivery address and your payment details. Shipping costs and the total are displayed to you.
In the final summary you check all the details.
By clicking the order button you submit your binding offer under § 2 (2).
(2) Recognising and correcting input errors. Up until you click the order button, you can correct every entry at any time. In the cart you change or remove items and quantities. In the checkout you overwrite your entries in the respective fields or step back using your browser's back function. The final summary shows you all details once more before the order is placed. You can abandon the process right up to the end by closing the browser window.
(3) Storage of the contract text. We do not store the contract text in a customer account you can access. You can view, save and print these GTC on this page at any time. We send you the details of your order by email. Keep that email together with these GTC.
(4) Contract language. The contract language is German. The checkout of our service provider is currently in English — field labels, buttons and notices appear there in English. For the contract and for these GTC, only the German version is authoritative. If anything in the checkout is unclear to you, write to us at post@makuyuni.org before you send your order. We will explain it.
Prices and shipping costs
(1) All prices stated in the shop are final prices in euros. Beyond the price stated and the shipping costs under paragraph 2, we do not add any further amounts. Our supplies are exempt from VAT under the small business exemption in § 19 UStG (German Value Added Tax Act). We therefore do not show VAT.
(2) Shipping costs apply in addition to the purchase price. Their amount depends on the contents of your cart. It is displayed to you in the checkout before you place your order as a binding one. You bear the shipping costs.
(3) We currently deliver within Germany only.
Payment
(1) Payment is handled for us by the payment service provider Stripe. Billing is in euros.
(2) You can see which payment methods are available to you in the checkout, before you place your order.
(3) The following are currently not offered: advance bank transfer, bank transfer, purchase on account, cash on delivery, PayPal, and instalment payment via Klarna or Afterpay.
(4) The purchase price including shipping costs falls due upon conclusion of the contract. The payment service provider collects the amount as part of the ordering process.
Shipping and delivery time
(1) We deliver the goods within 30 days. The period begins with the conclusion of the contract under § 2 (4).
(2) Makuyuni e.V. has no paid staff in shipping. Orders are packed and sent by volunteer members, at least once per calendar month. The actual delivery time is therefore often several weeks. The period under paragraph 1 applies regardless.
(3) We will inform you by email when your order ships.
(4) Once the period under paragraph 1 has expired, you have your statutory rights. Even so, feel free to contact us beforehand at post@makuyuni.org if anything is unclear. We will take care of it right away.
Retention of title
The delivered goods remain the property of Makuyuni e.V. until the purchase price has been paid in full.
Right of withdrawal for consumers
The following instruction is a translation of the statutory German model instruction (Anlage 1 zu Art. 246a § 1 Abs. 2 EGBGB). In the event of a dispute, the German wording in § 8 of the German version is authoritative.
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
on which you, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you, acquired physical possession of the goods;
on which you, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you, acquired physical possession of the last of the goods, where you ordered multiple goods in one order and they are delivered separately;
on which you, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you, acquired physical possession of the last lot or piece, where goods are delivered in multiple lots or pieces.
To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us
Makuyuni e.V., Alteburger Straße 32, 50678 Köln, Germany, phone: +49 173 8888987, email: post@makuyuni.org
by means of a clear statement (for example a letter sent by post, a telephone call or an email) of your decision to withdraw from this contract. You may use the model withdrawal form attached at the end of this document, but you are not obliged to.
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, including the costs of delivery (with the exception of the supplementary costs resulting from your choice of a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us), 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 from this contract.
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.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to us without undue delay and in any event not later than fourteen days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of fourteen days has expired.
You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods.
You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Special note on individually made items
The right of withdrawal does not apply to contracts for the supply of goods that are not prefabricated and for the production of which an individual choice or decision by you is decisive, or that are clearly tailored to your personal needs (for example personalised custom-made items, where we offer such items).
Warranty
(1) The statutory rules on liability for defects apply.
(2) If you are not happy with your order or notice a problem, please contact us directly at post@makuyuni.org. As a small association run by volunteers, we always look for a straightforward and fair solution in direct conversation.
Liability
(1) We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, and in accordance with the German Product Liability Act. For damage arising from injury to life, body or health, we are also liable in cases of ordinary negligence.
(2) In cases of ordinary negligence, we are liable only where a material contractual obligation (cardinal obligation) is breached — an obligation whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely. In such a case, liability is limited to the damage typical for this type of contract and foreseeable.
(3) Any further liability is excluded.
Use of the proceeds
(1) We cover the production costs of the items from the association's membership fees. They are not paid out of the shop's revenue. You bear the shipping costs separately under § 4.
(2) The payment service provider charges a fee on every payment. It is deducted from the amount paid. Whatever remains of the purchase price after that fee goes into our education projects in Tanzania. We keep none of it.
(3) The purchase price for a shop item is legally not a donation but the consideration for the goods delivered. It is therefore not tax-deductible.
(4) The catalogue also contains items such as "Extra-Spende on top auf deinen Einkauf" and "Bildungsbausteine in Tansania". They are added to the cart like any other goods and paid for in the same checkout. The same terms apply to them as to the other items in this shop. If you would like to donate and receive a donation receipt for it, please use the donation route on makuyuni.org rather than the shop.
Data protection
You will find information on the collection, processing and use of your personal data in connection with your order in our privacy policy at makuyuni.org/privacy.
Consumer dispute resolution
We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
Final provisions
(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Mandatory consumer protection provisions of the country in which you have your habitual residence remain unaffected.
(2) These GTC exist in German and in English. Only the German version is authoritative. The English version is a translation provided for information. This applies in particular to § 8 and to the model withdrawal form, which reproduce statutory German model texts.
(3) Should any provision of these GTC be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.
Model withdrawal form
(If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please fill in this form and send it back to us.)
To:
Makuyuni e.V., Alteburger Straße 32, 50678 Köln, Germany, phone: +49 173 8888987, email: post@makuyuni.org
I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract of sale of the following goods (*)
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.