General Terms and Conditions

§ 1 Scope, provider, contract language

(1) These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to all contracts for the acquisition of license keys for the Aphotic service concluded through this online shop between West German Encrypted Hosting – Inhaber Alessandro Lindner, c/o Smarvo 251, Südstraße 31, 47475 Kamp-Lintfort, Deutschland, email: aphotice2ee@proton.me (the “provider”) and the customer. The version in force at the time of the order applies.

(2) Conflicting terms of the customer, or terms deviating from these GTC, do not become part of the contract unless the provider expressly agrees to their validity in writing.

(3) A consumer is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business or profession (§ 13 BGB). An entrepreneur is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity that acts in the exercise of its trade, business or profession when concluding the contract (§ 14 BGB).

(4) The contractual and communication language is German. Translations serve solely to aid comprehension; only the German version is legally binding.

§ 2 Subject of the contract, scope of services

(1) The subject of the contract is the provision of a digital license key that enables use of the Aphotic service (an end-to-end encrypted messenger operated as a Tor hidden service) for the term stated in the respective package.

(2) The scope of services owed is determined solely by the service description on the product pages at the time of the order. Any further quality, particular functions or fitness for a purpose assumed by the customer are not owed unless expressly assured in writing. Public statements or advertising do not constitute a statement of quality.

(3) The requirements for use (in particular a compatible device and internet or Tor access) are provided by the customer at their own cost and responsibility and are not part of the services owed.

(4) The provider is entitled to further develop the service and to change, supplement or discontinue individual functions, provided this is reasonable for the customer and the core benefit owed under the contract is preserved. Mandatory consumer rights, in particular under §§ 327 et seq. BGB, remain unaffected.

§ 3 Conclusion of the contract

(1) The presentation of the packages in the shop does not constitute a binding offer but a non-binding invitation to the customer to submit an offer.

(2) By confirming the withdrawal notice (checkbox) and clicking the payment-obligating order button marked with the purchase, the customer submits a binding offer to conclude the contract.

(3) The contract is concluded upon provision of the license key following confirmed receipt of payment. The provider is not obliged to accept an offer and may reject orders without stating reasons; in that case, payments already made are refunded.

(4) The order ID and access code are displayed to the customer during the order process. In the absence of a customer account, the customer alone is responsible for retaining them.

§ 4 Prices, value added tax

All prices are stated in euros and are final prices. The provider is a small business within the meaning of § 19 (1) of the German VAT Act (UStG); value added tax is neither charged nor shown separately. The price displayed at the time of the order applies.

§ 5 Payment, cryptocurrency, allocation of risk

(1) Payment is made using the means of payment offered during the order process. At present these are exclusively the cryptocurrencies Monero and Bitcoin.

(2) The crypto amount payable is calculated from the euro price on the basis of the exchange rate determined at the time of the order and is binding for that order. The customer must send the full amount to the displayed address within the time window shown during the order process; after it expires the order may lapse.

(3) Payment is deemed made only once the full amount has been received with the number of confirmations required in the respective network.

(4) The customer bears the exchange-rate and volatility risk, all network and transaction fees, and the risk of a payment to an incorrect address or in an insufficient amount. In the event of underpayment, the order remains open within the payment window shown; the customer may make up the shortfall by a further payment to the same displayed address, whereupon provision is made once the full amount has been received. If the full amount is not reached within the window, no provision is made; paragraph 5 applies accordingly to any partial amount already paid. Unattributable or late payments are taken into account only to the extent technically and organisationally reasonable and only within a limited period.

(5) An overpayment is refunded, to the extent reasonable and technically possible, after deduction of transaction fees, provided the customer verifiably asserts it. Crypto payments are final; for such payments, chargebacks are excluded both technically and legally.

§ 6 Provision of the license key

Provision is made digitally immediately after sufficient confirmation of the payment in the respective blockchain network. There is no physical delivery. The license key is displayed after the order and can be retrieved again using the order ID and the associated access code.

§ 7 Right of use, term, devices

(1) Upon payment in full, the customer receives a simple, non-exclusive, non-transferable right, limited to the respective term, to use the service as intended.

(2) The term begins when the license key is activated on a device. The license may be used on no more than the number of devices stated for the respective package.

(3) If the customer activates a further valid license key on a device that already has an active license, the term is extended accordingly (stacking).

(4) Any transfer, rental, sub-licensing, resale or making available to the public of the license key is not permitted, unless mandatorily permitted by law.

§ 8 Customer obligations, permitted use, indemnification

(1) The customer uses the service exclusively within the framework of applicable law and these GTC. In particular, the following are prohibited: unlawful use, distribution of unlawful content, interference with the service or infrastructure, circumvention of technical protection or licensing measures, automated mass use, and any abusive use or use that endangers the security and integrity of the service.

(2) The customer is solely responsible for the content they transmit via the service and for their use of it.

(3) The customer shall indemnify the provider against all third-party claims that are based on an unlawful or contractual breach of use for which the customer is responsible, including reasonable costs of legal defence. This does not apply insofar as the customer is not responsible for the breach.

(4) The license key and access code must be kept secret and stored securely. Recovery by the provider is impossible by design (no customer account); the provider is not liable for their loss within the customer’s sphere.

§ 9 Availability

The provider endeavours to achieve high availability of the service but does not owe any specific or uninterrupted availability. Restrictions due to maintenance, faults, force majeure and the characteristics and load of the Tor network and the infrastructure used by the customer are outside the provider’s sphere of influence. Mandatory statutory consumer rights remain unaffected.

§ 10 Liability for defects

(1) The statutory provisions apply, in relation to consumers in particular the provisions on consumer contracts for digital products (§§ 327 et seq. BGB).

(2) Guarantees are assumed only insofar as they are expressly designated as a “guarantee” in writing.

(3) Towards entrepreneurs, the limitation period for claims based on defects is one year from provision; otherwise the statutory periods apply.

§ 11 Updates

Towards consumers, the provider supplies the updates necessary to maintain conformity in accordance with § 327f BGB for the relevant period, generally via app updates (including over-the-air updates). If the customer fails to install a provided update within a reasonable period, the provider is not liable for defects resulting therefrom, provided it informed the customer of the availability and the consequences of failing to install it (§ 327f (2) BGB).

§ 12 Blocking, termination, discontinuation of the service

(1) Unlawful use leads to a ban. The provider cannot inspect content by design; if unlawful use nevertheless becomes known to the provider, it is entitled to permanently block the affected license without prior warning, without a hearing and with immediate effect, and to terminate the contract for cause without notice. Unlawful use includes in particular: the distribution of child sexual abuse material; terrorism and the planning, instruction or glorification of acts of violence; fraud, extortion or money laundering; trading in illegal goods or data; attacks on the service, its infrastructure or third parties; the circumvention of blocking, protection or licensing measures; fraudulent or reversed payments; and any other material breach of § 8. Reasonable suspicion is sufficient.

(2) The customer expressly agrees that the provider may, beyond this, block or revoke the license at any time, even without stating reasons, with immediate effect.

(3) The provider may discontinue the service at any time, in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently. Upon permanent discontinuation of the service, all licenses expire and access ends immediately — even where the paid term has not yet elapsed and the purchase was made only a short time ago.

(4) In the cases of paragraphs 1 to 3 there is no claim to a (pro-rata) refund, exchange, credit or other compensation for fees already paid. Further statutory rights of the provider remain unaffected; mandatory statutory consumer rights likewise remain unaffected.

§ 13 Right of withdrawal

Consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal in accordance with the separate withdrawal instruction. In the case of digital content not supplied on a tangible medium, the right of withdrawal expires early pursuant to § 356 (6) BGB where the customer has expressly consented to performance before the end of the withdrawal period, confirmed their awareness of the resulting loss of the right of withdrawal, and the provider has supplied them with a confirmation of the contract pursuant to § 312f BGB.

§ 14 No voluntary refunds

Outside mandatory statutory claims — in particular liability for defects and any right of withdrawal that has not yet expired — there is no claim to a refund, exchange or credit; in particular, no “money-back” promise is given. A right of withdrawal that has already expired does not revive as a result.

§ 15 Liability

(1) The provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for the fraudulent concealment of a defect, within the scope of a guarantee assumed, for damage arising from injury to life, body or health, and under the Product Liability Act.

(2) In the case of slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation (cardinal obligation) — that is, an obligation whose fulfilment is essential to the proper performance of the contract and on whose observance the customer may regularly rely — liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract at the time of its conclusion.

(3) Otherwise, the provider’s liability — on whatever legal ground — is excluded. To the extent permitted by law, the provider is in particular not liable for lost profit, for loss of data beyond the restoration effort typical where data is backed up properly and regularly, or for indirect damage.

(4) The foregoing limitations of liability also apply in favour of the provider’s legal representatives, employees and vicarious agents.

§ 16 Data protection

Details of the processing of personal data are set out in the separate privacy policy.

§ 17 Consumer dispute resolution

The provider is neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. The European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution platform was discontinued as of 20 July 2025.

§ 18 Changes to these GTC

The GTC published in the shop at the time of the respective order apply. Subsequent changes to these GTC do not affect contracts already concluded.

§ 19 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 state in which the consumer has their habitual residence remain unaffected.

(2) If the customer is a merchant, a legal person under public law or a special fund under public law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contractual relationship is the provider’s registered office.

(3) Amendments and supplements to the contract require text form. Priority of individual agreements (§ 305b BGB) remains unaffected.

(4) Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected; the statutory provisions take the place of any invalid provision.