Terms of Service · RatingStar

1. Scope, conclusion of the contract

These Terms apply exclusively to entrepreneurs within the meaning of Section 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB), namely for all services provided via the platform, including the free review alert (§ 11), the handling of removal orders (§ 12), the installation service (§ 13) and the kiosk tablet (§ 14). By registering, including for a free alert account, by subscribing to a paid plan, by placing a removal order, by ordering the installation service and by booking the kiosk tablet, the Customer accepts these Terms. When registering, when booking a plan, when booking the kiosk tablet and when placing a removal order, the Customer expressly confirms in each case that they are acting in the exercise of their commercial or independent professional activity.

The contract is concluded when the Provider confirms the registration or the plan booking. If the Customer places a removal order, the order confirmation by e-mail concludes a contract with the Provider solely for the handling of the order and the assumption of the law firm’s costs under § 12; the mandate exists separately and exclusively between the Customer and the law firm (§ 12.1). The language of the contract is German.

2. Services of the Provider

The Provider makes available a software-as-a-service platform for collecting, managing and publishing customer reviews. The scope of functions depends on the plan booked (3-Star, 4-Star or 5-Star) and can be viewed in the plan overview in the customer backend. The Provider reserves the right to develop individual functions further technically, provided that the contractually owed core scope is not restricted.

Unless otherwise agreed, the Customer may test the platform free of charge for 14 days after registration with the scope of the 5-Star plan (trial period). For the alert account, the trial period only begins when the Customer starts it there (§ 11). The trial period ends automatically and does not convert into a paid plan; for the time afterwards, the rules in § 7 on reactivation and deletion after the end of the contract apply. By way of derogation, § 14 applies to the trial period of the kiosk tablet.

No specific availability is warranted; the Provider endeavours to ensure the highest possible availability of the platform (target of 99.5 % on an annual average, excluding maintenance windows and force majeure).

3. Obligations of the Customer

Truthful provision of master data (company name, address, industry, contact).
Keeping access credentials confidential; responsibility for all actions carried out via the Customer’s own account.
Compliance with the Review Guidelines and the applicable laws (German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG), German Civil Code (BGB), the GDPR and, for customers in the United Kingdom, the UK GDPR, trademark law).
No manipulation of reviews, no false statements to reviewers and no solicitation of untrue positive reviews.

3.1 Excluded uses and industries

RatingStar may not be used for offers whose advertising or public review is subject to special statutory restrictions. Excluded in particular are:

gambling, sports betting and comparable offers;
financial, credit and insurance brokerage that is subject to state supervision (e.g. the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin) or the German Financial Investment Brokerage Ordinance (FinVermV);
prescription-only medicines and pharmacy-only remedies;
weapons and ammunition;
tobacco products, e-cigarettes and related products;
cannabis and other regulated intoxicants;
erotic, escort and sexual services;
other unlawful or immoral offers.

For regulated industries, in particular healthcare professions and health services (German Medicinal Products Advertising Act (HWG), medical professional law, processing of health data under Art. 9 GDPR) and legal and tax advice (BRAO, StBerG), use is permitted. However, the Customer is responsible for ensuring that profile content and the collection of reviews comply with the professional and advertising rules applicable to them.

The Provider is entitled to block accounts that violate these restrictions and to terminate the contract for good cause.

4. Customer content, licence

The Customer retains the rights to the content they provide (profile texts, logos, replies to reviews, imported reviews). The Customer grants the Provider a non-exclusive, transferable licence, valid for the term of the contract, to store and display this content within the platform for the purpose of performing the contract and to make it publicly available to end customers.

With the exception of the licence granted here and the reference listing under clause 4.1, the Provider does not use customer content for its own marketing, training or AI purposes. Analyses are carried out exclusively in anonymised form and within the contractually agreed functions (e.g. aggregated reputation analyses for the respective Customer themselves).

4.1 Reference listing

The Provider may show the Customer’s company name and logo, together with a link to the Customer’s public RatingStar profile, on ratingstar.de as a reference. For branches of a group, this is done with the group’s name and logo. The Customer may object to this at any time without giving reasons, in the settings of their account or by e-mail to [email protected]. Following the objection, the entry is removed without undue delay.

5. Imported external reviews

The Customer may import reviews they have previously collected on other portals (e.g. ProvenExpert, Trustpilot, Google, Facebook) into their RatingStar profile. The following applies:

With each import, the Customer warrants that they are entitled to take over the specific reviews. This includes in particular compliance with the terms of use of the respective source and any copyright and data protection requirements.
The Customer indemnifies the Provider against third-party claims arising from the takeover of reviews without a sufficient legal basis, including costs of warning letters, damages and legal fees in a reasonable amount.
Imported reviews are visibly marked in the platform with the source “Via <source>” and their original review date. Their origin is not concealed.
The Provider does not check the legal admissibility of an import in each individual case, but reserves the right to take individual reviews offline or delete them upon a substantiated notice.

6. Remuneration, payment

The prices of the bookable plans are set out in the price list currently valid in the customer backend; all prices are net plus statutory VAT where applicable. Depending on the Customer’s place of business, billing may be in another national currency; the amounts then correspond to those of the price list. Plans are billed monthly or annually in advance, depending on the chosen payment interval. Prices and billing of the kiosk tablet are governed by § 14. The success fee for removal orders is only charged in the event of success and only afterwards (§ 12.3). The accepted payment method is online payment via our payment service provider Stripe (e.g. SEPA direct debit, credit card, PayPal). The payment methods available depend on the currency and are shown at checkout.

In the event of default in payment, the Provider is entitled to suspend use of the platform after a prior reminder. Any rights of set-off or retention of the Customer exist only insofar as the Customer’s counterclaim is undisputed or has been finally established by a court.

7. Term, termination

Unless stated otherwise for the respective plan, contracts run for the chosen billing period (monthly or annually) and renew automatically for the respective period unless they are terminated with ordinary notice by the end of the period at the latest. Termination is made in text form in the customer backend (self-service) or by e-mail to [email protected]. For the kiosk tablet, § 14 takes precedence.

If the Customer books a plan already during the trial period under § 2, they deposit their payment details with Stripe when doing so. The booked plan applies from the booking; the term and the fee only begin at the end of the trial period, and the Provider does not charge anything before then. If the Customer terminates by then, no costs are incurred. If fewer than 49 hours of the trial period remain, the term and the fee begin with the booking. The booking page points this out.

The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected. After the end of the contract, including after the trial period has expired, only reactivation, the review alert (§ 11) and removal orders (§ 12) remain accessible in the customer backend. During the first six months after the end of the contract, the Customer can reactivate the contract by booking a plan.

Twelve months after the end of the contract, the account and the data of the branch (profile, reviews, user accounts) are deleted automatically and permanently. Deletion does not take place as long as the review alert is switched on and a Google listing is linked, or a removal order (§ 12) has not yet been completed and billed. The Provider announces the deletion by e-mail at least four weeks in advance; if the Customer switches on the review alert with a linked Google listing during this time, deletion does not take place. Documents the Provider is required to retain (e.g. invoices as well as signed removal orders and powers of attorney) are only deleted after the statutory retention periods have expired.

8. Liability

The Provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence and for damage resulting from injury to life, body or health. Otherwise, the Provider is only liable for the breach of material contractual obligations, and even then only up to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract at the time the contract was concluded. Material contractual obligations are those whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the Customer may regularly rely. Any further liability, in particular for lost profit, lost savings, indirect damage and consequential damage, is excluded to the extent permitted by law. Liability under the German Product Liability Act (ProdHaftG) and under guarantees given remains unaffected.

The Customer alone is liable for content that the Customer posts or imports themselves (cf. § 5 of these Terms).

9. Data protection

The processing of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy.

Insofar as the Provider processes personal data on behalf of the Customer (in particular sending review invitations to recipients entered by the Customer, personalised review codes and the import of existing reviews), the Data Processing Agreement additionally applies as part of this contract. It is based on the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission under Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/915 of 4 June 2021 (Clauses 1 to 11 incorporated unchanged) and at the same time governs joint controllership under Art. 26 GDPR for the embedding of the review seal on the Customer’s website. For customers in the United Kingdom, the references to the GDPR are to be read as references to the UK GDPR where it applies. In the event of a conflict between these Terms and the standard contractual clauses, the standard contractual clauses prevail. The Customer confirms the agreement electronically in their account (Settings → Data processing); the confirmation serves as evidence (Art. 28(9) GDPR) and activates the functions concerned. The validity of the agreement as part of the contract remains unaffected by this.

10. Changes to these Terms

The Provider is entitled to amend these Terms with reasonable advance notice (at least four weeks before they take effect) if this is necessary for legal or functional reasons. The change is notified to the Customer by e-mail to the contact address stored in the backend. If the Customer does not object within the notice period, the change is deemed accepted. In the event of an objection, the Provider is entitled to terminate the contract with ordinary notice as of the date the change takes effect.

11. Free Google review alert, alert account

The Provider regularly retrieves the reviews of the Google listing that the Customer has linked in their account. It informs the users directly assigned to the branch by e-mail about new reviews up to the star limit chosen by the Customer (default: 3 stars) and about known reviews whose stars have been lowered to this limit or below. Reviews that already exist when the listing is linked or when the listing or the data source is changed are not reported. The review alert is an additional service free of charge and not part of the scope of services of a plan under § 2. It is available at no extra cost in every plan, during the trial period, after the end of the contract and in the alert account.

Anyone who registers only for the review alert receives a free alert account. It comprises the review alert and the option of placing removal orders (§ 12), but no plan and no public profile. If the Customer starts the trial period (§ 2) in the alert account, it becomes a regular account; §§ 2, 6 and 7 then apply.

The Provider retrieves the reviews via interfaces of Google (e.g. the Places API) and of a data service provider. Only the querying of these sources is owed. They do not always deliver all reviews and not always immediately; reviews that a source only delivers with a delay of several days may not be reported. The review alert does not replace the Customer’s own monitoring of the Google listing.

For the review alert, the Provider is liable only for intent and gross negligence, regardless of the plan or account in which it is used. Liability for damage resulting from injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and under a guarantee given remains unaffected. For all other services, including removal orders from the alert account, § 8 applies.

The Customer only links the Google listing of their own business. If there are justified doubts about this, the Provider may remove the link; it informs the Customer accordingly.
The Customer can switch off the review alert at any time: in the account, by unlinking the Google listing or via the unsubscribe link in every alert e-mail. If one user unsubscribes from the alert e-mails, this switches off the review alert for all users of the branch.
The Customer can terminate the alert account at any time by e-mail to [email protected]. The Provider can change or discontinue the review alert and terminate the alert account; it announces a discontinuation, a material restriction or a termination by e-mail at least four weeks in advance. The right to termination for good cause remains unaffected.
§ 7 applies to the deletion of the alert account; the period of twelve months begins with registration. If the Customer terminates the alert account, it is deleted as soon as no removal order is open any longer; retention under § 7 remains unaffected.

12. Removal orders for unlawful reviews

Via the customer backend, the Customer can, regardless of the plan, also after the end of the contract and from the alert account, instruct a partner law firm to examine reviews about their business legally and to take out-of-court action against those it considers unlawful (currently only reviews on Google). The Provider does not provide any legal services in this context.

12.1 Partner law firm and role of the Provider

The mandate is concluded exclusively between the Customer and a partner law firm specialising in review law, which is named with its name and address in the order form. The mandate is governed by the agreements between the Customer and the law firm, in particular the instruction and the power of attorney; the law firm’s costs are governed by § 12.3. The law firm decides independently whether to accept the mandate, examines each review on its own responsibility and decides whether and how to take action. Nobody can guarantee a removal.

The Provider only assumes the organisational handling and the costs of the law firm: it provides the forms, transmits the instruction, the power of attorney, the selected reviews and the Customer’s contact details to the law firm, forwards its result to the Customer, bears the law firm’s remuneration and charges its success fee (§ 12.3). It does not examine reviews legally, does not advise, does not assess prospects of success and does not give the law firm any instructions; the law firm is not its vicarious agent. The Provider receives no remuneration from the law firm. There is no claim against the Provider to a legal examination, to a removal or to action by the law firm. The law firm alone is liable for the legal examination and the action under the mandate; the Provider is liable for the handling in accordance with § 8.

12.2 Order and standing order

The Customer signs the instruction and power of attorney electronically once per branch. They apply as a standing order also for reviews the Customer submits later via RatingStar; no new signature is required for this. Each individual order is only concluded when the Customer confirms the success fee in the last step and submits the order; a link in an alert e-mail does not yet constitute an order.

The Customer can revoke the standing order at any time in text form with effect for future orders, vis-à-vis the Provider, e.g. by e-mail to [email protected], or directly vis-à-vis the law firm; the Provider forwards a revocation to the law firm without undue delay. Orders already placed remain unaffected; § 12.5 applies to them. If the Provider changes the partner law firm, the instruction and power of attorney do not apply to the new law firm; a new signature is required for this.

12.3 Costs of the law firm, success fee

The Provider bears the law firm’s remuneration for its out-of-court work within the scope instructed, regardless of the result. It indemnifies the Customer against the law firm’s claims for remuneration and expenses for this work. Court proceedings are not part of the order; they require a separate agreement between the Customer and the law firm, the costs of which the Provider does not bear.
For the handling under § 12.1 and the assumption of the law firm’s costs, the Customer pays the Provider a success fee per review for which success occurs. The Customer pays nothing for reviews without success. No advance payments or basic fees are charged.
The amount of the success fee is set out in the price list displayed in the customer backend before the order is placed (net plus statutory VAT). The price tier depends on the number of reviews in the respective order, not on the number removed, and is fixed with the order.
Success occurs when a review that the law firm has objected to with the portal or the author is no longer publicly accessible as a result of this objection. If it is removed after the first objection and before completion of the order, it is presumed that this is based on the objection, even if the portal or the author removed it; the Customer can prove that it was removed for another reason. It is not a success if a review was already no longer accessible before the first objection or is merely changed (e.g. different text or more stars). The order is completed when the law firm has reported a result for all of its reviews. The Provider communicates the date of the first objection together with the result.
If a review that has been charged for becomes publicly accessible again within 30 days of the notification of the result, the Provider refunds the success fee paid for it upon notice from the Customer in text form.
Billing takes place after completion of the order, as soon as the removed reviews are no longer publicly accessible. The Provider debits the success fee from the payment method that the Customer deposited or selected for the order; if the Customer has removed it by then, from the default payment method then stored in the account. The Provider’s invoice is issued via the payment service provider Stripe. For SEPA direct debit, the period for the pre-notification is shortened to one day.
If the debit fails, the Provider notifies the Customer by e-mail and may repeat it; in doing so, it may cancel an unpaid invoice and replace it with a new one. The amount is then payable within 14 days of receipt of this notification.

12.4 Obligations of the Customer

The Customer ensures that the person signing the instruction and power of attorney is authorised to represent the business.
The Customer provides true and complete information and only reports reviews that concern their own business.
Until the law firm has reported the result for a review, but no longer than three months after the order was placed, the Customer does not reply to this review, does not report it to the portal themselves and does not contact the author, unless the law firm agrees.
The Customer informs the Provider or the law firm without undue delay of changes to their data and of everything relevant to an ongoing order (e.g. if the author gets in touch of their own accord) and answers the law firm’s queries promptly.

12.5 Withdrawal of an order

The Customer can withdraw an order placed at any time, in whole or for individual reviews, in text form, vis-à-vis the Provider or directly vis-à-vis the law firm. The Provider forwards a withdrawal to the law firm without undue delay and informs the Customer which reviews the law firm had already objected to. If such a review is subsequently removed before completion of the order, the success fee under § 12.3 becomes due; the presumption set out there applies accordingly. If the law firm has not yet reported a result for a review three months after the order was placed, the Customer can withdraw it without a success fee being incurred for it.

13. Installation service

13.1 Service and conclusion of the contract

Upon order, the Provider installs RatingStar seals and widgets on the Customer’s website, in up to three places per website, using the plugin for WordPress or TYPO3 or as code. It checks the display on a computer and on a smartphone and carries out one round of corrections. Not owed are changes to the design or content of the website, updates of the system and the fixing of errors that were not caused by the installation. The fee is a fixed price per website as stated on the order page. The contract is concluded upon payment via the payment service provider.

13.2 Cooperation of the Customer

The Customer provides the Provider with the necessary access to the website, where possible via a separate user for the Provider, and ensures an up-to-date backup of their website before the installation. The Customer answers queries within a reasonable time. After the installation, the Customer deletes any user created for the Provider or changes passwords handed over.

13.3 Access credentials and data protection

The Provider uses access credentials only for the installation, stores them in encrypted form, does not pass them on and deletes them as soon as the installation is completed or the order is cancelled. If the Provider can view personal data on the website during the installation, the data processing agreement between the Customer and the Provider applies accordingly; the Provider only accesses such data to the extent the installation requires.

13.4 Refund

If installation on the Customer’s website is technically not possible, the Provider refunds the fee in full. Otherwise, § 8 applies.

14. Kiosk tablet

14.1 Service and booking

The kiosk tablet is an additionally bookable service per branch. On a tablet of the Customer, it shows the branch’s profile and records reviews on site, via the app or in the browser. The Customer provides the tablet and the internet connection. A monthly subscription, an annual subscription and a one-off payment are available at the prices stated on the booking page. The contract for the chosen model is concluded when the Customer completes the payment page of the payment service provider Stripe; only then does the tablet start. If the Customer cancels there, no contract is concluded and no costs are incurred.

14.2 Trial period

With all three models, the kiosk tablet is free of charge for 14 days. The period begins when the Customer completes the payment page and runs independently of the trial period under § 2. It is available once per branch. Unlike under § 2, the Customer deposits their payment details with Stripe already at the start. The customer backend shows the end of the trial period. If the Customer does not terminate by then, the contract converts into the chosen paid model without any further declaration, and the Provider debits the fee from the stored payment method. If the Customer terminates in time, the contract ends with the trial period and no costs are incurred. If the Customer books again afterwards, the fee is due immediately; a monthly or annual subscription takes over the remainder of a trial period still running if more than 49 hours of it remain. The booking page points this out.

14.3 Term, renewal, termination

The monthly subscription runs for one month and the annual subscription for twelve months, in each case from the end of the trial period, and is billed in advance. The subscription renews automatically for the same duration unless it is terminated by the end of the current term; there is no further notice period. The Customer terminates in the customer backend themselves, also during the trial period; no e-mail is needed for this. The tablet remains usable until the end of the term. If the Customer switches between the monthly and the annual subscription, the new model applies from the end of the trial period or of the current term. If the Customer switches to the one-off payment, it is due immediately, also during the trial period, and the subscription ends upon its payment; subscription fees already paid are neither refunded nor credited. The rules in § 6 on default in payment and the right to extraordinary termination remain unaffected.

14.4 One-off payment

The one-off payment becomes due at the end of the trial period under § 14.2, and immediately in the cases mentioned there and in § 14.3. If it remains unpaid, the tablet pauses no later than 14 days after the end of the trial period. Upon payment, it activates the kiosk tablet for the branch without time limit and without further fees, subject to § 14.5. It does not renew and does not need to be terminated after payment. A switch from the one-off payment to a subscription is not possible.

14.5 Ongoing contract of the branch

With every model, the kiosk tablet only runs as long as the branch has an active plan or is in the trial period under § 2. If this contract ends, the tablet pauses; after a reactivation (§ 7) it continues to run, but the Customer must book a terminated subscription again for this. In this case, a subscription ends automatically, without the Customer having to terminate it, at the latest at the end of its current term, and during the trial period under § 14.2 at its end; no further debits take place, and fees paid for the current term are not refunded. An activation by one-off payment remains in place until the account is deleted under § 7 and expires with it; no refund is made.

14.6 Discontinuation

The Provider may discontinue the kiosk tablet for all customers. It announces this by e-mail at least three months in advance, stating the date of discontinuation. On that date, the contract for the kiosk tablet ends automatically, for every model and without any further declaration; an activation by one-off payment also expires with it. The Provider does not debit anything for the time afterwards. It refunds subscription fees paid in advance for the time afterwards on a pro rata basis.

15. Final provisions

German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), also vis-à-vis customers based abroad. The place of performance and exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with this contract is, to the extent permitted by law, the Provider’s registered office in Bayreuth, Germany. Should individual provisions of these Terms be invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected; the invalid provision is replaced by the statutory provision.