Affiliate terms

§ 1 Scope and contracting party

These terms govern the DrinkCheck affiliate program. Your contracting party is Bormann Bioscience LLC (“we”), the company behind the DrinkCheck brand. You can find our address in the imprint.

The terms apply to all partners: affiliates, team partners and master partners. In these terms:

• Partner: anyone who takes part in the program, as an affiliate, team partner or master partner.
• Affiliate: a partner who applied directly and whose application we accepted.
• Master partner: a partner whom we set up ourselves or appoint as a master partner and who may invite their own team partners.
• Team partner: a partner who takes part through a master partner’s invitation.
• Chain: you, your master partner and their other team partners; for a master partner, the master partner and their team.
• Partner code: your personal discount code for our shop.
• Partner link: your personal link that adds your partner code to the cart.
• New customer: anyone who does not yet have a paid DrinkCheck order in our shop.
• Binding: the attribution of a customer to you for the duration of our partnership, with the exceptions in § 4. It arises with the first paid order using your partner code and is the basis of your commission on follow-up purchases.
• Net amount: the total of the DrinkCheck items in an order after all discounts, excluding taxes, shipping and gift cards.

An individual contract agreed in writing supplements these terms and takes precedence over them only where it expressly deviates from them. § 3 (no pyramid scheme), § 9 and § 10 (disclosure, prohibited methods) and Annex 1 always apply.

§ 2 Participation

You apply using the form on our website and confirm your email address via the link we send you. We then review your application and decide whether to accept it. There is no entitlement to participate.

You may participate if you are at least 18 years old and have your residence or registered office in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or the USA.

If a master partner invites you to their team, you accept the invitation via their link and confirm your email address yourself. Our acceptance is not required in that case, but we may still suspend you (§ 11). Your master partner receives their own commission, paid from our margin, on orders attributed to you. Your commission is not reduced by this.

You accept these terms when you apply, when you accept an invitation or, as a master partner, when you first log in to the partner portal. We do not pay out any commission unless you have accepted the terms.

§ 3 No pyramid scheme

Participation is free of charge. There is no fee, no starter package, no minimum sales volume and no obligation to buy anything. There is no bonus for recruiting new partners. Commission arises only from orders placed by customers. Self-purchases do not generate commission at any level, neither for you nor for a master partner.

The program has two levels: master partners and their team partners. Team partners and affiliates do not have a team of their own.

§ 4 Partner code, link and attribution

Your partner code is valid only for new customers. It gives them a 10% discount on the DrinkCheck items in their first order. If a different rate has been agreed with you, it is shown in the partner portal and applies instead.

One partner code applies per order; partner codes cannot be combined. Your partner link adds your partner code to the cart. Depending on the region and consent, your partner code is remembered or applies only to the current page view. If someone then enters a different partner code, it replaces yours. The partner code on the paid order determines attribution. A click alone does not bind anyone.

With the first paid order using your partner code, the customer is bound to you. The binding lasts as long as our partnership lasts. It ends earlier if the customer objects to the attribution or requests the deletion of their data. If two customer accounts with bindings to different partners are merged, the more recent binding applies. Partner codes are not intended for bound customers; a later partner code does not bind them to another partner. If a partner code takes effect anyway, § 5 applies. You receive commission on follow-up purchases without a partner code (§ 6).

Attribution is based on the time at which the order is paid.

§ 5 What does not generate commission

There is no commission and no binding for:

• Self-purchases: orders in which you or another partner in your chain is the buyer, identified by the same email address or delivery address. In that case there is no commission at any level. If we lack the information to rule out a self-purchase, we hold the commission until this is clarified.
• Bulk orders: orders of 30 units or more of DrinkCheck items, or orders with a company name. No partner discount applies to them either.
• Orders via Amazon.
• Test and draft orders and canceled orders.
• Items from other brands in our shop and gift cards.
• Orders from existing customers with a partner code: if a partner code is on the order of a customer who is not a new customer, the order generates neither commission nor a binding, even if the discount applies in an individual case. This also applies to bound customers and to your own partner code.

If the system does not attribute an order to you even though you are entitled to it, contact us. We can attribute it manually.

§ 6 Commission

You receive 10% commission on the net amount of every order attributed to you under § 4: on the first order using your partner code and on follow-up purchases by bound customers, unless § 5 provides otherwise.

The discount and commission rates are default rates. We may agree different rates with you; they are then shown in the partner portal. New rates apply only to orders paid after the change.

If an order is refunded in full or in part, we reduce the commission proportionally. If it is canceled, or if we lose a payment dispute (chargeback), the commission for that order is forfeited in full. The commission for an order is never reduced below zero. While a payment dispute is ongoing, we hold the commission.

§ 7 Holding periods, payout and offsetting

Commission is released 21 days after the order is paid, or for deliveries to the USA 45 days after payment. If the delivery country is not known, the longer period also applies.

Each month, as of the 1st, we settle all commissions released by the end of the previous month, provided your balance has reached €50 or $50, depending on your payout currency, and pay them out in the following days; if you upload an invoice (§ 8), after we have checked it. If your balance is below that, we carry it over to the next month.

We pay in euros, and in US dollars to partners based in the USA. Each commission is fixed in your payout currency when it is booked. If the order is in a different currency, we convert it at a rate from a fixed source.

We pay to the payout details you have saved in the partner portal.

Refunds after release or payout are offset against the next payout. If this results in a negative balance, we offset it against later commissions or reclaim it from you.

§ 8 Self-billing and taxes

We settle your commission using self-billing: we issue the self-billed invoice based on the template for your country, make it available to you in the partner portal and notify you by email. You agree to settlement by self-billing and must check every self-billed invoice. If there is no template for your country, you must upload an invoice in the partner portal instead.

The recipient of the service is Bormann Bioscience LLC, with its address in the USA. The self-billed invoice does not show an EU VAT identification number. The place of supply is the registered office of the LLC in the USA, so the self-billed invoice does not show any VAT.

In the partner portal, you must state your tax status (private individual, business, or small business under the VAT exemption for small businesses) and, if you have one, your VAT identification number. You yourself are responsible for declaring and paying tax on your commission.

Before the first payout, we need your tax and verification details, and they must be up to date before every payout. Partners who are US persons for US tax purposes, for example US citizens or partners resident or based in the USA, must submit Form W-9, all others Form W-8BEN (individuals, including sole proprietors) or W-8BEN-E (companies and other entities). For US persons, we report to the US tax authority (IRS) on Form 1099-NEC, with a copy to you, where the legal requirements for this are met. Before the first payout, we also check whether you are on a sanctions list. As long as tax or verification details are missing or out of date, we do not pay out; your balance is retained.

§ 9 Disclosure and advertising rules

Every post in which you promote DrinkCheck is advertising, because you receive commission for it. You must therefore disclose it as advertising, under § 5a Abs. 4 UWG and § 22 MStV and, for posts aimed at an audience in the USA, under the guides of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC, 16 CFR 255).

In English-language posts, you must use “#ad” or “Ad”. In posts in another language, you must use the disclosure from that language’s version of these terms. The disclosure must appear at the start of the post, clearly visible, including in stories and short videos, and not hidden among other hashtags.

You must mark links on websites and in blogs with rel="sponsored".

The advertising rules in Annex 1 are part of these terms. They take precedence over the guidance in the partner portal.

§ 10 Prohibited methods

The following are not allowed:

• fake reviews and purchased or invented testimonials;
• publishing your partner code on coupon sites or discount code sites;
• search ads that bid on our brand names, for example on “DrinkCheck” or variant spellings of it (brand bidding);
• cookie stuffing, meaning triggering partner links or cookies without a real click, for example through hidden frames, pop-unders or automatic redirects;
• spam, meaning mass unsolicited messages or comments, as well as emails to third parties who have not expressly consented;
• self-purchases using your partner code or partner link, including through people who order for you;
• false or unauthorized statements about the product (Annex 1).

§ 11 Review, suspension and clawback

We spot-check posts and orders and record information about your partnership in notes. If there is reasonable suspicion of a violation, we hold the affected commissions until the matter is resolved.

If you violate these terms or Annex 1, we may suspend you. What counts is your status at the time the order is paid: orders paid during a suspension do not generate commission for you or team commission for your master partner. Your bindings remain in place. Commission you have already earned remains yours; its payout is on hold until the suspension is lifted or until the partnership ends.

We reclaim commission that we paid wrongly, for example for self-purchases or for orders generated through prohibited methods, or offset it against later commissions. The same applies to a negative remaining balance.

§ 12 Independence and master partners

For all partners

• You act independently, as part of your own business.
• There is no exclusivity: you may also work with other companies.
• There is no obligation to be active: you decide yourself whether, when and how often you promote DrinkCheck.
• We do not give you instructions beyond the advertising rules (§ 9, § 10 and Annex 1).
• You have no authority to conclude contracts: you may not conclude contracts in our name or make declarations on our behalf.
• You are responsible for your own advertising and liable for it.

Expressly for master partners

• The following also applies to you as a master partner: no exclusivity, no obligation to be active, no instructions beyond the advertising rules and no authority to conclude contracts on our behalf. You act as part of your own business.
• You receive your own partner code with the standard rates: 10% discount for new customers and 10% commission on the net amount, like an affiliate.
• On orders attributed to your team partners, you receive a team commission of 5% of the net amount. It is paid from our margin; nothing is deducted from your team partners for it. No team commission arises on orders paid while your team partner is suspended.
• You may invite team partners only after you have accepted these terms. You share your invitation link yourself. We do not contact people whose names you give us.
• In the partner portal, you see the name, code and status of your team partners, totals per team partner and month, and whether payout details are missing, but no customer data.
• You must not give your team partners instructions beyond the advertising rules, nor do you have authority to conclude contracts with them on our behalf.
• If your master partnership ends, your team partners remain active as affiliates with their rates; only your team commission on their orders ends. § 13 applies to your own partner code and your bindings.

§ 13 Term and end

The partnership runs for an indefinite period. Either party may terminate it at any time in text form, for example by email.

When it ends, we deactivate your partner code and end your bindings. Commissions from orders paid before then are settled under § 6 and § 7. We pay out the remaining balance once the holding periods have expired and held commissions have been clarified, even if it is below €50 or $50, depending on your payout currency. We reclaim a negative remaining balance (§ 11).

§ 14 Data protection and customer data

In the partner portal, you see only pseudonymous information on your new customer orders: an identifier, the date, the net amount, the commission, the status, the type of attribution (via code, via link or manually) and channel and campaign, to the extent we store them, depending on the region, with the customer’s consent or until they object. You see follow-up purchases only as a monthly total. You also see the clicks per campaign and the number of your bound customers. You never see names, email addresses, postal addresses or locations of customers.

You must not try to link orders or follow-up purchases to specific individuals or pass on data from the partner portal.

How we process your data and customer data in the affiliate program is explained in the section on the affiliate program in our privacy policy.

§ 15 Changes, choice of law and final provisions

We notify you of changes to these terms by email and in the partner portal in good time before they take effect. They apply to orders paid after they take effect. If you object to a change, this counts as termination (§ 13).

German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The place of jurisdiction is Miami (Florida, USA), to the extent permitted by law.

If any provision of these terms is invalid, the remaining provisions remain valid.

Annex 1: Advertising rules

This annex is the binding version of the advertising rules. The partner portal shows the same wording.

Allowed

You may use these statements about DrinkCheck, in exactly this wording:

• 6+ substances, including GHB, ketamine, scopolamine, cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamine
• result in 15 seconds
• clinically validated
• one of the only clinically validated drink spiking tests
• under 1% false positives
• over 1 million units sold
• the best solution for checking a drink before you drink it, only together with the statements above

You must always call the product a test strip. You may use figures about the product only from this list. You must always describe the discount as a discount on the first order: only for new customers, only on the first order and not for bulk orders.

Disclosure

In English-language posts, “#ad” or “Ad”, clearly visible at the start of the post (§ 9). Links on websites with rel="sponsored".

Not allowed

• uniqueness claims; you may only use “one of the only clinically validated drink spiking tests”;
• a fixed number of substances without the plus;
• naming other substances or saying what the test strip does not detect;
• statements about certifications or test marks;
• guarantees and safety promises;
• naming other brands or manufacturers;
• fake reviews, fake scarcity and countdowns, strikethrough prices;
• coupon sites, brand bidding and self-purchases (§ 10);
• experiences that are not your own. You may share only genuine experiences of your own: if you say that you use the test strip, you must have used it yourself (16 CFR 255.1(c)).

Help before product

If you talk about experiences with drink spiking, help must come before the product: first emergency services (112, or 911 in the USA) and a helpline, then the product.

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