Terms of Service

General terms and conditions of business

The following General Terms and Conditions (GTC) also contain legal information on your rights under the regulations governing distance selling and electronic commerce.

  1. Scope/Definitions

1.1 These General Terms and Conditions apply to all services and deliveries provided by ETA Grading Service GbR, Otto-Hahn-Straße 7b, 50997 Cologne. Any deviating terms and conditions of the customer are hereby expressly rejected. These shall not become part of the contract through the performance of the commissioned service, the return of the items, or any other implied act.

1.2 A consumer within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions is a natural person who concludes a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly neither commercial nor independent professional activity. An entrepreneur within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions is any natural or legal person, or a partnership with legal capacity, who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of their independent professional or commercial activity.

  1. Contractual partner

A purchase contract is concluded with ETA Grading Service GbR, represented by the managing partners Efthimios Holevas and Alian Saracevic, Otto-Hahn-Straße 7b, 50997 Cologne.

  1. Order process

Customers order in our shop by

  1. Select the appropriate card grading and place the desired number of cards in the shopping cart
  2. open the shopping cart and go to checkout
  3. acknowledge and confirm our terms and conditions and the cancellation policy
  4. Log in as a registered customer, register as a new customer or order as a guest without registering
  5. Enter or check your delivery address for return shipment
  6. select the shipping method and payment method
  7. confirm the accuracy of their information by clicking on the button "order now and pay" at the end.

  1. Offer and conclusion of contract

4.1 The customer's order constitutes a binding offer to ETA-GS to conclude a service contract. By placing the order, the customer declares that he wishes to purchase the ordered grading.

After placing the order, the customer must send the item in question to ETA-GS. This can be done using the order form available on the ETA-GS website.

4.2 The customer will receive a copy of the order data with the order confirmation email, which can be saved. This confirmation of receipt expressly does not constitute acceptance of the offer.

4.3 A contract is only concluded when ETA-GS accepts the customer's binding order by confirming acceptance in text form via a separate email notification. Acceptance or rejection of the order will occur within five working days at the latest.

4.4 If the items are not sent to ETA-GS after the order has been placed, or if ETA-GS is unable or unable to perform the service for other reasons and the reason for such impossibility is a lack of cooperation by the customer, the order will be cancelled and any items sent will either be returned at the customer's expense, stored or, after prior notification to the customer, disposed of if they are not taken back by ETA-GS.

4.5 The contract shall be concluded exclusively in German.

4.6 The sending of items to ETA-GS is considered a unilateral declaration of intent by the customer to conclude a service contract with ETA-GS. By sending the items to ETA-GS, the customer expressly declares that the items in their possession are to be transferred to the possession of third-party companies involved in the service process for the purpose of carrying out the commissioned measures.

4.7 The order form must list the items sent to ETA-GS completely and individually. The customer should specify each individual item as precisely as possible. All unique identifying features of the items must be listed in writing by the customer on the order form.

  1. Correction of input errors/saving of the contract text

5.1 The customer may correct the contractual declaration made within the scope of the order at any time before submitting it by making changes in the relevant input field or by using the "Back" button in the browser. Corrections are no longer possible after the order has been submitted.

5.2 The customer's orders will be stored by ETA-GS until the contract has been fully processed. If the customer loses the order documents, they can contact ETA-GS by email. ETA-GS will then send the customer a copy of the order data, provided the order has not yet been processed. After the cards have been returned to the customer in full, the order data will be deleted, subject to statutory retention periods, and can no longer be made available.

  1. Prices and shipping costs

6.1 The prices stated on the product pages include statutory VAT plus shipping costs.

6.2 In addition to the stated prices, ETA-GS will charge shipping costs for returns. Shipping costs will be clearly stated during checkout.

6.3 Grading services provided by third-party companies in the USA and listed on ETA-GS's invoices in Germany are exempt from VAT in accordance with applicable VAT regulations. ETA-GS undertakes to indicate the corresponding grading services as VAT-exempt on its invoices.

  1. Subject matter of the contract

7.1 The subject matter of the contract is the provision of a service consisting of the provision of commercially available items owned by the customer, such as trading cards or other items traded among collectors, by third-party companies specializing in valuations and arranging for the grading of the items. These items are generally used items, the condition of which may differ from the original condition at the time of purchase.

7.2 All items sent to ETA-GS are therefore inspected. The condition of the items, especially any obvious damage, is compared with the order documents and documented in writing and photographs. This documentation, initiated by ETA-GS, remains the sole property of ETA-GS and is not made available to the customer. The documentation serves as the basis for the conclusion of a service contract and also serves as proof of the scope of the commissioned service and the condition of the item upon receipt by ETA-GS.

7.3 Should there be any doubt regarding the legality of ownership of the submitted items (for example, if ETA-GS has evidence of theft, embezzlement, or similar), ETA-GS will inform the relevant investigative authorities at its own instigation. If suspicion arises, the submitted items will be examined and properly stored. Until the underlying facts have been definitively and legally clarified, the items will be handed over exclusively to government authorities. The return of the affected items to customers is excluded until the facts have been definitively and legally clarified.

7.4 In the event that the grading company's service level (value charge) changes and leads to an increase in fees on the part of the grading company, the customer agrees to cover the costs resulting from the change in the service level upon ordering and sending the item to ETA-GS. A change in the grading company's service level inevitably leads to an increase in the invoice amount to be paid to ETA-GS. In this case, ETA-GS reserves the right to return the graded items only after the customer has paid the additional amount. ETA-GS will inform the customer of the change in fees immediately upon its knowledge.

  1. Requirements for the conclusion of a contract / contract with minors

8.1 In principle, ETA-GS only concludes contracts with natural persons who have full legal capacity, i.e. all customers must be at least 18 years old when concluding the contract.

8.2 In individual cases and after consultation, ETA-GS reserves the right to enter into contractual agreements with minors who have reached the age of seven but not yet 18 (persons with limited legal capacity). The prerequisite for concluding a contract is the consent of the legal representative, which must be obtained either simultaneously with the contract offer or immediately thereafter.

8.3 If the customer is a legal entity, ETA-GS reserves the right to request an extract from the commercial register or other register as proof of the power of representation before the contract is executed.

  1. Implementation of the service

9.1 The order process begins with the receipt and acceptance of the items listed in the order form by ETA-GS.

9.2 Unless the customer has explicitly requested that ETA-GS begin performing the service before the expiration of the withdrawal period, ETA-GS will store the received items carefully and securely during the withdrawal period and until its expiration. ETA-GS will secure the items against unauthorized theft or damage caused by natural forces such as water, fire, or mold.

9.3. Before storage, the items handed over will be compared with the corresponding form contents by ETA-GS employees and the complete accuracy of the information will be checked.

In the event of incorrect information, ETA-GS reserves the right to notify the affected customers of the incorrect information via the contact details provided in the form and, if necessary, to allow the customer to make corrections. If the information is not corrected and this is necessary and mandatory for the performance of the service, ETA-GS reserves the right to reject the order. In this case, the items sent to ETA-GS will be returned to the customer at the customer's expense.

9.4. At the customer's request, ETA-GS may provide assistance in correcting the form. This service may be subject to a fee. Any resulting costs will be communicated to the customer in advance.

9.5 Defective products owned by customers are not excluded from grading. The defective condition will be reflected in the documented grading results. However, customers are required to report all defects in the submitted items on the appropriate forms.

9.6 If the submitted item does not correspond to the information in the form and the deviation was obviously intentional by the customer to deceive ETA-GS about the item's condition, ETA-GS reserves the right to reject the grading and exclude the customer from future orders. The exclusion may be temporary or permanent. ETA-GS will notify the customer accordingly.

In such a case, the customer will be given the opportunity to organize the return of the items sent to ETA-GS at their own risk or to use the ETA-GS return service. If the return service is used, the customer must reimburse ETA-GS for the shipping costs and a service fee in advance of the return shipment. The amount of the service fee and shipping costs will be communicated to the customer in advance.

9.7 If the customer fails to arrange for a return even after two reminders and a corresponding reasonable deadline set by ETA-GS, or if the customer fails to reimburse ETA-GS for return shipping costs after such deadline has expired, ETA-GS shall be entitled to either dispose of the items sent by the customer and invoice the customer for the incurred costs plus an expense allowance, or to list the items for sale itself, with the proceeds going solely to ETA-GS. The customer must be expressly informed of the two aforementioned options with the second reminder.

  1. Delivery

10.1 There are no delivery restrictions.

10.2 If the items sent to ETA-GS are received by ETA-GS up to three working days before the end of a calendar month, these items will be shipped to the respective grading companies within 14 working days. Items received by ETA-GS later than three working days before the end of a calendar month will generally only be included in the subsequent shipment in the following calendar month.

10.3 ETA-GS has no influence on the duration of the evaluation/grading process. Therefore, ETA-GS cannot influence or precisely determine the time of return of submitted items. Delays in returning the items to the customer and any resulting direct or indirect consequences are excluded from ETA-GS's liability.

10.4 All time estimates regarding the duration of the entire process are non-binding and based solely on past experience. Liability for inaccurate time estimates of any kind is excluded.

10.5 By sending the game to the VGA service, the customer confirms that we assume NO liability for games opened by customs or similar , nor do we bear the costs of obtaining a new game.

  1. payment

11.1 Payment shall be made by Paypal, credit card, invoice or direct bank transfer, at the buyer’s discretion.

11.2 If you choose to pay by credit card, your account will be charged immediately after your order has been completed.

11.3. If you select PayPal as your payment method, payment will be processed by the payment service provider PayPal (Europe) S.à rl et Cie, SCA, 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg, subject to the PayPal Terms of Use, which can be viewed at https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full .

11.4. If you select the payment method invoice, the payment will be processed by the payment service provider Klarna Bank AB (publ.), a public limited company under Swedish law , Sveavagen 46 , 111 34 Stockholm , Sweden , subject to the Klarna Terms of Use, which can be viewed at https://www.klarna.com/de/agb 

In the case of payment by invoice, Klarna carries out a risk check and decides whether payment is possible using the payment method selected by the buyer. In this case, ETA-GS assigns the claim against the customer for payment of the purchase price to Klarna Bank AB (publ.), a public limited company under Swedish law , Sveavagen 46 , 111 34 Stockholm , Sweden , for the purpose of collection. After the assignment of the claims, payments are made exclusively to Klarna with debt-discharging effect. By choosing the “invoice” payment method, the customer therefore declares that they agree to the assignment of the claim to Klarna and authorizes ETA-GS to transfer the data provided by the customer, such as name, address and email address, to Klarna. However, even in the event of the assignment of the claim, ETA-GS remains responsible for general customer inquiries, e.g. regarding the goods, delivery times, shipping, returns, complaints, declarations of revocation and dispatch or credit notes.

Payments can only be made to Klarna's account. The purchase price is due within 30 days of receipt of the goods. This period begins on the day after receipt of the goods and ends on the 30th following day.

11.5 ETA-GS reserves the right to charge a flat-rate reminder fee of five euros per reminder as damages for late payment if the customer is in arrears with payment. The customer is permitted to prove that no or only lesser damages have been incurred.

  1. Warranty

12.1 The statutory provisions on liability for defects apply.

12.2 ETA-GS guarantees the safe and professional storage of the items provided to ETA-GS by customers in order to use ETA-GS’s services.

12.3 ETA-GS further guarantees that the quality of the items will not be impaired by ETA-GS. This guarantee excludes unintentional modifications to an item that are causally attributable to the aging process of the item.

12.4 If the customer is a merchant within the meaning of the German Commercial Code (HGB), any warranty rights are subject to the customer properly fulfilling all inspection and complaint obligations pursuant to Section 377 of the HGB. Complaints regarding recognizable defects by a customer who is a merchant can only be made in writing immediately, but no later than eight days after receipt; in the case of defects that are not immediately recognizable, complaints must be made in writing immediately after they become recognizable. After expiry of this period, the goods are deemed to have been accepted.

  1. Liability

13.1 The assessment of the value of an item made by ETA-GS is non-binding and makes no claim to accuracy.

13.2 ETA-GS shall be liable without limitation in accordance with statutory provisions for damage to life, limb, and health resulting from a negligent or intentional breach of duty by ETA-GS, its legal representatives, or vicarious agents, as well as for damages covered by liability under the Product Liability Act. For damages not covered by sentence 1 and resulting from intentional or grossly negligent breaches of contract or fraudulent intent by ETA-GS, its legal representatives, or vicarious agents, ETA-GS shall be liable in accordance with statutory provisions. For damages resulting from the lack of a guaranteed quality but not directly affecting the goods, ETA-GS shall only be liable if the risk of such damage is clearly covered by the quality guarantee.

13.3 ETA-GS shall also be liable for damages caused by simple negligence, insofar as the resulting damages are based on the violation of rights that are specifically granted to the customer according to the content and purpose of the respective contract and/or insofar as the resulting damages are based on the violation of obligations whose fulfillment is essential for the proper execution of the contract and on whose compliance the customer regularly relies and may rely (cardinal obligations). Liability for such claims is limited to the typically occurring and foreseeable damage, but in any case to the replacement value of the respective item. The replacement value is based on the value of a new, unused item.

13.4 Any further liability is excluded regardless of the legal nature of the asserted claim.

13.5 ETA-GS does not conduct any evaluations of items itself and is not liable for any material or immaterial damage resulting from a grading process. ETA-GS cannot assume any responsibility for the completeness, accuracy, or results of a grading process. ETA-GS commissions the grading firm to the best of its knowledge and belief, based on strict selection criteria.

13.6 ETA-GS accepts the information provided on the customer's order form without its own verification. Should incorrect information provided by the customer lead to an incorrect grading, ETA-GS cannot be held liable by the customer.

13.7 If the grading company causes damage to the customer's item, the customer is entitled to claim damages from the grading company. If enforcement of this claim fails, ETA-GS will indemnify the affected customer against the assignment of the claims against the grading company to ETA-GS. This is subject to a written assignment of the claim by the customer to ETA-GS.

  1. Transport to and from grading

14.1 ETA-GS undertakes to insure the customer's collection cards for transport to PSA or a comparable grading company in the USA.

14.2 In the event of loss in transit to PSA or a comparable grading company in the USA, a refund will be made up to the respective value of the card before grading, unless a different individual agreement has been made between the customer and ETA-GS regarding a higher value of the items.

14.3 Various transport insurance options are available for the return shipment of cards evaluated in the USA from ETA-GS to the customer. The respective insurance amounts amount to up to

a: 500.00 €

b: €3,000.00

c: 10,000.00 €

d: 20,000.00 €

e: On request

The customer is required to contact ETA-GS prior to shipment regarding one of the available insurance amounts and to conclude a corresponding agreement with ETA-GS; otherwise, none of the above-mentioned insurance amounts will apply. Furthermore, the customer must submit the documentation specified in Section 14.4.

14.4 In the event of loss or damage to a shipment during transport, the customer is obliged to cooperate and provide all necessary documentation required by the DHL Group or the respective freight forwarder for reimbursement of the insured amount in the event of lost parcels. The required documentation includes, in particular, a written loss report, all relevant shipping documents and information, and any other requested documents. Suitable proof of the contents of the package can only be receipted posting documents (e.g., invoices, receipts, photos). Proof of the value of the contents of a package can only be provided by an original invoice, an appraisal, or an extract from a trading platform, such as "Ebay" or "Cardmarkef," where comparable collector cards with current values ​​are traded. Proof of ownership for cash purchases can only be provided by a purchase contract. Without the relevant documentation, there is no entitlement to insurance coverage.

  1. Refund if the case is damaged

15.1 ETA-GS undertakes to replace damaged cases free of charge, regardless of the cause of the damage, provided that the damage occurs before the customer receives the case.

15.2 To receive a free replacement case, the customer must report each individual damage incident to ETA-GS at submissions@eta-gs.com . The report must include a photo of the front and back of the damaged case.

15.3 The customer must return the damaged goods to ETA-GS immediately. To comply with this provision, the shipment must be submitted to ETA-GS within 14 working days of submitting the complaint to the post office.

15.4 After inspecting the damage, ETA-GS will replace the damaged case free of charge. ETA-GS's liability is limited to the replacement of the damaged case. Any further claims by the customer are excluded.

  1. Terms of Use

16.1 Unless otherwise agreed, ETA-GS permits its customers to permanently use, save, load, display, run and reproduce the results provided within the scope of the ETA-GS service.

16.2 Furthermore, the customer is granted the right to modify, translate, edit or otherwise transform the results provided by ETA-GS within the scope of the service, not only to use them for their own purposes, but also to use them to provide services to third parties.

16.3 The right to use the results provided by ETA-GS's contracted third-party companies within the scope of the services is granted to the customer to the same extent as the rights to use the results provided by ETA-GS within the scope of the services. The right to use the results provided by third-party companies within the scope of the services can be explicitly confirmed by the third-party companies upon customer request.

  1. Promotional vouchers and their redemption

17.1 ETA-GS may offer its customers promotional vouchers. Promotional vouchers are not available for purchase and are issued with a specific period of validity. There is no entitlement to receive promotional vouchers.

17.2 Promotional vouchers may contain either precise monetary amounts or discounts expressed as a percentage. Discounts always refer to the invoiced amounts.

17.3 Promotional vouchers cannot be used to purchase gift vouchers.

17.4 Promotional vouchers are only valid during the specified period and can only be redeemed once per payment transaction. Individual services may be excluded from the voucher promotion.

17.5 Promotional vouchers may also be limited to certain services.

17.6 The redemption of a promotional voucher may be subject to a minimum invoice amount. If the amount shown on the promotional voucher is higher than the invoice total paid with it, no difference will be refunded.

If the amount shown on the promotional voucher is lower than the invoice total, the difference can be settled using the payment options offered.

17.7 The value of a promotional voucher cannot be redeemed for cash.

17.8 Promotional vouchers cannot be combined with one another unless expressly agreed otherwise.

17.9 Redeemed promotional vouchers will not be refunded in the event of a refund of the invoice amount received by ETA-GS.

  1. Data protection

18.1 ETA-GS complies with data protection laws and takes the protection of personal data seriously in the interest of the customer. ETA-GS uses personal data exclusively to process the customer's order. All customer data is stored and processed by us in compliance with the relevant provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), the General Data Protection Regulation, other data protection laws applicable in the member states of the European Union, and other provisions of a data protection nature.

18.2 ETA-GS generally collects and uses its customers' personal data only to the extent necessary to fulfill the contract. Personal data is generally collected and used only with the consent of the person concerned. An exception applies in cases where prior consent cannot be obtained for practical reasons and the processing of the data is permitted by law.

18.3 To the extent that ETA-GS obtains consent from the data subject for processing personal data, Article 6 (1) (a) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) serves as the legal basis for the processing of personal data. For the processing of personal data necessary to fulfill a contract to which the data subject is a party, Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR serves as the legal basis. This also applies to processing operations necessary to implement pre-contractual measures.

18.4 ETA-GS will not disclose its customers' personal data, including their name, address, and email address, to third parties without the express and revocable consent of the data subject. This does not include the disclosure of data to service partners who require the transmission of customer data to process orders. This includes exclusively the name, address, and, if requested, the telephone number of the respective recipient of a delivery. Data will be disclosed exclusively to the respective shipping/forwarding company. In any case, the scope of the transmitted data is limited to the minimum necessary.

18.5 The personal data of the data subject will be deleted or blocked by ETA-GS as soon as the purpose for which they were stored no longer applies. Storage may also occur if this has been provided for by European or national legislators in EU regulations, laws, or other provisions. Data will also be blocked or deleted if a storage period prescribed by the aforementioned standards expires, unless there is a need to continue storing the data for the conclusion or fulfillment of a contract.

18.6 As a data subject affected by the collection or storage of personal data, you have the right at any time to obtain free information about the data stored about you, its origin and recipient, the right to rectification, blocking or erasure as well as restriction of processing of data, the right to data portability, the right to object, the right to withdraw consent given and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

  1. Final provisions

19.1 The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply exclusively, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, unless the protection afforded by mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which the customer, who is a consumer, has his habitual residence is withdrawn.

19.2 For contracts with merchants, i.e. customers who operate a commercial business or are classified as merchants under the German Commercial Code (HGB) for other legal reasons, as well as with legal entities under public law, Cologne shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising directly or indirectly from the contractual relationship.

19.3 Online dispute resolution pursuant to Art. 14 (1) ODR-VO: The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR), which you can find at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/ .