General Terms and Conditions

1. Scope of Application and Provider

The provider and operator of the ShineLists platform (accessible, among other things, at shinelists.com, hereinafter "Platform" or "ShineLists") is elbcloud Tech Solutions GmbH, Jarrestraße 44, 22303 Hamburg (hereinafter "we" or "Provider"). You can find the complete provider details in the Legal Notice (Impressum).

These GTC apply to registration as well as to any use of the Platform by registered and non-registered users (hereinafter uniformly referred to as "Users"). By registering with or using the Platform, you accept these GTC in their respective applicable version.

We object to any deviating or supplementary terms of the User, unless we have expressly agreed to them in writing. For paid services for advertising partners, supplementary or overriding individual agreements may apply (see Section 4).

2. Subject Matter of the Platform

ShineLists is a social and recommendation platform on which Users can create their own profiles and link lists, rate and recommend products and places, curate lists, share places and events, exchange messages and interact with other Users. ShineLists sees itself as a platform for honest, authentic recommendations.

For this purpose, we provide Users with the technical infrastructure through which they can post and access their own content. The content originates predominantly from the Users themselves; we do not adopt third-party content as our own (see Section 9).

We are entitled to further develop, adapt, restrict or discontinue individual functions of the Platform, insofar as this is reasonable taking into account the interests of the Users. Individual functions may be designated as beta or test functions.

3. Registration, User Account and Minimum Age

Registration and a user account are required to use certain functions. Upon registration, a free-of-charge usage agreement regarding the Platform is concluded between you and us. There is no entitlement to registration.

Registration is permitted only to natural persons. You must be at least 16 years old. Minors between 16 and 18 years of age may only register and use the Platform with the consent of their legal guardians.

You are obliged to provide truthful and complete information upon registration. To confirm your email address, we use a double opt-in procedure; the account is only activated after confirmation. Sign-in may also take place via external providers (single sign-on/OAuth).

The access credentials must be kept secret and protected against access by third parties. As a rule, only one account per person is permitted. You are responsible for all activities carried out via your account. If there is any suspicion of misuse of your access credentials, please inform us without delay.

4. Free Use; Paid Services for Advertising Partners

Use of the Platform is generally free of charge for Users. An existing or future free function does not give rise to any entitlement to permanent provision free of charge.

For businesses and advertising partners, we offer separate paid services (e.g. sponsored products, placements or advertising formats). These are aimed at entrepreneurs within the meaning of § 14 BGB (German Civil Code); in this respect, the individual agreements or separate terms respectively concluded apply additionally or with priority. Should paid services be offered to consumers in the future, these will be clearly designated as such before conclusion of the contract and will be provided with the legally required information (including notice of the right of withdrawal, where applicable).

5. User Obligations and Prohibited Content

You undertake to use the Platform only within the framework of applicable laws and these GTC and not to post or transmit any content that is unlawful or infringes the rights of third parties.

In particular, it is prohibited to post, distribute or link to content that

• violates criminal laws or incites criminal offences (e.g. incitement to hatred, depiction of violence, terrorist propaganda, child or youth pornography);
• infringes the rights of third parties, in particular copyright, trademark, personality or data protection rights;
• is insulting, defamatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory or inflammatory;
• contains false, misleading or manipulated factual claims, in particular fake, purchased or non-firsthand reviews (see Section 6);
• contains malware, spam, chain letters, phishing or unlawful advertising;
• is harmful to minors or pornographic or violates the protection of minors;
• infringes the personality rights of third parties, for example through the publication of personal data without consent.

Also prohibited are the automated extraction of content (scraping) without our consent, the circumvention of security measures, the impairment of the availability or integrity of the Platform, as well as the abusive use of reporting, rating or messaging functions.

6. Reviews, Recommendations and Authenticity

ShineLists thrives on honest, authentic recommendations. Reviews and recommendations must be based on an actual, firsthand experience and must not be misleading.

In particular, the following are prohibited: fake, purchased reviews or reviews submitted on behalf of third parties, reviews without actually having used the product or offer, the systematic creation of multiple reviews, as well as the use of bots or automatically generated (e.g. purely AI-generated) review texts that feign genuine experiences.

If there is a commercial or other relevant connection between you and the reviewed product, place or provider (e.g. own products, sponsorship, consideration), you must disclose this. We reserve the right to label, restrict or remove reviews that violate these requirements.

Note on verification (§ 5b(3) UWG / Omnibus Directive): We do not review each individual rating in advance and individually for authenticity. Reviews are submitted by the Users themselves and must be labeled according to their origin (e.g. bought themselves, free sample received, sponsored). We follow up on indications of fake or impermissible reviews via our reporting and moderation procedure (Section 9) and label, restrict or remove the reviews concerned.

7. Advertising, Affiliate Links and Labeling

Users may use affiliate or commission links on the Platform, provided that they observe the applicable statutory labeling obligations. Commercial communication and advertising must be clearly recognizable as such (principle of separation).

If you receive consideration for a piece of content or pursue commercial purposes with it (e.g. affiliate remuneration, paid cooperation), the commercial character must be labeled clearly and prominently (e.g. as "advertising" or "ad"). The responsibility for the legally compliant labeling of one's own content lies with the respective User.

Sponsored content placed or labeled by us ourselves is made recognizable as such.

8. User-Generated Content and Grant of Rights

You retain all rights to the content you post on the Platform (e.g. texts, images, links, reviews; hereinafter “Content”). You are solely responsible for ensuring that you hold the necessary rights to this Content and that you do not infringe the rights of third parties by posting it.

What you warrant when uploading photos

By uploading a photo, you warrant that you took it yourself, or that the author has expressly permitted you to publish it on the Platform and to grant the uses described in this Section 8. You may not upload third-party images — not even with a source credit, and not even if they are freely available on the internet. This applies in particular to images from search engines, stock agencies, the websites or menus of the places visited, booking and review portals, and social networks.

Beyond the copyright in the image itself, you warrant that no other rights preclude publication. Please therefore pay attention to the following:

• People: if individuals are recognisable in the photo, you need their consent to publication (Sections 22, 23 KUG, Art. 6(1) GDPR). For children and adolescents, consent must come from their legal guardians.
• Location: taking and publishing the photo must be permitted at the location. Observe house rules and photography bans as well as the limits of freedom of panorama (Section 59 UrhG) — it only permits shots taken from public paths, streets or squares and does not cover interiors, museums, exhibitions, works of art or special lighting installations.
• Third-party trade marks and works: if third-party trade marks, logos, works of art, menus or other protected designs appear as more than incidental, immaterial accessories, you also need the permission of the rights holders.
• Bystanders: keep uninvolved people out of the shot where possible, or make them unrecognisable — guests at the next table are recognisable people too.

When in doubt: do not upload. The detailed, practical rules with examples are set out in our Photo Rules.

• View the Photo Rules

The rights you grant us

You grant us, in respect of the Content you post, a simple (non-exclusive), royalty-free right of use that is unlimited in territory and limited in time to the duration of the provision, which allows us to technically store, reproduce, edit and make publicly accessible the Content for the purpose of operating, providing and promoting the Platform. Insofar as Content is public by its nature (e.g. public profiles, public reviews), this right includes public communication in accordance with the visibility settings you have selected. Content you have set to private or visible only to selected people is not covered.

Editing includes in particular cropping, scaling, compressing, converting into other file formats, darkening, and overlaying with text, colour and image elements, insofar as this is necessary for the presentations described below. This neither entails nor permits any distortion or meaning-altering modification of your work (Section 14 UrhG).

Automatically generated sharing images

To make content shareable, the Platform automatically generates images in which your photos are placed and combined with text, colour gradients, profile details and our logo — in particular story images for social networks and preview images for links (Open Graph). You grant us the right to edit your public photos for this purpose as described above and to make the resulting images publicly accessible. Where the presentation allows, we credit you as the author.

If your photo is the cover image of a place (see below), it may also appear in sharing images that other users generate for that place and publish outside the Platform. Once shared, we have no influence over the further distribution of such images by third parties; images that have already been shared may therefore persist even after you have deleted your photo on the Platform.

Place photos and cover images

Photos you upload to a public place review or a public check-in may become the cover image of that place: until the first vote, the photo uploaded first is the cover image; after that, the community decides by vote. As the cover image, your photo also appears outside your own contribution — for example on place cards, city pages, in search results and in link previews. We credit you as the author wherever the respective presentation allows.

There is no entitlement to the display or the permanent use of a specific photo. Experience points (EP) may be credited for the use of your photo; there is no legal entitlement to this. If you delete your review, your check-in or your account, the use as a cover image ends.

Advertising for the Platform outside the Platform

We may also use your public photos outside the Platform to advertise ShineLists — for example in our own posts and ads on social networks, on our own websites, and in press and app store material. The editing right described above applies here too; we credit you as the author wherever the format allows. We do not use photos in which people are recognisable for such advertising.

Deletion of content

If you delete Content or your account, the granted right of use ends, unless mandatory statutory retention obligations or copies already shared (e.g. by other Users) preclude this. We are entitled to keep technically required backup copies for a reasonable period.

Product photos in the shared catalog

By way of derogation from the above, the following applies to product photos that you upload to the shared, public product catalog: since catalog images are used across the entire community on a per-product basis, you grant us a simple (non-exclusive), royalty-free right of use in these photos that is unlimited in territory and — to the extent legally permissible — unlimited in time, and that continues beyond the deletion of your account or your entries. It covers in particular the display as the product image within the platform, technical storage, reproduction, scaling and formatting, as well as inclusion in previews of the product page (e.g. link previews and social media snippets). Your right to be identified as the author remains unaffected: if your photo is used as the product image, we credit you as the photographer on the product page (e.g. “Photo by @username”).

If several photos are available for a product, the community decides by vote (one vote per user and product) which photo is displayed as the product image. There is no entitlement to the display or permanent use of a specific photo. Experience points (EP) may be credited for the use of your photo; there is no legal entitlement to this. You can replace your own photo with a new one at any time; we may remove photos that violate these Terms of Use or the rights of third parties.

Indemnification

If Content you have posted culpably infringes third-party rights or statutory provisions, you shall indemnify us against all justified claims asserted against us by third parties on that basis; this also covers the necessary costs of a reasonable legal defence. We will inform you of any such claim without undue delay, give you the opportunity to comment and — insofar as this is possible and reasonable for us — will neither acknowledge the claim nor enter into a settlement without your consent. The indemnification does not apply insofar as you are not responsible for the infringement. Further statutory claims remain unaffected.

9. Responsibility for Content; Reporting and Complaint Procedure (DSA)

The User posting the respective user-generated content is responsible for it. As a hosting service provider, we are generally not responsible for third-party content pursuant to §§ 7 ff. DDG (German Digital Services Act; formerly TMG) and Art. 6 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act – DSA), as long as we have no knowledge of unlawful content. As soon as we obtain knowledge of specific unlawful content, we will remove it or block access to it without delay.

Reporting Unlawful Content (Notice-and-Action)

You can report presumably unlawful content to us via the reporting function integrated into the Platform or via the contact details stated in the Legal Notice. A report should identify the objected-to content with sufficient precision (e.g. URL) and contain the reasons for the objection. We process incoming reports carefully, promptly and in a non-arbitrary manner.

No user account is required to submit a notice. Rights holders and other affected parties can use our public notice form; notices concerning infringements of copyright, trade mark or personality rights in photos are handled as a priority. If you leave an email address, we will confirm receipt of your notice and inform you of our decision.

• Report content (no account needed)
• Email: moin@elbcloud.de

Statement of Reasons and Complaint

If we decide to remove or block content, restrict its visibility or block an account, we inform the affected person of this and provide – insofar as required under Art. 17 DSA – a statement of reasons. You may lodge a complaint against such decisions via the contact channels stated in the Legal Notice; we will then review the decision again.

10. Availability of the Platform

We endeavor to ensure the availability of the Platform is as uninterrupted as possible, but we do not owe any particular availability. Restrictions or interruptions may occur, for example due to maintenance work, further development, malfunctions or circumstances outside our sphere of influence (e.g. force majeure, failures at upstream suppliers).

11. Blocking, Removal of Content and Termination

You may terminate the usage agreement at any time without observing a notice period by deleting your account or requesting its deletion. We too may ordinarily terminate the free-of-charge usage agreement with a reasonable notice period of 14 days.

In the event of violations of these GTC or applicable law, we may – depending on the severity and taking into account your interests – remove or block individual content, restrict visibility, issue a warning, temporarily restrict functions or block the account temporarily or permanently. The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected for both parties. In the case of serious or repeated violations, measures may also be taken without prior warning.

12. Liability

We are liable without limitation for damages arising from injury to life, body or health based on a negligent or intentional breach of duty by us or our vicarious agents, as well as for damages based on intent or gross negligence, and in accordance with the provisions of the Produkthaftungsgesetz (German Product Liability Act).

In the case of a slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation (an obligation whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the User regularly relies – a so-called cardinal obligation), our liability is limited in amount to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract.

Otherwise, liability – in particular for slightly negligent breaches of non-material contractual obligations – is excluded. For user-generated content and for content accessible via external links (e.g. affiliate links), we are liable in accordance with Section 9; we assume no liability for the substantive accuracy, completeness or lawfulness of third-party content. The foregoing limitations of liability also apply for the benefit of our legal representatives and vicarious agents.

13. Data Protection

Information on how we process personal data can be found in our Privacy Policy. This is not part of the contract but serves to provide you with information pursuant to Art. 13, 14 GDPR.

14. Amendments to these Terms of Use

We reserve the right to amend these GTC with effect for the future, insofar as this is necessary for valid reasons (e.g. changes in the legal situation, supreme court case law, the range of functions, or to remedy gaps in the provisions) and does not unreasonably disadvantage you.

We will inform you of intended amendments in good time before they take effect in an appropriate manner (e.g. by email or notice on the Platform). If you do not object to the amendments within the reasonable period stated in the notification and continue to use the Platform, the amendments are deemed to have been accepted; we will draw your attention to this consequence separately in the notification. In the event of an objection, both parties are entitled to terminate the usage agreement.

15. Dispute Resolution

We are neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

16. Final Provisions

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Vis-à-vis consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as it does not restrict mandatory consumer protection provisions of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence.

If the User is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, or if the User has no general place of jurisdiction in Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with this contract is the registered office of the Provider (Hamburg). Mandatory statutory places of jurisdiction remain unaffected.

Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become wholly or partially invalid, this does not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The statutory provisions apply.