Partner terms

Partner Terms for the Provimedia Partner Programme

Last updated: 13 September 2026 · Version: 1.1

The key provision is § 5. Without the consent explained there to the self-billing procedure, the billing model has no basis: § 14(2) sentence 5 of the German VAT Act (Umsatzsteuergesetz, UStG) requires an agreement before the first billing. We store the version and time of your consent. If this text changes, § 16 applies to existing partners.

§ 1 Who We Are, What These Terms Apply To

The provider of the Partner Programme is Provimedia GmbH, Weidenweg 12, 74321 Bietigheim-Bissingen, VAT ID DE255721337 ("us").

These terms govern participation in the Partner Programme. Deviating terms of the partner ("you") do not become part of the contract, even if we do not expressly object to them.

Definitions. Partner link means a link containing your personal code. Partner code means the discount code that customers can enter in the purchase form. Referral means a paid purchase that is allocated to you under § 6. Product means any offer for which we have opened the programme; you can see which these are in your partner area.

§ 2 Who May Participate, How the Contract Is Formed

You may take part if you act in a business capacity and are at least 18 years old. Your details must be complete and correct.

Your registration is an offer. The contract is formed when your partner account is activated.

If, at the time of registration, you are already a customer of one of our products or a paying member of our Community, we activate you immediately. In all other cases, we review your registration, in particular the website on which you intend to advertise. We may refuse admission; there is no entitlement to participation. We inform you of a refusal in text form.

§ 3 Your Status

You act as an independent trader in your own name and for your own account. You are not authorised to act on our behalf, to make declarations for us, or to create the impression that you belong to our company.

You decide how you advertise. We do not give you any texts, banners or content requirements; we give you a link, a code and figures. §§ 8 and 9 state what is not permitted. They do not state how you should advertise.

§ 4 What We Provide

We provide you with a partner account, your partner link, your partner code and an overview of clicks, referrals and commissions.

We do not owe uninterrupted availability. If the allocation fails due to a disruption within our area of responsibility, we bear the consequences: we pay for a referral that was demonstrably generated through your link or your code even if our system did not record it.

§ 5 Billing Under the Self-Billing Procedure

You agree that we settle your commissions by issuing you a self-billed credit note within the meaning of § 14(2) sentence 5 of the German VAT Act (Umsatzsteuergesetz, UStG). You do not issue your own invoices to us for the same services.

We provide you with every self-billed credit note electronically in your partner area and additionally send it to your registered email address. You agree to this electronic transmission and to the format used.

Your duty to provide information. Before the first billing, you inform us whether you are subject to standard taxation, qualify as a small business under § 19 UStG, or do not act in a business capacity, and you provide your tax number or VAT identification number. If anything changes in this regard, you inform us without delay. This information is not a mere formality: if a self-billed credit note shows VAT even though you are not entitled to it, you owe this tax to the tax office (Finanzamt) unless you object without delay (§ 14c(2) sentence 2 no. 2 UStG). We therefore only show VAT if you have indicated standard taxation.

If you are established outside Germany and act in a business capacity, the tax liability shifts to us; the self-billed credit note then bears the notice "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" (reverse charge) and shows no separate VAT.

Review. Please review every self-billed credit note. You notify us of objections to the amount within four weeks of provision. This period only concerns the due date under civil law. Your objection for VAT purposes under § 14(2) sentence 6 UStG remains unaffected by this and is possible without a time limit.

§ 6 Allocation

There are two ways, and they are differently reliable. We name the more reliable one first, because you should plan accordingly:

1. Your partner code, no deadline. If the customer enters your partner code in the purchase form, the referral is allocated to you. This route has no deadline, works on any device and is independent of browser settings. It also works where a link cannot reach: in conversation, in a talk, in a podcast, on a business card.

2. Your partner link, seven days. If the customer uses your partner link and buys within seven days, the referral is likewise allocated to you.

Why seven and not ninety days. The allocation via the link is based on server-side recognition that stores nothing on the customer's device. From a data protection standpoint, this is the most restrained approach, and it only carries for seven days. We could only maintain a longer period for the visitors who consent to storage on their device, that is, for a part of them. A period that only applies to a part does not belong undivided in a contract. That is why the figure stated here applies to everyone. If we change the procedure, we first change these terms under § 16, not the other way round.

If someone clicks the links of several partners in succession, the last of these referrals is allocated.

If a click is recorded and the partner code of another partner is additionally entered, the referral is allocated to the partner whose code was entered. Entering a code is a deliberate decision by the customer and therefore takes precedence over the click. This does not apply if the partner account for that code is blocked; in that case, the allocation from the click remains in place.

The record in our system is decisive. If we cannot determine an allocation, no claim arises; this is without prejudice to § 4(2).

No self-referrals. Purchases made by you yourself, your family members, your employees or companies affiliated with you are not remunerated.

§ 7 Commission

The rates for your account are shown in your partner area. Unless otherwise agreed, the following apply:

For what	Rate	Basis
On the purchase	30%	of the net amount actually paid
On a subscription	30%	per paid monthly invoice, 24 months from the first subscription month
Discount for the referred customer	10%	on the one-off purchase, not on a subscription

The basis for calculation is the net amount actually paid, that is, excluding VAT and after deduction of any discounts granted. If your partner discount coincides with a promotional voucher, the higher of the two rates applies; they are not added together. Your allocation remains in place in this case.

The claim arises as soon as the customer has paid. It becomes due once an additional 14 days have passed since the purchase.

§ 8 What You Must Comply With

In your advertising, you comply with applicable law, in particular competition, trademark, copyright and data protection law, and you keep your own website legally compliant.

Labelling. You label your partner links as advertising and disclose that you earn from a purchase. The commercial purpose must be recognisable at first glance and before the click, not only afterwards. A notice in the legal notice or the footer area alone is not sufficient.

The German media authorities (Medienanstalten) consider an asterisk with an explanation in the immediate vicinity of the link sufficient for affiliate links, and in substance suggest the following wording: links marked with an asterisk are partner links, a purchase made through them earns a commission, and the customer incurs no additional costs. You may adopt this or label more clearly, for example with the word "advertising" or "ad" directly next to the link.

You indemnify us against third-party claims arising from your breach of this section, including reasonable costs of legal defence. This does not apply to the extent that you are not responsible for the breach.

§ 9 What Is Not Permitted

Any form of manipulation of the allocation is impermissible. In particular:

1. Trademark bidding. You do not book search engine advertisements on our trademark and product names, on their misspelled variants, or on the names of companies affiliated with us. You do not use these names in advertisement text, visible advertisement URLs, domains or subdomains. On request, we provide you with a list of search terms to exclude.
2. Cookie stuffing and cookie dropping. An allocation arises only if the customer has deliberately clicked a visible advertising medium. Invisible embeds, forced clicks, automatic redirects, pop-ups and pop-unders, and embeds in invisible frames are not permitted.
3. Automated traffic. No bots, no crawlers, no toolbars or browser extensions that set allocations.
4. Unsolicited email advertising. Email advertising only with the express consent of the recipient (§ 7(2) no. 2 of the German Act Against Unfair Competition (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb, UWG)). The sender must be identifiable; no impression may be created that the message comes from us.
5. Voucher claims. You only advertise codes that we have given you, and you do not claim that a code is "official" or "exclusive" when it is not.
6. Domains containing our names, including misspelled variants.
7. Misleading statements about the price, scope of services or availability of our products.

§ 10 If Something Goes Wrong

If we have concrete indications of a breach, we document it and give you the opportunity to comment, unless immediate action is necessary to avert damage.

Depending on the severity, we may then: withhold payout of the affected referrals, cancel these referrals, block your account, or terminate under § 15.

Only the referrals that arose from the breach are cancelled. Commissions lawfully earned remain in place and are paid out.

§ 11 When a Commission Lapses

A commission lapses if the purchase is reversed, in particular in the event of withdrawal by the customer, a direct debit chargeback, or non-payment.

A commission does not lapse if the non-execution is due to circumstances for which we are responsible.

If we have already paid out a commission and it subsequently lapses, we do not reclaim it, but offset it against future claims. If your balance is not sufficient, a negative balance remains outstanding; we do not collect it.

§ 12 Payout

We settle once a month, on the 28th in each case.

If your due balance does not reach EUR 25, we do not issue a self-billed credit note for that month. The amount does not lapse: it is carried forward to the following month and increased by the commissions newly added.

We pay to the account you have provided. Keep your account details and address up to date; without them, we cannot make a payout.

If the contract ends, we pay out your due balance with the next settlement, even if it is below EUR 25.

§ 13 Liability

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, as well as for damage resulting from injury to life, body or health. In the case of ordinary negligence, we are liable only for the breach of material contractual obligations and only up to the amount of the damage typical for the contract and foreseeable at the time.

§ 14 Data Protection

The processing of your data as a partner is governed by our privacy policy, clause 12 there.

If you use our partner link, you obtain the necessary consent from visitors to your website before a click leads to us, and you inform them of this in your own privacy policy; for this, you may link to our section.

§ 15 Term and Termination

The contract runs for an indefinite period. Either party may terminate it in text form with four weeks' notice. The right to terminate for good cause remains unaffected.

After the end of the contract, you remove your partner links from your pages within seven days.

Referrals that arose before the termination takes effect remain subject to commission and are settled under § 12. Ongoing subscription commissions under § 7 end when the contract ends.

§ 16 Changes to These Terms

We may change these terms if

• the legal situation or the case law of the highest courts changes,
• a gap in the rules needs to be closed that was not foreseeable when the contract was concluded, or
• we expand the programme with products or functions.

We notify you of the change in text form at least four weeks before it takes effect and draw your attention to your right to object. If you object in time, either party may terminate the contract for cause as of the effective date.

Commission claims that have already arisen are not affected by a change. Changed rates apply only to referrals from the effective date onward.

§ 17 Confidentiality

You treat confidentially any figures from the partner area that are not your own, as well as trade secrets that become known to you in the course of the cooperation, even after the contract ends.

§ 18 Final Provisions

German law applies. If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is our registered office. Amendments and additions require text form. If a provision is invalid, the remaining provisions remain valid.