General Terms and Conditions (GTC)

3D-LabEq

3D-LabEq – Version 1.3 | Valid from: May 2026

§ 1 SCOPE OF APPLICATION AND PROVIDER INFORMATION

1.1 These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to all contracts for the delivery of goods (including new 3D-printed laboratory hardware, consumables, and used laboratory equipment/devices), digital content, custom fabrications, and the provision of laboratory automation and pipetting services concluded between:

3D-LabEq
Marco Grull
Rheinstr. 36
64665 Alsbach-Hähnlein
Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 151 61996420
E-Mail: marco.grull@3d-labeq.de
Website: www.3d-labeq.de

(hereinafter referred to as "3D-LabEq" or "we/us")

and our customers via the online shop at www.3d-labeq.de or via individual written offers.

1.2 Our offers are directed exclusively at entrepreneurs within the meaning of Section 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB), legal entities under public law, and special funds under public law. Consumers within the meaning of Section 13 BGB are explicitly excluded from purchasing.

1.3 By placing an order, the customer bindingly confirms that they are acting in the course of their commercial, academic, corporate, or professional activity. We reserve the right to verify entrepreneurial status by requesting suitable proof (e.g., VAT identification number, institutional affiliation, commercial register extract, or business registration) before or after contract conclusion.

1.4 Any conflicting, supplementary, or deviating terms and conditions of the customer shall not apply unless expressly confirmed by us in text form (e.g., via email).

§ 2 CONCLUSION OF CONTRACT

2.1 The presentation of products, used machinery, software files, and services in the online shop constitutes a non-binding invitation to place an order (invitatio ad offerendum), not a legally binding offer.

2.2 By submitting an order via the checkout interface of our Shopify store, the customer makes a binding offer to conclude a purchase, digital delivery, or service contract.

2.3 The automatically generated order confirmation solely documents receipt of the order by 3D-LabEq and does not constitute acceptance of the contract.

2.4 A binding contract is concluded exclusively upon:

(a) our written order confirmation or invoice sent by email (text form),

(b) dispatch or physical delivery of the goods, or

whichever occurs first.

2.5 For digital content (e.g., JSON labware definitions, Python scripts, automation protocols), the contract is concluded at the latest upon provision of the download link, digital file transfer, or email delivery.

2.6 For customized, made-to-order, or specially manufactured products (e.g., custom 3D-printed tube racks based on customer dimensions), the contract is concluded upon our explicit confirmation in text form. Such custom products are completely excluded from cancellation, modification, or return once production has commenced.

§ 3 PRICES AND PAYMENT TERMS

3.1 All prices stated on our website or in offers are net prices excluding applicable statutory VAT and shipping/handling costs, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

3.2 Intra-community deliveries to entrepreneurs within the EU holding a valid VAT identification number are subject to the reverse charge procedure pursuant to applicable EU VAT regulations.

3.3 Available payment methods are handled securely via our shop infrastructure and may include credit/debit cards (via Shopify Payments), PayPal, bank transfer in advance (prepayment), or invoice payment (strictly subject to prior credit approval).

3.4 Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date without deduction, unless otherwise agreed in text form.

3.5 For larger orders, customized fabrications, used machinery sales, or extended service agreements, we reserve the right to require an upfront deposit of up to 50% of the total contract value prior to the commencement of production, shipping preparation, or service.

3.6 The customer may only offset claims against our claims if the counterclaims are undisputed, legally established by final judgment, or explicitly accepted by us in text form.

3.7 In the event of late payment, we are entitled to charge default interest at a rate of 9 percentage points above the applicable base interest rate pursuant to Section 288 (2) BGB, without prejudice to further claims for damages.

§ 4 DELIVERY, SHIPPING, AND LEAD TIMES

4.1 Delivery shall be made to the delivery address specified by the customer at the time of ordering. The customer bears sole responsibility for providing complete and correct shipping details.

4.2 Stated delivery periods, dispatch dates, and lead times are non-binding estimates unless expressly confirmed in text form as strictly binding.

4.3 3D-printed products and specialized laboratory consumables are primarily manufactured or processed on demand. Standard lead times are 5–14 business days after order confirmation unless specified otherwise. Used devices and stock items are generally prepared for dispatch within 2–10 business days after full payment is received.

4.4 Partial deliveries are permitted insofar as they are reasonable for the customer and do not incur additional shipping fees for the customer.

4.5 Delivery periods shall be extended appropriately in cases of force majeure, cyber-attacks, supply chain shortages, operational disruptions, raw material scarcity, or official regulatory measures beyond our control. The customer will be notified promptly.

4.6 We reserve the right to withdraw from the contract if the ordered goods are permanently unavailable despite our best efforts. The customer will be notified immediately, and any payments already made will be refunded without delay.

§ 5 TRANSFER OF RISK AND TRANSPORT

5.1 The risk of accidental loss or deterioration of the goods passes to the customer upon handover of the consignment to the transport company, carrier, or postal service (ex works / EXW Alsbach-Hähnlein according to § 447 BGB), including in the case of partial deliveries.

5.2 Transport damage must be documented immediately upon receipt and reported to us in writing within 3 business days. Failure to inspect and report within this timeframe may preclude warranty claims against the carrier.

5.3 For shipments involving temperature-sensitive or chemically formulated products (e.g., prefilled cryotubes, glycerol solutions), the customer is solely responsible for ensuring immediate and appropriate chemical storage conditions upon delivery. We accept no liability for quality degradation, evaporation, or material failure caused by inadequate storage or exposure to adverse environments after transfer of risk.

§ 6 RETENTION OF TITLE

6.1 All delivered goods remain the exclusive property of 3D-LabEq until full payment of all outstanding claims arising from the entire business relationship has been received.

6.2 The customer may resell goods subject to retention of title in the ordinary course of business. In such cases, the customer hereby assigns all resulting receivables from the resale to us as security up to the total amount of our outstanding claims. 3D-LabEq accepts this assignment.

6.3 In the event of processing, mixing, or transformation of goods subject to retention of title, the newly created item shall be deemed our co-property pursuant to Section 950 BGB in proportion to the value of the reserved goods.

6.4 The customer must immediately notify us of any seizures, attachments, or other third-party access to goods subject to retention of title.

§ 7 CONDITION OF GOODS AND SPECIAL TERMS FOR USED LABORATORY EQUIPMENT

7.1 Sale of Surplus and Used Equipment: 3D-LabEq lists and sells surplus materials, liquidations, and used laboratory equipment from lab closures, insolvency assets, or excess inventory.

7.2 "As-Is" / "Where-Is" Principle: Unless explicitly stated otherwise in the specific product description, all used machinery, components, and electronic laboratory devices are sold exclusively "as-is", "as-tested", or "as-inspected" (wie gesehen bzw. wie übernommen).

7.3 No Manufacturer Certifications or Calibrations: For all used equipment, 3D-LabEq does not provide any validation, technical qualification, calibration, or regulatory certification (e.g., CE conformity re-validation, DIN/ISO standards verification) unless expressly agreed upon in text form. The customer acknowledges that used equipment may not meet the newest regulatory or technical guidelines and agrees to verify conformity independently before putting the unit into operation.

7.4 Exclusion of Software, Updates, and Licenses: Operating software, digital firmware licenses, manufacturer cloud accounts, software updates, or proprietary keys are explicitly not part of the contract for used equipment, unless explicitly stated in the item description. The acquisition, installation, and lawful licensing of required operating software are the sole responsibility and expense of the customer.

§ 8 RESEARCH USE ONLY (RUO) – MANDATORY DISCLAIMER

8.1 ALL products, consumables, used devices, digital files, and reagents sold by 3D-LabEq – including but not limited to 3D-printed laboratory equipment, custom tube racks, used benchtop instruments, cryotubes, prefilled tubes, and glycerol solutions – are developed, manufactured, and sold EXCLUSIVELY for research, development, and general laboratory use.

RESEARCH USE ONLY (RUO) Not for diagnostic, therapeutic, clinical, human, or veterinary applications. Keep out of reach of unqualified personnel.

8.2 Our products are not approved, certified, or validated for use as medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics (IVD), pharmaceutical manufacturing quality control, or any regulated application under Medical Device Regulation (MDR) (EU) 2017/745, In-Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) (EU) 2017/746, or equivalent global standards.

8.3 The customer is solely and exclusively responsible for:

(a) determining the safety and suitability of our products for their specific application,

(b) performing all necessary in-house validation and verification procedures,

(c) complying with all applicable biosafety, environmental, health, and regulatory requirements in their respective jurisdiction.

§ 9 LABWARE, PREFILLED CONSUMABLES, AND STERILITY

9.1 Products designated as "autoclaved" have undergone a thermal sterilization cycle under standardized conditions (typically 121°C, under defined pressure and time parameters). Batch parameters are recorded internally.

9.2 The technical term "autoclaved" or "sterilized" does not constitute a legal or contractual guarantee of absolute sterility. No end-control batch testing equivalent to pharmacopoeial, European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.), or current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) cleanroom standards is performed, unless explicitly agreed upon in a separate written quality agreement.

9.3 Stricter Inspection Obligations for Consumables: Due to the biological and chemical sensitivity of prefilled reagents (e.g., 50% glycerol solutions), the customer must inspect delivered consumables for obvious contamination, leaks, or volume loss within 5 business days of receipt. After this period, the lot is deemed free of obvious manufacturing defects.

9.4 3D-LabEq accepts no liability for:

(a) cross-contamination or biological growth resulting from improper handling, opening outside an aseptic environment (e.g., laminar flow hood), or suboptimal storage after delivery,

(b) loss of vacuum or sterility caused by mechanical transport stress,

§ 10 3D-PRINTED LABORATORY PRODUCTS

10.1 All 3D-printed products are manufactured using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology, primarily from Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG) or Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), unless otherwise specified. Minor manufacturing tolerances, visible layer lines, and surface texture characteristics are inherent to the FDM process and do not constitute structural defects.

10.2 Products are manufactured on demand. Minor variations in color shades, surface gloss, and dimensions (${\pm 0.2\text{ mm}}$ or up to 1% dimensional variation) may occur between production batches and are accepted by the customer as standard industrial quality.

10.3 Our 3D-printed products:

(a) are cleanable and surface-disinfectable with Isopropanol (IPA, up to 70%) or Ethanol, but are NOT autoclaved or autoclavable in assembled, closed, or standard structural form, as thermal limits of the polymers will cause severe structural deformation,

(b) are NOT intended for direct contact with aggressive organic solvents (e.g., acetone, chloroform, dichloromethane, concentrated acids) unless explicitly stated in writing.

§ 11 DIGITAL CONTENT (JSON FILES, PYTHON SCRIPTS, PROTOCOLS)

11.1 Digital content includes, without limitation: JSON labware definition files, robotic automation scripts, Python protocols for liquid handling, CAD design files, and technical configuration data.

11.2 Upon full payment of the license fee or the associated physical hardware product, the customer receives a simple, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable license to use the digital content solely for internal operational and research purposes.

11.3 The customer is strictly prohibited from:

(a) selling, distributing, leasing, or sublicensing the digital content to third parties,

(b) publishing or uploading the files onto open-source, public repositories (e.g., GitHub, public forums),

11.4 Mandatory Operational Precaution (Dry Run Obligation): JSON labware files and protocols are technical execution aids. Because minor software updates or hardware calibrations of third-party platforms can alter positioning axes, the customer is strictly required to execute a "Dry Run" (calibration test run without fluids, manually supervised at low execution speed) before utilizing any provided digital file in a productive workflow.

11.5 3D-LabEq does not guarantee:

(a) seamless compatibility with all past or future versions of third-party software (e.g., Opentrons App, Python API versions),

(b) structural safety or crash prevention if the customer modifies the coordinate matrices within the JSON files,

(c) specific pipetting accuracy, which depends on external factors like tip selection, liquid viscosity, and liquid handler calibration.

11.6 Digital content is utilized entirely at the customer’s own operational risk. 3D-LabEq accepts no liability for physical equipment damage (e.g., pipette head crashes, broken labware pins) resulting from a failure to perform independent spatial calibration.

11.7 Entrepreneurs have no statutory right of withdrawal or return for digital content once the file delivery or download link has been provided.

§ 12 SERVICES & NO ACCRUED SUPPORT CLAIMS

12.1 Services include automated liquid handling, aliquot preparation, sample transfer, and custom automation sequence programming executed via automated systems (such as Opentrons OT-2 platforms).

12.2 Services are performed as a service contract (Dienstvertrag pursuant to Section 611 BGB), not as a contract for work (Werkvertrag), unless a specific, measurable success metric is explicitly guaranteed in text form. We execute all workflows with standard scientific diligence.

12.3 CUSTOMER-SUPPLIED SAMPLES AND MATERIALS:

(a) Biosafety Restriction: The customer warrants that all materials, biological samples, plasmids, or reagents shipped to 3D-LabEq for processing do not exceed Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1 / S1). No infectious agents, human pathogens, toxic materials, or materials regulated under specific bioweapons or narcotics laws may be sent without prior explicit consent and complete Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

(b) The customer retains full legal ownership and hazardous material liability for all provided samples.

(c) The customer shall completely indemnify 3D-LabEq against all third-party claims, regulatory fines, clean-up costs, or facility damages resulting from undisclosed chemical or biological hazards within customer-supplied materials.

(d) We accept no liability for the degradation, denaturation, or loss of customer-supplied samples during standard automated processing, unless caused by our gross negligence or willful misconduct.

12.4 Exclusion of Installation and Operational Support: Unless explicitly booked as a separate, paid technical service contract, the purchase of goods, custom parts, or used machinery does not entitle the customer to any technical support, software installation, operational training, on-site setup, or maintenance services.

12.5 References to third-party hardware, brands, or names (e.g., "compatible with Opentrons OT-2") are purely descriptive technical indicators. 3D-LabEq has no legal affiliation, corporate partnership, or official endorsement from Opentrons Labworks Inc.

§ 13 WARRANTY AND LIABILITY FOR DEFECTS

13.1 Statutory warranty provisions for defects (Mängelhaftung) shall apply unless modified below.

13.2 Complete Warranty Exclusion for Used Equipment: To the extent legally permissible under German law (pursuant to § 444 BGB), any and all warranties, defect liabilities, and guarantees for used machinery, pre-owned electronic lab devices, and surplus liquidation goods are completely excluded. Used goods are sold without any liability for hidden or material defects, unless a defect was fraudulently or maliciously concealed (arglistig verschwiegen) by 3D-LabEq.

13.3 Warranty for New Goods: For commercial, academic, and institutional entities purchasing newly manufactured items (e.g., newly printed 3D racks), the warranty period is restricted to 12 months from the date of transfer of risk.

13.4 Duty of Inspection (§ 377 HGB): The customer must inspect physical goods immediately upon delivery. Obvious material, technical, or dimensional defects must be reported to us in text form within 5 business days of delivery. Hidden defects must be reported immediately upon their discovery. Failure to report defects within these timeframes voids the defect liability and the goods are deemed approved.

§ 14 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

14.1 3D-LabEq shall be liable without limitation for:

(a) damages caused by intent (Vorsatz) or gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit),

(b) culpable injury to life, body, or health,

(d) fraudulent concealment of a defect.

14.2 In the event of a slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation (Kardinalpflicht), our liability shall be strictly limited to the foreseeable, contract-typical damage.

14.3 Any further liability for slight negligence is entirely excluded. We shall not be liable for:

(a) loss of commercial profits, business interruptions, production downtime, or loss of institutional funding,

(b) destruction, corruption, or loss of scientific research data, genomic sequences, or long-term cell line archives,

(c) downstream damages to third-party automated liquid handling robots, robotic arms, electronic pipettes, or analytical machinery,

(d) chemical or biological contamination of cleanrooms, benches, or adjacent assays.

14.4 Soweit gesetzlich zulässig (to the maximum extent permitted by law), our total liability for any non-intentional breach shall be financially limited to the net purchase price of the specific product or service that caused the damage.

§ 15 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

15.1 All proprietary intellectual property rights, copyrights, product photographs, web texts, designs, CAD models, internal Python logic, and technical documentation generated or published by 3D-LabEq remain exclusively our property. Any unauthorized utilization, duplication, or external publication requires our prior explicit written consent.

15.2 Proprietary digital files, blueprints, or molecular maps provided to us by the customer ("Customer IP") for custom manufacturing or automation setup remain the exclusive property of the customer.

15.3 The customer warrants that all designs, specifications, or data matrices provided to 3D-LabEq do not infringe upon any patents, copyrights, trademarks, or proprietary trade secrets of third parties. The customer shall fully indemnify 3D-LabEq against all costs, legal fees, and settlement payouts resulting from third-party intellectual property infringement claims.

§ 16 REGULATORY COMPLIANCE, EXPORT & WASTE MANAGEMENT (ELEKTROG)

16.1 Compliance & Permits: The customer is solely responsible for verifying and complying with all regional, national, and international laws, import/export controls, environmental safety guidelines, and clinical regulations associated with the operation and deployment of the purchased products.

16.2 Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG / WEEE): Pursuant to German waste management laws (ElektroG), commercial users (gewerbliche Nutzer) are explicitly prohibited from disposing of industrial electronic waste or batteries via standard municipal domestic refuse. The commercial buyer explicitly agrees to assume all legal and financial obligations for the lawful, eco-friendly disposal of the purchased devices and electrical components at their own expense after decommissioning.

§ 17 NO RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL (CANCELLATION)

17.1 Because our sales infrastructure is structured exclusively for commercial entities and business-to-business (B2B) transactions pursuant to Section 14 BGB, there is no statutory right of withdrawal (kein Widerrufsrecht) or right of return for our customers. All sales finalized through the checkout are contractually binding.

§ 18 JURISDICTION AND APPLICABLE LAW

18.1 The laws of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply exclusively, to the express exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

18.2 The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with contracts governed by these GTC – including disputes regarding validity, interpretation, or execution – for merchants (Kaufleute), legal entities under public law, or special funds under public law, shall be Darmstadt, Germany.

§ 19 SEVERABILITY CLAUSE

Should any individual provision of these GTC be or become wholly or partially invalid, illegal, or unenforceable under applicable law, the legal validity and enforceability of all remaining provisions shall remain completely unaffected. The invalid or unenforceable provision shall be automatically deemed replaced by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely approximates the intended economic and legal purpose of the original clause.

3D-LabEq – www.3d-labeq.de

Last updated: May 2026