General Terms and Conditions | Tester
The participation in usability tests of rapidusertests.com is subject to the following general terms and conditions for testers:
1. Preamble
1.1 Userlutions GmbH provides services in the area of usability testing for its customers’ online products (e.g. websites, apps or digital prototypes). This may include, for example – depending on the product – the provision of usability tests in the form of tester videos, quantitative analyses of use (e.g. duration until task completion) and the evaluation of surveys of test persons. The detailed description of the services to be provided results in particular from UL’s online offer at www.rapidusertests.com.
1.2 In order to provide the service, Userlutions GmbH uses so-called testers who complete tasks within selected websites, other online content or on their respective device (e.g. computer, smartphone or similar) and subsequently answer questions regarding design, user-friendliness and/or the content, as well as provide ratings and suggestions for improvement, if applicable. While completing the tasks, recordings (e.g. of the tester’s voice, screen or camera) can be made for subsequent evaluation and provided to the respective client.
2. Subject matter of the contract
2.1 The following General Terms and Conditions (“GTC”) apply to all legal transactions of the
Userlutions GmbH, represented by the CEO Benjamin Uebel,
Boxhagener Str. 71 E, 10245 Berlin
registered in the commercial register of the AG Charlottenburg under HRB 137205 B,
VAT identification no.: DE 279224365
Tel. 030-54487024, e-mail: info@userlutions.com
(“UL”) with its contractors (“Testers”) who register at www.rapidusertests.com to participate in usability tests (“Tests”).
2.2 These GTC apply exclusively. Deviating, conflicting or supplementary general terms and conditions of the Tester shall only become part of the contract if and to the extent that UL has expressly agreed to their validity. This consent requirement applies in any case, for example even if UL performs services to the Tester without reservation in the knowledge of the Tester’s general terms and conditions.
2.3 Individual agreements made with the Tester in individual cases (including ancillary agreements, supplements and amendments) shall in all cases take precedence over these GTC. Subject to proof to the contrary, a written contract or our written confirmation shall be authoritative for the content of such agreements.
2.4 Legally relevant declarations and notifications by the Tester with regard to the contract (e.g. setting of deadlines, notification of defects, withdrawal) must be made in writing, i.e. in written or text form (e.g. letter, e-mail, fax). Legal formal requirements and further proof, in particular in case of doubt about the legitimacy of the declarant, remain unaffected.
2.5 These GTC shall also apply to all future business relations with the Tester, even if they are not expressly agreed again.
3. Conclusion of contract
3.1 UL’s offers are subject to change and non-binding. They are offered exclusively to Testers of legal age.
3.2 The registration of the Tester is deemed to be a binding contractual offer. UL is entitled to accept this contractual offer within four (4) weeks after its receipt by UL.
3.3 Acceptance can be declared either in writing (e.g. by e-mail) or by offering to take part in Tests.
3.4 By successfully registering, the Tester does not commit to taking any Tests. He is free to decide which Tests he applies for and which Tests he takes. A Test can only be taken once. The Tester has no right to participate in a Test.
4. UL rights and obligations
4.1 UL undertakes to pay the Tester on successful completion of a Test the remuneration which can be taken from the respective test description before participation. A successful Test requires that the Test has been completed and worked out completely and truthfully, that a tester profile is available and that no technical problems have occurred with the Tester.
4.2 UL shall provide the Tester with the necessary links to the content and services to be tested, as well as a recording program for the Tests. All test content always originates from UL’s customers, who are solely responsible for the content.
5. Rights and duties of the Testers
5.1 The registration of the Tester must be filled in completely and correctly. The Tester is obliged to keep the data provided up to date and to make any necessary adjustments without delay.
5.2 The Tester is obliged to keep his password to the user account secret, to store it securely and not to make it accessible to third parties. If the password becomes known to third parties, the Tester must inform UL immediately so that the old password can be blocked and a new password can be issued.
5.3 Before taking part in a Test, the Tester is obliged to check whether he meets all the requirements (technical or content-related or with regard to his profile) for the respective Test. If he does not meet the requirements, his test result cannot be taken into account and thus cannot be remunerated.
5.4 The Tester undertakes not to provide any (a) insulting or defamatory, (b) harassing or supporting harassment of another person, (c) pornographic and/or erotic or violating youth protection laws, (d) supporting racism, fanaticism, hatred or physical violence of any kind towards any group or individual as well as (e) promoting illegal activities or behavior, in particular glorifying violence or inciting people to violence, content or comments during his test participation.
5.5 The Tester warrants that all services provided by him for UL do not contain any illegal content, in particular that they do not infringe any copyrights, personal rights or other proprietary rights of third parties or are relevant under criminal law in any form. The Tester shall indemnify UL against all claims of third parties due to such an infringement of rights upon first request.
5.6 Testers are prohibited from taking any action that may interfere with or unduly burden the functionality of UL’s or its customers’ systems or websites.
5.7 The Tester undertakes not to copy test content, to make it permanently available in any other way (e.g. by means of screenshots or own recordings) and not to make it accessible to any third party. If test content must be downloaded as part of the Test, it must be deleted immediately after completion of the Test.
5.8 If the Tester fails to cooperate or if his performance is delayed for other reasons for which the Tester is responsible, UL shall be entitled to demand compensation for the resulting damage and shall be released from its obligation to perform for the period of the failure to cooperate.
6. Granting of rights
6.1 The Tester grants UL exclusive, transferable and temporally and spatially unlimited rights to all work results resulting from participation in Tests (e.g. recordings of the voice, screen or camera as well as texts and ratings created by the Tester) to commercially exploit the work results.
6.2 UL is in particular entitled to process, pass on, sell, reproduce, distribute, perform, broadcast, sublicense, make publicly available or perform the work results without restriction (§§ 16 – 23 and § 34 German Copyright Law – “UrhG”).
6.3 The granting of exclusive rights also includes, but is not limited to, the right to
(a) to place the results of the work in databases and networks and to evaluate them in retrieval or access systems/services (including interactive ones);
(b) to use the work results for advertising purposes for UL and its services as well as for its customers (e.g. in trailers, posters, posters, advertisements, advertising films, commercials, teasers, in online services, on the internet, in online advertising, etc.);
(c) to retain, process and make available the work results in analogue or digital form, online or offline for an unlimited period of time (e.g. in an archive).
6.4 The Tester waives his right of access (§ 25 UrhG) and his right to be named as author (§ 13 sent. 2 UrhG) towards UL and its customers.
6.5 UL is not obliged to exercise the rights and powers conferred by the Tester.
6.6 The aforementioned rights shall pass to UL upon conclusion of the contract or – insofar as they have not yet accrued at this point in time – at the point in time at which they accrue to the Tester. The termination of the contractual relationship shall – irrespective of the reason for the termination – not affect the granting of rights, in particular the aforementioned transfer of rights that have accrued up to this point in time.
7. Remuneration and terms of payment
7.1 Payment of the remuneration shall be made exclusively to a PayPal account to be named by the Tester, once per calendar month on the 15th calendar day in each case.
7.2 UL reserves the right to refuse payment of the remuneration if the Tester has performed poorly (e.g. the recording is not usable because it is technically inadequate or incomplete, the Test was aborted by the Tester or the Tester did not appear) or the Tester has repeatedly or significantly violated the provisions of these GTC (e.g. through misleading profile information or duplicate user accounts).
7.3 The remuneration shall fully cover all services and rights of the Tester (in particular from granting of rights under Section 6).
8. Limitation of liability
8.1 Unless otherwise stated in these GTC including the following provisions, UL shall be liable for a breach of contractual and non-contractual obligations in accordance with the statutory provisions.
8.2 UL is liable for damages – irrespective of the legal grounds – within the scope of fault liability in the event of intent and gross negligence. In the event of simple negligence, UL shall only be liable (a) for damages arising from injury to life, limb or health and (b) for damages arising from the breach of a material contractual obligation (obligation the fulfilment of which makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on the observance of which the Tester regularly relies and may rely); in this case, however, UL’s liability shall be limited to compensation for the foreseeable, typically occurring damage.
8.3 The limitations of liability resulting from Section 8.2 also apply to third parties as well as in the case of breaches of duty by persons (also in its favor) whose fault UL is responsible for according to the statutory provisions. They do not apply insofar as a defect has been fraudulently concealed or a guarantee has been assumed.
9. Duration and termination of the contract
9.1 The contractual relationship is concluded for an indefinite period and may be terminated by either party with one (1) months’ notice to the end of any calendar month. The right to terminate without notice for good cause remains unaffected by this provision.
9.2 The termination of the contractual relationship shall not affect the provisions in Sections 6, 8 and 10.
10. Confidentiality
10.1 The Tester shall keep confidential all information concerning business and trade secrets as well as knowledge of business operations and internal, in particular confidential matters of UL or its customers (“Confidential Information”) and agrees not to use it for any purpose other than the performance of the contract. Thus, the contents of the Tests are (a) to be used exclusively for testing purposes; (b) not to be made publicly available or accessible to an unauthorized third party; (c) not to be reproduced, edited or further developed; and (d) always to be treated as one’s own confidential information. The Tester shall be liable for any violations and any resulting damages.
10.2 Confidential Information does not include information for which the Tester can prove that (a) the information was already in the public domain, or (b) the information became in the public domain other than as a result of a breach of the Tester’s contractual obligations, or (c) the information was legally given to the Tester by a third party who was authorized to disclose the information to the Tester, or (d) the Tester was already aware of the information when it was disclosed by UL and/or to the customer.
10.3 The provisions of Section 10 shall apply throughout the term of the contract and for a further five (5) years after the end of the contract, irrespective of the reasons for termination of the contract.
11. Final provisions
11.1 The contractual relationship shall be governed by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Accordingly, the German version of these GTC shall prevail over the English version in the event of any inconsistency or contradictions. The statutory provisions on the restriction of the choice of law and on the applicability of mandatory provisions, in particular of the state in which the Tester has his habitual residence as a consumer, shall remain unaffected.
11.2 The EU Commission provides a platform for out-of-court dispute resolution. This gives consumers the opportunity to resolve disputes first without having to go to court. The dispute resolution platform can be accessed via the link http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. UL will not participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer arbitration board.
11.3 The Tester is not entitled to assign claims without the consent of UL. A set-off or the assertion of a right of retention by the Tester is only permitted with recognized or legally established counterclaims.
11.4 If UL is prevented from fulfilling its obligations by the occurrence of unforeseeable, extraordinary circumstances which UL cannot avert despite exercising reasonable care, e.g. operational disruptions, official interventions, energy supply difficulties, pandemics, strikes or lockouts, whether these circumstances occur in the area of UL or in the area of its commissioned third parties (“force majeure”), the period for performance shall be extended to a reasonable extent if the performance of the service is not rendered impossible. If the performance of the service becomes impossible due to the aforementioned circumstances, UL shall be released from its performance obligations.
11.5 UL is entitled to amend these GTC at any time. In the event of a change, UL will notify the Tester thereof. The tester’s consent to the changes shall be deemed granted unless the Tester objects to the change within four (4) weeks after receipt of the change notification. UL will again expressly inform the Tester of this consequence of a failure to object together with the notification of change. In the event that the Tester refuses to agree to the changes, the contractual relationship may be terminated by UL.
11.6 Should any provision of these GTC be wholly or partially invalid or lose its legal validity at a later date, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. Instead of the ineffective provision, another appropriate provision shall apply by way of adjustment of the contract, which economically comes closest to what the parties would have wanted if they had been aware of the ineffectiveness of the provision.
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