About Us Code of conduct for members

Below is the code of conduct that applies to members of ValuedShops. Members agree to this code of conduct during registration.

Definitions

Consumer: buyer of a product or service being a natural person not acting in the exercise of a profession or business.

(prospective) Member(s): the (part of the) company with (prospective) membership of ValuedShops that offers products and/or services to consumers using the Internet.

ValuedShops: the organization responsible for managing the ValuedShops trustmark.

General

All (prospective) members have to comply with this Code of Conduct and the Terms & Conditions of ValuedShops.

Dutch laws and regulations are leading and normative at all times.

N addition to this Code of Conduct, the General Terms and Conditions apply to all (prospective) memberships with ValuedShops. If the Code of Conduct and General Terms and Conditions are in conflict with each other, the provisions of the General Terms and Conditions of ValuedShops will prevail.

Conclusion of agreement

Prices should be explicitly and clearly displayed before the conclusion of the agreement. A (prospective) member is not allowed to charge additional costs that are not explicitly communicated to the consumer.

Prices should be communicated to the consumer including VAT and any other levies.

In case of any price increase within 3 months after the conclusion of the agreement, the consumer can dissolve the agreement free of charge, a (prospective) member explicitly informs the consumer of this right of dissolution.

After conclusion of the agreement, the (prospective) member confirms it immediately by e-mail. As long as the (prospective) member has not confirmed an order there is no question of an agreement and the consumer can dissolve the agreement free of charge. This order confirmation contains at least: an overview of the order, information regarding the right of withdrawal, complaint procedure and warranty.

Company data

All (prospective) members must clearly state address (no PO Box), telephone number, Chamber of Commerce number, VAT number and e-mail address on the website. This cannot be done by merely publishing a contact form.

A (prospective) member undertakes to provide or make available the text of its General Terms and Conditions to the consumer before the agreement is concluded. The General Terms and Conditions shall be published in such a way that consumers can save them.

A (prospective) member is obliged to clearly state a privacy statement on the site. See also the item "Privacy and security".

A member is obliged to state all statements as well as prices and conditions at least in Dutch.

Delivery and returns

Consumers should be made aware of the Distance Selling Act and their rights regarding returns. The minimum legal cooling off period for a (prospective) member is 14 days after receipt of all products. After disclosure, consumers have another 14 days to return the product to a (prospective) member.

If consumers decide to exercise this right, the (aspirant) member will refund full order amount (including any shipping costs) to the consumer within 14 days, after the consumer has made it known that he wants to make use of his legal reflection period.

The (aspiring) member provides a model withdrawal form on their web shop/website.

If the costs of return shipment are to be borne by the consumer, this is explicitly stated by a (prospective) member.

The conditions for returns and the required actions are clearly stated on the website. Besides the shipping costs from consumer to retailer (member), no other costs can be charged to the consumer.

Delivery must be made within 30 days provided that the consumer has expressly agreed to a longer delivery period. When exceeding this delivery period the (prospective) member offers the consumer a possibility to dissolve the agreement free of charge

The (prospective) member is responsible for the delivery. Any damage during the delivery is at the expense and risk of the (aspirant) member.

Payment and credit

When there is a dissolution of an agreement or any other payment towards the consumer that does not involve the right of withdrawal, a payment period of up to 30 days will be observed.

Any restrictions regarding method of payment will be clearly communicated to the consumer.

Privacy and security

The website must clearly display the way in which customer data is used. Use of this data is in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act. The personal data shall not be used for purposes other than processing the order without the express consent of the customer.

Customer data must be sent encrypted using SSL.

Information obligation

Webshops/websites should communicate all relevant information regarding payment, delivery, complaint procedure and warranty to the consumer in a clear and retrievable manner.

Checkboxes for additional sales, extras, services, newsletters, etc. are not checked by default but require an explicit action by the consumer.

The (prospective) member provides information about the right of withdrawal.

Use of trustmark

The trustmark may only be used on webshops/websites that are explicitly approved and whose membership has not expired or been terminated.

Each trustmark must have a link to its personal membership page, to verify the (prospective) membership.

Each trustmark has to be placed in a clear way and may not be edited in such a way that the recognition of the trustmark and color scheme is compromised. If in doubt, ValuedShops should be asked for permission.

The (candidate) membership applies to a single webshop, companies with multiple webshops should have each webshop individually inspected. The trustmark logo may only be used on URLs that have been explicitly approved by ValuedShops or (advertising) expressly related to an approved URL.

In case of major adjustments or changes to the webshop/website a re-inspection needs to take place. (Aspirant) members need to submit a request to ValuedShops.

Experiences should be objective. The improper influence thereof is not allowed.

Inciting customers to remove (negative) experiences is not allowed.

Sanctions, revocation and suspension

ValuedShops reserves the right to issue or revoke a trustmark at its own discretion. Depending on the severity of the violation, revocation may take place immediately upon determination of the violation. For more information on this, see the General Terms and Conditions.

ValuedShops reserves the right, at its own discretion, to temporarily withdraw a trustmark (suspension). Depending on the severity of the violation the suspension may take place immediately upon determination of the violation. For less serious violations, a warning will follow first.

Upon revocation, suspension or termination of membership, the former (prospective) member must remove the trustmark as soon as possible, but no later than 2 business days after termination.

In case of unjustified or improper use of the trustmark, ValuedShops will send an e-mail summons to stop the use of the trustmark immediately. The user of the trustmark has to remove the logo within 48 hours after sending the warning under penalty of a daily fine of 50 euros. Additional damages may be claimed for unlawful use by ValuedShops.

Severity of violations

Category 1: Critical. This category includes violations that (potentially) endanger the continuity of delivery and/or customer service. This category includes, but is not limited to (suspicions of) fraud, repeatedly not responding to contact requests, (suspicions of) negative solvency. In these cases ValuedShops may decide to revoke or suspend membership immediately.

Category 2: Serious. This category includes violations that (potentially) endanger the quality of delivery and/or customer service. This category includes, but is not limited to, (suspicions of) poor customer service, (suspicions of) systematic bad communication, not meeting legal agreements, not meeting agreements with ValuedShops. In these cases ValuedShops will write to the (prospective) member by e-mail, the member should then come up with an appropriate solution within 48 hours. If no suitable solution follows, ValuedShops may decide to suspend or revoke the membership immediately after this period.

Category 3: Problematic. This category includes violations and observations that do not meet the quality requirements of ValuedShops. This category includes, but is not limited to (suspicions of) slow customer service, not or difficult to find contact information, repeated customer complaints, not meeting agreements with ValuedShops, unsuccessful re-verification. In these cases ValuedShops will write to the (prospective) member by e-mail, the member has to come up with an appropriate solution within 7 calendar days. If no suitable solution follows, ValuedShops may decide to suspend or revoke the membership immediately after this period.

Category 4: Moderate. This category includes violations and observations that do not directly affect the consumer. This category includes, among others, non-clickable placement of the trustmark logo, improper placement of the ValuedShops logo, findings that do not fit the image of ValuedShops. In these cases ValuedShops will contact the (prospective) member by e-mail, the member has to come up with an appropriate solution within 14 calendar days. If no suitable solution follows, ValuedShops can decide to suspend or revoke the membership immediately after this period.

Appearance

Disputes

The (prospective) member should make every effort to satisfactorily resolve complaints and disputes in consultation with the Consumer.

The complaints procedure shall be clearly communicated by a (prospective) member to the Consumer.

Complaints should be dealt with as soon as possible. The deadline for this is 5 working days. This period starts after receipt of the complaint by a (prospective) member.

The (prospective) member agrees to a legally binding decision of the dispute commission appointed by ValuedShops.

When a (prospective) member and Consumer cannot come to an agreement, the Consumer can submit his dispute to ValuedShops, which acts as a mediator. If this mediation does not lead to a solution, the dispute can be submitted to the independent arbitration board: DigiDispuut.nl, where the outcome is binding for both parties. The rules of procedure used can be found on the DigiDispuut site: https://www.digidispuut.nl/procesreglement/.

Use of external automated systems when answering reviews

The (prospective) member will not use external automated systems, including applications based on artificial intelligence, to answer reviews. Responses to reviews should be carefully crafted and tailored to the content of the consumer's experience. The use of external automated tools may compromise the transparency and reliability ValuedShops requires of its (prospective) members.

Changes in code of conduct

Changes in the Code of Conduct will be communicated to members via e-mail. This will be done no later than 14 days before the changes take effect. If the (prospective) member does not accept the changes, he should make this known within 14 days after the notification of these changes. The (prospective) member then has the right to terminate the membership.

See also the checklist with common points of improvement