Frequently Asked Questions of our Customers and Instructions and Tips for Using our Website
Frequently Asked Questions of our Customers
Can I also order from outside of the European Union ?
How secure is your online shopping system ?
What happens to my personal data ?
Do the website images accurately reflect the actual umbrellas ?
Do you sell other umbrellas which aren't shown on your website ?
Why do you offer so few umbrellas in the lower price category ?
I'm looking for transparent plastic umbrellas - can I get these from you ?
Can I also receive a catalogue containing all the items shown in your online shop ?
I'm not able to play your site's clips on my computer - what could be the problem ?
Instructions and Tips for Using our Website
Further questions
If you have further questions or comments regarding our online shop please don’t hesitate to contact us by email or phone. Please note, too, that many important points are clarified in the page containing our company’s General Business Conditions.
Can I also order from outside of the European Union?
Yes, we ship worldwide. Please consult our delivery rates.
Please bear in mind that when ordering goods for delivery outside of the European Union, you may be subject to import duties and taxes which are levied once the package reaches your country. Any additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you; we have no control over these charges and cannot predict what they may be. Customs policies vary widely from country to country, so you should contact your local customs office for further information.
Yes, you have the option of ordering by fax if buying online, including entry of your credit card data, does not appeal to you. For this you can use our order form, which can be downloaded as a PDF file (you will need Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing the order form). After selecting an umbrella from our shop, please note the exact information regarding your item - incl. size and colour where applicable. Then completely fill out the order form and sign it before faxing it in to us (your signature is necessary for the order to be processed). There could be shipping costs applicable depending on mode of payment, destination country, and order amount. For this please refer to our General Terms and conditions. Please use our main fax number given on our homepage. Alternatively you can send us your order by mail to our main address.
How secure is your online shopping system?
Our online shop uses the so-called SSL standard for secure data transfer. It therefore corresponds to current data protection regulations for Internet orders. SSL is an open standard of Netscape Communications for secure Internet data transfer.
The SSL protocol establishes secure connections in three respects:
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The connection is in the truest sense private because data are sent through the Internet only in encrypted form.
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The server’s identity is clearly established.
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Powerful algorithms check whether the data reach their intended recipients complete and unchanged.
The SSL protocol is initiated when an "s" is added on to an "http" address. This signals that secure data are to be transferred, and prompts the browser to require a certificate and its public data key from the targeted server. This key is transmitted back to the browser together with a test number and ID. This information is calculated by a small group of certifying bodies. Using the transferred data, the browser verifies whether it is really connected to the server indicated by the URL. If this is the case, the browser allows the user access to the respective information: with the Internet Explorer application the icon lock closes, and with Navigator/Communicator this is signalled with the intact key. In the next phase the two computers communicate with each other via a symmetrical key (session key). Security is provided because this arrangement occurs with asymmetrical encryption. The browser sends the server several test messages which only the real server would be able to correctly respond to before beginning the actual data exchange. The server verifies its identity if it responds correctly to these tests.
What happens to my personal data?
We use your data exclusively for processing your order. You will not receive any e-mails, letters, or telephone calls from us after the delivery. Your data will not be provided to third parties, and after the delivery your data will be deleted. As with every other retail business, we are required for tax purposes to keep a hardcopy record of each transaction for 10 years. Should you lose your order documentation, please contact us by per e-mail/fax/telephone. We’ll be pleased to send you your order data.
Do the website images accurately reflect the actual umbrellas?
We have made every effort with the images we use in order that you see is what you get. Nonetheless, the colours of the images could deviate from those of the actual articles. This is because the presentation depends on the hardware being used and your monitor configuration. Please note that wooden handles can vary from those shown in terms of colour, patterns, and wood-grain because they are natural products. We recommend a monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and the maximum number of colours.
Do you sell other umbrellas which aren’t shown on your website?
Yes indeed - in our store in downtown Bremen we offer around 1,000 umbrella models and variations. Many of these umbrellas are sold in very low quantities so that as a rule even customers with very special wishes can find what they’re looking for. As you can imagine, the administrative costs of presenting all of these umbrellas on our website would be far out of proportion to expected sales. Nonetheless, we are observing the market very closely and you can be sure that we will always include popular and exclusive items on our website which have a particularly high quality to price ratio.
Why do you offer so few umbrellas in the lower price category?
For two reasons: First, the flat-rate shipping costs and the administrative costs necessary for presenting one of these umbrellas in the internet is out of proportion to its price. Secondly, you can find the majority of lower-priced umbrellas in a department store near you. In the pages of our online shop we only want to offer you products which you would otherwise have difficulty finding. Of course there are exceptions, such as for example our Knirps Fibertech and Knirps X1 products. With these, however, we are so convinced of the quality and value for money that we also want to offer them online.
I’m looking for transparent plastic umbrellas - can I get these from you?
Umbrellas with transparent canopies made of clear light-blue or pink plastic, such as those you might see carried during Berlin’s annual "Love Parade", are throwaway products which we do not want to sell on the Internet. The purchase on the Internet allows the customer to return an item for any reason (or for no reason) within two weeks - a period of time these umbrellas often don’t outlast. In particular temperature fluctuations can cause these products to break or rip quite quickly. This means that even if they survive past the first two weeks, they’ll still hardly last the season. We recommend against buying such products.
Can I also receive a catalogue containing all the items shown in your online shop?
We do not produce a printed catalogue of our products. The catalogue we have consists of our Internet pages, in which we have invested considerable time and money. A number of the umbrellas displayed are fashion items which are only seasonally available. The Internet allows for a timely and up-to-date presentation of these models.
I’m not able to play your site’s clips on my computer - what could be the problem?
Our video clips are accessible in two formats: Windows Media Player and Apple Quicktime. If your computer runs the Windows operating system it is highly probable that you have some version of Windows Media Player already installed. You should then click on the corresponding links for video clips in the Media Player format. If you work with an Apple computer it is highly probable that a version of Quicktime came pre-installed. Accordingly, you should click on the links for Quicktime movies. It could be that your Quicktime or Media Player version is not up-to-date. In this case you should download the latest versions from Microsoft or Apple. Microsoft does not, however, provide the latest version of Media Player for older systems like Windows 95 and Windows NT. You can still install Apple Quicktime if you use Windows NT. Please note that some of our video clips are relatively large. If you are online with an ISDN Internet connection or a normal dial-up modem connection you should view only the smaller clips. If you are online with a service such as DSL or cabel-modem you should be able to view the larger ones. Nonetheless, it both cases it could take some time before the movie starts up automatically - please be patient with this.
On the left side of the screen you will find the product categories. This menu is always visible and helps you to navigate our site. The umbrellas are presented on the respective product pages. As soon as you have found an umbrella which interests you, you can click on the magnifying glass to open a new window with a close-up view. The smaller images show the colour variations - a click on the colour button above the small pictures likewise opens a new window with a larger view. Price information is shown to the right.
Below the price information is the "Order" button which is used to select an umbrella you would like to purchase. By selecting it you put into your virtual shopping cart, with the option of removing it later if you like. You also have the option of selecting another colour.
In our online shop you have a personal "shopping cart" into which you can put the umbrellas you want to reference or buy. You can access your selections by clicking on the "Shopping Cart" button on the upper left-hand side of the screen. There you can then choose the number of items you want to order, as well as select the colour and handle types. The items in the shopping basket remain there during your visit to the shop. You can add or remove items from your shopping cart at any time.
Before ordering please review our "General Terms and Conditions". This section guides you through our ordering process and helps avoid possible misunderstandings. The General Termans and Conditions can be accessed by clicking on the "Terms" button at the top of your screen.
As soon as the desired umbrellas are in your shopping cart, you can click on the "Order" button. Once you do so you enter the secure zone of our on-line shop in which all data to and from our server are encrypted (via SSL) prior to being transferred.
A form then appears for your personal data. Please enter your address here, and then check again to make sure that your entries are correct. Your complete and correct address is necessary to ensure a smooth delivery of your purchases. Please don’t forget to include your e-mail address, which is later used to send you order and delivery confirmations. You may also provide an alternative delivery address. Please note that deliveries to post office boxes are not possible.
You will then be asked to select a mode of payment. Once you’ve entered this, we advise you to click "recalculate" just to make sure that the shipping costs are shown correctly. You’ll then see your order data at the lower part of the page. Afterwards, click "Continue".
All entries will be shown once again on this page for your review. If all the information is correct, you can then click on the "Order" button at the bottom of the page. This completes your order and sends it to us for processing. If you choose to pay by credit card the necessary card information will be requested from you. Your order will be sent to us after the required data have been entered.
Shortly after your order has been sent in you will automatically receive an order confirmation by email. Please retain this email as it contains all the data pertaining to your order (except for payment details, for data security reasons). To monitor your order you can click on the link indicated at the end of the email message. This will open a window for your Internet browser which shows the processing status of your order. You can review your order here and notify us about if necessary.
Further questions
If you have further questions or comments regarding our online shop please don’t hesitate to contact us by email or phone. Please note, too, that many important points are clarified in the page containing our company’s General Terms and Conditions.