general terms and conditions

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 2026 – Illustrator under a Blankie

These are the general terms and conditions of Illustrator under a Blankie (hereinafter referred to as: the “General Terms and Conditions”), established in Gorssel, the Netherlands, at Parallelweg 10, represented by Esther Bennink, and registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK) under registration number 80271480, VAT number NL003416430B39.

Article 1: Definitions and Applicability

1.1 In the General Terms and Conditions, the “Customer” refers to the counterparty and/or customer who has entered into an agreement with Illustrator under a Blankie (hereinafter referred to as: the “Artist”). The Artist also makes use of resellers (hereinafter referred to as: the “Reseller”). The Artist, Customer, and/or Reseller shall hereinafter be collectively referred to as “Parties”.

1.2 The General Terms and Conditions form an inseparable part of the agreement (hereinafter referred to as: the “Agreement”) between the Customer or Reseller and the Artist, which sets out in writing the transfer and delivery of products created by the Artist, including but not limited to cards, puzzles, lamps, and other products incorporating the Artist’s drawings and/or paintings (hereinafter referred to as: the “Products”), as well as (in the case of a Reseller) the resale thereof. In the event of a conflict between the provisions of the Agreement and those of the General Terms and Conditions, the provisions of the Agreement shall prevail.

1.3 The applicability of any general terms and conditions used by the Customer and/or Reseller is expressly rejected by the Artist.

1.4 The Artist and the Customer and/or Reseller shall at all times be considered as independent contractors. The collaboration between the Parties under the Agreement shall in no event be construed as a general partnership, joint venture, or employer/employee relationship.

Article 2: Formation of the Agreement

2.1 The Artist’s offer concerns the Products available for purchase in the Artist’s webshop. The Customer acknowledges that he/she enters into a payment obligation and thus an agreement with the Artist in respect of the ordered Products.

2.2 With regard to the Products purchased by the Reseller for the purpose of resale, different conditions apply as set out in Article 3 of the General Terms and Conditions.

Article 3: Resellers

3.1 After the Artist has granted written permission to the Reseller, the Reseller is entitled to resell the Products to third parties and to gain access to the Artist’s reseller website as an official reseller.

3.2 In order to obtain the Artist’s permission, the Reseller must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce or a comparable foreign authority. The application to become a reseller must include the Chamber of Commerce number and the VAT ID. Since the Reseller has entered into the Agreement in the course of carrying out its profession and/or business, consumer law does not apply to the Agreement between the Artist and the Reseller.

3.3 The Reseller is entitled to place large orders through the product pages for resale in their own shops or webshops, subject to the conditions stated on the information page.

3.4 The Reseller shall take into account the recommended retail price set by the Artist (hereinafter referred to as: the “Recommended Price”), as listed in the Artist’s webshop. The Reseller is permitted to deviate from the Recommended Price in mutual agreement with the Artist. Legal acts other than transfer of ownership in respect of the Products, including but not limited to renting out, lending, or auctioning the Products, are not permitted without the prior written consent of the Artist.

3.5 The permission referred to in Article 3.1 may be revoked at any time at the sole discretion of the Artist (hereinafter referred to as: the “Revocation”), thereby denying the Reseller access to the product page(s), without the Artist being required to provide any reasons.

Article 4: Delivery and Return Policy

4.1 Upon receipt of payment for the Products from the Customer and/or Reseller, the Artist shall arrange for delivery of the Products to the Customer and/or Reseller. Shipment of the Products will in principle take place within three (3) business days. If shipment is delayed, the Customer and/or Reseller will be informed of the new shipping date as soon as possible.

4.2 The Customer and/or Reseller is solely responsible for providing the correct delivery address. The Artist is not liable for an incorrect or invalid address provided by the Customer and/or Reseller. The costs of re-shipment and return shipment cannot be recovered from the Artist in such cases, but shall be borne by the Customer and/or Reseller. The same applies to parcels that are not (timely) collected from a parcel collection point (as indicated via track and trace) or that are refused at the door.

4.3 The Customer who is a consumer is entitled to dissolve the Agreement with the Artist within a cooling-off period of fourteen (14) days after purchasing the Products via the Artist’s webshop, without giving reasons. The customer must register the return within 14 days via email (contact@estherbennink.nl); after registration, the package must be returned within 14 days. After expiry of the cooling-off period, returning the Products is no longer permitted.

4.4 The Customer invoking the right of withdrawal referred to in Article 4.3 must return the Products with all supplied accessories and, where reasonably possible, in their original condition and packaging, within fourteen (14) days following registration of the return to the Artist’s stated return address. During the cooling-off period, the Customer shall handle the Products with care, including the packaging.

4.5 The Artist shall inspect the returned shipment as soon as possible after receipt for completeness, any defects, and/or damage. Insofar as the return shipment has been received in accordance with the above provisions, the Artist shall refund the amount paid for the returned Products within fourteen (14) days to the account used by the Customer at the time of purchase. If the entire order has been returned, the Customer will also receive a refund of the original shipping costs. If the Customer returns part of the order, only that part will be refunded. Return shipping costs are at the Customer’s expense.

The Customer must handle the Products with care and package them properly when returning them under the right of withdrawal as referred to in Articles 4.3 and 4.4.

If the Products and/or packaging included in the return shipment are incomplete, damaged, and/or no longer usable such that the Products cannot be sold or cannot be sold at the same price, the Artist is entitled to charge the Customer for this decrease in value.

4.6 Notwithstanding Articles 4.3 and 4.4, the right of withdrawal does not apply to Resellers or Customers who purchase the Products in the course of and/or in connection with their profession and/or business. For Resellers and/or such business customers, returning the Products is not possible.

4.7 The Customer is responsible for any additional import costs in the country of destination, including taxes and import duties.

4.8 The Reseller is obliged to inspect the delivered Products immediately upon receipt for completeness, visible defects, damage, or shortages. Defects and/or other complaints must be reported by the Reseller to the Artist in writing and with substantiation within five (5) business days of receipt. If the complaint is not reported within this period, the Products shall be deemed to have been received in good condition and in accordance with the Agreement, and any right to repair, replacement, or compensation shall lapse.

Article 5: Payment and Invoicing for the Reseller

5.1 The Reseller places orders via the Artist’s webshop. At checkout, the Reseller has the option to choose payment by invoice. If invoice payment is selected, the Reseller will receive the invoice as a digital component of the automatic order confirmation by email. The Reseller is solely responsible for downloading and paying the invoice on time. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the Artist applies a payment term of fourteen (14) days from the invoice date.

5.2 If the Reseller has not paid within the set period of fourteen (14) days, the Reseller shall be in default by operation of law without any further notice of default being required. The Artist will send a payment reminder after expiry of the period.

5.3 In the event of non-payment after the first reminder as referred to in Article 5.2, the Artist is entitled to charge administrative costs with each subsequent reminder or demand notice, without prejudice to the Artist’s right to claim statutory commercial interest and collection costs in accordance with the Dutch Collection Costs Act (Wet Incassokosten, WIK).

5.4 In the event of non-timely payment, the Artist has the right to suspend the performance of the Agreement and any other ongoing agreements between the Parties, or to temporarily or permanently deny access to the reseller website (as referred to in Article 3.1).

Article 6: Intellectual Property

6.1 All intellectual property rights, such as copyright and/or neighbouring rights, vesting in the Products (hereinafter referred to as: the “Intellectual Property Rights”) belong exclusively to the Artist. Even after the sale of physical products incorporating, embodying, or otherwise featuring copyright-protected works (hereinafter referred to as: the “Works”), the rights thereto remain with the Artist.

6.2 Customers who are not official resellers of the Artist may only use the Works for personal, non-commercial purposes and in accordance with the nature and intended use of the product in which the copyright-protected work has been incorporated. Without the Artist’s permission, commercial use of the Works by the Customer is expressly prohibited. Any reproduction, copy, publication, and/or any other use, whether or not in modified form, of the Products must be in accordance with Permitted Use, unless approved in writing by the Artist.

6.3 If the Customer wishes to use or exploit the Works commercially, the Customer must request written permission from the Artist to be designated as a Reseller. Upon obtaining such permission, Articles 3 and 5.4 of the General Terms and Conditions shall apply to the legal relationship between the Artist and the Customer, acting as Reseller.

6.4 The Reseller obtains a non-exclusive licence for the duration of the Agreement with the Artist to (re)sell the Products in which the Works are embodied, incorporated, or of which the Works otherwise form part, in their own shop or webshop, subject to the conditions set out in Article 3 of the General Terms and Conditions.

6.5 The reproduction, production, and/or any other duplication of the Products or of the Works by the Reseller, without the express written consent of the Artist, is under no circumstances permitted. Acting in violation of this Article 6 by the Reseller shall – without prejudice to the Artist’s right to claim damages – result in Revocation within the meaning of Article 3.5.

6.6 Neither the Customer nor the Reseller is permitted to use, publish, or reproduce the photographs on the Artist’s website and/or social media channels featuring the Artist, in any context, without the Artist’s permission and whether or not in modified form. Acting in violation of this provision may – without prejudice to the Artist’s right to claim damages or other claims – result in Revocation within the meaning of Article 3.5.

6.7 The Customer and/or the Reseller is not permitted, in any way whatsoever, to use the Artist’s work for AI purposes. The Artist’s work is explicitly excluded from reproduction or publication by means of AI (complete opt-out).

Article 7: Liability and Indemnification

7.1 The Artist is only liable for direct material damage, insofar as there is gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and with the understanding that this liability is at all times limited to the value of the Agreement.

7.2 The Customer and/or Reseller is liable for all damages suffered by the Artist in the performance of the Agreement, including but not expressly limited to consequential delay damages. The Customer and/or Reseller also indemnifies the Artist against claims from third parties in this regard.

7.3 The Artist can never be held liable for damage of any kind caused by external service providers engaged in the performance of the Agreement, including but not limited to courier companies, parcel deliverers, storage and warehouse operators, and/or printing companies. If a service provider wishes to limit its liability, the Artist accepts such limitation on behalf of the Customer and/or Reseller.

7.4 In the event that the Customer, being a consumer, invokes the right of withdrawal and returns the Products to the Artist in accordance with Article 4.4, the Artist is not liable for (the progress of) the return shipment, including but not limited to inadequate packaging by the Customer, defective delivery by the courier company engaged by the Customer, and/or the Customer sending the Products to an incorrect address. The Customer indemnifies the Artist against all claims arising therefrom.

Article 8: Force Majeure and Unforeseen Circumstances

8.1 An attributable failure within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions does not include any cause beyond the Artist’s control, whether foreseen or unforeseen, which prevents the Artist from fulfilling its obligations.

8.2 Force majeure and unforeseen circumstances on the part of the Artist shall in any event include, but not be limited to, the following: a force majeure event is defined as any circumstance, act, event, omission or accident beyond the reasonable control of the Party, whether or not foreseeable at the time of entering into the Agreement, which prevents, delays or hinders the Party’s performance of any of its obligations under the Agreement, including but not limited to fire, earthquake, flood, strike or lockout or other labour dispute, epidemic, pandemic (including but not limited to COVID-19), war or armed conflict, act of terrorism, any local, state, federal, national or international law, governmental order or regulation (including but not limited to any applicable public health advisory relating to epidemics and pandemics, including COVID-19), breach of contract by third parties, or any order or other material disruption of the Party’s work, or any other event beyond the Party’s control (hereinafter referred to as: “Force Majeure”).

8.3 The Artist shall not be deemed to be in breach of the Agreement in the event of Force Majeure, and shall not be liable for the non-performance or delayed performance of its obligations under the Agreement directly or indirectly caused by Force Majeure. In such case, the Artist’s obligations under the Agreement shall be suspended until the Force Majeure has ended and the Artist is able to resume performance of the Agreement.

8.4 In the event of permanent Force Majeure on the part of the Artist, the Artist is obliged to notify the Customer and/or Reseller as soon as possible, and the Customer and/or Reseller is entitled to dissolve the Agreement with immediate effect, whereby the payment obligation of the Customer and/or Reseller in respect of the Products already delivered remains applicable (and, where applicable, on a proportional basis).

Article 9: Termination

9.1 Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 4.3 of the General Terms and Conditions, the Agreement may not be terminated prematurely.

9.2 The Artist is entitled to terminate the Agreement with immediate effect and/or to suspend the performance of its obligations under the Agreement, without prejudice to the Artist’s right to claim damages, upon prior written notice to the Customer, in the event that:

• the Customer and/or the Reseller materially fails to fulfil its obligations under the Agreement and/or the General Terms and Conditions and such failure has not been remedied within fourteen (14) days of receipt of a written notice from the Artist specifying the failure and requesting its remedy;
• the Customer and/or the Reseller repeatedly or irreparably fails to fulfil its obligations under the Agreement and/or the General Terms and Conditions, and such failure justifies early termination;
• Force Majeure occurs on the part of the Artist or on the part of the Customer and/or Reseller;
• circumstances arise, not constituting Force Majeure, that were unforeseeable at the time of entering into the Agreement and that make (further) performance of the Agreement impossible or unreasonable;
• one of the Parties is dissolved, liquidated, wound up or relocates abroad, or a decision to that effect is taken, and/or one of the Parties files for bankruptcy or suspension of payments and/or one of the Parties is declared bankrupt or granted suspension of payments; and/or
• any event that is analogous to the events referred to in this article under the law of the jurisdiction of the Netherlands.

9.3 The Customer and/or Reseller is only entitled to terminate the Agreement prematurely if Force Majeure occurs and the Artist is unable to perform and/or fails to perform as a result of Force Majeure, making it unreasonable for the Customer and/or Reseller to continue to perform and/or be bound by the Agreement. A material failure shall not include an announced delay, postponement, and/or suspension of shipment of the Products by the Artist as a result of Force Majeure and/or other unforeseeable circumstances, and/or a material failure by the Customer within the meaning of Article 7.4.

9.4 If one of the Parties terminates the Agreement prematurely pursuant to Articles 9.2 and/or 9.3, the Customer and/or Reseller is obliged to return the Products covered by the Agreement to the Artist in their original condition, unless the Products had not yet been shipped to the Customer and/or Reseller at the time of termination. Provided the Products are still in their original condition upon receipt of the return shipment, the Customer and/or Reseller will receive a full refund of the amount paid for the Products.

Article 10: Personal Data

10.1 In the performance of the Agreement, the Artist processes the personal data of the Customer and/or Reseller (hereinafter referred to as: the “Personal Data”) within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in accordance with the Artist’s Privacy Policy.

10.2 This includes the obligation for the Artist to enter into data processing agreements with the Customer and/or Reseller where required by law. The Artist also guarantees that the Personal Data will be stored securely and in accordance with the statutory retention periods. If and insofar as a security breach unexpectedly occurs that accidentally or unlawfully leads to the destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorised disclosure of, or unauthorised access to, Personal Data transmitted, stored, or otherwise processed in connection with the Agreement (hereinafter referred to as: a “Data Breach”), the Artist shall notify the Customer and/or Reseller immediately, but no later than seventy-two (72) hours after discovery, and shall promptly comply – in close mutual consultation with the Customer and/or Reseller – with the applicable legislation and regulations of the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) regarding data breaches.

Article 11: Complaints Procedure

11.1 The Artist has a sufficiently publicised complaints procedure and handles complaints in accordance with that procedure. For the Reseller, the procedure described in Article 4.7 of the General Terms and Conditions applies.

11.2 Complaints regarding the performance of the Agreement must be submitted to the Artist in writing and with substantiation within fourteen (14) days of the Customer, being a consumer, discovering the defects. If the complaint is not reported within this period, the Products shall be deemed to have been received in good condition and in accordance with the Agreement, and any right to repair, replacement, or compensation shall lapse.

11.3 Complaints submitted to the Artist will be answered within a period of fourteen (14) days from the date of receipt. If a complaint requires a foreseeably longer processing time, the Artist will inform the Customer as soon as possible with an indication of when the Customer can expect a substantive response.

11.4 If a complaint is found to be justified by the Artist, the Artist will inform the Customer, being a consumer, whether and under what conditions the relevant Products will be replaced or repaired.

11.5 In addition to the complaints procedure outlined above, the Customer also has the option of contacting Webwinkelkeur’s dispute resolution service.

Article 12: Miscellaneous Provisions

12.1 The Parties declare that they are both fully authorised to enter into the Agreement.

12.2 The Parties may only transfer obligations under the Agreement to a third party with the prior written consent of the other Party.

12.3 Amendments and/or additions to the Agreement and the General Terms and Conditions are only valid if expressly agreed in writing.

12.4 If one or more individual provisions in the Agreement or the General Terms and Conditions prove to be invalid, this does not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The Parties shall replace the relevant provision(s) with one or more new provisions whose purport corresponds as closely as possible to the original provision(s).

12.5 The Agreement and the General Terms and Conditions are governed by Dutch law. All disputes arising (or that will arise) between the Customer and/or Reseller on the one hand and the Artist on the other, arising from or in connection with (the performance of) the Agreement and these General Terms and Conditions, shall be settled by the competent court of the Gelderland District Court.