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Terms of Service

Version: 1.0 · Effective / last updated: 15 September 2026

Terms of Service

for the GuidedBuying App for Microsoft Teams and the related services

Provider
Guided Buying AI GmbH
Im Mediapark 5
D-50670 Cologne
Germany
Local Court (Amtsgericht) of Cologne, HRB 115056
Managing Director: Wolfgang Lang

Contact: support@guidedbuying.com
Privacy: guidedbuying.com/privacy
Support: guidedbuying.com/support

This English version is a convenience translation of the German Nutzungsbedingungen (Version 1.0, 15 September 2026). In case of any discrepancy, the German version prevails.

Contents

1. Scope and Contracting Parties

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern the use of the GuidedBuying App for Microsoft Teams ("App") and the services, features, agents, application programming interfaces (APIs), tool interfaces (e.g. MCP) and integrations of Guided Buying AI GmbH ("GuidedBuying", "we") accessible through the App. The App and the related services are intended exclusively for business use by companies, organisations and their authorised users. Use by consumers is not intended.

GuidedBuying's contracting party is the company or organisation ("Customer") with which a usage agreement for the services has been concluded. These Terms are agreed by a person authorised to represent the Customer – in particular as part of a quotation, order or activation process that refers to these Terms and their version. The technical installation, activation or approval of the App by an administrator does not replace this legal agreement and does not create any further commercial obligations. Authorised users of the Customer use the services within the scope of the respective customer agreement; the Customer ensures that its users are aware of and comply with these Terms.

For demo or trial access without an existing customer agreement, these Terms apply from their express acceptance by a person authorised to represent the respective company.

2. Precedence of Individual Agreements

Where separate agreements exist between GuidedBuying and the Customer – in particular SaaS, framework, project, rollout or licence agreements, service level agreements or data processing agreements pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR – these take precedence over these Terms to the extent of their subject matter. These Terms apply supplementarily.

For customers with whom these Terms have not been agreed, the respective customer agreement applies exclusively. To the extent that the data processing services provided by GuidedBuying and the respective customer relationship are subject to Chapter VI of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act) and the customer agreement contains no provision or a provision less favourable to the Customer, GuidedBuying grants the Customer the statutory switching rights described in the Annex "Switching and Data Export" (Section 21). All other provisions of the customer agreement remain unaffected.

3. Microsoft Services and Third-Party Providers

The App is provided within Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365. Microsoft is not the provider of the GuidedBuying services and assumes no responsibility for them. Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID are services of Microsoft Corporation or its affiliates and are additionally subject to Microsoft's respective terms. The Customer is itself responsible towards Microsoft for the use of the Microsoft services.

4. Authorised Use

The App and the services may be used exclusively for the intended business, procurement-related purpose and only by users authorised by the Customer. Users may only access those data, catalogues, suppliers, features and integrations for which they are authorised.

Credentials, sessions, tokens, API credentials and other authentication information must be kept confidential and must not be disclosed to third parties. The Customer and its administrators are responsible for assigning and maintaining customer-side permissions unless these are managed by GuidedBuying. Users must observe their company's internal purchasing, approval, compliance and security policies.

Where the App is used in group chats, channels or meetings in which other persons participate, GuidedBuying takes into account not only the permissions of the requesting user but also the audience when returning information. Cards shared in jointly visible conversations do not contain individual prices or conditions; these are available to the user exclusively in their personal, authenticated view. The Customer's responsibility for its permission configuration and for the independent forwarding of information by its users remains unaffected; users must not forward confidential price or condition information to external or unauthorised participants.

5. Authentication and Identity (Microsoft Entra ID / SSO)

Authentication may take place via Microsoft Entra ID or Microsoft 365 (single sign-on). The App uses the identity provided by Microsoft to assign a user to a Customer (tenant), their user permissions and customer-specific settings, and, to the extent necessary, for security, support and logging purposes under Section 14. Permissions are requested and used only to the extent necessary.

Authentication and authorisation mechanisms must not be circumvented or manipulated. The withdrawal of permissions, the deactivation of a user account or changes in the Customer's Microsoft tenant may result in features being partially or entirely unavailable. The technical identification of a user never results in rights being transferred between tenants or users.

6. Prohibited Use

The following in particular are prohibited:

  • automated scraping or crawling and bulk extraction of data outside the expressly provided interfaces or normal or agreed use;
  • reverse engineering, decompilation or disassembly, except where permitted by mandatory law (in particular Sections 69d and 69e of the German Copyright Act, UrhG);
  • circumventing technical protective measures, rate limits or user, role or tenant restrictions;
  • automated access to an extent inconsistent with normal or agreed use, and the deliberate generation of excessive system load;
  • denial-of-service and comparable attacks, unauthorised vulnerability scanning and unauthorised penetration testing;
  • manipulation of requests, parameters, sessions or tokens, and impersonation of another user's identity;
  • any unauthorised access to data of other customers or tenants;
  • introducing or distributing malware;
  • using the services to circumvent internal procurement, approval or compliance processes.

7. Purpose Limitation, Platform Data and Customer Data

Content accessible through the services – in particular product data, prices, supplier data, availability, search results and other platform data – may be used only for the intended procurement-related purpose. Unless expressly agreed by contract, the following are prohibited: the systematic building of own databases from protected platform assets or third-party data, their unauthorised disclosure to third parties, their commercial exploitation outside the agreed use, and the use of data of other users, customers or suppliers for unrelated purposes.

The contractual use of the Customer's own data and the use of agreed exports and reports – such as savings or KPI reports, ERP handovers and audit evidence – for the Customer's internal procurement, analysis, documentation and evidentiary purposes remain unaffected. No further rights to protected platform assets or third-party data are granted hereby.

Customer data remains attributed to the respective Customer. The Customer grants GuidedBuying the purpose-bound right, necessary for the provision of the services, to process, normalise, match against catalogue and price sources, store, and – within the agreed scope – have processed by the service providers permitted under the data processing agreement, the content provided by the Customer or its users. No further data usage rights are granted to GuidedBuying under these Terms.

Customer data is processed in a tenant-protected manner and exclusively for the purposes agreed with the respective Customer. Use for the benefit of other customers or disclosure to them is excluded unless it forms part of a purpose-bound collaboration expressly agreed with the Customer concerned under Section 16. Customer data is not used by GuidedBuying or by the service providers it engages for training AI models. Statutory requirements and third-party rights remain unaffected. Rights in software, data models, user interfaces and other components of the services remain with the respective rights holder (Section 17).

8. APIs, Agents and Automated Access

APIs, tool interfaces (e.g. MCP), agents and other automated features may be used exclusively within the intended or agreed scope. Access takes place exclusively within the respectively authorised tenant and authorisation context. User-related access – including via agents or other automated components – is limited to the permissions of the respective user and does not extend them. Separately agreed technical accounts and background processes receive exclusively the permissions expressly granted for that purpose.

The use of undocumented or internal endpoints, the building of own integrations against internal interfaces without consent, and the use of the services as a generic backend service or bulk API without a corresponding agreement are prohibited. GuidedBuying may apply rate limits, request limits, security checks, abuse detection and access restrictions. Automated access is subject to the same authorisation, tenant and security boundaries as interactive access.

9. AI-Assisted Features

Certain features may use artificial intelligence, language models or agentic systems. AI-generated output is labelled as such in the user interface ("AI generated"). Free-text AI explanations, summaries or interpretations may be incomplete, inaccurate, misleading, outdated or erroneous; they do not constitute any representation or guarantee – in particular not with regard to product characteristics, prices, availability, delivery times, delivery conditions or contractual terms. Information labelled as AI generated must be verified by the user before being used for business purposes.

Services contractually agreed with GuidedBuying – in particular product identification, item matching, price verification, application of agreed procurement rules and documentation of results – remain unaffected by these notices. The Customer's duties of verification relate in particular to its specific requirements, customer-side approvals and information labelled as AI generated; they do not replace the verification and performance obligations contractually assumed by GuidedBuying.

AI features must not be used to circumvent permissions, approvals, compliance rules or security mechanisms. In particular, inputs or other manipulation attempts – regardless of the technique used – aimed at disclosing internal system instructions, obtaining confidential information or information of other customers, circumventing security mechanisms, triggering unauthorised tool calls or performing actions on behalf of other users are prohibited.

10. Product, Price and Supplier Information

Product, price, supplier, availability and delivery-time information may originate in whole or in part from third parties (e.g. suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, marketplaces) and may change at short notice. Prices and offers displayed in the price comparison are continuously updated and are indicative until confirmed; they do not constitute a binding supplier or price commitment. Before handover to the ordering process, the prices of shopping-cart items are verified with the respective supplier via an interface in accordance with the Customer's configuration; if a price cannot be confirmed, the item cannot be ordered. The terms of the actual procurement, ordering or contracting process between the Customer and the respective supplier are binding. The determination and labelling of reported savings and the calculation of any success-based remuneration are governed by the respective customer agreement.

GuidedBuying is neither the seller nor a party to the procurement transaction. The services transmit or process procurement transactions exclusively within the Customer's agreed authorisation and approval framework; this does not create any purchasing authority for GuidedBuying.

11. External Systems and Dependencies

The services may technically depend on third-party systems, in particular Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, ERP and SRM systems, supplier systems, PunchOut shops, manufacturer and distributor systems and external APIs. The availability of these services is not consistently within GuidedBuying's control; changes, outages or suspensions by third-party providers may restrict features. Links or technical transitions to third-party services do not imply any assumption of responsibility for their content, services or terms. GuidedBuying's responsibility for its own selection, integration and processing and for contractually owed verifications remains unaffected (Section 18).

12. Availability, Maintenance and Development

GuidedBuying provides the services with reasonable care but does not guarantee uninterrupted availability under these Terms; service levels result from the individual agreements with the Customer. Maintenance, updates and short-term security-related restrictions are permitted; planned maintenance is announced in advance where practicable. Features may be further developed, supplemented or adapted provided the agreed scope of services for the Customer is not materially impaired. GuidedBuying may temporarily restrict individual features in the event of security issues, abuse, technical faults or changes by third-party providers; the restriction must be limited to what is necessary and lifted once the reason ceases to exist. A permanent degradation of contractually promised services does not take effect by mere notification but is governed by Section 22 and the respective customer agreement. Customers are informed of significant, contractually relevant changes in text form or via the App.

13. Abuse, Protective Measures and Suspension

In the event of security breaches or significant abuse – such as unusual automated traffic, credential abuse, access or attempted access to third-party data, attack attempts, manipulation of sessions or tokens, circumvention of rate limits or abuse of APIs or agents – GuidedBuying may temporarily restrict or suspend access of the affected user or system and investigate security-relevant events. Measures are proportionate, limited where possible to the affected access, and lifted once the reason ceases to exist. For business customers, the responsible administrator or contracting party is involved without undue delay where practicable. Further contractual and statutory rights remain unaffected.

14. Technical Logging

GuidedBuying logs technical events to the extent necessary for error analysis, security monitoring, abuse detection, incident response, availability measurement, technical traceability or support. Details of the type and scope of data processed, retention periods, deletion periods, legal bases and sub-processors are set out in the Privacy Policy and – for business customers – in the data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR and the security documentation. This Section describes the logging; the data protection legal basis and the allocation of roles result from the documents referred to.

15. Customer Responsibilities and Indemnification

The Customer is responsible for the accuracy and currency of its user and master data and for the user permissions, roles, organisational structures, approvals, cost centres, supplier authorisations and other master data configured by it. The Customer is further responsible for the configuration of its downstream systems unless these are operated or managed by GuidedBuying, and ensures that its users observe the purchasing, approval, data protection and compliance rules applicable to it.

The Customer is responsible for ensuring that the data, content and information provided, transmitted, uploaded or processed through the services by it or its users may lawfully be used and that their use within the services does not infringe third-party rights or statutory provisions. In particular, the Customer ensures that it holds the rights, consents and other authorisations required for this. GuidedBuying remains responsible for its own processing steps and obligations; the allocation of roles and responsibilities under the GDPR remains unaffected.

The Customer is liable in accordance with statutory provisions for damage incurred by GuidedBuying as a result of a culpable breach of its obligations under these Terms or culpable use of the services in breach of contract by the Customer or – to the extent legally attributable – by its users.

The Customer shall indemnify GuidedBuying against justified third-party claims asserted against GuidedBuying on the basis of an infringement of third-party rights, unlawful processing or provision of data or content, or other use of the services in breach of contract for which the Customer or, to the extent legally attributable, its users are responsible. The indemnification also covers the reasonable and necessary costs of legal defence.

The indemnification obligation does not apply to the extent that GuidedBuying is itself responsible for the respective claim. GuidedBuying will inform the Customer without undue delay of third-party claims asserted and, where legally and practically possible, give it the opportunity to participate in the legal defence. Neither party shall make acknowledgements or conclude settlements to the detriment of the other party without the other party's consent; consent may not be unreasonably withheld.

16. Tenant Separation and Authorisation Context

Principle: A user, agent or integrated system may act only within the respectively authorised tenant and authorisation context.

In particular, the following are prohibited: unauthorised cross-tenant access and data transfers, any privilege escalation via integrations, the assumption of other users' contexts, tool calls outside the respectively granted authorisation, and the extension of user rights through Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Teams or other agent systems. Where a user acts via Microsoft Teams or Microsoft Copilot, GuidedBuying executes features and tool calls exclusively within that user's authorised context; the use of an agent does not create additional permissions in the GuidedBuying services.

Expressly agreed and enabled collaboration across company boundaries – for example with purchasing associations, affiliated companies or approved service providers – remains permitted; it is purpose-bound and limited to the permissions granted for that purpose.

17. Intellectual Property and Rights of Use

Software, APIs, user interfaces, trademarks, data models and documentation remain the property of the respective rights holders. For the term of the underlying agreement, the Customer receives a simple, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable and – unless otherwise agreed – non-transferable right to use the App and the services for its own business purposes. Resale, rental or sublicensing and the unauthorised reproduction of software or documentation are not permitted. Where the Customer or a user submits feedback or suggestions for improvement, GuidedBuying may use these for the further development of the services without separate remuneration; confidential information and customer data (Sections 7 and 20) remain unaffected.

18. Warranty and Liability

GuidedBuying provides the services with the diligence of a prudent provider. No guarantee is given for error-free software, uninterrupted availability, the accuracy, completeness or currency of third-party information (Section 10), the availability of external services (Section 11), the accuracy or suitability of free-text AI explanations (Section 9), or the permanent availability or immutability of third-party interfaces. Representations and guarantees require an express agreement in text form; individually agreed provisions remain unaffected. The Customer's warranty rights in the event of defective performance are governed by the respective customer agreement and statutory provisions; the following liability provisions also apply to claims for damages based on defects.

GuidedBuying is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for damage resulting from injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act, for fraudulently concealed defects, and to the extent of an expressly assumed guarantee.

In the case of slight negligence, GuidedBuying is liable only for the breach of material contractual obligations, i.e. obligations whose fulfilment is essential to the proper performance of the contract and on whose observance the Customer regularly relies; in this case liability is limited to the typical damage foreseeable at the time the contract was concluded. Liability for the slightly negligent breach of other obligations is excluded.

For outages, changes or malfunctions of third-party services and interfaces and for inaccurate, incomplete or outdated third-party information, GuidedBuying is liable only to the extent it is responsible for them. GuidedBuying's responsibility for its own selection and management of engaged service providers, for its own integration and processing and for contractually owed verifications remains unaffected. The statutory attribution of the fault of legal representatives and vicarious agents (Section 278 of the German Civil Code, BGB) remains unaffected.

GuidedBuying is not liable for damage resulting from the Customer or a user using AI-generated or indicative information for business decisions or transactions without verification, contrary to the verification, cooperation or due-diligence duties provided for in Sections 9 and 10, to the extent GuidedBuying is not responsible for the damage. Verification and performance obligations contractually assumed by GuidedBuying remain unaffected.

The foregoing limitations of liability do not apply to the extent liability cannot be limited under mandatory law. The Customer's liability towards GuidedBuying is governed by Section 15 and statutory provisions. Liability provisions in individual agreements – including any liability caps – take precedence over this Section (Section 2).

19. Security Reports (Responsible Disclosure)

We accept reports of security issues at security@guidedbuying.com. Identified or suspected vulnerabilities must not be exploited, in particular not to access third-party data; security-critical details should be reasonably coordinated with us before publication, where legally permissible. GuidedBuying may immediately restrict access where necessary to protect customers, data or the platform. We thank security researchers who work with us responsibly.

This Section governs incoming reports from third parties. GuidedBuying's own duties to inform the Customer of security and data protection incidents – including the notification periods under the data processing agreement – remain unaffected.

20. Confidentiality

The parties shall treat as confidential all confidential information of the other party made accessible to them in connection with the use of the App or the services and shall use it exclusively for the performance of the respective business relationship. Confidential information includes in particular non-public technical, economic, organisational and business information as well as customer-specific data, configurations, integration information, security information and credentials.

Disclosure of confidential information to employees, advisers and service providers is permitted to the extent they need the information for the performance of the business relationship and are bound by corresponding confidentiality obligations. The confidentiality obligation does not apply to information that was demonstrably already public, becomes public without breach of a confidentiality obligation, was already lawfully known to the receiving party, or was independently developed by it. Disclosures required by law, authorities or courts remain permitted; where legally permissible, the other party must be informed in advance. The confidentiality obligations continue for three years after termination of the contractual relationship; for trade secrets they apply indefinitely. Further statutory data protection and confidentiality obligations and further confidentiality agreements between GuidedBuying and the Customer remain unaffected or take precedence over these provisions.

21. End of Use, Contract Term and Data Export

Users may end their use of the App at any time, in particular by removing the App from Microsoft Teams. Access rights may further end upon termination of the contract, deactivation of the user account, withdrawal of Microsoft Entra permissions or suspension for abuse (Section 13). Uninstalling or deactivating the App neither terminates an existing contractual relationship between GuidedBuying and the Customer nor automatically results in the deletion of stored customer data. The term, ordinary termination and other termination rights of a paid contractual relationship are governed by the respective underlying individual agreement.

The handling of customer data after the end of the contract – including export, return, deletion, deletion periods and backups – is governed by the respective data processing agreement, the individual agreement and the Privacy Policy.

The Customer may at any time switch to another provider or take over its exportable data and digital assets into its own IT environment. The Customer's rights and GuidedBuying's obligations in the switching process – in particular procedure and time limits, transitional and retrieval periods, the exhaustive list of exportable and exempted data categories, formats, support, security, erasure, contract termination and charges – are set out in the Annex "Switching and Data Export", which forms part of these Terms and implements the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act). Provisions in the customer agreement that are more favourable to the Customer remain unaffected.

22. Changes to these Terms

New versions of these Terms apply to newly concluded contracts to the extent they are validly agreed. The version and date of the last change are stated at the top of this page; earlier versions are made available to customers on request.

Changes to these Terms for existing contractual relationships require an agreement with the Customer. Proposed changes are generally communicated in text form at least six weeks before the intended effective date; the parties may agree a shorter lead time. Silence or the mere continued use of the services does not constitute consent. If the Customer does not agree to a proposed change, the previous version continues to apply to the existing contractual relationship; the right of both parties to ordinary termination under the customer agreement and statutory rights to terminate for cause remain unaffected.

Technical operating, maintenance and security measures within the scope of Sections 12 and 13 are independent of this and do not in themselves constitute a change to these Terms. Mandatory statutory requirements remain unaffected. Change provisions in individual agreements take precedence.

23. Final Provisions

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these Terms is Cologne, Germany, provided the Customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law. Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. These Terms are drawn up in German; this English version is provided for convenience only and the German version prevails.

Annex: Switching and Data Export

Provisions on switching between providers and data portability pursuant to Art. 23 et seq. of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act)

A.1 Scope

This Annex applies to the data processing services provided by GuidedBuying to the extent that these and the respective customer relationship are subject to Chapter VI of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act). Statutory special provisions remain unaffected. For other services, the respectively agreed provisions apply.

The Annex governs the Customer's rights and GuidedBuying's obligations when switching to another data processing service or to the Customer's own IT environment, and regarding the export and erasure of data. It forms part of these Terms and, to the extent described in Section 2, also applies to customers whose customer agreement contains no provision or a provision less favourable to the Customer on switching; all other provisions of the respective customer agreement remain unaffected. Provisions in the customer agreement that are more favourable to the Customer take precedence. Both parties cooperate in good faith in the switching process.

A.2 Initiating the Switch

The Customer may initiate the switch at any time by notice in text form to support@guidedbuying.com or to its designated contact person. The notice period for initiating the switch is a maximum of two months from receipt of the notice; a shorter period agreed in the customer agreement takes precedence. The Customer may choose one or more of the following actions: (a) switching to another provider – stating the details of the destination provider required for the transfer –, (b) taking over its exportable data and digital assets into its own IT environment, (c) erasure of its exportable data and digital assets without switching. The Customer may communicate this decision when initiating the switch; it may specify it until the end of the notice period. The Customer may also have the switch carried out by third parties authorised by it.

A.3 Transitional Period and Support

After expiry of the notice period, the transitional period of a maximum of 30 calendar days begins, during which the switch is carried out. The customer agreement continues to apply during the transitional period. During this period GuidedBuying will (1) provide reasonable assistance to the Customer and third parties authorised by it in the switching process, (2) act with due care to maintain business continuity and continue to provide the contractually agreed functions and services, (3) inform the Customer of known risks to the continuity of the functions and services on the part of GuidedBuying, and (4) ensure a high level of security throughout the switching process, in particular the security of the data during transfer and during the retrieval period under A.5. GuidedBuying further supports the Customer's exit strategy for the contractually agreed services, including by providing all information relevant for this purpose.

Where compliance with the 30-calendar-day transitional period is technically unfeasible, GuidedBuying notifies the Customer within 14 working days of receipt of the switching notice, duly justifies the technical unfeasibility and indicates an alternative transitional period not exceeding seven months; continuity of the services is ensured throughout the alternative transitional period. Irrespective of this, the Customer may extend the transitional period once for a period it considers appropriate for its own purposes; the Customer notifies GuidedBuying of the extension in text form.

A.4 Exportable Data, Digital Assets and Formats

Exportable data comprises all input and output data, including metadata, directly or indirectly generated or co-generated by the Customer's use of the services, as well as the digital assets to which the Customer holds a right of use. This exhaustively comprises the following categories:

  • the Customer's user and organisational data: user master data, roles and permissions, cost centres, organisational and approval structures;
  • customer-specific configuration: procurement rules, assortment and commodity-group control, supplier approvals, catalogue assignments, and customer-specific interface and integration settings;
  • customer-specific catalogues, prices and conditions contributed for the Customer by the Customer or its suppliers;
  • transaction and usage data: requirement requests, shopping carts, order handovers, price verification results and approval logs;
  • documents uploaded by the Customer or its users, in particular supplier quotations and requisitions, including the structured data derived from them;
  • reports and analyses (including savings and KPI reports) including the underlying data;
  • associated metadata, in particular timestamps and user and status assignments.

Upon request, GuidedBuying provides the exportable data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format: tabular data as CSV (UTF-8) or JSON, timestamps in ISO 8601, commodity groups – where available – with UNSPSC or eCl@ss classification; reports additionally as XLSX; uploaded documents in their original format. Where agreed interfaces exist, the data may also be retrieved via these. Handover takes place via an encrypted, authenticated transfer channel (in particular SFTP or download from the application). Known limitations: the export reflects the data status at the time of its creation; links to platform catalogue items are provided as item identifiers (e.g. manufacturer, supplier or catalogue item number), not as catalogue records.

This Section A.4 constitutes the online register of exportable data categories, data structures, formats and interfaces within the meaning of Art. 26 Data Act; GuidedBuying keeps it up to date and indicates changes by updating the version of this page.

The following categories, which concern the internal functioning of the services and whose disclosure would infringe GuidedBuying's trade secrets or third-party rights, are exempted from the exportable data: the platform's own catalogue, price, competitive-price and supplier data set, to the extent not contributed on a customer-specific basis; the matching, classification and price-determination logic including data models, algorithms and software; the configuration of the platform itself; internal operating, security and system logs; and third-party data to which the Customer holds no right of use. These exemptions do not impede or delay the switching process.

A.5 Retrieval Period, Erasure and Contract Termination

After expiry of the transitional period, the exportable data remains available to the Customer for retrieval for a retrieval period of at least 30 calendar days; the parties may agree a longer period. After successful completion of the switch and expiry of the retrieval period or an agreed longer period, GuidedBuying erases all exportable data and digital assets generated directly by the Customer or relating to the Customer directly; erasure from backups takes place within the regular backup cycles under the data processing agreement. Statutory retention obligations remain unaffected; data affected by them is blocked and erased after expiry of the retention period. On request, GuidedBuying confirms erasure in text form.

Where the Customer requests erasure without switching provider, erasure takes place after termination of the affected service in accordance with the Customer's instruction and the agreed deletion periods; the Customer may retrieve its exportable data within the retrieval period beforehand. Statutory retention obligations remain unaffected.

The contract for the data processing service affected by the switch or erasure is deemed terminated, and GuidedBuying notifies the Customer thereof in text form, (a) upon successful completion of the switch or (b) upon expiry of the notice period under A.2 where the Customer does not wish to switch but requests erasure of its exportable data and digital assets. Legally independent contractual services not affected by the switch remain unaffected.

A.6 Charges

GuidedBuying does not impose any switching charges for switching and data export under this Annex. This waiver does not affect charges for services rendered in accordance with the contract or validly agreed and legally permissible compensation for early termination of the contract; no impermissible obstacles to switching arise hereby. Separately commissioned services that go beyond the support owed under this Annex (e.g. individual data preparation or migration projects) are remunerated only on the basis of a separate agreement.

A.7 Pre-Contractual Information

GuidedBuying makes this Annex, information on the available switching and porting procedures and formats, and information on known restrictions and technical limitations available on this page prior to the conclusion of the contract; the Customer may store and reproduce them.

A.8 Information on Jurisdiction and Protection against Third-Country Access (Art. 28 Data Act)

GuidedBuying's platform, including databases and backups, is operated in data centres in Germany and is subject to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union. The optional AI features, which are deactivated by default (Section 9), use services of Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud exclusively in regions within the European Union, provided by their European contracting entities; the respective parent companies are subject to the law of the United States of America. The transmission of messages within Microsoft Teams takes place via Microsoft's infrastructure under the terms applicable between the Customer and Microsoft.

To prevent access by third-country authorities that would be incompatible with Union law or the law of a Member State, GuidedBuying applies in particular the following measures: processing and storage exclusively in Germany or the EU; for the optional AI features, no storage of inputs and outputs by the model providers (zero data retention) and contractual exclusion of use for training purposes; encryption of data in transit (TLS 1.2 or higher) and at rest (AES-256); role-based access control with two-factor authentication for administrative access; data processing agreements with standard contractual clauses where required. GuidedBuying reviews requests from third-country authorities for disclosure of customer data for their compatibility with Union law and German law, discloses data only to the extent permissible thereunder, and informs the affected Customer where legally permissible.


These Terms of Service apply to the GuidedBuying App for Microsoft Teams and the related GuidedBuying services. This English version is a convenience translation; in case of doubt, the German version is authoritative.