Legal information

Terms of sale

1.1 Scope

These terms apply to every purchase made on shakracademy.com (the “Website”) between SHAKR Academy (“we”, “us”) and the person buying (“you”). By creating an account or completing a purchase you accept these terms in the version published at the time of the purchase. Deviating terms of the buyer do not apply unless we have accepted them in writing.

1.2 What we sell

We sell access to “The Cocktail Course”, an online course made of illustrated lessons with audio narration and transcripts, and optional extras. All products are digital: nothing is shipped. The products currently offered are:

The introduction and the first chapter can be viewed free of charge after registration. A plan is a one-time purchase, not a subscription: there are no recurring charges. “Lifetime access” means access for as long as we operate the course, and at least five years from the purchase.

1.3 Account and age

A personal account is required. You must be at least 18 years old and of legal drinking age in your country of residence. You must provide accurate information, keep your password confidential and not share your account. Access is personal and non-transferable.

1.4 Prices and taxes

Prices are shown in Swiss francs (CHF). For customers in Switzerland they include Swiss VAT at the current rate of 8.1 %. For customers outside Switzerland, the value added tax, sales tax or GST of the customer’s country is calculated at checkout instead, so the total may differ slightly from the price shown. Your bank or card issuer may convert the amount into another currency and may charge fees for doing so; these fees are outside our control. We may change prices at any time; the price shown at checkout when you confirm the order applies.

1.5 Order and payment

You choose a product and are redirected to a secure checkout page operated by Stripe. Payment is possible by credit or debit card and by the other methods shown at checkout (for example Apple Pay, Google Pay or Link). Purchases are sold through Link: Link (a service of Stripe) acts as reseller and merchant of record for the payment, calculates and collects the applicable taxes, sends the receipt and invoice by e-mail and handles payment-related support. Your bank statement shows LINK.COM* followed by our name. The contract is concluded when the payment has been confirmed. We do not receive or store your full card details.

1.6 Delivery

Delivery is immediate and electronic: as soon as the payment is confirmed, the lessons and extras are unlocked in your account and we send a confirmation e-mail. The ebook (PDF) and the audiobook (MP3) are downloaded from your account. The Website requires a current web browser and an internet connection.

1.7 Refunds and cancellation

We want you to be happy with the course. Within 14 days of a purchase you may ask for a full refund, without giving reasons, provided you have not yet started an exam attempt and have not downloaded the ebook or the audiobook included in or bought with that purchase. To request a refund, write to hello@shakracademy.com or use the Messages page, mentioning the e-mail address of your account. You can also contact Link support through your e-mail receipt. Refunds are made to the original payment method, usually within 5–10 business days. Access to the refunded products ends with the refund.

Because the content is digital and supplied immediately at your express request, a statutory right of withdrawal (in particular for consumers in the European Union) expires when access begins; by completing the purchase you request immediate access and acknowledge this. The voluntary refund promise above is not affected. Swiss law provides no statutory right of withdrawal for online purchases. Exam attempts that have been started are used and cannot be refunded. Plans are one-time purchases, so there is nothing to cancel; you can delete your account at any time from the Account page.

1.8 Exam and certificate

Plans and extras that include the certification exam give the stated number of attempts. Each exam draws questions at random and is graded automatically; a score from 60 % earns a bronze medal, from 75 % silver and from 90 % gold, and a downloadable certificate with a public verification number. Certificates are issued by us; their nature is described in the disclaimer. We may withdraw a certificate obtained by cheating, by sharing exam content or by another person taking the exam.

1.9 Use of the content

All texts, images, audio recordings, the ebook, the audiobook, the exam questions and the design of the Website are protected by copyright and belong to us or our licensors. You receive a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use them for your own learning. You may not copy, record, publish, resell, share or make them available to others, including in parts, nor use automated tools to extract them. Breaches may lead to the immediate closing of the account without refund.

1.10 Availability and changes

We aim for high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted access; maintenance, updates and events outside our control can cause interruptions. We may improve, update, reorganise or translate the content, provided the essential scope of what you bought is kept.

1.11 Liability

We are liable for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence. To the extent permitted by law, any further liability — in particular for slight negligence, indirect or consequential damage, lost profit and data loss — is excluded, and our total liability for any purchase is limited to the amount paid for it. Mandatory liability under the Swiss Product Liability Act and for personal injury remains unaffected. See also the disclaimer.

1.12 Changes to these terms

We may change these terms for future purchases. The version valid at the time of your purchase applies to that purchase. The date of the last update is shown at the top of this page.

1.13 Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by Swiss law, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the rules on conflict of laws. Place of jurisdiction is the registered office of SHAKR Academy. Consumers may also sue at their place of residence, and mandatory consumer protection rules of the country where a consumer lives remain applicable. If a provision of these terms is invalid, the others remain in force.

Privacy policy

This policy explains how we process personal data in connection with the Website, in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP / nLPD) and its ordinance (DPO / OPDo). Where the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to people in the European Economic Area, we also comply with it; the references below to the FADP apply to the corresponding GDPR provisions.

2.1 Controller

The controller responsible for the processing is SHAKR Academy (postal address in the imprint). For any question about data protection or to exercise your rights, write to hello@shakracademy.com. We have not appointed a data protection officer, as we are not required to.

2.2 What data we process and why

We process this data to perform the contract with you, to comply with legal obligations, and on the basis of our legitimate interest in a secure and working service (for the GDPR: Art. 6(1)(b), (c) and (f)). If you invite a friend or we invite you on behalf of a company, the person sending the invitation is responsible for having the right to give us the e-mail address. We do not sell personal data, do not use it for advertising, do not build profiles for marketing and do not use analytics or tracking tools.

2.3 Payment data

Payments are processed on Stripe’s checkout pages. Your card and payment details are entered directly with Stripe / Link and never reach our servers. For purchases sold through Link, Stripe acts as an independent controller for the payment data and its own privacy policy applies (stripe.com/privacy, link.com/privacy). We receive from Stripe the payment status, amount, taxes, the country and the e-mail address used, and a transaction reference.

2.4 Recipients and processors

We only share personal data with service providers that we need to run the Website (processors), which process it on our behalf and according to our instructions, and with Stripe as described above. They are listed under Third-party services. We may also disclose data to authorities or courts where the law requires it, or to protect our rights. Only authorised members of the SHAKR team have access to learner data, to the extent they need it.

2.5 Disclosure abroad

Our Website, its database and the course files are hosted in Switzerland by Infomaniak Network SA, Geneva, which also sends our e-mails. Stripe and Link process payment data in particular in the European Union (Stripe Payments Europe, Ireland) and in the United States. For the United States, the Federal Council has recognised an adequate level of data protection for companies certified under the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, in which Stripe participates; in addition, the standard contractual clauses approved by the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) are used where needed. If another provider processes data outside Switzerland, the EEA or a country with an adequate level of protection, we ensure appropriate safeguards, in particular standard contractual clauses.

2.6 Automated decisions

The certification exam is graded automatically: the score and the medal are calculated from your answers without human involvement. If you disagree with a result, you can explain your point of view and ask for it to be reviewed by a person by writing to us; the “Report a problem” button on each question serves the same purpose. No other automated individual decisions are made.

2.7 Retention and deletion

We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes above (see the table). You can delete your account yourself at any time on the Account page: your profile, progress, exams, messages and technical data are then deleted immediately; purchase records are kept without your name for the legal retention period. Backups are overwritten within 30 days.

2.8 Security

We protect your data with appropriate technical and organisational measures: encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, protection against cross-site request forgery, limits on login attempts, course files served only to authorised users, and restricted access for the team. No transmission over the internet is completely secure, however.

2.9 Your rights

Under the FADP you have the right to request information about the personal data we process about you (right of access), to have incorrect data corrected, to have data deleted or its processing restricted, to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to receive the data you gave us in a common electronic format (data portability). Most data can be viewed and changed directly in your account. Requests are free of charge and answered within 30 days; we may ask you to prove your identity. Some rights may be limited where the law requires or allows us to keep data.

You can lodge a complaint with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern, www.edoeb.admin.ch, or, if you live in the EEA, with the data protection authority of your country.

2.10 Minors

The course deals with alcoholic beverages and is intended only for adults of legal drinking age. We do not knowingly collect data from minors; if we learn that an account belongs to a minor, we delete it.

2.11 Changes

We may update this policy when our services or the law change. The version published on this page applies; the date of the last update is shown at the top.

Cookies & local storage

The Website uses only a small number of cookies and similar browser storage that are needed for it to work: to keep you logged in and secure, and to remember choices such as your language or your player settings. A recommendation link you follow may also be remembered for a limited time, so that it can be credited when you sign up; the same applies to a partner’s link (up to 30 days). We do not use advertising, analytics, tracking or social media cookies. During payment, Stripe may set its own cookies on its checkout pages for payment processing and fraud prevention; these are governed by Stripe’s policies. On the sign-up page, Google reCAPTCHA may set its own cookies to tell people from automated programs (bots).

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time. Some functions, in particular logging in, may then no longer work.

Third-party services

We use the following providers. They receive only the data needed for their service.

Links to other websites (for example to Stripe) are provided for convenience. We have no control over their content or their handling of personal data; their own terms and policies apply.

Disclaimer

5.1 Certificate

“The Cocktail Course” is an independent learning programme of SHAKR Academy. The SHAKR certificate (“Certified Bartender”, with a bronze, silver or gold medal) confirms that its holder completed the online course and passed our online exam with the score stated. It is a private certificate of learning issued by us. It is not an officially recognised, state-approved or government-accredited diploma, qualification or professional licence, it is not a federal VET certificate (EFZ / CFC / AFC) and it does not replace any training, permit, licence or certificate required by law, for example to serve alcohol or to run a hospitality business. Whether an employer or authority takes it into account is their own decision.

5.2 Alcohol and responsible consumption

The course is meant for adults of legal drinking age. Recipes and techniques are presented for educational purposes. Please enjoy alcohol responsibly, never drink and drive, and do not serve alcohol to minors or to visibly intoxicated people. Pregnant women and people taking medication or with health conditions should not drink alcohol. Comply with the laws of your country on the sale and serving of alcohol, which vary by country and canton.

5.3 Safety, hygiene and allergens

Information on hygiene, food safety, allergens, glassware, ice, fire (flaming drinks) and tools is general and simplified. It does not replace official regulations, workplace safety rules or professional training. Working with knives, glass, fire, dry ice and alcohol involves risks; you act at your own responsibility. Always check product labels for allergens and alcohol content.

5.4 Accuracy of the content

We prepare the course with care, but we do not guarantee that all information is complete, correct and up to date. Historical facts, brands, prices, recipes, standards (for example IBA lists) and regulations change over time. Translations are provided for convenience; in case of doubt the English version prevails.

5.5 Trademarks

Names of spirits, liqueurs and other products mentioned in the course may be trademarks of their owners. They are mentioned for educational purposes only; their mention does not imply any affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement.

5.6 Liability

To the extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for damage resulting from the use of the information in the course or on the Website, or from the use of external websites linked from it. Mandatory liability for intent and gross negligence remains unaffected.

Imprint

This website and the online course “The Cocktail Course” are operated by SHAKR Academy. For any question, write to hello@shakracademy.com or use the Messages page of your account.

SHAKR Academy · c/o Hyperio AG, Industriestrasse 44, 8304 Wallisellen · Switzerland