Last updated: 16 October 2026
These terms are the agreement between you and HoppingBooks. They cover what we do, what we ask of you, what things cost, and what happens when a parcel goes missing or a book turns out not to be what it said. By creating an account you agree to them.
Eric Braun e Silva Nordstrandring 7 22926 Ahrensburg Germany Email: hello@hoppingbooks.com
“We” and “HoppingBooks” mean that operator. “You” means anyone with an account.
HoppingBooks is a place where people give away books they have finished with. We are not the seller. We never own the book, never handle it, and never inspect it. The book passes directly from one member to another.
What we provide is the service around that: somewhere to list a book, a way to find one, a prepaid postage label or, between neighbours, a pickup arranged in person, and the handling of the money. Your contract with us is for that service. The book itself is a gift between members and costs nothing.
When you list a book you are promising four things:
When you list a book you choose its package size — small, medium or large. Choose it honestly: the reader's postage is worked out from it. You never pay for postage yourself. If a parcel turns out bigger or heavier than its size, we pay the carrier's surcharge; if that happens more than once, we ask you to check the sizes of your listed books before you list more.
You can take a listing down at any time before it is claimed. Once it is claimed, someone has paid and is waiting — if you cannot send it, tell us rather than leaving them to the deadline.
Pickup. In your profile you can let readers up to 25 km away collect your books in person instead. Readers then see your town, never your street. If one chooses it, you agree a time and place in the order's messages and hand the books over within 10 days of their payment; either of you confirms the handover on the order page. You can call a pickup off before then, and the reader is refunded. Where you meet is up to the two of you, and HoppingBooks is not part of the meeting.
The book is free. You pay the postage and a service fee, and nothing else.
Every book taken here was given by someone. So taking is unlocked by giving: a new account can claim 3 books to begin with — one full parcel — and each book you successfully give away earns one more credit. Books in requests that are still in progress count as taken while they are in flight.
The book: nothing. You pay the postage for the carrier you choose, plus a service fee of €1.35 per parcel. For a pickup there is no postage, only the fee. The fee is charged once per parcel, not per book, and the exact amount is shown before you commit to anything. Payments are handled by Stripe; we never see your card number.
When you pay, you can add a small amount for HoppingBooks if you like. It is voluntary and never pre-selected, it is shown in the total before you pay, and if your order is refunded, it is refunded with it.
The book is never posted. If the donor has not handed the parcel in within 5 working days of receiving the label, you are refunded automatically — the postage and the fee. You do not have to ask.
The parcel is lost or damaged in transit. Say so on your order with It hasn't arrived — from 5 days after it was posted, or straight away if the carrier says it was delivered — or write to us. The order stops closing itself, and we look into it with the carrier. If the parcel is lost, or arrives so damaged that the book cannot be read, we refund the postage and the fee in full. The book itself was a gift, so there is nothing beyond that to pay back, and the donor is not charged anything.
The book is not what was described. Tell us within 14 days of it arriving. Report the listing, and we will look at it. Since the book was free, what is at stake is the postage and the fee. If it really is not what the listing said — a different book, or damage the listing did not mention — we refund the postage and the fee. You do not have to send the book back.
We check what we can automatically when a book is listed, but automatic checks only know what a catalogue knows. The rest depends on people reporting what they see.
Every listing can be reported, and reports go to a person. When enough different people report the same listing it is hidden from the catalogue straight away, pending review — a temporary measure, not a judgement.
If your listing is hidden or removed, you will be told and given the reason, and you can reply to that decision by contacting us at the address above. We may also remove a listing on our own initiative when it breaks section 9.
Anyone with an account can rate a book they have read, once per book. Ratings and notes are public and attached to the book rather than to a particular copy, so they outlive the copy you were sent. Write about the book; abuse and personal attacks will be removed.
You can also rate the person who sent you a parcel, once per parcel and only after it has arrived. That rating is public and shown with your name on their profile. Write about the sending — how quickly it came, how it was packed, whether the books were as described — not about the person. Anything abusive, untrue or about someone's private life is removed, and so is a rating used to pressure somebody.
A rating you left is yours: you can change it at any time, or remove it, which removes it from the score as well.
Your photos, descriptions and notes remain yours. By posting them you give us permission to show them on HoppingBooks, for as long as you keep them there. We do not sell them or license them to anyone else.
You can stop using HoppingBooks at any time, and delete your account yourself from your profile, under Delete account — the privacy policy says what goes and what we have to keep once a transfer has taken place.
We may suspend an account that breaks these terms, and we will say why. Where a suspension affects a claim that has already been paid for, that money is refunded.
We are responsible for the service we provide: the listing, the label, the payment, and dealing with reports. A pickup is a meeting between two members, which we do not arrange beyond passing on their messages. We are not responsible for the condition, accuracy or legality of a book, because it comes from a member and we never see it.
We are liable without limit for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, and under the Product Liability Act. For slight negligence we are liable only if we breach a duty that makes the contract possible in the first place and that you may rely on (an essential contractual duty), and then only for the damage typical of this kind of contract that could be foreseen when it was made. Otherwise, liability for slight negligence is excluded.
As a consumer you have fourteen days to withdraw from what you buy from us here — the service around the parcel: the postage label, passing your request to the donor, and handling the payment — without giving a reason. The book itself comes from another member, not from us. The period starts on the day the contract is made. The book itself is a gift from another member and costs nothing; what you pay for is the postage and the service fee.
Because the label is bought and your request passed to the donor straight away, checkout asks you to request that expressly and to acknowledge that your right ends once we have carried the service out in full (§ 356 Abs. 4 BGB). We record that request with your order. Until the parcel is on its way you can still withdraw, and we refund everything you paid within fourteen days, by the means you paid with. For a pickup, the service is passing your request on and arranging the handover; until the books have been handed over you can withdraw, or simply cancel the pickup on your order page.
To withdraw, tell us in a clear statement — an email to hello@hoppingbooks.com is enough. You may use the form below, but you do not have to.
Model withdrawal form To Eric Braun e Silva, Nordstrandring 7, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany, hello@hoppingbooks.com: I hereby withdraw from the contract I made for sending the following books: ______ Ordered on: ______ Name: ______ Address: ______ Date: ______
If these terms change, the date at the top changes with them and account holders are told before the new version applies. If you do not agree to a change, you can stop using HoppingBooks.
German law applies. If you are a consumer living in another EU country, you keep the protection of the mandatory law of the country where you live, and you can bring a claim there. The European Commission's online dispute resolution platform closed on 20 July 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228), so there is no longer a link to give. We are not willing, and at this size not obliged, to take part in dispute resolution before a consumer arbitration board (§ 36 VSBG).