Terms of use

1. Who runs grabbi

grabbi is run by GRABBI s. r. o., with its registered office at Veľká okružná 17, 010 01 Žilina, Company ID (IČO) 57 936 757, entered in the Trade Register (Okresný úrad Žilina, č. živnostenského registra 580-86559) ⟦and in the Commercial Register of the Žilina District Court, section Sro, file no. …⟧ ("grabbi", "we"). Contact: ahoj@grabbi.sk ⟦, phone …⟧.

We give these details under § 4 of Act No. 22/2004 Coll. on Electronic Commerce (Slovakia). Consumer protection is supervised by the Slovak Trade Inspection (Slovenská obchodná inšpekcia, www.soi.sk), and in the Czech Republic by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (Česká obchodní inspekce, www.coi.cz).

grabbi is not registered for VAT. The prices you pay grabbi (Carefree) are final.

2. What grabbi is and isn’t

grabbi is an online marketplace within the meaning of § 2(d) of Act No. 108/2024 Coll. on Consumer Protection (Slovakia): it connects people and rental shops who offer things (the "owner") with people who want to borrow them (the "renter"). We help with booking, payment, handover, return and sorting out problems.

The rental contract is made between the owner and the renter. grabbi is not a party to it, doesn’t own or rent out the things, and isn’t responsible for their condition or for how the owner or renter performs the contract, unless these terms say otherwise (for example Carefree in section 10).

With every offer we show whether it comes from a rental shop (a trader) or a private person, based on the declaration they gave us (§ 16(1)(b) of the Consumer Protection Act). If you borrow from a private person, consumer protection law does not apply to the contract between you (§ 16(1)(c)); the Civil Code does.

For contracts made through grabbi, responsibilities are split like this (§ 16(1)(d)): the owner is responsible for the thing, its description, condition and handover; the renter for using it properly and returning it; grabbi for running the app, processing payments through its payment partner, the deposit, Carefree, and the decisions it makes when settling disputes under section 11.

3. Your account

• You can open an account if you are over 18 and have full legal capacity.
• When you sign up you give your name, e-mail, password and phone number. The number is required because the owner and renter call each other at handover. Your details must be true and up to date.
• Each person can have one account. Don’t share your password; you are responsible for what happens on your account with your password until you tell us it has been misused.
• Identity verification (ID and selfie) is optional and shows as a badge on your profile. ⟦No verification partner has been chosen yet; until then grabbi grants the badge by hand after checking an ID.⟧ Owners we send money to are verified by our payment partner, Stripe.
• You can close your account at any time in your profile, as long as no rental is running and no payout is waiting. What we keep when you do, and why, is described in the Privacy notice.

4. Offers

An owner who offers a thing declares, and is responsible for, the following:

• the thing belongs to them, or they are allowed to rent it out;
• it is safe, working and fit for the use it is offered for (§ 664 of the Slovak Civil Code), and comes with instructions if normal use needs them;
• the description, photos, price and deposit are accurate;
• renting it out doesn’t break the law or anyone else’s rights.

You may not offer through grabbi: weapons and ammunition, pyrotechnics, explosives and dangerous chemicals, motor vehicles that must be registered, things that need a special licence to operate (except a machine with an operator, below), stolen or counterfeit goods, medical devices, medicines and drugs, alcohol and tobacco products, live animals, or anything the law forbids renting out. We take down offers that don’t belong here (section 13).

Machine with an operator: an owner can offer someone who runs the thing (a machine operator, a driver) for a price per day, either at the renter’s choice or as the only way to rent it. A thing that needs a special licence to operate (a construction machine, for example) may only be offered with the operator. The owner is responsible for the operator holding the required licence and being fit for the work, for working safely, and for any damage they cause; we recommend liability insurance. The renter shows the work site, makes sure it can be reached, and tells the operator about pipes and cables in the ground and other obstacles they know of. When the owner’s operator runs the machine, no deposit is held and Carefree isn’t offered. ⟦Confirm with a lawyer: which machines need a licence in Slovakia and Czechia, whether this is a rental with a service or a contract for work, and how the operator relates to the owner.⟧

When applying for a rental shop account, shops declare that they act as traders and give their Company ID. Towards consumers they carry all of a trader’s duties, including information duties and the right of withdrawal (section 9).

5. How we rank offers

Under § 16(1)(a) of the Consumer Protection Act and Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (platform-to-business regulation), these are the main ranking parameters:

• If you allow location, we show offers within 10 km, nearest first. We don’t store your location on the server.
• Without location, offers are shown newest first.
• Your search term and the category only filter offers; they don’t change the order.
• Nobody can pay for a better position, and ratings, commission and the type of owner don’t affect the order.

6. Booking and when the contract is made

• From a private person: the renter sends a request and we only hold the amount on their card. The owner has 12 hours to answer (or until the handover time, if that is sooner). When the owner accepts, a rental contract is made between owner and renter (§ 663 et seq. of the Slovak Civil Code) and we capture the held amount. If the owner declines or doesn’t answer, we release the hold and you pay nothing.
• From a rental shop: the booking is binding as soon as you pay. The contract is between the shop and the renter, and §§ 721–723 of the Slovak Civil Code on commercial rental of movable things also apply.
• Before you send it, you see the total price: the rent for the days you chose, Carefree if you add it, and the deposit amount. The renter pays no other fees.
• The button you send the booking with reads "Order with obligation to pay" and commits you to pay (§ 17(4) of the Consumer Protection Act).
• We send you the booking confirmation and these terms by e-mail; contracts and payment receipts are also in the app.

7. Payments, deposit and payouts

Payments are processed by Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd. (Ireland), a licensed payment institution. Card details go straight to Stripe; grabbi never sees them.

grabbi collects the rent on the owner’s behalf. We send it to the owner 2 days after the item is returned, minus grabbi’s commission: 15% of the rent, or 10% for a rental shop. The commission in force at booking applies. Cancellation fees (section 8) also go to the owner minus the commission; damage compensation goes to the owner in full.

The deposit is blocked on the renter’s card at handover, not charged. During a longer rental we renew the block, because banks cancel it after a few days. We release it when the owner confirms the condition of the returned thing, or automatically 24 hours after the return if nobody reports a problem.

Owners receive money into their own Stripe account, which they set up in the app; Stripe verifies their identity and bank account. Until the account is ready, the payout waits and grabbi sends it as soon as it can. The Stripe Connected Account Agreement also applies.

Each owner is responsible for paying tax on their rental income. If you rent out means of transport (bikes, scooters, boats…) or offer a machine with an operator (the operator’s work is a personal service), grabbi reports you to the tax office once a year under the DAC7 directive (Slovak Act No. 442/2012 Coll.): your identity, birth number or tax ID, bank account, and income and commissions per quarter. You can publish such an offer only once your tax details are filled in.

We don’t recommend paying outside the app: the deposit, Carefree and grabbi’s help with a dispute don’t cover such payments.

8. Cancellation, no-shows and late returns

The one-day fee is agreed compensation for the owner keeping the dates free. It doesn’t apply to a rental shop booking if a consumer uses their statutory right of withdrawal (section 9).

If the renter doesn’t return the thing on time, they pay rent until it is returned (§ 723(1) of the Slovak Civil Code). Through the app they can ask for one extra day; if the owner accepts, we charge one day’s rent. Otherwise the owner and renter agree on payment for further days between themselves, or grabbi helps.

9. Right of withdrawal (consumers)

When you borrow from a private person, you have no statutory right of withdrawal; you can cancel under section 8.

When you borrow from a rental shop, and for grabbi’s Carefree service, you as a consumer can withdraw from the contract without giving a reason within 14 days of making it (§ 19(1) and § 20(1)(a)(2) of Act No. 108/2024 Coll.):

• If you withdraw before the rental starts, we refund all payments within 14 days, the same way you paid (§ 22), with no cancellation fee.
• If the rental starts within the withdrawal period because you expressly asked for that when booking, and you then withdraw, you pay only a proportionate part of the price for the days up to your withdrawal (§ 21(5) and § 17(10)(c)).
• Once the service has been fully provided (the thing returned), the right of withdrawal ends, provided you expressly agreed at booking to start before the period ran out and confirmed you knew this (§ 19(1)(a)).
• The exception in § 19(1)(l) — leisure services at a precisely agreed time — may cover some sports and party items; the rental shop has to say so in the offer.

You can withdraw in the app with the "Withdraw from contract here" function (§ 20a), by e-mail to the rental shop or to ahoj@grabbi.sk, or with the model form in Annex 2 to the Act. We confirm receipt by e-mail.

10. Carefree

Carefree ("Bez starostí" in the Slovak version) is an optional grabbi service for €8 per rental. It is not insurance, and grabbi is not an insurer.

If you paid for Carefree and the thing is damaged during the rental, and you accept the damage or grabbi decides on it (section 11), you pay at most €30 of it (your excess) from the deposit. grabbi pays the owner the rest, up to the deposit amount shown in the offer. So the owner gets the full agreed compensation.

Carefree doesn’t cover payments and handovers outside the app, or damage above the deposit amount, which the owner can claim directly from the renter under the Civil Code. ⟦Confirm with a lawyer that this is an agreement limiting liability, not insurance under Act No. 39/2015 Coll. on Insurance; add further exclusions (intent, loss, theft) only once the app supports them.⟧

The right of withdrawal in section 9 applies to Carefree.

11. Handover, return, damage and disputes

• At handover the renter photographs the thing (4 photos) and the owner enters the 6-digit code only the renter can see. After 3 wrong attempts we issue a replacement code valid for 15 minutes. Once the code is entered, the thing counts as handed over.
• A machine with an operator is handed over and returned at the work site the renter gave in the order, and the operator stays with it throughout. Photos and the code work the same way.
• The renter uses the thing properly and for its purpose (§ 665 of the Slovak Civil Code), doesn’t pass it on without the owner’s consent, and reports any damage, loss or destruction to the owner without undue delay (§ 722(2)). The renter isn’t liable for normal wear and tear.
• At return the renter photographs the thing again (4 photos). The handover and return photos serve as evidence of its condition.
• After handover, either side can report a problem. The deposit then stays blocked. The owner can claim compensation up to the deposit; if the renter accepts, we take it from the deposit and release the rest.
• If they don’t agree, grabbi decides, based on the photos, messages and what both sides say, how much of the deposit the owner gets. This decision applies to the money in the app; it is not a court ruling and nobody loses the right to go to court. If the dispute isn’t settled within 7 days, we release the deposit to the renter and the claim can be pursued outside the app.

12. Ratings

Only the owner and renter of the same rental can rate each other, and only after the thing has been returned. This is how we make sure a rating comes from someone who actually used the service (§ 11(6)(a) of the Consumer Protection Act). We don’t edit ratings, don’t sort them by how favourable they are, and don’t pay for them. We may remove a rating that breaks section 13.

13. Conduct, reporting and account restrictions

Offers, messages, photos and ratings must not contain illegal content, harassment, threats, discrimination, fraud, spam, or other people’s personal data.

Until the owner accepts a request, messages can’t contain a phone number, an e-mail address, a bank account number or a link to another messaging app or social network; a listing (name and description) never can. The app automatically refuses such a message or listing and says why; the message is not stored. Once the request is accepted, you see each other’s number in the rental. Arranging a rental outside grabbi to get around paying through the app is not allowed. ⟦Check with a lawyer: automated content moderation tool under Article 14(1) of Regulation 2022/2065.⟧

You can report content or a person in the app, or write to ahoj@grabbi.sk; this is also our point of contact for authorities and users under Articles 11 and 12 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (the Digital Services Act). We handle reports without undue delay and let you know what we decided (Article 16).

If you break these terms or the law, we may hide an offer, remove content, or suspend or close your account. These decisions are made by people at grabbi, not by an algorithm. For every such measure we send you a statement of reasons: what we did, why, on what basis, and how you can challenge it (Article 17 of Regulation 2022/2065).

You can object to a decision at ahoj@grabbi.sk; it will be reviewed by someone other than the person who made it.

If we become aware of content suggesting a criminal offence that threatens someone’s life or safety, we report it to law enforcement (Article 18).

Blocking: a blocked person can’t borrow anything from you, nor you from them, and their offers disappear for you. A rental that is already running continues to the end.

14. Rental shops (business users)

For rental shops as business users, Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 also applies:

• We give reasons for restricting or suspending a rental shop’s account no later than when it takes effect; we give at least 30 days’ notice before ending the relationship, except in the cases under Article 4(4) of the Regulation (breach of law, repeated breaches of the terms).
• We notify rental shops of changes to these terms at least 15 days in advance (Article 3(2)).
• Data that rental shops and their customers create in grabbi is used only to run the service, as described in the Privacy notice; we don’t sell it.
• Rental shops can send complaints to ahoj@grabbi.sk.

15. grabbi’s liability

For content users put into grabbi we are liable only to the extent of Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 — that is, if we knew about illegal content and didn’t remove it without undue delay.

For our own services (the app, payments, the deposit, Carefree, decisions in disputes) we are liable under the law. Nothing in these terms limits the rights you have by law as a consumer (§ 52(2) of the Slovak Civil Code).

We try to keep the app available at all times, but outages can happen. If an outage stops you from confirming a handover or return, we extend the deadlines in the app accordingly.

16. Complaints and dispute resolution

If you aren’t happy with grabbi’s service, write to ahoj@grabbi.sk. We handle complaints without undue delay, within 30 days at the latest.

The owner is responsible for defects in the rented thing: a rental shop under § 721 of the Slovak Civil Code (a replacement, a discount, or waiving the rent), a private person under the general provisions on rental.

If we rejected your complaint or didn’t answer it within 30 days, as a consumer you can apply for alternative dispute resolution under Act No. 391/2015 Coll. on Alternative Dispute Resolution of Consumer Disputes (Slovakia). In Slovakia the body is the Slovak Trade Inspection (www.soi.sk) and the other bodies on the list kept by the Slovak Ministry of Economy; in the Czech Republic, the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (adr.coi.cz). For a cross-border dispute, the European Consumer Centre can help. Your right to go to court is not affected.

17. Changes to these terms and governing law

We may change these terms if the law, a new feature or security requires it. We announce changes by e-mail and in the app at least 15 days in advance. If you don’t agree, you can close your account; rentals already under way are completed under the previous version.

Slovak law applies. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another EU country (for example the Czech Republic), you keep the protection given to you by the mandatory rules of your country (Article 6 of Regulation (EC) 593/2008, Rome I).

These terms are available in Slovak, Czech and English. If they conflict, the Slovak version prevails, unless the Czech version is more favourable to a consumer from the Czech Republic. The English version is a translation for convenience; the Slovak version prevails.