M-Cultivo - Auction Agreement for Costa Rica Cup of Excellence

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Auction Agreement for Costa Rica Cup of Excellence

Payment and Shipping Requirements for Costa Rica Cup of Excellence Internet Auction

The 2024 Cup of Excellence Internet Auction is sponsored by The Alliance for Coffee Excellence,

Inc. (ACE) and the Asociación de Cafés Finos de Costa Rica. If assistance is required immediately

following the auction please contact kathia@cupofexcellence.org or erwin@cuppfexcellence.org

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions

Your participation in this auction indicates your review and agreement to the following terms.

Should you purchase any Cup of Excellence coffee at this auction you agree to the terms and

conditions of purchase and shipping included in this agreement. Any buyer of any Cup of

Excellence coffee through the auction or through a secondary channel agrees to the use and

restrictions of the Cup of Excellence® mark. Any misuse of this mark may be cause for legal

proceedings. It is the responsibility of the bidder to determine quality and appropriate value.

Bidders should assess the value of each coffee based on quality in the cup and its appropriateness

for their company. Farm information is for educational purposes only but can be used to help sell

the winning coffees.

Coffee Lots

The 30 coffee lots being offered for sale through this internet auction were designated Cup of

Excellence (COE) winners at the 2024 Costa Rica competition. The designated coffees were

blindly cupped through the following process:

Preselection stage: May 6th – May 9th with the 11 National Judges, The Specialty Coffee

Association of Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica, with Mr. Alex Pond as the head judge.

National stage: May 27th – May 30th with the 11 National Judges, The Specialty Coffee Association

of Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica with Mr. Soren Sylvest as the head judge.

International stage: June 3rd- June 7th with the 14 International Judges designated by ACE, at

Savegre Hotel, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, with Mr. Soren Sylvest as the head judge.

No other coffee can be sold using this designation. Online bidding for any Cup of Excellence lots

is only available through this website. Each lot is separate and distinct. The Winner of each

category lots scoring has already been separated into 2 distinct lots labelled A and B. Samples

have been made available.

Packing Information

The Costa Rica Cup of Excellence coffees are vacuum packed in cartons each containing 2 (two)

15kg bags. Successful bidders will be charged $0.25 (twenty five cents) per pound mandatory fee

for vacuum packing in addition to the per pound cost of the auction price for each lot. Bidding

calculations and vacuum packing fee are based on actual pounds after milling and packing the

coffees. The number of 30kg boxes as well as the weight in pounds will be shown. A broken seal

on any vacuum package does not automatically warrant a claim or indicate a quality change.

Financial Responsibility and Group Bidding

The individual bidder placing the highest bid at the close of the auction is responsible for the

financial payment to the exporter of the entire lot. Individual bids once accepted by the auction

software, may not be revoked or withdrawn. The exporter may approve multiple payments and

multiple shipping instructions for a single lot but only if the successful bidder requests the

approval and submits all of the shipping instructions within 7 days of the auction. If the exporter

or the country partner denies the request for any reason the bidder will be held liable for the

entire payment regardless of group purchase. If a lot is split and sent to more than one

destination the buyer will be responsible for any additional costs or fees associated with that

export.

In a situation where the farmer is responsible for the payment of the transport, it is expected the

winning bidder will designate a shipping method which will not substantially affect the costs the

farmer is charged within the origin country to deliver the coffee to the shipping facility such as

but not limited to: port, airport, third party designated exporter. The management of the Cup of

Excellence program has the right to seek and provide the winning bidder fair shipping options

considered equative for the selling and buying parties.

The responsibilities of the lead bidder of a buyer group are to review, approve and socialize all

terms and conditions with each member of their buying group. This bidder agreement is only

sent to those registered to bid in the auction, if the members of your buying group are not

registered for the auction the lead bidder is required to share the agreement to get each

member’s approval. It is required that the lead bidder in the auction to collaborate with the

exporter facilitating communication and expediting the payment process if any setbacks are

encountered regarding payment or complications in communicating with other buyers from the

group.

If a lot is split between several buyers and sent to more than one destination, all additional buyers

of said lot will be charged with an extra fee per shipment to cover the additional administrative

costs associated with the export depending on the transport mode:

Air cargo: $350 USD**

Sea freight: $500 USD**

Payment Requirements

Full payment of the lot(s)and the packing fee(s) is required prior to shipment unless other

requests are made in writing and approved in advance. Cash against documents must also be

approved in advance of the auction. Prepayment of the lot is required if moved to another

exporter to be shipped. Shipment, quality and delivery responsibility will revert to new exporter.

Full payment is due 30 (thirty) days after the close of the auction regardless of ship date or

method. A minimum 2% monthly late fee may be charged for any lots not paid within 30 days.

All the fees or expenses generate in the bank of the buyer for make the transaction of payment

have to be pay it for the buyer.

Shipping Requirements

Shipping instructions are to be sent to the exporter within 7 (seven) days of the close of the

auction by the successful bidder or the bidder’s designated importer. Bidders can nominate any

importer. A COE cooperating importer is recommended. These can be found on the ACE website

at www.allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org

All Lots must be shipped within 45 days of the auction. No claim may be made to the exporter,

farmer, Alliance for Coffee Excellence or Asociación de Cafés Finos de Costa Rica on any COE lot

shipped after 45 days. COE lots for Costa Rica are shipped, terms1 FOB for Sea shipping FCA for

Air shipping (recommended), net weight and applicable fees- airfreight is available at an extra

cost and can be coordinated by the exporter. Lots will be shipped as per the instructions and at

the cost of the successful bidder. Any changes that result in extra fees will be paid by the buyer.

If a coffee sent via courier service is returned or destroyed due to the lack of response, or inability

on the part of the buyer to provide documents required by customs, the costs derived from the

return or destruction of the coffee must be covered by the buyer.

THE NOMINATED EXPORTER

Exporter Name: The Specialty Coffee Association of Costa Rica

Exporter Address: Blvd. Rohrmoser, de Prisma Dental 200 norte y 25 oeste, Casa 21. San José,

Costa Rica.

COE Coffee Warehouse Address: CORICAFE; 1500 mts from Hampton Inn Hotel, Rio Segundo de

Alajuela, Provincia de Alajuela, Alajuela, 20109

Exporter Contact Name: Noelia Villalobos & Maria Auxiliadora Alpizar

Exporter Phone numbers: +(506) 2220 0685 // +(506)8939 2886

Exporter Email Address: noelia@sca.cr; malpizar@sca.cr

Copy to: gary@cupofexcellence.org kathia@cupofexcellence.org,

gabriela@cupofexcellence.org.

Box Dimensions: 0.39 x 0.30 x 0.41 (m)

All buyers must contact the exporter, coordinators and ACE within 7 days of the close of the

auction. Winning farmers will cover normal FOB costs occurring from warehouse to port, any

additional costs and/or special requests will be charged to buyers.

Modification of this Agreement

The Management of the Cup of Excellence program have the right to modify this Agreement and

any policies affecting the website. Any modification is effective immediately upon posting to the

website or distribution via electronic mail. Your continued use of the auction or website following

the notice of any modification shall be deemed your acceptance of the modification(s).

Indemnification, Claims and Disclaimer

Use of this internet auction and ACE website is at the bidder’s own risk. Bidders agrees not to

hold the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Salvadoran Coffee Institute, the provider of software,

internet services or telecommunications companies for any consequential, incidental and/or

liquidated damages if any that may result from or is claimed to result from, the bidder’s

participation in the auction.

The winning coffees have been selected and scored in blind cuppings. The winning farm and the

specific coffee lot information is submitted by each farmer and is not known to the public until

the winning coffees have been disclosed following the international stage cuppings held by the

chosen panel. ACE assumes the farm information is correct and up to date but is not responsible

should some information change before or after the auction. Bidders should assess the value of

each coffee based on quality in the cup and its appropriateness for their company. Farm

information is for educational purposes only but can be used to help sell the winning coffees. All

quality claims must be made within 15 days of delivery as per the Green Coffee Association of

NYC ruling but no claim can be made on any coffees shipped more than 45 days after the close

of the auction. Should a claim arise, a neutral arbitration panel will be assembled to assess the

claim. Bidding at this auction represents a contract to purchase the coffee. Should a buyer

default on payment legal remedies will be undertaken.

For any quality claims, ACE must be contacted directly before any public statements/ posts/ social

media articles or any related matters are published to a general audience. A resolution will be

amicably sought after between ACE, in-country partner, buyer, and exporter. Any public

statements/ posts/ social media articles or any other general audience published before

contacting ACE will result in a void quality claim process. ACE reserves the right to have the final

resolution in any quality claim.

Should a buyer not abide by the bidding agreement, ACE reserves the right to refuse that buyer

participation in future auctions.

Bidding Instructions and Pricing Costa Rica Cup of Excellence Internet Auction

The 2024 Cup of Excellence Internet Auction is sponsored by The Alliance for Coffee Excellence,

Inc. (ACE) and Asociación de Cafés Finos de Costa Rica. If assistance is required during the auction

please contact kathia@cupofexcellence.org, or erwin@cupofexcellence.org.