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Payment and Shipping Requirements for

Nicaragua

Cup of Excellence Internet Auction

The 2022 Cup of Excellence Internet Auction is sponsored by The Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Inc. (ACE) and CONATRADEC. If assistance is required immediately following the auction please contact darrin@cupofexcellence.org,david@mcultivo.com,  eescobargarc@yahoo.com, kathia@cupofexcellence.org or hannah@cupofexcellence.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 26 coffee lots being offered for sale through this internet auction were designated Cup of Excellence (COE) winners at the 2022 Nicaragua competition. The designated coffees were blindly cupped through the following process:

Preselection stage:  April 4^th to 8th with the 11 National Judges, at Jinotega, Nicaragua, with Eduardo Ambrocio as the head judge.

National stage:  May 9th to 14^th with the 11 National Judges at Jinotega, Nicaragua with Eduardo Ambrocio 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 top 1 lots scoring 90+ points have already been separated into 2 distinct lots labeled A and B.  Samples have been made available.

Packing Information

The Nicaragua Cup of Excellence coffees are vacuum packed in cartons each containing 2 (two) 15kg bags.  Successful bidders will be charged $.20 (twenty 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 M-Cultivo of the entire lot. Individual bids once accepted by the auction software, may not be revoked or withdrawn.  M-Cultivo 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 M-Cultivo^[1] 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: $170 USD

Sea freight: $220 USD

Payment Requirements

Once the auction is over, the buyer must go through the checkout process on the M-Cultivo platform. Enter the shipping information, select a shipping option and provide the payment method. For further information and guidance regarding the checkout and payment process  please contact David Paparelli (david@mcultivo.com)

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.

Shipping Requirements 

Shipping instructions are to be sent to M- Cultivo 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 CONATRADEC on any COE lot shipped after 45 days.  COE lots for Nicaragua are shipped, terms^[2] 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.

THE NOMINATED EXPORTER

Nicaragua’s nominated exporter is: 

Exporter Name: PRODECOOP, R.L

Exporter Address: Esquina de los Bancos 75 vrs. al oeste, Estelí – Nicaragua

COE Coffee Warehouse Address: Palacagüina, Madriz

From this year the expo communication will be done through  M-Cultivo.

M- Cultivo will be the liaison between you as winning bidder and PRODECOOP as exporter.

Please refer your shipping instructions, payment information and export related questions to M-Cultivo

Contact Name: David Paparelli

Contact Email: support@mcultivo.com

M-Cultivo main office line:+1 (678) 404-9338

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

Box Dimensions:  (30 kg) 284 mm x 374 mm x 428 mm

All buyers must contact M-Cultivo 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, Nicaragua 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.