FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

We are a wholesale supplier and therefore this shop is exclusively for trade customers.

Under "About Us", click on "Become a Customer" to access the registration form. You can enter your billing address and other order-relevant details, and upload your proof of trade registration.

Accepted proof of trade registration includes:

• Trade licence or business registration
• Extract from or entry in the commercial register
• For service businesses: company or practice letterhead – ideally including a company or practice stamp
• Certificate as a naturopath, Reiki, yoga or Feng Shui practitioner

You may also send your proof of trade registration by e-mail to Neukunden@berk.de.

In the "Login" area you will find the option to reset your password. Enter your registered e-mail address in the designated field and confirm "Forgot password". Within a few minutes you will receive an e-mail and can then set a new password of your choice.

To change your billing address, please send an up-to-date business registration or re-registration by e-mail to Neukunden@berk.de.

Your preferred payment terms can be selected when placing an online order, left as a note in the text field, or communicated by e-mail or phone. Details of all available payment options can be found in our General Terms and Conditions.

To set a new e-mail address for your login, simply call us or send a message to one of our known addresses, for example Neukunden@berk.de. Once your e-mail address has been updated in our customer database, you will receive your new login details for our online shop by separate e-mail.

The fastest and most reliable way to place an order is via our online shop at www.berk.de, or alternatively by e-mail to Bestellungen@berk.de. Our customer service team is also happy to advise you by phone and take your order.

Please log in with your account first. Prices and the shopping cart are only shown after logging in.

Quick order by item number. This is handy if you already know the numbers, for example from our catalogue:

1. Click the shopping cart icon at the top right and choose "Display shopping cart". Or go straight to your shopping cart.
2. On the shopping cart page you will find the field "Product number". Enter the number (e.g. HS-100) and confirm with the tick or the Enter key.
3. The item is now in your cart. You can change the quantity directly in its line. For the next item, simply enter the next number.
4. Finally, click "Go to checkout". There you check your address and payment method and submit your order.

Via the search. You can also type an item number into the search bar at the top. The matching item then appears at the top of the results; if the number is unique, the product page opens straight away. There you add the item with "Add to shopping cart".

Our minimum order value is €100 net.

For orders below €100, we charge a small order surcharge of €5 to cover our additional handling costs. The first order is exempt from this and must reach €100 net. The surcharge is applied automatically in the online shop until the €100 threshold is reached. Orders below €50 net will not be accepted.

Payment terms within Germany:

For the first delivery, the following payment options are available:

• Direct debit immediately with 4% discount
• PayPal or prepayment without discount

If you choose to pay by PayPal or prepayment, you will need to wait for the picking process to be completed, as shipping costs are calculated based on the number of parcels and their weight. The invoice together with a PayPal payment request will be sent to you by e-mail immediately after invoicing.

From the second order onwards, the following additional payment terms are available:

• Invoice: 8 days with 2% discount or 30 days net
• Direct debit: 30 days net

Payment terms for international orders:

Prepayment with 4% discount or PayPal without discount.

Special terms apply for Austria:

• Direct debit immediately with 4% discount
• Prepayment or PayPal without discount

A separate delivery address can be left in the text field when placing an online order, or communicated by e-mail or phone. It can also be permanently stored in our system as your default delivery address.

An order confirmation is generally only sent for online orders. For orders placed by e-mail or phone, we are happy to send you an order confirmation on request.

Please contact our customer service team. In urgent cases, we welcome your call so that your request can be processed as quickly as possible. You can reach us at 0049 (0)7771 8004-0. For less urgent matters, you can also send us a message by e-mail to Bestellungen@berk.de.

For enquiries about availability or purchasing larger quantities, please send an e-mail to Bestellungen@berk.de.

Shipping within Germany:
We charge a flat rate of €6.90 per parcel. Orders with a net invoice value of €400.00 or more are shipped free of charge (one parcel). A surcharge applies for deliveries to islands.

International shipping:
Costs are calculated per parcel based on weight. Orders with a net invoice value of €680.00 or more are shipped free of charge within Europe (one parcel). Shipments outside Europe are always subject to freight charges. Our carrier applies a surcharge for outlying areas within the EU.

The free shipping threshold of €400 (domestic) or €680 (international) applies to one parcel only. If your order is shipped in multiple parcels and the threshold has been reached, one parcel will be shipped free of charge and all additional parcels will be charged.

Orders are generally processed and dispatched on the same day or the following business day. Once your order has been picked, you will receive your invoice along with a tracking link by e-mail.

For an express surcharge of €5.00, we will prioritise your order during picking. The following express delivery options for next-day delivery are available within Germany only:

Deliveries within Germany are made exclusively by GLS, and international deliveries by FedEx.

Once your order has been picked, you will receive your invoice together with a tracking link by e-mail. This link will give you information about the expected delivery date. All delivery updates, including failed delivery attempts, are provided digitally only – paper notifications are no longer available.

If you experience any difficulties, our service team will be happy to help.

Obvious defects and requests to return undamaged goods must be reported to us immediately, and no later than two weeks after delivery.

Please note that we cannot accept carriage-forward (unpaid) returns. All returns must be sent to the following address:

Berk GmbH & Co. KG, Gießereistr. 13–15, DE-78333 Stockach

In all cases, please include the following details:

• Customer number
• Invoice number
• Article number
• Quantity

If the delivered item is defective, lacks warranted characteristics, or becomes faulty within the warranty period due to manufacturing or material defects, we will of course provide a replacement. In such cases we reserve the right to request the return of the goods.

Please document the delivery with photographs.

In this case, a phone call or an e-mail is all it takes to arrange a replacement or re-delivery.

We will send you the correct item on request – either as a follow-up delivery or with your next order, subject to prior agreement. Please provide us with the article number of the incorrectly delivered item. We reserve the right to request its return, or we are happy to offer you a corresponding price reduction if you choose to keep the product.

For returns of undamaged goods, we will issue a credit note by arrangement. The credit amount can be refunded to your bank account on request, or it can remain as a balance on your customer account and be deducted from your next order.

Information on the countries of origin of our products can be found on our website under "About Us" → "Downloads". An Excel spreadsheet containing all customs tariff numbers, EAN numbers and countries of origin for our products is available there for download.

Once you have opened the spreadsheet, you can use the search function (magnifying glass icon, top right) to enter the desired article number – the corresponding row with all information will be highlighted.

You are welcome to use our product photos and texts on your website, provided they are used exclusively for the purpose of advertising our products.

Under "About Us", you will find the "Downloads" option on the left-hand side. Current product images from our catalogue can be downloaded there.

To request the password, please contact our customer service team at 0049 (0)7771 8004-0.

Holy Smokes is Berk's own brand of incense sticks and incense. As far as possible today, the incense sticks are made to original, traditional recipes: woods, flowers, roots, resins, herbs and oils are blended and rolled by hand onto a bamboo stick.

The range includes lines such as Blue Line, Green Line, Natural Line and Chakra Line, incense cones as well as pure resins, herbs and incense blends. You will find everything under Incense Sticks and Incense.

Masala means blend. For masala incense sticks, a paste is made from woods – above all sandalwood –, resins, oils and herbs. The woods are ground into fine shavings and the herbs pounded into powder in a mortar. The paste is then rolled into stick form: around a wooden core, as is usual in India, or without a core, as in Tibet, China and Japan. The scent comes from all the ingredients together.

As a rule of thumb: the more oils are used, the more ethereal and delicate the scent; the more herbs and woods, the earthier and drier. Tibetan incense sticks contain a high proportion of herbs and woods, Japanese ones a high proportion of oils. Indian incense sticks lie in between.

Pure incense materials and blends are left to smoulder on glowing incense charcoal in a fireproof bowl. This takes a little more time than an incense stick, but lets you try materials on their own or put together your own blends.

Incense burners and charcoal get very hot: place the bowl on a heat-resistant coaster and never leave the embers unattended. You will find charcoal, burners, screens and incense tools under Incense Accessories, and explanations of individual materials in the Incense Encyclopaedia.

In the Incense Encyclopaedia: it describes around 170 terms from A to Z – resins such as frankincense and myrrh, herbs, woods and incense blends –, each with its scent and notes on use. Many product texts in the shop link directly to the matching entries.

No. Berk is a wholesaler and supplies trade customers only. As a private customer you can buy our products from specialist retailers or selected online shops. On the page For end customers you can find specialist shops near you by postcode.

VE (Verpackungseinheit) is the packaging unit. Many products are supplied in packs, for example several packets of incense sticks. The number of pieces per packaging unit is shown on every product page. Trade prices are visible after signing in.

Yes. Our catalogue is published once a year with all new products and can be browsed as an online flipbook. In the shop, new products are also grouped under “New Products”.