Drafted for review — not yet approved by a lawyer. This is a complete working draft describing what BagFellow actually does, written so a qualified adviser can review and adapt it rather than start from a blank page. Every [HIGHLIGHTED FIELD] must be completed. Parts of this document raise questions only a lawyer should answer, and it has not been reviewed by one. Do not publish as-is.

Terms and Conditions

Draft · 29 August 2026 · not in force

1. Who these terms are with

These terms form an agreement between you and BAGFELLOW LTD, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 17458509, with its registered office at Dept 7075, 196 High Road, Wood Green, London, N22 8HH, United Kingdom ("BagFellow", "we", "us"). By creating an account you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not use the service.

2. Definitions

• Shopper — a user who asks for something to be carried or bought abroad.
• Traveller — a user who offers spare luggage capacity on a trip they are already taking.
• Deal — an agreement between a shopper and a traveller, made through the platform.
• Reward — the amount a shopper pays a traveller for carrying, excluding the cost of the goods.
• Handover — an in-person meeting at which goods change hands. There are two: collection, when the traveller scans the shopper's code and photographs the item, and delivery, when the shopper scans the traveller's code. Each is confirmed by the person receiving the goods.

3. What BagFellow is, and is not

BagFellow is a marketplace that introduces shoppers to travellers. We are not a shipping company, a courier, a logistics provider, a freight forwarder, a carrier, an importer, an exporter, a customs broker or an insurer. We do not own, buy, sell, inspect, possess, transport, store, import, export or deliver any item. The agreement to carry is between the shopper and the traveller, and we are not a party to it.

We provide the introduction, we instruct a payment provider to reserve the shopper’s payment and to pay it out when the handover is proven, and we offer a process for resolving disputes. We never hold your money at any point. That is the whole of our role.

4. Eligibility

To carry for someone else you must be at least 18. A traveller is the declarant at a border, answers to customs for what is in their bag, and can be fined or detained. That is not a responsibility we will place on a minor.

To send or buy through BagFellow you must be at least 14, and if you are under the age of majority where you live you must have the permission of a parent or guardian, who is responsible for what you agree to.

We ask for your date of birth to apply these limits. Until you give it, you cannot post a trip or a request. You must give accurate information and keep it current. Certain features open only after identity verification. One person, one account.

5. Customs, duties and the traveller's responsibility

This is the most important clause in these terms. Read it.

A traveller carries goods in their own luggage and presents them to customs in their own name. The traveller is therefore the importer and the declarant. The traveller is responsible for declaring what they carry, for paying any duty or tax owed, and for complying with the import and export rules of every country on their route.

A shopper must describe accurately and completely what they are asking to be carried, including its true nature and value. A traveller may open and inspect anything before accepting it, and is strongly advised to do so. A traveller may refuse any item for any reason.

You accept that goods may be inspected, delayed, taxed or seized by any authority, and that this is a risk of carrying goods across a border rather than a failure of the service.

Who pays the duty depends on quantity. Where a shipment is an ordinary personal quantity, any customs duty is the shopper's: it is a cost of getting the thing they asked for, and the traveller is reimbursed on producing the receipt. Where a traveller has taken on more of an item than the usual personal allowance, the duty on that shipment is theirs, because exceeding the allowance was their choice. BagFellow tells the traveller which of the two applies before they accept, and records it on the deal.

A traveller must see what they are carrying. A shopper may ask for retail packaging to stay unopened — a boxed phone that must arrive boxed — but that is never a request to carry something unseen. Refuse any package whose contents you cannot inspect at all, whatever is offered for it.

Describe it accurately. A shopper who gives inaccurate or incomplete shipment details forfeits the right to complain or claim a refund about what was carried, and is responsible for every consequence that follows, including consequences suffered by the traveller.

6. What may not be carried

Only the item categories offered in the app may be requested or carried. Everything else is prohibited, including:

• Illegal drugs and narcotics.
• Cannabis, marijuana, hashish, THC and any cannabis-derived product, and CBD in any form — including where it is lawful at one end of the route.
• Prescription medicines without documented authorisation, and any controlled substance.
• Weapons, firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, explosives, fireworks and incendiary materials.
• Toxic, hazardous, corrosive, flammable or radioactive materials.
• Counterfeit, pirated or trademark-infringing goods, and stolen property.
• Cash, negotiable instruments, and precious metals or stones as bullion.
• Human remains, human organs, biological materials and medical samples.
• Live animals and protected wildlife.
• Anything restricted or prohibited by the law of the departure, transit or destination country, or by airline or customs regulation.

An item lawful where it is bought may still be prohibited where it lands. The route decides, not the origin.

Attempting to send a prohibited item will end your account, and may be reported to the authorities. A shopper who conceals the nature of an item is responsible for every consequence that follows, including consequences suffered by the traveller.

7. Fees

Our fee is charged on the reward only, never on the value of the goods being carried or reimbursed. The rate is 10% from the traveller and 5% from the shopper. The traveller's share falls as they complete more deliveries, to a minimum of 5%; the shopper's is 5% on every tier. Current rates are always shown before you commit to a deal.

8. Payment, reservation and payout

When a deal is agreed, the shopper authorises payment of the reward, the cost of any goods to be bought, and the service fee. That payment is reserved by our payment provider. BagFellow does not receive it, hold it, or control it at any point.

The payment is taken and paid out when the shopper scans the traveller’s code at the handover, which is what confirms the delivery. Our payment provider pays the traveller their share and pays BagFellow its fee as a separate destination; the two are paid directly and no part of the payment passes through BagFellow. The payout is instructed three days after the delivery is confirmed. Those three days are the same window in which either party may open a dispute under section 15 (Disputes); once they have passed with no dispute raised, the payout is instructed. The period is the same for every traveller on every tier.

The value you declare matters. It sets the minimum reward, so a higher declared value costs more to send; and it is the ceiling on what can be recovered from a traveller found at fault. Understating it lowers what you pay and lowers what you could be awarded.

Payouts are made to the destination you nominate, converted into that account's currency at the rate applying when the transfer is made. The rate and both amounts are recorded and visible to you.

Withdrawal requests are reviewed and sent within two business days.

The minimum withdrawal is US$25.00. Some payment providers set their own minimum, and a few set a maximum for a single transfer. Where they do, the higher of the two minimums applies and the provider's maximum applies. The exact figures for the destination you have chosen are shown in the app before you confirm a withdrawal.

Withdrawals are made in whole. You withdraw your full available balance rather than part of it, because each transfer carries a fee.

A balance below the minimum is not lost. It stays in your wallet and is paid out with your next withdrawal. If you have completed no deliveries for 60 days, our own minimum no longer applies to you and you may withdraw whatever you hold — a payment provider's own minimum is not ours to set aside, so where one applies it still does.

You cannot withdraw while a delivery of yours is still in progress. The balance stays in your wallet and becomes available once the delivery completes.

An unsettled claim is deducted from what you can withdraw. If you have been found at fault for a delivery and the amount has not been recovered, that amount is held back; anything above it remains yours to withdraw. Where the claim is larger than your balance, nothing can be withdrawn until it is settled.

Transfer fees are deducted from the amount you withdraw. Banks and payment providers charge for receiving money, those charges differ by country and account, and they may change without notice to us. We show the fee we know about before you confirm; where a receiving bank applies its own charge on arrival, that is between you and your bank.

9. Who carries the risk of loss or damage

Read this before you send or carry anything. It is the clause that decides who pays when something goes wrong.

BagFellow does not insure shipments. The shopper’s payment is reserved with our payment provider until delivery is proven, and that is the whole of the financial protection we offer.

A traveller is responsible for the goods from the moment they collect them until the moment they hand them over. Both moments are proven by a scan on the platform. If goods are lost, damaged or destroyed inside that window, the traveller repays the shopper — whether or not anyone was careless, and whether or not the cause is ever established.

Accepting a deal means accepting that. A traveller is not a courier with an insurer behind them; they are a person taking somebody else's property across a border, and this is the responsibility that comes with it.

The most this can ever be is the value the shopper declared, and never more — not the replacement cost, not the sentimental value, not consequential loss. Section 10 (When goods are lost or damaged in a traveller's care) describes what follows a finding.

What a traveller must do while goods are in their care. These are not the test of liability — the test is simply whether the goods arrived — but they are how a traveller avoids ever being tested, and failing them will be treated as a deliberate act where the exceptions below are considered:

• keep the goods with you, or in baggage that is yours and under your control;
• never leave them unattended, and never ask another person to carry, mind or check them in;
• keep sealed items sealed, and follow any handling instruction the shopper gave you;
• protect them against the ordinary hazards of the journey — crushing, heat, damp — in a way that suits what the item is;
• declare them at customs where declaration is required, and never combine them with anything that may not be carried;
• tell the shopper as soon as you know something has gone wrong, rather than at the handover.

When a traveller is not responsible. The traveller does not repay where they show that the loss or damage was caused by:

• what the item is — it was already damaged when collected, or it is of a kind that cannot survive ordinary handling and transport;
• how the shopper packed it, where the packing was not adequate for the journey the shopper asked for;
• something the shopper did, asked for, or got wrong — including a handling instruction that caused the damage, and anything mis-declared or mis-described;
• seizure, confiscation or destruction by customs or another authority, unless it followed from the traveller's own act or omission, such as failing to declare the goods or carrying something that may not be carried;
• an airline or other carrier losing, damaging or destroying baggage the traveller checked in, where the bag was checked in the traveller's own name, the goods were carried and declared as these terms require, and the traveller reports it to the carrier and gives the shopper the baggage reference and the claim;
• an event outside the traveller's reasonable control that they could not have avoided by taking the steps listed above.

It is for the traveller to show that one of these applies. That is the practical difference this rule makes: the question a reviewer asks is no longer "was the traveller careless", it is "has the traveller shown why this is not theirs to repay".

Delay by itself is not loss. A late delivery is not something the traveller repays, unless the goods were perishable, the shopper said so before the deal was accepted, and the delay destroyed them.

Checked baggage, and this one matters. A traveller is responsible for what they control. An airline is not something they control. Where a carrier loses or damages a bag the traveller checked in, the loss sits with the shopper, not the traveller.

The traveller must still be able to show it was the carrier: the bag checked in their own name, the goods carried and declared as these terms require, the loss reported to the carrier, and the baggage reference and claim passed to the shopper. Whatever the carrier pays out on that claim belongs to the shopper, up to the declared value, and the traveller must hand it over. A traveller who never reports it, or who cannot show the bag was theirs and properly checked, has not established the exception and repays under the rule above.

This is the right way round because of who chose what. The shopper chose a traveller over an insured courier and set the declared value that priced the deal; the traveller accepted a reward that is a small fraction of it. The paragraph below applies with particular force here.

If you are sending something you could not stand to lose, insure it yourself. This is the plainest thing in these terms and the sentence most worth acting on. Declaring a value sets the ceiling on what you can recover here; it is not insurance, and it does not make us an insurer.

10. When goods are lost or damaged in a traveller's care

Where a dispute is resolved and the traveller has not established an exception under section 9 (Who carries the risk of loss or damage):

• The shopper is refunded everything they paid us for that deal, including the reward and our fee.
• A debt is recorded from the traveller to the shopper for the value the shopper declared, less anything the refund already covered.
• Any balance in the traveller's BagFellow wallet is applied to that debt immediately, and anything that later reaches the wallet is applied before it can be withdrawn.
• The traveller's account is paused until the debt is settled. The pause lifts automatically when nothing is outstanding.

Where an exception is established, the shopper is refunded what they paid us and the traveller owes nothing further.

Where a traveller does not settle a debt, we may pursue it using the identity information held on the account, and may share it with the shopper or with an authority or adviser acting to recover it, to the extent the law allows. Registering as a traveller means accepting that.

11. Inspection, and what accepting a deal means

A traveller may refuse any item for any reason, and may open and inspect anything before accepting it unless the shopper has asked for it to stay sealed — in which case the traveller may refuse the deal instead. By accepting a deal, a traveller confirms that they have read the shipment details, had a fair opportunity to inspect the item, and agreed to carry it voluntarily.

A traveller voluntarily assumes the risks of carrying goods across a border, including customs and border inspection, confiscation, delay, penalties, fines, investigation, questioning by authorities, detention and legal proceedings. To the fullest extent the law allows, users waive any claim against BagFellow arising from a customs inspection, investigation, seizure, delay, penalty, fine or governmental action.

12. Meeting in person

Handovers happen face to face between two people who have not met. Meet in a public place with people around, in daylight where you can, and do not carry large amounts of cash. Tell someone where you are going.

We are not responsible for theft, assault, injury, accident, property damage or any other incident occurring at a meeting between users. Arranging the meeting, confirming who you are meeting, and your own safety while you are there are yours.

13. Off-platform arrangements

Any agreement, payment, shipment or communication arranged outside BagFellow is entirely at your own risk. Payment reservation, the dispute process, the liability rules above and every other protection in these terms apply only to deals made and paid for through the platform. Taking a deal off the platform is also a breach of these terms and may end your account.

14. Cancellation, refunds, and a traveller who can no longer travel

When you are charged. Agreeing a deal does not charge you. Your payment method is verified when the deal is agreed, and payment is taken only after delivery has been confirmed.

Cancelling before delivery. Either party may cancel at any time before the goods are handed over at delivery. Where a deal is cancelled before delivery is confirmed, no payment is taken from the shopper.

After payment has been taken. Once payment has been taken, any refund is made by the payment provider, through the dispute process in section 15 (Disputes).

Where the traveller has already bought the goods. If the traveller has bought goods on the shopper's behalf, cancellation by the shopper does not entitle them to recover the purchase price unless the traveller agrees or a dispute is resolved in their favour.

A traveller who can no longer travel. If you can no longer make the trip, tell us as soon as you know, and mark the trip as at risk in the app. It comes off the board at once, and every shopper who has a deal with you is told immediately. Each of them may either wait for a replacement traveller or cancel, in which case they are not charged.

Finding a replacement is done by hand, for now. There is no screen that matches you to another traveller on your corridor. Email support@bagfellow.com or use Support in the app, and a person will look. If we cannot find a replacement within the time we allow, the shopper is not charged and you return the goods under the rules below. Everything in this section applies to a relay arranged that way exactly as it will to one arranged in the app.

A replacement traveller has to be approved by the shopper. A shopper agreed to a particular person, whose identity we checked. Nobody else takes their goods without their agreement, and no substitution happens silently.

If the goods have not yet been collected, nothing needs to move. The replacement traveller collects from the shopper in the ordinary way, and the deal continues with them.

If the goods are already with you, getting them to the replacement traveller is your responsibility and your cost. You accepted custody; a change in your plans is not the shopper's to pay for, and the shopper is charged nothing further. If no replacement is found, the same applies to returning the goods to the shopper.

Responsibility passes at the scan, not at the agreement. The handover between two travellers is scanned exactly like any other handover. Until that scan the goods are still yours under section 9 (Who carries the risk of loss or damage), so if they are lost or damaged on their way to the replacement traveller, they are lost or damaged in your window and section 9 (Who carries the risk of loss or damage) applies to you.

You do not earn the reward on a deal you hand on. Where no replacement traveller is found within the time we allow, the shopper is not charged.

Where the cancellation was genuinely outside your control — an airline cancelling the flight, a medical emergency, a refused visa — a reviewer may decide, at our discretion, to cover the cost of getting the goods onward. That is a decision about cost only, made case by case, and it is not an entitlement. It never relieves you of responsibility for the goods themselves: they must still reach the replacement traveller or return to the shopper.

Abandoning the goods, refusing to hand them on, or refusing to return them is a matter for sections 9 (Who carries the risk of loss or damage) and 10 (When goods are lost or damaged in a traveller's care), and is treated as a deliberate act rather than a cancellation.

15. Disputes

If something goes wrong, either party may open a dispute within three days of the delivery being confirmed — the period described in section 8 (Payment, escrow and payout), after which the payment becomes withdrawable and no dispute can be opened on that deal. A reviewer will consider both accounts and any evidence, and will decide to release the payment to the traveller, refund it to the shopper, or divide it. Both parties receive the decision and the reasoning in writing.

By using BagFellow you agree that this process determines what we instruct our payment provider to do with a reserved payment. It does not prevent you pursuing the other party by other means.

16. Conduct

You must not: arrange or complete a deal outside the platform to avoid fees; exchange contact details before payment is complete; impersonate anyone; harass another user; or manipulate ratings. Exchanging contact details prematurely removes the protection a reserved payment provides, which is the reason it is prohibited rather than merely discouraged.

17. Ratings and content

You keep ownership of what you write, and grant us a licence to display it on the platform. Ratings must be honest and about the deal. We may remove content that is unlawful or abusive.

18. Our liability to you

We provide the introduction, the payment arrangement described in section 8, and the dispute process. We are not liable for loss, damage, theft, delay, seizure, confiscation or destruction of goods, nor for the acts or omissions of any user. Section 9 (Who carries the risk of loss or damage) governs what a traveller owes a shopper; this section governs what we owe either of you, which is much less.

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive or special loss arising from the platform or any shipment, including lost profit, customs action, confiscation, delay, penalty, fine, fraud, personal injury, or a dispute between users.

Nothing here excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded. Subject to that, our total liability to you for any claim is limited to [THE FEES WE RECEIVED ON THE DEAL / A CAP].

19. Indemnity

You will indemnify us against claims, losses and penalties arising from your breach of these terms, from goods you sent or carried, or from any duty, tax or fine imposed because of them.

20. Suspension and closure

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, that we reasonably suspect of fraud, or where we are required to. Where a dispute is open or an amount is due to either party, that is resolved before closing.

21. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

22. Changes

We may change these terms. Material changes will be notified in the app or by email before they take effect, and continuing to use BagFellow afterwards means accepting them.