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, and the sections marked Needs legal review raise questions only a lawyer should answer. Do not publish as-is.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 [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], registered in [JURISDICTION] ("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 — the in-person meeting at which both parties scan each other's code.

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, hold the payment until the handover is proven, and offer a process for resolving disputes. 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.

Needs legal review. A 14-year-old cannot form a binding contract in most jurisdictions, and data protection law in several countries sets the age of digital consent at 16. Confirm the minimum, whether verifiable parental consent is required, and what the app store age ratings must be.

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.

Needs legal review. Carrying goods for a fee may amount to commercial importation in some countries, with consequences for the traveller beyond duty. The wording here assigns responsibility but does not eliminate exposure, and the corridors you launch in should be assessed individually.

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 standard rate is 10% from the traveller and 5% from the shopper, and both fall as you complete more deliveries, to a minimum of 5% and 2.5% respectively. Current rates are always shown before you commit to a deal.

8. Payment, escrow and payout

When a deal is agreed, the shopper pays the reward, the cost of any goods to be bought, and the service fee. We hold that money; we do not pass it to the traveller yet.

The payment is released when both parties scan each other's code at the handover. It then appears in the traveller's balance immediately, and becomes available to withdraw after a clearing period that depends on the traveller's tier (currently 3 to 10 days).

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 [MINIMUM WITHDRAWAL — currently US$10].

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.

Needs legal review — the highest-priority item in this document. Holding a user's money between payment and payout may constitute a regulated payment or e-money activity, which typically requires authorisation. Confirm before accepting real money whether the model must change so that a licensed provider holds the funds.

9. Who carries the risk of loss

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. We hold the shopper's payment until delivery is proven, and that is the whole of the financial protection we offer.

The shopper carries the risk of loss or damage to their own goods. Handing something to a traveller is not the same as handing it to a courier, and there is no carrier behind it. If an item is lost, damaged, delayed, seized or destroyed, the shopper bears that loss.

The exception is the traveller's own fault. A traveller becomes responsible for repaying the shopper where a reviewer finds, on the evidence, that the loss was caused by the traveller's negligence or deliberate act — for example leaving goods unattended, handing them to someone else, ignoring instructions the shopper gave about handling, opening something they were asked to keep sealed, or simply keeping the item.

Where that finding is made, the amount owed is the value the shopper declared, and section 10 describes what follows. Where it is not, the shopper is refunded what they paid us and nothing more is owed.

If an airline loses the bag, the traveller should pursue the airline, because only they hold the ticket, the baggage receipt and the right to claim; we have no standing to make a baggage claim on someone else's ticket. That is not by itself negligence, so absent a finding under the paragraph above, the loss falls on the shopper.

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.

Needs legal review. Allocating the risk of loss to the customer is permitted in some jurisdictions and restricted in others, particularly where the user is a consumer. The negligence standard, who bears the burden of proof, and whether this clause survives consumer protection rules should each be confirmed per launch corridor.

10. When a traveller is found at fault

Where a dispute is resolved with a finding of negligence or misconduct against the traveller:

• 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 a dispute is resolved without such a finding, the shopper is refunded what they paid us and the traveller owes nothing.

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. Escrow, 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 and refunds

Either party may cancel before the goods are handed over, and the shopper is refunded in full. After the traveller has bought goods on a shopper's behalf, cancellation by the shopper does not entitle them to a refund of the purchase price unless the traveller agrees or a dispute is resolved in their favour.

15. Disputes

If something goes wrong, either party may open a dispute before the clearing period ends. 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 happens to money we hold. 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 escrow 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 escrow 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 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].

Needs legal review. Liability caps and exclusions are the clauses most often struck down, and consumer protection rules differ sharply by country.

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 money is held, we will resolve it through the dispute process before closing.

21. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of [JURISDICTION], and the courts of [JURISDICTION] have exclusive jurisdiction.

Needs legal review. A choice-of-law clause does not always displace the mandatory consumer protections of a user's home country.

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.