Terms of Service

1. About CarryCircle

CarryCircle is a marketplace operated by [COMPANY LEGAL NAME], of [COMPANY ADDRESS] ("CarryCircle," "we," "us," or "our"), that connects Shoppers who want items sourced and delivered from other countries with Travelers who are willing to buy and carry those items on their journeys. CarryCircle is not the buyer or seller of any item listed, requested, or delivered through the platform, does not take title to any item at any point, and is not a party to the agreement formed between a Shopper and a Traveler when a Request is accepted. CarryCircle's role is to provide the technology, matching, verification, payment, and escrow infrastructure that makes these peer-to-peer transactions possible.

2. Changes to these Terms

[COMPANY LEGAL NAME] may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or business practices. When we make a change we consider material, we will give existing users at least [NOTICE PERIOD] notice by email, in-app notice, or a banner on the site before the change takes effect. Non-material changes, such as clarifications or corrections that do not affect your rights or obligations, may be made without advance notice. Your continued use of CarryCircle after a change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree with a material change, your only remedy is to stop using CarryCircle and close your account before the change takes effect.

3. Eligibility

To create an account or use CarryCircle as a Shopper or Traveler, you must meet all of the following requirements:

• You are at least 18 years old.
• You have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract in your jurisdiction.
• You are not identified on any sanctions, denied-party, or barred-persons list maintained by a government or international body, and you are not otherwise prohibited from receiving services under applicable law.
• You will comply with all import, export, customs, and trade laws that apply to any item you request, offer to carry, or deliver through CarryCircle.
• You have not been previously suspended or removed from CarryCircle for violating these Terms, unless we have given you written permission to rejoin.

CarryCircle may ask you to confirm any of the above at any time and may suspend or terminate your account if we reasonably believe you no longer meet these requirements.

4. Accounts & verification

You may hold only one CarryCircle account, and it must be registered in your own legal name using accurate, current information. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your account, whether or not you authorized it, except to the extent caused by our own security failure.

Before you can act as a verified Traveler, and in some cases before you can act as a Shopper, CarryCircle may require you to complete identity verification, which may include a government-issued ID check and a selfie or liveness check processed through Stripe Identity. We may also request additional information at any time to confirm your identity, address, or right to travel with or handle particular items. Completing verification allows you to be shown as a "verified traveler" on the platform and unlocks certain features, but it is not, and should not be understood as, an endorsement, background check, or guarantee of any member's trustworthiness, reliability, or conduct. You are solely responsible for exercising your own judgment when dealing with other members.

5. Communications

By creating an account, you agree that CarryCircle may send you transactional and account-related communications by email (delivered through our provider, Postmark) and, where you have provided a phone number, by SMS. These include Request, offer, acceptance, payment, escrow, and delivery notices; security alerts; and updates to these Terms or our policies.

You may opt out of optional marketing emails and non-essential SMS notices at any time using the unsubscribe link in the message or your account notification settings. Certain notices, such as those confirming a payment, an escrow release, a delivery deadline, or a security event, are mandatory to the operation of the service and cannot be turned off while your account is active, because they are necessary for you to receive timely information about your own transactions.

6. Prohibited conduct

When using CarryCircle, you agree that you will not:

• Engage in fraud, misrepresentation, or any attempt to deceive another member, CarryCircle, or a payment or verification provider.
• Scrape, crawl, or use bots, automation, or any other automated means to access, collect data from, or interact with the platform, except through means we expressly authorize.
• Circumvent CarryCircle's fees by contacting another member to arrange payment, delivery, or any part of a transaction outside the platform once a Request, offer, or match has been made through CarryCircle.
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including by creating a false identity or using another person's identity documents.
• Use CarryCircle for any unlawful purpose, or to request, offer, or carry any item whose possession, sale, export, or import is illegal in the origin or destination location.
• Interfere with, obstruct, or attempt to improperly influence a dispute, mediation, or investigation conducted by CarryCircle.
• Interfere with the proper functioning of the platform, including by introducing malware, attempting unauthorized access, or disrupting other users' ability to use the service.

7. Your content

"Your content" means anything you submit to CarryCircle, including Request descriptions, offer messages, item photos, reviews, ratings, and support communications. You retain ownership of your content, but by submitting it you grant CarryCircle a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, adapt, and distribute it as needed to operate, promote, and improve the platform, such as showing your item photos and reviews to other members.

You represent and warrant that you own your content or otherwise have all rights necessary to grant this license, and that your content does not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy, and publicity rights. CarryCircle may remove or refuse to display any content that violates these Terms or that we believe creates risk or liability for CarryCircle or another member.

8. Payments & escrow

All payments on CarryCircle are processed by Stripe, our third-party payment processor. When a Shopper accepts a Traveler's offer, the agreed amount is charged and held in escrow by CarryCircle rather than paid directly to the Traveler.

Funds held in escrow are released to the Traveler only after the Shopper accepts delivery, or once an applicable acceptance window has passed without a valid rejection, in each case as described in the sections on delivery and refunds below. In performing these functions, CarryCircle acts solely as a limited payment collection agent for the Traveler for the purpose of receiving and later releasing funds on the Traveler's behalf; CarryCircle does not extend credit, act as a bank, or provide banking or money-transmission services beyond what is necessary to facilitate transactions between Shoppers and Travelers.

9. How transactions work

A CarryCircle transaction is an agreement directly between a Shopper and a Traveler; CarryCircle facilitates the transaction but is not a party to it. The typical flow is:

1. A Shopper posts a Request describing the item they want, including details such as destination, timing, and budget.
2. One or more verified Travelers review open Requests and submit an Offer specifying the price and expected delivery timing.
3. The Shopper reviews the Offers received and accepts one, at which point the agreed amount is charged and held in escrow.
4. The Traveler purchases the item and carries or ships it to the agreed delivery point.
5. The Shopper inspects the item on delivery and either accepts it or raises a rejection within the applicable acceptance window.
6. Once the item is accepted, or the acceptance window passes without a valid rejection, escrow is released to the Traveler.

10. Prohibited items

Certain items may not be requested, offered, carried, or delivered through CarryCircle, including items whose possession, sale, export from the origin location, or import into the destination location is prohibited or restricted by applicable law. CarryCircle maintains a current list of prohibited and restricted items on our Prohibited Items page, which forms part of these Terms and may be updated from time to time. It is your responsibility, as either a Shopper or a Traveler, to review that list and confirm that an item is permitted before posting a Request, submitting an Offer, or accepting a match.

11. Fees

A CarryCircle transaction may include the following charges, all of which are disclosed to the Shopper before an Offer is accepted:

• The item cost, which is the price the Traveler pays to purchase the requested item.
• The CarryCircle service fee, which becomes non-refundable once a Traveler has been matched to the Request, regardless of whether the transaction later completes.
• The Traveler's fee, which compensates the Traveler for sourcing, carrying, and delivering the item.
• Any applicable taxes charged on the transaction.

12. Import restrictions, customs & duties

Travelers and Shoppers are each responsible for identifying and complying with any customs declarations, import restrictions, duties, and taxes that apply to an item at its destination country, and for any penalties, delays, or seizures that result from a failure to do so. CarryCircle may provide general, informational guidance about typical customs treatment for certain categories of items, but this guidance is not customs, tax, or legal advice, is not guaranteed to be accurate or current, and should not be relied on as a substitute for consulting the relevant customs authority or a qualified professional. Neither CarryCircle nor a Traveler is responsible for duties, taxes, or fees assessed by a customs authority unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing.

13. Delivery, inspection & acceptance

When a Traveler delivers an item, the Shopper must inspect it within the acceptance window agreed for that transaction, which defaults to [ACCEPTANCE WINDOW] if no other period is agreed. During the acceptance window, the Shopper may accept the item, or reject it on the grounds described in the Rejection & refunds section below. If the Shopper affirmatively accepts the item, or takes no action before the acceptance window closes, the transaction is treated as accepted and the funds held in escrow are released to the Traveler.

14. Rejection & refunds

A Shopper may reject a delivered item only where the item delivered is materially different from what was requested, or is damaged or otherwise not in the condition described by the Traveler. Rejection is not available simply because the Shopper changed their mind, no longer wants the item, or found a better price elsewhere.

If a Shopper raises a rejection within the acceptance window, CarryCircle will review the claim and may request photos, messages, or other evidence from both the Shopper and the Traveler. Where CarryCircle determines the rejection is valid, the funds held in escrow are refunded to the Shopper, in whole or in part, in place of being released to the Traveler. Where CarryCircle determines the rejection is not valid, escrow is released to the Traveler as if the item had been accepted. CarryCircle's determination on a rejection is made in good faith based on the evidence available and is final as between the Shopper and the Traveler for purposes of the escrow release, without prejudice to either party's other legal rights against the other.

15. Risk of loss & insurance

As between the Shopper and the Traveler, the Traveler bears the risk of loss, theft, or damage to an item from the time of purchase until the item is delivered to, and accepted by, the Shopper. CarryCircle does not itself insure items in transit and does not guarantee reimbursement for loss or damage outside the escrow and rejection process described in these Terms.

16. Intellectual property

CarryCircle owns, or has the right to use, all intellectual property in the CarryCircle platform, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, and the CarryCircle name and brand, other than content that belongs to our members. We grant you a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the platform for your own personal, non-commercial use in accordance with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works based on the platform or its content, or use CarryCircle's name, logo, or branding without our prior written consent.

17. Disclaimers

18. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, CarryCircle will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising out of or relating to your use of the platform, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, CarryCircle's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the platform will not exceed [LIABILITY CAP]. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation of certain damages, so some of the exclusions and limitations in this section may not apply to you, in which case our liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by applicable law.

19. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless [COMPANY LEGAL NAME], its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of CarryCircle, your content, your violation of these Terms, or your dealings, transactions, or disputes with another member, including any Request, Offer, delivery, or payment made or received through the platform.

20. Dispute resolution & governing law

If a dispute arises between you and CarryCircle, we encourage you to first contact us so we can attempt to resolve it informally and in good faith. If a dispute cannot be resolved through informal negotiation within a reasonable time, it will be resolved through [DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISM].

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or your use of CarryCircle, are governed by the laws of [GOVERNING LAW], without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any proceeding not subject to the dispute resolution mechanism above will be brought exclusively in the courts of [VENUE], and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. [CLASS ACTION STANCE]

21. General

These Terms, together with any policies referenced in them, constitute the entire agreement between you and CarryCircle regarding your use of the platform, and supersede any prior agreements between you and CarryCircle on that subject. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. CarryCircle's failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of that right or provision.

You may not assign or transfer these Terms, or any rights or obligations under them, without CarryCircle's prior written consent. CarryCircle may assign or transfer these Terms, in whole or in part, without restriction, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets. If you have questions about these Terms, you can reach us at [SUPPORT EMAIL].