Terms of Service

1. What Shippyar does

You send us a link to a product sold in the United States. We check it, quote you, and — once you have paid that quote — buy the item as your buying agent with our own US payment method. The item comes to our warehouse in California, where we photograph it, store it, pack it and ship it to the address you choose.

We are not the seller of the goods. The store you chose is. We are not a customs broker, a freight forwarder of record, or an insurer.

2. Your account

You need an account to order, and the details on it — your name, email, recipient names and addresses — must be accurate. Customs paperwork is built from them, and a wrong detail can hold or return your parcel.

One person, one account, and you must be at least 18 years old. You are responsible for what is ordered through your account and for keeping your login to yourself.

3. Quotes and prices

Every order gets a written quote with each line shown separately. A quote is valid for 72 hours, because store prices, stock and carrier rates move. After that you can ask for an updated one in a click.

We buy nothing before you have approved and paid the purchase quote. If the store's price has gone up by the time we buy, we send you a quote for the difference and buy only after you pay it, or you can cancel the item for a full refund. If it has gone down, we refund the difference automatically. If the item is out of stock, we refund it in full.

4. Fees and payment

Our fees are published on the Pricing & Fees page and are part of these terms. In short: 8% of items plus US sales tax to buy for you (minimum $10), the carrier's own shipping rate with no markup, any add-ons you chose, and a payment processing charge of 4.4% + $0.30 on the amount charged.

Everything is billed in US dollars. The processing charge is part of our service price, not a card surcharge; your bank's conversion rate is between you and your bank, and we add nothing to it. We accept cards only, through our payment provider — we never see or store your card number.

Promo codes and referral rewards come off our convenience fee only, never below zero, and never off the items, US sales tax, shipping or payment processing. An order takes one discount: a friend's invite discount can't be combined with a code, and a referral credit is used only on an order without a code. Codes and credits have no cash value, can't be sold or transferred, and end on the date shown. A referral reward is earned when the invited friend's first order is delivered. Inviting yourself, through another account, email address, card, delivery address or phone, earns nothing, and we may remove a discount, end a credit or withhold a reward when the rules weren't followed.

5. Prohibited and restricted items

Our Prohibited & Restricted Items list is part of these terms. You are responsible for knowing what may be imported where you live; we check what we can, but local rules are yours to follow.

If a prohibited item is only discovered after we bought it, there are two cases. If the product page showed the problem clearly and our review missed it, you get a full refund including our convenience fee. If it was not visible on the product page, or the order described it differently, we attempt a return to the store and refund whatever the store refunds; alternatively you may have the item delivered to a US address at your own cost. Items that cannot legally be returned or shipped are disposed of as the law requires.

Because of US sanctions and export rules, we don't ship to the countries and regions listed on our Prohibited & Restricted Items page, or to anyone on a US government restricted-party list. You may not use Shippyar to send goods to those places or people, directly or through someone else. If an order appears to be headed there, we will stop it.

6. Storage

Storage is free for 30 days from the day a package arrives at our warehouse. After that it costs $1 per package per day, added to your shipping quote. We email you on day 7, day 21 and day 29 so the date is never a surprise.

Once your box is packed and its shipping quote is sent, it waits free for 7 more days. If shipping isn't paid by then, the same daily fee applies to each package in it until it is, and is added to your updated quote.

Nothing is discarded when the free period ends. If a package sits unshipped for 60 days with no reply from you and storage fees unpaid, we may treat it as abandoned and dispose of or donate it, after a final notice by email.

7. Shipping, duties and taxes

Shipping is priced from the real weight and size of your packed box and passed through at the carrier's rate. You choose the option before you pay. Where the route supports it, import duties and taxes are calculated, included in your shipping payment and prepaid, so the courier collects nothing at delivery. Where it does not, the quote says so and shows the estimate you will be asked for on delivery.

Delivery dates come from the carrier and are estimates, not promises. Customs inspections, weather and local holidays are outside anyone's control, including ours.

8. Failed delivery and returns

If the courier cannot deliver, contact us and we will arrange a new attempt with them. If a parcel comes back to our warehouse, the return charge and the new shipment are billed to you at the carrier's cost, through a fresh shipping quote.

If the failure was our fault — a wrong label, or an address we entered incorrectly — we pay for it, not you.

9. Loss or damage

Carriers limit their own liability, usually to a small fixed amount per shipment. Shipping Protection is offered at cost on the shipping quote and covers loss or damage in transit up to the value you declared; it is optional and never added unless you tick it.

Tell us within 7 days of delivery — or of the date delivery was expected — so a claim can still be filed, and keep the box and packaging until the claim is settled. Without Shipping Protection, a claim is limited to what the carrier pays.

10. Refunds and cancellations

Before we buy, you can cancel any order for a full refund. Once we have placed the order with the store, contact us as soon as possible to cancel or return an item: the store's own policy decides what is possible, and we arrange it with the store where it is allowed. Each cancellation or return costs $7 per item, plus anything the store charges, such as return shipping or restocking, and we refund what the store refunds less those amounts. Refunds go back to the card you paid with, and banks usually take 5–10 business days to show them.

An item that has already reached you can be returned only if the store still accepts it. Contact us before sending anything back; international shipping and duties are not refunded.

Our convenience fee and the payment processing fee are not refunded when you cancel or return an item after we have placed the order, because the work they pay for is already done. The convenience fee is refunded when the failure is ours or the store never ships the item, and there is no return fee when the store or we got the order wrong.

11. Your data

We collect what we need to buy, ship and support your orders, and nothing beyond that. Recipient names, addresses and any tax or national ID you give us are shared with the carrier and customs authorities because the shipment cannot clear without them. We do not sell your data. The Privacy Policy explains what we keep and for how long.

12. Limits of our responsibility

We are responsible for doing our part properly: checking the order, buying what you asked for, packing it with care and shipping it to the address you gave. If we get our part wrong — we buy the wrong item, or an item is lost or damaged while it is in our warehouse — we put it right at our cost, by replacing the item or refunding what you paid us for it.

We are not responsible for a store's product quality or warranty, for a customs authority's decision, or for delays caused by the carrier. Loss or damage in transit is covered by section 9.

Our total responsibility for anything connected with an order is limited to the amount you paid Shippyar for that order, or US$100 if that is more. We are not responsible for indirect losses, such as lost profits, lost business or the cost of a delay, or for events outside our reasonable control, such as a store's or carrier's mistake, strikes, severe weather or a supplier's system outage.

If an order is held, returned, fined or seized because a detail you gave us was wrong, or because the item may not be imported where you live, the extra costs are yours.

Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under the law where you live that cannot be limited by agreement.

13. Governing law

These terms are an agreement between you and Shippyar, Inc., a Delaware corporation (San Jose, California). They are governed by the laws of the State of California, where we buy, receive and ship your items, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.

If something goes wrong, write to us first at support@shippyar.com with your order number and what you are asking for, and we will try to settle it with you within 30 days. A question about a charge must reach us within 30 days of the charge, and a claim for loss or damage within the time in section 9.

If we can't settle it, the dispute goes to the state or federal courts in Santa Clara County, California, and you and we agree to their jurisdiction. You may instead use a small-claims court where you live if its rules allow, and you keep any right the law where you live gives you to go to your local courts.

14. Changes and contact

If we change these terms, we update this page, and the version that applied when you placed your order is the one that governs it. Material changes are emailed to you.

Questions about any of this: contact us or write to support@shippyar.com.