Legal
Terms of Service
The rules of the service, in the plainest language they can be written in.
Status of this document
This document is a working draft. BOXBIRDS is pre-launch: the operating company is not yet registered, no payments are processed, and identity verification is not yet in place. Where a clause depends on those, it says so plainly rather than leaving a blank. It will be reviewed by counsel and reissued before the service takes money.
What BOXBIRDS is — and what it is not
BOXBIRDS is a noticeboard. Someone who needs a document or a set of keys moved posts a request; someone already flying that route offers to carry it; the person who posted chooses who carries it. That is the whole mechanism.
BOXBIRDS is not a carrier, a courier, a freight forwarder or a logistics operator. We do not take possession of anything, we do not transport anything, and we are not a party to the arrangement you make with the other person. The agreement to carry is between the two of you.
We do not verify that a request is genuine, that an item is what it is described as, or that a journey will happen. You are dealing with another person, with everything that implies.
Verification is not yet in place
Identity verification is designed and will be introduced, but it is not running today. Any description of BOXBIRDS elsewhere on this site that implies travellers are checked describes the intended service, not the current one. Until verification is live, treat every counterparty as an unverified stranger, because that is what they are.
No money moves through BOXBIRDS today
The service currently operates in noticeboard mode only. There is no escrow, no payment processing and no held funds — the software refuses to create a paid deal at the database layer, not merely in the interface. Any reward shown on a request is a figure the two of you settle between yourselves, by whatever means you choose, entirely at your own risk.
It follows that BOXBIRDS cannot refund you, cannot reverse a payment, and cannot compel anyone to pay. If that is not an acceptable risk, do not use the service until escrow is live.
What may be carried
Documents and keys. That is the service. Nothing else is permitted, and this is not a formality — it is the single rule that keeps the service lawful.
You may never send, and must never agree to carry: cash or bearer instruments; drugs, medicines or any controlled substance; weapons, ammunition or their parts; anything explosive, flammable, corrosive, pressurised or otherwise classed as dangerous goods; living things; perishables; counterfeit goods; stolen property; anything subject to sanctions or export control; or anything whose import, export or possession is restricted in either country on the route.
Never accept a sealed item you have not seen the contents of. If you are carrying it, you are the person the airline and the border officer will speak to. Open it, look at it, and refuse it if it is not what you were told. No arrangement made on this site changes who is legally responsible at a border.
Customs, airlines and the law are your responsibility
Carrying an item for another person across a border is a serious matter, and in many countries the carrier bears the consequences regardless of what they were told about the contents. You are responsible for complying with the customs rules, import and export controls, and airline conditions of carriage that apply to your journey, and for declaring what must be declared.
BOXBIRDS does not give customs, tax or legal advice, and cannot represent you to any authority.
Your account
You need an account to post a request or to offer to carry one. One account per person, with details that are true. Keep your password to yourself — anything done from your account is treated as done by you.
You must be old enough to enter a binding contract where you live, and in any case at least 18.
We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, and we do not need to warn you first if the breach involves prohibited items or a threat to someone's safety.
What you post is public
The request board is readable by anyone, signed in or not. A request shows the cities, the date, the reward, your note and the first letter of your name. It does not show your email address, and the software is written so that an email address is never written to a request at all.
Do not put an address, a phone number, a passport number or anything else you would not paste onto a public page into the note field. It is a public page.
Limits on our liability
BOXBIRDS provides the noticeboard as it is. We do not promise it will be available without interruption, and while it is in this pre-launch state you should not rely on it for anything time-critical or valuable.
To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss of, or damage to, an item; for a journey that does not happen; for a payment made or not made between you and another user; or for anything a border authority does. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.
Changes, and how to reach us
These terms will change as the service grows — escrow and verification in particular will each need their own section. Material changes will be announced on this page with a new date at the top before they take effect.
Questions about these terms: hello@boxbirds.app.
The operating company and governing law will be stated here once the entity is registered. Until then, no clause of this document should be read as a completed contract term.