Terms of Service

Shipbird offers two service tracks:

• Personal Shopping. You provide a link and details for a US product you'd like us to purchase. We buy the item on your behalf, inspect it at our Austin hub, and ship it to you internationally at your direction.
• Package Forwarding. You ship a package you already own to your personal Shipbird address in Austin. We receive it, inspect and optionally consolidate it with other packages, and ship it to you internationally at discounted FedEx Express rates.

Shipbird acts as your purchasing and shipping agent for these transactions. We are not the manufacturer, retailer, or seller of any item purchased on your behalf, and we do not guarantee the availability, price, or condition of any third-party product beyond what we can verify through our own inspection.

You may pay by card, processed through Stripe, a third-party payment processor, or by direct bank transfer to a Shipbird account with Wise, a licensed payment institution, whichever you select at checkout. Shipbird does not store your full payment card details on our own servers. By submitting payment, you represent that you are authorized to use the payment method provided.

For Personal Shopping orders, we charge one service fee per order based on the order total (the combined price of the items, before sales tax and shipping): $15 up to $99.99, $25 from $100.00 to $250.00, $40 from $250.01 to $1,000.00, and $50 flat over $1,000.00, in addition to the item cost and shipping. For Package Forwarding, you pay a discounted FedEx Express shipping rate based on the weight and dimensions of your package. Exact pricing is always shown to you before you confirm and pay, and fees are subject to change; the rate you're quoted at checkout is the rate that applies to that order.

If you pay by card, Personal Shopping orders may be authorized on your card before the item is purchased and captured (charged) once purchase is confirmed; Package Forwarding orders are typically charged once your shipping quote is confirmed and accepted. If you pay by bank transfer, a card-style authorization hold isn't possible, so both Personal Shopping and Package Forwarding orders are paid in full at the time you confirm your quote.

Card processing surcharge. If you pay by card, a card processing surcharge (currently 4%) applies to your full order total, including the item cost, sales tax, domestic shipping, any Personal Shopping fee, any optional add-ons, and FedEx shipping, net of any discount. It is shown as its own line on your quote before you pay. Bank transfer through Wise carries no surcharge. When you pay by card, the surcharge is part of the amount charged, and any refund under Section 6 is calculated from that full charged amount.

All shipments are made on Delivered At Place (DAP) terms. This means Shipbird handles US procurement, inspection, and export, but destination customs clearance, import duties, taxes, and any related fees are the responsibility of the customer and are collected directly by FedEx (or the applicable carrier) at the time of delivery. Shipbird does not pay, pre-pay, or reimburse customs duties or import taxes on your behalf unless explicitly stated in writing for a specific order.

You are responsible for confirming that your shipment is legal to import into your destination country, including any restrictions on specific goods, quantities, or declared values. Shipbird is not liable for shipments seized, delayed, returned, or destroyed by customs authorities, nor for duties, taxes, or penalties assessed by a destination country.

While we take reasonable care in packing and handling, and photograph items at inspection, Shipbird's liability for loss or damage to a shipment is limited to the declared value of the shipment or the amount actually paid to Shipbird for that specific order, whichever is lower, except where a customer has purchased additional carrier insurance for that shipment.

Shipbird will not purchase, receive, store, or ship items that are illegal, hazardous, or restricted under US export law, FedEx's own carrier restrictions, or the import laws of your destination country. This includes, without limitation:

• Firearms, ammunition, and weapons of any kind
• Illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia
• Hazardous materials, flammables, aerosols, and lithium batteries shipped alone
• Counterfeit goods or items that infringe intellectual property rights
• Live animals, plants, and perishable food items
• Cash, negotiable instruments, and precious metals or stones above carrier limits
• Any item prohibited by FedEx's published list of prohibited and restricted items

Shipbird reserves the right to refuse, hold, or dispose of any item it reasonably believes falls into a prohibited category, and to report suspected illegal shipments to the relevant authorities. We are not liable for any loss resulting from our refusal to ship a prohibited item.

You must provide accurate, current information when creating a Shipbird account, including your name, email address, and shipping details. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account.

You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, to use Shipbird's services. Each customer may maintain one active account; we reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts used for fraudulent activity, abuse of our service, or violation of these Terms.

Personal Shopping. You can cancel a Personal Shopping order any time before it's delivered. Shipbird never charges a cancellation fee. We only pass through costs that are outside our control:

• Before we've purchased the item: if you paid by card, it only has an authorization hold, not a completed charge, so canceling releases the hold in full. Nothing has been charged, so there's nothing to deduct. If you paid by bank transfer, we refund your payment in full, minus any processing fee our payment provider charges on the transfer, if applicable.
• After we've purchased the item, but before it ships: we return the item to the vendor and refund the item cost and the Personal Shopping fee in full, minus a processing fee on the original payment: Stripe's fee if you paid by card (Stripe does not return that fee to us when we issue a refund), or our payment provider's fee if you paid by bank transfer (if applicable). We also deduct the vendor's return fee, if the vendor charges one to accept the item back. If the vendor won't accept a return or won't refund us for it, we have no way to recover that money, and the order becomes non-refundable.
• After the item has shipped: if it can still be recalled from the carrier before delivery, we'll recall it and then return it to the vendor as above. In that case we deduct the same processing fee described above (Stripe's if you paid by card, or our payment provider's if you paid by bank transfer, if applicable), the carrier's fee for intercepting or returning an in-transit shipment, and the vendor's return fee (if any) from your refund. If a shipment can no longer be recalled, or the vendor won't take the item back, the order is non-refundable.
• After delivery (change of mind): you can return an item if the vendor will still accept it. Contact us first and we'll quote the return. You pay the shipping back to our Austin hub, including any import charges FedEx bills on the way into the US. Our discounted FedEx rates apply only to shipments leaving the US, so return shipping is charged at a higher rate than the original shipment. We then return the item to the vendor and refund whatever the vendor refunds us, less any restocking or return fee it keeps and the processing fee on that amount described above. The Personal Shopping fee, the original shipping and any duty or tax paid in your country are not refunded. The vendor's return window keeps running while the item is in transit, and final-sale or non-returnable items can't be returned. If the vendor refuses the return, we'll ship the item back to you at your cost.

Weight differences (Personal Shopping). Your FedEx shipping is quoted on an estimated weight and box size, because we can't weigh an item until it reaches our Austin hub. When it arrives we weigh and measure the packed parcel and price FedEx shipping again at the same discount you were quoted. If shipping comes to $5 or more extra, we email you the difference before charging anything, and charge it to the card you paid with 24 hours later (plus the card processing surcharge on that difference). If we can't charge that card, or you paid by bank transfer, you pay the difference on your order page, and we hold the parcel until you do. If you would rather not pay it, you can choose to cancel instead, and the cancellation terms above apply. If shipping comes to $5 or more less, we refund the difference (and the surcharge on it, if you paid by card). Differences under $5 either way are absorbed. Your card is saved with our payment processor, Stripe, only for this purpose.

Package Forwarding. The same principle applies: Shipbird never charges a cancellation fee. You can cancel a Package Forwarding shipment any time before delivery. We refund your shipping charge minus a processing fee (Stripe's fee if you paid by card, which is never returned to us once the original charge is refunded, or our payment provider's fee if you paid by bank transfer, if applicable), plus the carrier's recall fee if the shipment has already been dispatched and needs to be intercepted. If a shipment can no longer be recalled, the order is non-refundable.

Refunds are issued to your original payment method and may take 5–10 business days to appear depending on your card issuer. This policy does not limit any separate rights you may have under applicable consumer protection law.

If you have a problem with an order, please contact Shipbird support first at hello@shipbird.io before initiating a chargeback or dispute with your card issuer. Most issues (a missing item, a shipping discrepancy, a billing question) can be resolved directly and faster than a card network dispute process allows. Initiating a chargeback without first giving us the opportunity to resolve the issue may delay resolution and, where the chargeback is found to be unwarranted, may result in that amount being re-billed along with any chargeback fees Shipbird incurs.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Shipbird and its officers, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including lost profits or lost data, arising out of or related to your use of our services, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Shipbird's total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or our services will not exceed the total amount you paid to Shipbird for the specific order giving rise to the claim.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any legal action or proceeding arising out of or related to these Terms or our services will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

Before filing any claim against Shipbird, you agree to first contact us at hello@shipbird.io and give us 30 days to try to resolve the dispute informally. Most issues can be resolved this way.

If we can't resolve a dispute informally, you and Shipbird agree that any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or our services will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court, except that either party may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies for that court's jurisdiction. Arbitration will take place in Travis County, Texas, or another location the parties agree to, and may be conducted by phone, video, or written submissions where the AAA's rules permit.

You and Shipbird each waive the right to a jury trial and to bring or participate in a class action, class arbitration, or representative action against the other. The arbitrator has no authority to combine more than one person's claims into a single proceeding.

Opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing hello@shipbird.io within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms, stating that you decline to arbitrate. If you opt out, disputes will instead be resolved in the courts described in Section 9 (Governing Law).

If any part of this arbitration agreement is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect, except that if the class-action waiver above is found unenforceable, the entire arbitration agreement (not just the waiver) will not apply, and the dispute will instead be resolved in court as described in Section 9.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you by email. Continued use of Shipbird's services after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to hello@shipbird.io.