Business Terms & Conditions
Last updated · v0.2-draft
This is an early working draft. It is scaffolding to build the real thing, not authoritative legal text, and it has not been reviewed by a lawyer. Do not rely on it.
These terms cover your use of the kwip Courier service (operated by Duane Chetcuti, trading as kwip, VAT number MT28953125) as a merchant. They apply alongside the price sheet and billing terms we agree with you at onboarding. If you are on one of our promotions, the Promotions terms cover that offer as well.
You can reach us on +356 79 747 360, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 9pm.
The service
Kwip Courier collects parcels from your pickup location when you mark a batch ready, holds them overnight where needed, and delivers them next day on optimised routes. Your customers track every delivery on WhatsApp.
What counts as a parcel, and what we carry
A parcel is goods sent as a single, individually labelled item that one person can carry, weighing up to 20 kg. Anything heavier is freight rather than a parcel, and is outside this service.
Parcels are measured by their longest side. One number, so you can check a parcel at your own counter without measuring three of them.
| Tier | What it means | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | No side longer than 60 cm, and up to 10 kg | Base rate |
| Oversized | Any side over 60 cm or over 10 kg (either one on its own), but no side over 100 cm and no more than 20 kg | + the surcharge on your price sheet, per parcel |
| Bulky | Any side over 100 cm or over 20 kg | We do not carry it. |
Either trigger is enough. A small, dense parcel over 10 kg is oversized even though it is well inside the size limit, and a light but long parcel is too.
Why we stop at 20 kg. That ceiling is ours rather than the law's: one person carries every parcel we deliver, often up stairs and often from wherever we could park, and 20 kg is what can be done safely all day.
Bundling. Several items sealed into one parcel under a single label count as one parcel, as long as the result is still within the standard tier. Separate parcels to the same address are charged as extra parcels, not as extra drops.
Most surcharges are charged once for the drop, however many parcels it holds. Done-for-you entry, cash on delivery, verified or secure confirmation, extra cover, Gozo and an extra delivery attempt are all charged once. The oversized surcharge and repacking are charged per parcel, because each oversized box takes its own space and its own carry, and each badly packed box is its own repacking job. Two oversized parcels going to one address carry the oversized surcharge twice.
You choose the tier; we check it when we collect. You select a tier when you enter an order. You never have to enter dimensions. We verify it at collection. If the tier is wrong, we re-rate the order and tell you before we invoice you, never by letting you discover it on the invoice. You keep exactly the rights you have on any other order: change your cover level, change the delivery address, or cancel.
This is a correction, not a penalty, and it is recorded against the delivery.
Blind bookings. If you ask for a pickup without telling us what is in it, we enter the order for you and check the tier ourselves. That carries a blind-booking charge, shown on your price sheet.
Safe handling, and when a driver can decline. Our drivers carry parcels by hand. A driver may require a second person, or decline a delivery or collection on the spot, where handling it safely is not reasonable. For example, a heavy parcel to an upper floor with no lift, or a long carry from the nearest legal parking. This applies at any weight and is independent of the tier. Where a driver declines on these grounds we tell you why, record it against the delivery, and either re-slot it or return it to you at no charge.
Packing. Parcels must be properly packed. We do not accept loose or inadequately packaged items.
Refusal and repacking. We may refuse a parcel that is unsafe to handle (leaking, sharp, wet, or hazardous), that is over the limits above, that is not properly packed, or that is materially different from what you entered. Where a parcel is poorly packed but safe, we may offer to photograph and repack it for a small charge; repacked parcels travel at your risk for damage arising from the original packaging.
Pricing
The standard base is €3.99 ex VAT per drop, which covers the first parcel to one address. Simple surcharges stack on top (for example done-for-you entry, extra parcels, oversized items, cash on delivery, verified or secure confirmation, and Gozo). All prices are shown excluding VAT; Malta VAT of 18% is added on your invoice.
Per-merchant price sheets. Your account has its own saved price sheet, which may differ from the public defaults (for example a volume rate or an introductory rate locked for a fixed period). A future-dated change is added as a new dated row; no agreed price is ever silently changed.
Rate-change notice. We give you at least 30 days' notice before any price change.
How we collect is our problem, not your price. Everything you hand over on one pickup is priced as one group, so two parcels going to the same address are one drop plus an extra parcel. We may collect that pickup with more than one vehicle or in more than one trip, and that never changes what you pay. If we have not yet taken a parcel you asked us to collect, it stays on that pickup at the price you were given and we come back for it. Your price changes only when you change the order. If you remove a parcel we have not yet collected, that collection is cancelled and the price comes down, at no charge to you.
Billing
Your billing setup is agreed at onboarding, either prepay or card on file, and can be changed later.
- Card on file. Your card is validated at signup. When an invoice is issued, we charge it immediately. Failed charges follow a retry schedule.
- Prepay. You load credit and deliveries draw it down.
- Overdue invoices block new orders. An unpaid, overdue invoice pauses your ability to create new orders until it clears, on either billing type.
We issue Malta-compliant tax invoices. Issued invoices are never edited; corrections go out as credit notes.
Cash on delivery
If you use cash on delivery, we collect payment from your customer on your behalf and hold it as a balance we owe you, netted against your charges or paid out. We are not the merchant of record for these funds. The exact held-funds treatment is being confirmed with an accountant before launch. TBC.
Failed deliveries and returns
- We make up to two free retries within two business days of a failed drop.
- After that we hold it for you. It rides back to you free on your next pickup: that is, on a collection you book from us anyway, so it costs you nothing extra and there is no separate return charge. We capture a return proof of delivery on handback.
- If you do not book a pickup, the parcel simply waits. We do not charge you for that, and we do not deliver it back at your cost.
- We may also choose to return held parcels to you at any time, at no charge to you. Free storage is something we offer, not something we owe indefinitely.
- There is no holding fee while a returned parcel waits in our warehouse.
Abandonment and forfeiture
A returned parcel that stays unclaimed after 60 days is treated as abandoned, and title to it (contents included) transfers to kwip. We back this with a full trail: return notice, reminders, a day-60 warning, then forfeiture, so it is never a surprise. This clause is part of the terms you agree at signup.
Confirmation tiers
You choose, per order, how much handover assurance a delivery needs, from a standard photo drop up to a secure, proof-heavy handover. Higher tiers buy stronger proof of delivery, not higher liability.
Liability
Save in cases of fraud or gross negligence, our liability for loss of or damage to a parcel is limited as set out below. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury.
We refund your cost of the goods, not their retail price. What you lost is what you paid for the item, so that is what we pay.
| Cover | What we refund | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Your cost of the goods, up to €100 per parcel | included |
| Upgraded | Your cost of the goods, up to €300 per parcel | +€1.00 per parcel |
| Above €300 | Not covered (we will still carry it) | n/a |
Upgrading is a tick-box on the order, not a valuation: you never have to tell us what anything is worth. Upgraded parcels are handed to a person: a photo at the door is not sufficient proof for them. We will still carry a parcel worth more than €300, but cover stops at €300.
How we settle. We never ask you to value an order. If you claim, send us a supplier invoice that predates the consignment and identifies the item, and we pay the lowest of: your cost excluding VAT, the replacement cost, or the cover limit above.
If you cannot evidence the value at all, we refund the delivery charge for that parcel and nothing further. You paid us to move it and we did not, so we return our fee. Keep your purchase records if you want more than that.
When a parcel counts as lost. A parcel is lost if we still cannot account for it 10 days after we collected it from you. We are alerted at day 4 and spend the remaining days looking. A parcel is not lost while we can point at it: delivered, returned to you, waiting on our returns shelf for your next pickup, or rescheduled with your customer. Those are found, however long they take. Your claim window starts on the day it is treated as lost.
Proof of delivery. A delivery is complete when our app records a photo of the parcel at the delivery address, GPS within 50 metres, a timestamp and a barcode scan. Where a parcel must be handed to a person, we record a PIN, a signature, or that an ID check passed. We check identity documents, we never photograph or keep them. You can flag any order "hand to a person" at booking. If you do not, and we deliver with valid proof, the delivery stands. If you do, and we leave it anyway, that is on us.
When to claim. For damage, within 7 days of delivery. For a lost parcel, within 7 days of the date it is deemed lost (see above), not from the delivery date. Claims brought after that are extinguished, not merely late.
What we carry without cover. We will carry cash, jewellery, precious metals and stones, passports and irreplaceable documents if you want to send them, but they are not covered and we pay nothing if they are lost or damaged. That is your call to make, not ours to refuse.
What we cannot carry at all. Illegal or hazardous goods, live animals, prescription medicines and anything needing a licence we do not hold, and perishables needing temperature control. This is not a preference; we are not permitted or equipped to move them.
Other exclusions. We are not liable for damage arising from inadequate packaging, nor for any consequential loss including lost profit, lost sales, goodwill or reputational harm. You warrant that declared contents and values are accurate; a misdeclared parcel is not covered.
Overall limit. In any 12 months our total liability to you is capped at €1,200. We may set off any sum we owe you against your account balance.
The secure confirmation tier buys proof of delivery, not increased liability.
Data protection
Where you share your recipients' personal data with us so we can deliver to them, a separate Data Processing Agreement (DPA) governs how we handle that data on your behalf. Our Privacy Policy explains the wider picture.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Malta, and the courts of Malta have jurisdiction over any dispute.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time and will give reasonable notice of any material change. The current version always lives on this page.