Terms of service

This agreement

These terms apply between Road Runner Delivery Services, of Harare, Zimbabwe, and the business that opens an account with us. Opening an account, booking a delivery or calling our API means accepting them.

They are written for businesses. If you are a member of the public waiting for a parcel, these terms are not your agreement: yours is with the shop you ordered from.

Your account

• You must give accurate details, including a collection address we can actually reach and a number we can call.
• You are responsible for everyone you let sign in to your account, and for everything done with it.
• Tell us promptly if you think someone has access who should not.
• An account starts in test mode. Deliveries booked in test mode are not carried and are not charged for.

Keys and secrets

An API key is a credential. We show the secret once, when it is issued, and we store only a hash of it, so we cannot recover it for you. That is deliberate, and it means:

• Anything done with a valid key is treated as done by you.
• If a key is exposed, revoke it in the portal. Revocation takes effect immediately.
• A key carries only the permissions it was issued with. Issue narrow keys.
• Webhook signing secrets work the same way. When you rotate one, both the old and the new secret are accepted for 7 days so you can deploy without dropping a message.

Booking a delivery

• A booking is accepted when we return a delivery to you with an identifier, not when you send the request.
• We deliver within our Harare service area. Outside it, we will quote separately or decline.
• Same-day delivery means we aim to deliver the same working day for parcels collected before our cut-off. It is a target, not a guarantee.
• You are responsible for the address you give us. A parcel that goes to the address you supplied has been delivered, even if that was not where you meant.
• You must have the parcel ready for collection at the time you tell us.
• A delivery can be cancelled through the API at no charge until a courier collects it. After collection, the delivery is charged in full.

What we will not carry

Do not book us to carry:

• anything illegal to possess or to move;
• cash, bullion, or bearer instruments;
• firearms, ammunition or explosives;
• live animals;
• human remains or biological samples, unless we have agreed it in writing in advance;
• dangerous goods, including flammable liquids and compressed gases;
• anything requiring a temperature-controlled chain, unless agreed in writing in advance.

We may refuse or stop carrying anything on this list, and you remain liable for what it costs us and for anything it damages.

Parcels must be packed well enough to survive being carried on a motorcycle through city traffic. We are not liable for damage caused by inadequate packaging.

Price and payment

• Deliveries are priced on the distance of the real driving route, in the bands published on our pricing page, unless we have agreed different terms with you in writing.
• Where we have agreed terms of your own — a volume discount, a different price for express or scheduled deliveries, a cash handling fee or a minimum charge — those terms apply instead, and all of them are shown in full on your account in the portal. We do not charge you anything that is not written there before you book.
• The delivery fee you put on your own order is yours and is never what we invoice. We invoice the price our own terms produce, which is the figure shown on your account.
• Prices are in United States dollars and exclude any applicable tax.
• Unless we have agreed otherwise in writing, accounts are invoiced monthly in arrears and payable within 14 days of the invoice date.
• We may suspend an account with an overdue balance after giving you notice.
• Where we collect cash on delivery on your behalf, that money is yours. We pass it to you on our agreed settlement cycle, net of the delivery fee. We are not a payment service and we do not hold your money as a deposit. Where your terms include a cash handling fee, it is a percentage of the amount carried and is shown on your account.
• We can change our prices on 30 days' written notice. Deliveries already booked keep the price quoted at booking.

When a delivery does not happen

• Nobody at the address, or the recipient refuses it. We contact you and return the parcel to your collection address. The delivery is charged, and the return is charged at the same rate.
• The address is wrong or unreachable. Treated the same way.
• We could not find a courier. Nothing is charged. You are told, and you can rebook.
• We cancel before collection. Nothing is charged.

Loss and damage

If we lose or damage a parcel while we are carrying it, we will compensate you for its value up to US$100 per delivery, or the value you declared and we accepted in writing at booking, whichever is higher. This is the standard limit; tell us before booking if a parcel is worth more than it and we will agree a figure or decline to carry it.

We are not liable for indirect loss: lost profit, lost contracts, lost goodwill, or your own customer's costs. A claim must reach us within seven days of the delivery date.

Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud, because the law does not allow it to.

Using the API

• Requests are rate limited per key. Limits are published in the API reference.
• Do not use the API to probe our infrastructure, to send us URLs that point into private networks, or to generate traffic at a third party.
• We version the API. We will not make a breaking change to a published version without notice and a migration period.
• We may change a webhook endpoint's state, including switching it off, when it has been failing for a long time. We tell you when we do.

Data protection

When you give us a recipient's details, you are the one deciding to send them something and we are carrying it out. You confirm you are entitled to pass us those details, and you agree we may use them to make the delivery, to tell the recipient about it, and for nothing else.

What we hold, why, and for how long is set out in our privacy notice, which forms part of these terms.

Availability

We aim to keep the API available at all times, but we do not offer a guaranteed uptime figure and we may take it down for maintenance. Where we can plan an interruption, we will tell account holders first.

Ending the agreement

• You can close your account at any time. Deliveries already in progress are completed and charged.
• We can end this agreement on 30 days' notice, or immediately if you break these terms, do not pay, or use the service to do something illegal.
• What survives: anything you owe us, the liability limits, and our data protection obligations.

Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of Zimbabwe, and the courts of Zimbabwe have jurisdiction. Before going to court, please raise the problem with us through the contact page. Most of them are a misunderstanding about one delivery and take a phone call to sort out.