TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR TRANSPORTERS

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR TRANSPORTERS

Thank you for signing up to be a Gobuddy transporter!  Before you get started, please read these terms and conditions carefully, as they form a valid and binding service level agreement between you and Gobuddy Network (Pty) Ltd (“Gobuddy”, “we”, “us”) relating to any transporter services that you choose to perform while using our website or mobile application (“our Platform”).

All of the provisions of this Agreement are important, but please pay special attention to the parts that are in bold writing. These parts contain information about provisions that have special consequences for you.

Please note that these terms and conditions must be read in conjunction with our general Terms of Use, which you can access on the website.  These terms and conditions relate specifically to transporters, while the Terms of Use relate to use of our Platform in general.  Please also read our Privacy Notice – also available on the website – to understand how we process your personal information.

​How you consent to these terms

When you sign up to be a transporter on our Platform please be aware that you have agreed to the terms, by selecting the acceptance box. Please read these terms carefully – if you don’t agree to them, please stop using our site or mobile application as a transporter immediately. 

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Changes to the terms

We may, at any time and at our discretion, vary this Agreement by publishing the varied terms on our Platform. We recommend that you check our website or mobile application regularly to ensure you are aware of our current terms. Materials and information on the Platform are subject to change without notice. We do not undertake to keep our Platform up-to-date and we are not liable if any content is inaccurate or out-of-date.

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Nature of the Agreement

Gobuddy provides a communications platform for enabling the connection between individuals seeking to send items to a specified location with individuals who happen to be travelling to that location and who are willing to deliver the items. 

We are not a courier company and do not provide a courier, messenger or delivery service.  We do not employ people to collect and deliver items on users’ behalf.  It is up to users to register on the Platform as being available to facilitate deliveries. We are merely a platform to connect.

It is very important to understand that this is not a contract of employment.  By signing up to be a transporter, you are agreeing to perform services using our Platform, for the benefit of third parties – being other users of the Platform.  Gobuddy facilitates these interactions through the Platform and ensures that fees are paid to you.  However, Gobuddy is not your employer and the relationship between us is that of independent contractors acting at arm’s length.   This agreement is a service level agreement in terms of which you agree to provide services, as an independent service provider, to other users of the Platform, in return for which you will be paid a fee by Gobuddy.

Agreement term

Should you choose to perform a delivery using the Platform, you do so on an ad hoc basis, per individual delivery.  This Agreement is accordingly not bound to a specific term, but applies, instead, as and when you choose to perform the services set out herein.  You can choose to stop performing such services at any time.

Services

If you choose to perform a delivery using the Platform, you agree to:

• Submit all requested information during the transporter sign-up process as completely and accurately as possible, which may include participating in any third-party verification checks that we may require. To this end you explicitly agree that we may perform credit checks and / or criminal history checks on you.  It is your responsibility to ensure that any information that you provide to us is true and correct.  We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your transporter account, should we establish that you have provided incorrect information during sign-up.

• Update your information on your transporter profile should anything change. We will not be liable to you if you fail to do so and we rely on your outdated information.

• Use only your own transporter profile to perform deliveries. Sharing of profiles is strictly prohibited.

• Perform only the deliveries that the Platform allocates to you for potential delivery. Our Platform uses an algorithm that is designed to ensure that transporters have fair opportunities to perform deliveries.  Performing deliveries not allocated to you takes away potential opportunities from other transporters.

• Complete the delivery, once accepted. If you fail to complete a delivery, once you have accepted it, your transporter profile may be suspended or terminated, in our sole discretion.  Should you experience difficulties while attempting to perform a delivery – for example a vehicle breakdown – you need to follow the procedures set out in the Transporter application. Delays are inevitable, please notify the customer of your delay on the home screen. Select ’experiencing a delay’, then follow the onscreen prompts. Should there be an issue at pick up or drop of please follow the onscreen prompts.

• Only use the delivery routes which you travel daily or a route which is a planned once off trip which you intend travelling regardless. The Platform uses an algorithm to match goods that need to be delivered with people travelling in the same direction, which is aimed, among other things, to minimise greenhouse gas emissions.

• Deliver the parcel in its original condition. You may not open, damage or in any way interfere with the item being delivered and you must ensure that it arrives with the customer in the condition it was in when you picked up the parcel.  The Platform will notify you if the parcel is fragile, in which event additional measures may need to be taken in order to ensure the integrity of the parcel. Video identification of the parcel is compulsory to evidence the condition of the parcel at pick up.

• Deliver the parcel to the intended recipient, or to a person who appears to be at least 18 (Eighteen) years old at the delivery address provided by the Platform;

• Log the delivery on the Platform as soon as the parcel has been delivered;

• Report any problem with the delivery as soon as possible;

• Ensure that your mobile device is charged and fully functioning. This is critical to ensure that the delivery and route information is logged correctly on the Platform. If your device malfunctions, you need to report this to us as soon as possible. You will need to follow and respond to on screen prompts.

• Attend to the delivery yourself. You may not engage any other person to perform the delivery on your behalf, unless this has been arranged with us in the case of an unforeseen event.

• Do not use the Platform for regular commercial use. The Platform is not designed to provide a regular, stable income to transporters to operate as a business, but rather to facilitate small transactions, on an ad hoc basis, between users. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your transporter profile, should we determine that you are using the Platform for regular commercial use, which we define as:

1. regular deliveries on different routes which you would not normally have travelled, if not for the incentive of receiving a fee via the Platform;

1. using the Platform to derive more than 50% (Fifty percent) of your income.

​Standard of Conduct

You agree to perform the services in terms of this Agreement with reasonable skill, care and diligence and to comply with the following conduct requirements:

​(a)   If you use a motor vehicle to perform a delivery, your vehicle must be roadworthy and you must have a valid and up to date vehicle license and driver’s license, appropriate to that specific vehicle;

​(b)   You must comply with all traffic rules and regulations, as well as any lawful instructions issued by an authorised person;

​(c)   You must comply with all applicable health and safety regulations – for example, if regulations require you to wear a mask to limit the spread of communicable diseases, you are required to do so when performing a delivery.  It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with all applicable regulations, which may change from time to time;

​(d)   You must comply with any collection or delivery instructions recorded by the user who booked the delivery, which will be provided on the trip details when you choose the accept the delivery;

​(e)   You must conduct yourself in a professional manner and may not do anything to bring Gobuddy’s name into disrepute.

(f)   You must respect and uphold the confidentiality of other users’ information which you have access to in order to perform a delivery and may not share such information with any third party, unless it is strictly necessary in order to perform the delivery.

Fees and payments

Fees in respect of deliveries may vary according to various criteria, including, but not limited to, the size, weight and / or volume of the item to be delivered; distance travelled; and time frame of delivery.  We reserve the right to amend the fees from time to time without advance notice to you. 

You must maintain a valid bank or payment service account registered on our Platform. You must ensure that all contact and payment information (email address, physical addresses, account numbers) which you provide is accurate and not misleading and that you will update it so that it remains so.

Prices include any applicable VAT or other sales tax unless otherwise stated.

If you are performing a delivery, the delivery fee, as estimated on the mobile application, will be credited to your account immediately after every successful delivery you have completed. Gobuddy pays transporters their accumulated fees into their bank accounts once a week. Please refer to your earnings in the transporter application for more information. Your fees will be paid into your chosen bank account, as registered on the Platform or with our third party payment service provider.  We are not liable to you for payment of any such fees until such time as payment has actually been received and cleared from the user who booked the trip.  We are also not liable to you in respect of any delays in processing payment into your account as a result of any delays, errors or interruptions in service at your or with your chosen banking institution or payment service provider.

Note that a user may cancel a delivery at any point prior to collection.  Should they do so, we will not be liable to you for payment of any fee or compensation for any wasted fuel, time or any other expense.

Safety

Your safety and that of our other users is of paramount importance.  It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not perform any delivery in a manner that places your life or property, or that of other users in danger. 

Insurance

It is your responsibility to insure your preferred mode of transport when performing deliveries.  We are not liable to you for any loss, damage or destruction of your property and, should you fail to take out insurance, you may not be able to recover any losses suffered.  We recommend that you contact your insurer or broker to notify them that you will be using the insured property for purposes of performing deliveries using our Platform and to ask them to confirm whether this may affect your premiums.  We are not liable to you should your insurer cancel your cover, refuse to cover an otherwise insured event, or increased your premiums.

Regulatory matters

Gobuddy is not a courier or postal service.  It is simply a technological platform connecting users who wish to send or receive items with those who are able to perform a delivery on an ad hoc basis.   To the extent that any laws or regulations may require you to obtain approval from a regulatory authority in order to perform a delivery, it is your sole responsibility to ensure that you have obtained such approval.   We will not be liable to you, or to any regulatory authority, should you fail to obtain such approval where it is legally required of you.

Our liability is limited

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for any loss, damage or expense, howsoever arising, whether direct or indirect and/or whether present, unascertained, future or contingent (Liability) suffered by you or any third party, arising from or in connection with your use of our Platform or the performance of any delivery in terms hereof, including, but not limited to, any claims relating to death, personal injury, loss or destruction of property, or regulatory fines or penalties.

Indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you hereby indemnify us, and hold us harmless, against any Liability suffered or incurred by us arising from or in connection with your use of our Platform or any breach of these Terms or any applicable laws by you. This indemnity is a continuing obligation, independent from the other obligations under these Terms, and continues after these Terms end.  It is not necessary for us to suffer or incur any Liability before enforcing a right of indemnity under these Terms.   

​Terminating this Agreement

This Agreement is effective until terminated by us, which we may do at any time and without notice to you. In the event of termination, all restrictions imposed on you in terms of this Agreement and limitations of liability set out herein will survive.

​Dealing with a problem

If you would like to give us feedback, please contact us using the means of communication offered in the application within the help tab – we appreciate your input. In the event of any dispute arising from, or in connection with, this Agreement (Dispute), the party claiming there is a Dispute must give written notice to the other party setting out the details of the Dispute and proposing a resolution. This claim must be made to the following email address .

Within 7 (Seven) days after receiving the notice, the parties must, meet, either in person or through online video conferencing at least once to attempt to resolve the Dispute or agree on the method of resolving the Dispute by other means, in good faith.  All aspects of every such meeting, except the fact of the occurrence of the conference, will be privileged. If the parties do not resolve the Dispute, or (if the Dispute is not resolved) agree on an alternate method to resolve the Dispute, within 21 (Twenty-One) days after receipt of the notice, the Dispute may be referred by either party (by notice in writing to the other party) to litigation.  You hereby agree that any such litigation may be instituted in the Magistrates Court, notwithstanding the value of any claim relating thereto.

If a part of this Agreement isn’t right

If a provision of this Agreement is held to be void, invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision must be interpreted in such a manner as is reasonably necessary to allow it to be valid or enforceable. If it is not possible to do so, that provision (or that part of that provision) is severed from this Agreement without affecting the validity or enforceability of the remainder of that provision or the other provisions in this Agreement.

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Which laws govern these terms of use

Your use of our Platform and this Agreement are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts operating in South Africa and any courts entitled to hear appeals from those courts and waive any right to object to proceedings being brought in those courts.

​Our Platform and mobile application may be accessed throughout the world.  We make no representation that our Platform complies with the laws (including intellectual property laws) of any country outside South Africa.  If you access our Platform from outside South Africa, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for complying with the laws of the jurisdiction where you access our Platform.

Notices

Any notices that we may need to send to you in terms of this Agreement may be sent via email to your chosen email or via a web link to your mobile number as registered on the Platform from time to time.  It is your responsibility to ensure that this contact information is correct and up to date.  You nominate your email address and / or mobile number where legal notices may be served on you and you hereby agree to accept email service or mobile service of any legal process, to the extent allowed in terms of the applicable court rules. 

Legal notices served on us in terms of this Agreement must be served at our physical address at:

Candlewood farm, Rheenendal, Western Cape, South Africa, 6576

Notices delivered by email will be deemed to have been received on the date of transmission, unless proven otherwise.  Email notices to be sent to . Notices served by hand will be deemed to have been received on the date of delivery.  Notices served by mail will be deemed to have been received 14 (Fourteen) days after sending.

​TRANSPORTER DELIVERY GUIDELINES

• Download the Gobuddy Transporter app.
• Register as a Transporter.
• Load your daily travel routes. Do not load routes that you do not travel, this will lead to you incurring transport costs you would not usually incur. Only load routes you travel on a regular basis.
• When you receive a delivery request, only accept the delivery request if you know you can complete it within the allowable time limit.
• Once you have accepted a delivery request, follow the prompts in your app.
• When the customer notifies you that parcel is ready for pick up, stick to allowed time limit.
• If you do not pick up within the allowable time limit you will forfeit the delivery and Gobuddy will reallocate the delivery to someone else. You will receive your first warning.
• At pick up, check and accept parcels in good condition.
• If parcels are incorrect or damaged at pick up, Take video evidence of this..
• Take video of parcels at collection, follow prompts provided.
• Video evidence is important for any disputes or claims.
• Video protects you and the customer from claims.
• Confirm acceptance of parcels when prompted to do so.
• Secure parcels against damage.
• Secure parcels against adverse weather conditions.
• Collection of parcels must happen within the allowed time frame to successfully start a delivery.
• Drop-off parcels within the allowed time frame to successfully complete a delivery.
• Contact customer if you are delayed, follow prompts provided on home screen.
• Open delivery details for customers contact details.
• Follow prompts in app when picking up and dropping off parcels to ensure good communication.
• For any extraordinary situations which may arise unexpectedly, please contact Gobuddy in help tab by sending email or WhatsApp message immediately.
• Always follow on screen prompts during the delivery process until delivery is complete.
• For any insurance claim please follow prompts within help tab, select ‘log a claim’.