Terms & Conditions

These Terms & Conditions form the agreement between SurShipp (“SurShipp”, “we”, “us”) and you, the person or business holding a SurShipp account (“you”). By creating an account, shipping a package to one of our warehouses, or asking us to buy something on your behalf, you accept them.

1. Who we are

SurShipp is an international freight forwarder and personal shopping service based at Zwartenhovenbrugstraat 235, Paramaribo, Suriname. You can reach us at info@surshipp.com or +597 860-8047.

We act as your agent in arranging the carriage of your goods. We are not the airline, the shipping line or the courier. Where we hand your goods to a carrier, that carrier’s own conditions of carriage apply to the international leg of the journey alongside these terms.

2. What our service is

We provide, depending on what you ask for:

• A forwarding address at each of our overseas warehouses, to which you may have goods delivered.
• Receipt, inspection, weighing, photographing and short-term storage of those goods.
• Consolidation of several packages into one shipment, where you ask for it and the goods allow it.
• Air or sea carriage to Suriname, and customs presentation.
• Collection in Paramaribo or local delivery, where that has been agreed.
• Purchasing goods on your behalf from overseas retailers (our personal shopper service).

3. Your account and forwarding address

Each account is issued a unique Customer ID, and each of our warehouses gives you a forwarding address in your account. How we identify an arriving package differs by warehouse, and your account shows the exact wording for each one.

• Address the package exactly as your account shows. At most of our warehouses the recipient name is what identifies the package and tells us how to ship it — the name includes our receiving agent and whether the goods travel by air or by sea. Where a warehouse instead issues you a personal suite or unit line, your Customer ID must appear on it.
• A package addressed only to your own name, or with the wrong shipping method in the name, may be delayed while we identify it, may travel by a method you did not intend, and we cannot guarantee we will match it to you at all.
• Your forwarding address is for your own goods. Do not share it, resell access to it, or use it as a business return address without telling us.
• Keep your account details accurate. Notifications about arrivals, invoices and shipments go to the email address on your account.
• You are responsible for everything done through your account. Keep your password to yourself and tell us immediately if you think someone else has it.

4. Receiving your packages

We record every package on arrival with its weight, dimensions and photographs, and you will see it in your account.

• We may open and inspect any package, at any time, to verify its contents for safety, customs and airline security reasons.
• We may refuse any package. If we do, we will tell you why and, where it is practical and you pay the cost, return it to the sender.
• We record the condition of a package as we receive it. If it arrives damaged from the retailer or courier, we will photograph it and let you decide whether to ship it. Damage that happened before we received it is a matter between you and that retailer or courier.
• We are not responsible for a package a carrier never delivered to our warehouse. Tracking that shows “delivered” is not proof we received it; our own intake record is.

5. Prohibited and restricted goods

Some goods cannot be carried by air, by sea, or into Suriname at all. Our prohibited and restricted items list forms part of these terms, and you must read it before you buy.

• You confirm that nothing you send to us is prohibited, and that anything restricted has been declared to us in advance.
• If we find prohibited goods, we will hold them and contact you. We may be legally required to surrender them to the authorities, and in some cases to report them. We cannot compensate you for goods seized or destroyed for this reason.
• You are responsible for any fine, penalty, delay, storage cost or damage caused to us, a carrier or another customer by goods you sent that should not have been sent.

6. How we calculate charges

Our current rates are published on our website and in the shipping calculator. Rates can change; the rate that applies to a shipment is the one in force on the day we invoice it.

• Air freight is charged on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. Volumetric weight is length × width × height in inches, divided by 166.
• Sea freight is charged on volume in cubic feet (CFT), subject to any published minimum.
• A minimum charge may apply to small shipments. It is shown in the calculator before you ship.
• No handling fee applies to goods you ordered yourself. Receiving, weighing, photographing and storing your package within the free storage period are included in the freight charge.
• Where we purchase on your behalf, our personal shopper service fee is quoted to you before anything is bought — see Personal shopper purchases.
• Consolidation, repacking, special packaging, insurance and local delivery are charged separately where you ask for them, and are itemised on your invoice.
• Duties, taxes and any government or port charge are additional — see Customs, duties and taxes.

A quote from the calculator is an estimate based on the figures you entered. The invoice is calculated from the weight and dimensions we actually measure at the warehouse.

7. Storage and abandoned packages

• Packages are stored free for 14 days from the day we receive them. After that, storage is charged at our published rate, and we will tell you before charges start.
• Goods that have arrived in Suriname must be collected or paid for within 30 days of us telling you they are ready.
• Goods left with us for more than 90 days after we have asked you to collect or pay, and for which we cannot reach you, are treated as abandoned. We may dispose of, donate or sell them and apply the proceeds against what you owe. This does not cancel any remaining debt.

8. Personal shopper purchases

When you ask us to buy something for you, we act as your agent and purchase in your name and on your behalf.

• We quote the item cost, any sales tax the retailer charges, the retailer’s delivery to our warehouse, our freight to Suriname at the published rate, and our service fee — which is a percentage of all of those combined, shown on the quote. Nothing is bought until you approve the quote and pay.
• Retail prices, stock and promotions change. If a price has changed by the time we order, we will tell you and re-quote rather than buy at the new price.
• The goods are yours from the moment they are purchased. We are not the seller and we give no warranty about them — quality, fitness, authenticity, compatibility and warranty are matters between you and the retailer.
• Returns, exchanges and retailer refunds are subject to that retailer’s policy and are rarely practical once goods have left the country of purchase. Our service fee and any shipping already incurred are not refundable.
• We will not buy anything on the prohibited list, anything that requires a licence you do not hold, or anything we reasonably believe is counterfeit.

9. Customs, duties and taxes

• You are the importer. All import duties, taxes, inspection fees and government charges levied in Suriname are yours to pay, in addition to our charges.
• You must give us accurate descriptions, values and invoices for your goods. Understating a value or mis-describing goods is an offence, and we will not do it.
• Customs may inspect, hold, re-value, tax or seize any shipment. Delay caused by customs is outside our control and is not a failure of our service.
• Where we pay duties or charges to release your goods, we will invoice them to you and may hold the goods until they are paid.

10. Payment

• Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date, and in any event before goods are released.
• Invoices are issued in the currency shown on them. Pay in that currency — we cannot accept a different one against the same invoice.
• We accept the payment methods shown in your account at the time. Quote the invoice number as the payment reference so we can match it.
• We have a general lien over goods in our possession for any amount you owe us, on that shipment or any other, and may withhold release until you have paid.

11. Transit times and collection

• Published transit times are estimates based on normal conditions. They are not guarantees and do not form part of our contract with you.
• Weather, flight and sailing schedules, carrier delays, customs, port congestion and public holidays all affect timing.
• You will be told when your goods are ready. Bring identification and your Customer ID when collecting. We may refuse to release goods to anyone we cannot identify as you or your written representative.

12. Our liability

We take reasonable care of your goods. Where we are nonetheless liable for loss of or damage to them while in our custody, our liability is limited to the lowest of:

• the value you declared for the goods;
• the cost of repairing or replacing them; and
• USD 100 per package, unless you bought additional cover from us before the shipment left our warehouse.

We are not liable for:

• loss of profit, loss of use, loss of a sale, missed occasions or any other indirect or consequential loss;
• damage caused by the manufacturer’s or retailer’s own packaging being inadequate for international carriage;
• goods seized, held, taxed or destroyed by customs or any other authority;
• inherent characteristics of the goods — leaking liquids, melting, ripening, corrosion, battery discharge, moisture damage in sea freight;
• delay from any cause, including our own, beyond a refund of the freight charge for the delayed shipment;
• anything caused by war, civil unrest, strike, natural disaster, epidemic, government act or another event beyond our reasonable control.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.

13. Making a claim

• Damage or missing contents: tell us within 7 days of collection or delivery, and keep the packaging and the goods as they are until we have seen them.
• A shipment that never arrived: tell us within 30 days of the date we said it would be ready.
• Submit claims through the Claims section of your account, with photographs, the retailer’s invoice and a description of what is wrong. We may ask to inspect the goods and packaging.
• We will acknowledge a claim promptly and give you a decision as soon as we reasonably can. Claims cannot be settled while an invoice on the account is unpaid.
• A claim made outside these periods is out of time, because after them we can no longer investigate it properly or pursue the carrier.

14. Your obligations

You agree that you will:

• give accurate information about yourself and about your goods;
• not ship anything prohibited, or anything you do not have the legal right to import;
• not use SurShipp to evade duty, sanctions, import restrictions or any other law;
• pay what you owe, on time;
• reimburse us for any loss, fine or claim we suffer because you did not do these things.

15. Suspension and closure

We may suspend or close an account, and stop handling goods for it, where there are unpaid invoices, where prohibited goods have been sent, where we are given false information, or where we reasonably suspect fraud or illegality. Where we may lawfully do so, we will tell you why and give you a reasonable opportunity to collect goods we are holding, once anything owed has been paid.

You may close your account at any time, once nothing is outstanding and we are holding nothing of yours.

16. Privacy

How we handle your personal information — including the identification documents customs requires — is set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as our service, our carriers or the law change. The current version is always on this page with the date it took effect. Where a change materially affects you we will tell you by email or in your account before it applies. Shipping with us after a change means you accept the updated terms; the version in force when a shipment was received governs that shipment.

18. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of Suriname, and the courts of Paramaribo have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

Questions about these terms are welcome at info@surshipp.com.