1. What these rules are
- 1.1These are the rules every shipment on Ebbrate runs by, for the seller who posts it and the carrier who bids on it. They are part of our Terms of Use.
- 1.2The contract of carriage is between the seller and the carrier. Ebbrate runs the marketplace, holds both sides to these rules and keeps the record.
2. Posting a shipment
- 2.1The seller describes the route, the cargo, the dates, the customs arrangements and any services the price must include. Carriers price on that description, so it must be accurate.
- 2.2Before an award, carriers see the route and the cargo, not the street addresses, contacts or the supplier’s name. Those go to the carrier the seller chooses.
- 2.3Carriers may ask questions while bidding is open. The answer is shown to every carrier bidding, without saying who asked. Contacts and addresses stay out of questions and answers.
- 2.4While bidding is open the seller may change the ready date, each line’s count, size and weight, and the notes. Every carrier with a bid standing is told what changed; bids placed before a change stay on the board but can no longer be accepted, and bidding stays open at least two business hours after the change. The route, the terms, the addresses and what the goods are cannot be changed: the shipment is withdrawn and posted again.
3. Who may bid
- 3.1A carrier bids once it is verified: company registration, operating licence and insurance certificate, checked by a person. Verification lasts a year and documents expire on their own dates.
- 3.2A carrier bids only on lanes it has added, for the modes and services it offers there. Delivering duty paid and into Amazon need a reviewer’s approval on each lane, and a score at or above the tier shown below.
- 3.3A carrier’s cargo insurance must cover the seller’s declared value, and a sea shipment into the United States needs an FMC licence on file.
- 3.4Every company and person in a shipment is screened against US sanctions and export-control lists. A match stops bidding or accepting until a reviewer clears it.
4. Bids
- 4.1Each bid must beat the standing best by the step shown on the auction.
- 4.2A bid states the transit time and is split by leg: origin, main freight, destination, and duty on a line of its own where the seller asked for duty paid. Anything not included is stated on the bid.
- 4.3A bid is an offer to carry the shipment as described, at that price. A carrier may withdraw a bid before it is accepted. Withdrawing one that has been accepted costs the most points in the score table below.
5. Choosing a bid
- 5.1Bidding runs for a set number of business hours where the carriers are, shown as a countdown on the auction; the seller then has a set window to choose, shown there too.
- 5.2The seller may accept any bid or none. A seller must be verified to accept. If none is accepted, nothing is booked and nothing is owed.
- 5.3Accepting a bid awards the shipment to that carrier at that price, on these rules.
6. After the award
- 6.1The seller gives the carrier the pickup and delivery contacts and, for most shipments, the commercial invoice and packing list, within 3 days of the award; Amazon’s shipment and reference IDs where the goods go into a fulfilment centre.
- 6.2If something is still missing 7 days after the award and nothing has been collected, the award is cancelled. Nothing is owed, and the carrier’s score is not affected.
- 6.3The carrier makes contact with the seller within 24 hours of the award: a message on the shipment, or a call it marks as made.
7. Carrying the shipment
- 7.1The carrier reports each milestone within 24 hours of it happening, against the plan set at the award from its own transit time. A late report costs score; a step that happens late but is reported on time does not.
- 7.2The carrier adds the container, bill of lading or air waybill numbers once it has them, and uploads the documents that are its to give.
- 7.3When a shipment is held up, the carrier says why and until when. A pause moves the delivery deadline only when the cause is on the seller’s side and the seller agrees.
- 7.4When customs stops a shipment, who pays for the hold follows its cause. The seller may contest the stated cause; a reviewer decides.
8. Charges after the award
- 8.1The price is the accepted bid. A carrier may ask to add a cost it could not have priced — longer waiting, larger cargo, more duty than estimated — with the reason and the figures.
- 8.2The seller has 5 days to accept or decline. Nothing is charged unless the seller accepts, and a request left unanswered lapses uncharged.
- 8.3Charges can be asked for while the goods move and for a few days after delivery, so the seller can answer before the payout is released. At most three may wait on the seller at once.
9. Cancelling
- 9.1Before an award the seller may withdraw the shipment, with a reason. Bidding stops, every carrier still bidding is told, and nothing is owed.
- 9.2After the award, until the goods are collected, the seller may cancel, with a reason. The carrier may then ask once, within 7 days, for money it already spent on the shipment, up to its bid. The seller accepts or declines; an accepted amount is paid to the carrier without commission. The carrier’s score is not affected.
- 9.3Once the goods are collected the shipment cannot be cancelled.
10. Claims
- 10.1The seller may file a claim for damage, loss, missing units or a loss caused by late delivery within 14 days of delivery. The carrier’s payout for that shipment is held while the claim is open.
- 10.2The carrier has 7 days to answer. A claim the carrier does not answer is resolved in the seller’s favour.
- 10.3A reviewer decides what happens to the held payout. That settles the payout on Ebbrate; it does not take away either side’s rights under the contract of carriage or the law.
11. Fees and payouts
- 11.1Sellers pay no fee.
- 11.2Carriers pay a commission on the service part of the price — freight, handling, customs work, delivery — never on the duty they advance. The rate depends on the carrier’s score when the shipment is settled, with a minimum per shipment, as in the table below.
- 11.3A payout is released after delivery once the claim window has closed without a claim, or once a claim has been settled. Each shipment on the carrier’s earnings page shows what is held back and the date it is due.
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12. The carrier score
- 12.1Every carrier has a score, published in full: what moves it, by how much, and every event on the carrier’s own account. Tiers open by score, and a carrier below the suspension mark stops seeing auctions.
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13. Ratings and reviews
- 13.1After delivery the seller may rate the carrier once, from one to five stars. A comment is shown on the carrier’s profile only if the seller agrees, and without the seller’s name.
- 13.2The carrier may answer a public comment once. The answer is shown under it.
14. Messages
- 14.1Each shipment has a conversation between the seller and the carrier. An Ebbrate administrator reads it only if a claim is filed on the shipment.
- 14.2Either side may have a message translated into their own language by Google.
15. Changes to these rules
- 15.1When these rules change we update the date at the top. A shipment already awarded stays under the rules in force when it was awarded.
These rules are part of our Terms of Use. Questions are answered in Help.