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Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions of Carriage

Last updated: May 2026.

1. Agreement

By booking a shipment with Interdoc you accept these Terms & Conditions, which together with our Privacy Policy form the agreement between you (the "Sender") and Servatech (trading as Interdoc, the "Carrier").

2. The service

Interdoc provides international courier services from South Africa to overseas destinations under two products:

  • ICD (International Courier Documents) โ€” paperwork in a flyer, 0.5โ€“2 kg billable.
  • ICP (International Courier Parcels) โ€” parcels, 0.5โ€“23 kg billable.

Carriage is performed by Interdoc directly or by partner carriers under Interdoc's supervision.

3. The Sender's responsibilities

  • To declare the contents accurately, including a true description and a true value.
  • To package the contents adequately for international transit. Interdoc will repack at the Sender's request and risk, but is not responsible for damage caused by inadequate packaging supplied by the Sender.
  • To not ship prohibited or restricted items. Prohibited items include but are not limited to: dangerous goods (flammables, explosives, lithium batteries above carrier limits, aerosols, compressed gases, corrosives, ammunition), live animals, illegal drugs, perishables (unless specifically arranged), counterfeit goods, hazardous chemicals, currency, and items prohibited by destination-country law. The Sender warrants that the shipment does not contain such items.
  • To provide a complete and accurate address for both ends of the shipment, with particular care taken over the international address (the foreign destination address on an export from South Africa, or the foreign origin address on an import to South Africa). A complete address includes: the street name and house / building number; the apartment, suite, unit, floor, complex, estate or compound name where applicable; the suburb or district; the city or town; the postal code (ZIP / CEP / PLZ / CAP, etc.) in the exact format used by the destination postal authority; the state, province, region or county where applicable; and the country. A working mobile telephone number for the recipient โ€” in full international format with the country dial code (e.g. +44, +1, +49) โ€” is also required so that the destination carrier and the destination customs broker can contact the recipient about delivery scheduling, duty payment, or address clarification.
  • To pay all applicable charges in full at booking.

โš  Why getting the international address exactly right is critical

International courier addressing is unforgiving. Once a parcel leaves South Africa, the destination carrier delivers strictly to what is printed on the waybill โ€” they do not improvise, ring nearby buildings, or guess at unclear details. A typo in the postal code, a missing unit or building number, an unfamiliar city spelling, or a confused street / suburb pairing can result in any of the following at the Sender's cost:

  • The parcel being held by the destination carrier or destination customs pending an address correction. Foreign carriers routinely charge an "address correction" fee that is added to any duties and that is payable by the recipient or, where the recipient refuses, by the Sender;
  • Misdelivery to a similar-looking address, after which Interdoc has no practical means of recovering the parcel and the loss falls outside the limited liability cap in section 8 below;
  • Multiple failed delivery attempts followed by return of the shipment to South Africa at the Sender's expense, including return-leg air-freight, foreign storage charges, and South African re-clearance charges;
  • Abandonment of the shipment by the destination customs authority where the address cannot be verified at all โ€” recovery in this scenario is not possible and the shipment is treated as a total loss for which neither Interdoc nor its destination agent is liable.

What we strongly recommend:

  • Use the address autocomplete on the quote form. Picking the international address from the dropdown captures precise lat/lng coordinates and the local address format the destination carrier expects, and avoids the most common spelling errors.
  • Always complete the "Apartment / Complex / Estate / Suite / Unit / Floor / Building name" field when you have one โ€” and always complete it when our system highlights it in red. A red highlight means our system detected that the autocomplete did not return a street number for the picked address. Apartments, gated estates, security complexes, office blocks, and farms routinely have no addressable street number; the unit, complex, or building name is what allows the destination carrier to find the actual door. Interdoc cannot deliver to such an address without this information.
  • Verify the postal code against the destination postal authority's lookup tool before booking. A single transposed digit in the postal code can route the parcel to the wrong city.
  • Spell the recipient's city and street in the Latin (ASCII) form used by the destination postal authority. Where the local address is normally written in non-Latin script (Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, etc.), provide both the Latin transliteration in the address fields and the local-script version in the delivery-instructions field, so the destination carrier can use whichever their handheld scanner accepts.
  • Provide a mobile telephone number for the recipient in international format. Both the destination carrier and the destination customs broker will attempt to contact the recipient on this number. Wrong, missing, or out-of-service recipient phone numbers are the single biggest cause of avoidable delivery delays.
  • Re-read the full address on the booking summary before you tick the confirmation box. The confirmation step is the Sender's final opportunity to correct an address before the parcel ships, and the timestamp is recorded against the booking.

By booking the shipment, the Sender warrants that the recipient address and contact details provided are complete and accurate. Any costs incurred to correct, redirect, hold, return, or abandon a shipment because of an incomplete or inaccurate address โ€” including foreign-carrier address-correction fees, storage and demurrage fees, customs hold fees, redelivery fees, return-shipping fees, and South African re-clearance charges โ€” are payable by the Sender and may be invoiced to the Sender where they are not collected from the recipient at delivery.

4. Pricing and payment

Quoted prices are based on the destination country and the billable weight (the greater of actual or volumetric, rounded up to the nearest 0.5 kg). International courier services are zero-rated for South African VAT. The price you pay Interdoc covers the courier service only: pickup at your South African address, international line-haul, our preparation and lodgement of the export and import customs declarations, and standard final-mile delivery to the destination address.

5. Duties, taxes, and customs charges at destination

5.1 What the Interdoc price does NOT cover. The price quoted does not include any import duties, import VAT, excise, levies, broker fees, examination fees, storage charges, or other fees imposed by the destination country's customs authority or its agents on the goods being shipped. The applicability and amount of such charges are determined exclusively by the destination country's customs authority, are entirely outside Interdoc's control, and are payable in addition to the price quoted on this website.

5.2 Default term: Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU). Unless we have agreed otherwise in writing before booking, all Interdoc shipments are dispatched on a Delivered Duty Unpaid basis. The recipient (consignee) is responsible for paying any duties, taxes, and customs charges levied at the destination before the shipment is released for final delivery.

5.3 Customs may hold the shipment until paid. Destination customs authorities routinely hold shipments pending payment of assessed duties and taxes. Such holds are outside Interdoc's control and do not entitle the Sender or the recipient to a refund of the shipping charge. Storage, demurrage, or warehousing fees that the customs authority or its bonded warehouse may charge during a hold are payable in addition to any duties.

5.4 Interdoc manages the clearance process, subject to dues being paid. Interdoc prepares and lodges the export declaration with SARS and the corresponding import declaration with the destination customs authority, and our destination agent will continue to manage the clearance process through to release of the shipment. Final release by customs is in all cases conditional on the recipient (or, where agreed in advance, the Sender) paying any duties, taxes, and other charges that customs has assessed. Interdoc cannot release a shipment that customs is holding for unpaid charges.

5.5 If the recipient refuses or fails to pay. Where the recipient refuses or fails to pay assessed duties and taxes within the time allowed by the destination customs authority, that authority may, at its sole discretion, return the shipment to the Sender at the Sender's cost or abandon the shipment. By booking with Interdoc the Sender agrees to be jointly and severally liable with the recipient for any return-shipping cost, abandonment fee, storage charge, or duty that becomes payable in such circumstances.

5.6 No liability for customs-related delays or costs. Interdoc is not liable for delays, additional costs, lost profits, missed deadlines, or any consequential damages arising from a customs hold, a duty assessment, the recipient's refusal to pay, or any decision or action of a foreign customs authority.

5.7 Disputing a duty assessment. Interdoc does not determine, collect, or contest duties and taxes assessed by foreign authorities. Where the Sender or recipient believes a duty assessment is incorrect, the dispute lies with the destination customs authority directly. On request, and where permitted by our destination agent, Interdoc will share copies of the declaration filed on the shipment to assist with such a dispute.

6. Customs declarations and accuracy

The Sender authorises Interdoc to act as customs agent for the limited purpose of preparing and lodging the export declaration with SARS and the corresponding import declaration with the destination customs authority. The Sender is responsible for the accuracy of the declared description and value, and for any penalties, fines, or seized-goods losses resulting from a false or inaccurate declaration.

7. Transit times

Transit times shown on the website are typical, not guaranteed. Customs holds, weather, civil unrest, force majeure, and destination-country logistics are outside Interdoc's control and do not entitle the Sender to a refund.

8. Liability for loss or damage

In the unlikely event of loss or damage caused by Interdoc's negligence, our liability is limited to the lesser of (a) the declared value of the shipment as recorded at booking, and (b) the equivalent of 20 SDR (Special Drawing Rights) per kilogram of billable weight, in line with international air-freight convention. The Sender may purchase optional declared-value insurance at booking for cover above this limit.

Interdoc is not liable for consequential or indirect loss, including but not limited to lost profits, lost business, missed deadlines, or emotional distress.

9. Claims

Claims for loss or damage must be submitted in writing within 14 calendar days of the expected delivery date, accompanied by the original waybill, proof of value, and (for damage) photographs of the damaged item and its packaging.

10. Right to refuse or inspect

Interdoc reserves the right to inspect any shipment to verify its contents against the declaration, and to refuse carriage of any shipment that breaches these Terms, contains prohibited items, or appears to be inaccurately declared. Where a shipment is refused after pickup, it will be returned to the Sender at the Sender's cost.

11. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Disputes are subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts.

12. Changes

We may update these Terms from time to time. The version in force is the version published on this page at the time of booking.