Safety and order rules

Smuggl formalises the favours friends already do for each other when they travel. Every order follows the same fixed rules, built into the app, so nobody has to work them out over chat.

Who carries the items

• A traveller you know, or a friend of someone you know, carries the items in their own baggage on a flight they had already booked.
• Smuggl never holds, ships, stores or forwards any item. There are no couriers, warehouses or parcels.
• Travellers never carry sealed parcels, packages from private senders, documents or cash. Every item is a new retail product, visible and priced before the order is accepted.
• For every trip, the traveller agrees to inspect and unbox every item before boarding.

Where items come from

• Only airport duty-free stores and approved retailers. Each retailer is reviewed before it is added.
• Product links are accepted only from approved retailers. Second-hand, classifieds and person-to-person sites are not accepted.
• The traveller buys the item in their own name at the normal shop price and uploads a photo of it with the purchase bill. That way they know exactly what they are carrying before they fly, and your payment stays held until you have checked it.

What can't be ordered

• Alcohol, tobacco and nicotine products, vapes and e-cigarettes
• Gold, silver and platinum bullion, bars and coins
• Medicines and prescription drugs
• Drones, firearms, ammunition, explosives and weapons of any kind
• Illegal drugs and controlled substances
• Counterfeit, replica or pirated products
• Anything that needs a government permit or licence
• Cash, documents, sealed parcels, or anything from a private sender
• Bulk quantities or goods for resale

Personal use only

Orders must be for the shopper's own use or a genuine gift. Every trip has limits by category, and the app also limits how often a traveller can publish trips. These limits are checked on our servers and cannot be changed from the app.

Customs duty

• The traveller declares items at customs where required and pays any duty assessed.
• If duty may apply to an order, the estimate is shown at checkout and held with the order.
• The traveller is repaid only the duty shown on the official customs receipt. Anything unused goes back to the shopper.
• Only duty and import taxes are ever repaid. Fines and penalties are never covered.

Who is on Smuggl

• Every traveller verifies a government ID with a live selfie and passes sanctions and watchlist screening before they can take orders.
• Every trip is checked against the airline's published flight schedule.
• You can only order from a traveller who is your direct contact or a friend of a contact.
• Shoppers verify their mobile number.

How payment works

• You pay through our payment partners, which are payment aggregators authorised by the Reserve Bank of India.
• Your payment is held until you have checked your items and shared the handover PIN.
• The traveller is paid only to a bank account in their own name. Refunds always go back to the original payment method.
• No cash, cryptocurrency or payments from someone else's account.
• Pay only within the Smuggl app. Money sent to a traveller any other way is not held by our payment partner, so it is not covered by Smuggl protection.

If something is wrong at handover

• Report the problem in the app instead of sharing your handover PIN.
• For a damaged or wrong item, the app asks for a photo: a close-up of the damage, or the label showing the product name and size or shade.
• Once the traveller confirms they have the item back, you are refunded to your original payment method, usually on the spot, and automatically if they don't respond within 24 hours.

The full rules are in our Terms of Service and Refund & Cancellation Policy. Questions: help@smuggl.in. We acknowledge grievances within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days of receipt (see Contact).