Marketplace Trust, Network Conduct and Commercial Protection Policy

1. Why this Policy Exists

ShipSherpa operates a live logistics marketplace in which pricing, route access, vehicle allocation, tracking evidence, customer trust and carrier confidence all depend on users behaving honestly and within defined commercial boundaries.

This Policy sets the conduct standards that apply to any person or organisation using, accessing or benefiting from the ShipSherpa network, whether directly or indirectly.

It applies to:

  • customers
  • guest users
  • drivers
  • fleet partners
  • warehouse users
  • dispatch teams
  • authorised sub-users
  • enterprise account users
  • API users
  • connected integration partners
  • marketplace intermediaries
  • anyone acting on behalf of an account holder

This Policy forms part of the wider ShipSherpa legal framework and applies across all bookings, shipment movements and operational workflows conducted through or derived from the platform.

2. Protected Marketplace Interests

This Policy is intended to protect the following core interests of the ShipSherpa network:

  • honest route allocation
  • reliable capacity planning
  • fair access to bookings
  • pricing integrity
  • customer trust
  • driver and fleet confidence
  • authentic proof-of-delivery evidence
  • operational safety
  • enterprise-grade governance
  • protection against off-platform leakage
  • sustainable commercial scaling

Any conduct that undermines those interests may be treated as a breach of this Policy even if it is not expressly listed in identical words below.

3. No Off-Platform Diversion of Network Value

A user must not use access to the ShipSherpa platform, or any information obtained through it, to divert marketplace value away from ShipSherpa.

This includes, without limitation:

  • booking a driver, fleet or courier directly after introduction through ShipSherpa
  • moving repeat lanes or repeat customer routes off-platform
  • encouraging direct invoicing outside ShipSherpa
  • sharing contact details for side-dealing
  • rerouting API traffic into shadow booking systems
  • using successful first routes as a stepping stone to direct dealing
  • bypassing ShipSherpa fees, controls or evidence systems
  • moving route legs away from the platform after allocation visibility has been obtained

Any deliberate diversion of platform-originated commercial opportunity may lead to immediate suspension, termination, recovery of lost fees, injunctive relief and any other legal remedy available.

4. Booking Authenticity and Demand Integrity

ShipSherpa must be able to trust that booking activity reflects genuine transport demand.

No user may create, submit or engineer bookings that are misleading, speculative, abusive or non-genuine.

Prohibited conduct includes:

  • price testing without real transport intent
  • repeated false urgent jobs
  • duplicate route creation to distort marketplace demand
  • warehouse slot blocking
  • using live driver responses only for intelligence gathering
  • bad-faith cancellation patterns
  • competitor reconnaissance through booking behaviour
  • creating artificial demand to test fleet depth or dispatch response times

ShipSherpa may investigate any account whose booking pattern suggests demand distortion, synthetic traffic or commercial bad faith.

5. Route Capture, Hoarding and Acceptance Abuse

Because ShipSherpa is a live-capacity marketplace, users must not distort allocation fairness by capturing, blocking or hoarding routes without proper intent to perform.

Drivers and fleet partners must not:

  • accept routes speculatively
  • hold premium work while seeking alternatives elsewhere
  • accept overlapping jobs they cannot realistically service
  • withdraw late in order to take more profitable work
  • exploit surge periods through acceptance farming
  • repeatedly drop lower-value accepted work for higher-value opportunities
  • use acceptance behaviour to gather competitor or customer intelligence

Legitimate withdrawal caused by breakdown, illness, unsafe goods, route illegality or compliance issues remains permitted, provided it is genuine and communicated promptly.

6. Approved Fulfilment Pathways Only

Jobs offered through ShipSherpa may only be fulfilled through the authorised operator structure recognised by the platform.

A route may not be:

  • resold
  • shadow brokered
  • handed to an unregistered third party
  • passed to an undeclared subcontractor
  • performed using an unapproved replacement vehicle
  • split or sold in legs outside approved workflow
  • diverted into an off-platform carrier arrangement

Drivers and fleet partners must ensure that any substitute, vehicle or fulfilment resource used for a route has already been properly onboarded and authorised under the ShipSherpa framework.

Unauthorised delegation may trigger payout intervention, failed-service treatment, suspension and recovery of resulting customer losses.

7. Confidential Information and Dispatch Intelligence

A user must not misuse information obtained through ShipSherpa where that information has commercial, operational, customer or network sensitivity.

Protected information includes:

  • route pricing
  • dedicated vehicle rates
  • customer shipment volumes
  • dispatch patterns
  • pickup and drop frequency data
  • fleet margin signals
  • driver identities
  • recipient information
  • enterprise pricing arrangements
  • internal playbooks and SOPs
  • allocation methodologies
  • API responses and workflow logic

A user must not disclose, copy, exploit or weaponise such information for its own competitive advantage or for the advantage of any third party.

These obligations continue after account closure or suspension.

8. Evidence Integrity, Fraud and Claims Manipulation

ShipSherpa relies on digital evidence to settle routes, defend claims and maintain trust. No user may interfere with that evidence chain.

Prohibited conduct includes:

  • falsifying proof-of-delivery
  • manipulating GPS signals
  • altering timestamps
  • staging failed delivery events
  • creating false non-delivery claims
  • fabricating shortages
  • submitting misleading route photographs
  • manufacturing damage allegations
  • abusing chargeback mechanisms
  • falsely denying receipt of goods
  • engineering claims for commercial leverage

Where fraud indicators arise, ShipSherpa may hold payouts, reverse credits, suspend access, retain evidence, notify insurers and refer matters to law enforcement where appropriate.

9. Fair Use of Data, APIs and Platform Outputs

Users must not exploit ShipSherpa systems as a data-harvesting, benchmarking or competitor intelligence tool.

Prohibited conduct includes:

  • overloading quote APIs
  • scraping driver availability
  • reverse engineering surge or pricing logic
  • hammering postcode calculators
  • automating quote collection at scale
  • harvesting fleet rate data for competitor purposes
  • using the platform as a shadow market data feed
  • extracting operational outputs beyond legitimate account usage

Where usage is excessive, abusive or commercially extractive, ShipSherpa may apply throttling, suspension, key revocation, access restrictions or revised commercial terms.

10. Respect, Safety and Lawful Conduct

All users must deal with one another lawfully, professionally and without hostility.

The following are prohibited in any ShipSherpa-related interaction:

  • abusive language
  • threats
  • intimidation
  • harassment
  • bullying
  • coercive conduct around charges or disputes
  • discriminatory treatment
  • hate speech
  • repeated hostile calls or messages
  • unsafe behaviour at collection or warehouse locations

This standard applies across digital and non-digital interactions connected with the ShipSherpa network, including calls, messages, emails, WhatsApp escalations, support tickets and on-site conduct.

11. Equality and Non-Discriminatory Treatment

ShipSherpa requires all users to treat others fairly and in accordance with applicable equality law.

Discriminatory conduct connected with the platform, including conduct based on protected characteristics, may result in immediate suspension or permanent removal.

This applies equally to customers, drivers, fleet partners, staff users, warehouse personnel and enterprise users.

12. Monitoring, Investigation and Response

ShipSherpa may investigate suspected misuse, abuse or distortion of marketplace activity.

Investigations may relate to:

  • route diversion
  • booking abuse
  • suspicious cancellation patterns
  • shadow brokering
  • fraudulent claims
  • abusive communications
  • API misuse
  • price intelligence extraction
  • undeclared subcontracting
  • conduct harmful to customer trust or network confidence

ShipSherpa may rely on booking data, route records, communications, account behaviour, GPS or POD evidence, API usage logs and other reasonable sources when assessing suspected breach.

13. Enforcement Measures

Where ShipSherpa reasonably considers that this Policy has been breached, it may take one or more of the following actions:

  • issue a warning
  • restrict route access
  • apply route-level or account-level controls
  • hold or reverse payouts where contractually permitted
  • suspend accounts
  • remove API access
  • disable fleet participation
  • terminate user access
  • recover lost revenue or customer losses
  • seek injunctive relief
  • commence legal proceedings

The remedy chosen may reflect the seriousness, pattern and commercial impact of the conduct.

14. Interpretation and Network Governance

This Policy is intended to preserve honest participation in a live logistics marketplace.

It should be interpreted in a way that protects:

  • fair allocation
  • accurate pricing
  • legitimate use of the platform
  • confidence among drivers and fleets
  • customer service quality
  • enterprise reliability
  • long-term national scaling

Those principles are fundamental to ShipSherpa's network model and are central to continued access to the platform.