Prohibited Items Policy

Effective August 29, 2026 · Version 1.1

This policy defines what may and may not be listed, requested, proposed, carried, or arranged through the HandCarry platform (the "Platform"), operated by HandCarry Technologies LLC. It is part of the Terms of Service and binds every user.

HandCarry deliveries are carried by real people, in personal luggage, on commercial flights and other transport, across real borders. What travelers carry is governed not just by this policy but by criminal law: aviation-security law, customs law, drug law, sanctions law. A prohibited item in a carry-on bag can mean arrest at a security checkpoint — the traveler's arrest, not the buyer's. This policy exists to keep every delivery on the right side of those lines. Read all of it before you list, propose, or carry anything.

1. Scope — where this policy applies

This policy applies to everything arranged through the Platform, in any form:

items described in trips and delivery requests (listings);
items discussed, offered, or agreed in messages — the policy governs what you may arrange through the Platform, not merely what you may type into a listing form;
items proposed, countered, or accepted in proposals; and
items paid for, carried, and delivered in orders.

It applies to all routes — domestic and cross-border alike. An item that is prohibited under this policy may not be transacted on the Platform even if both parties privately agree otherwise; there is no consent exception.

You confirm your acceptance of this policy at the moments that matter: when you post a trip, when you post a delivery request, when you propose to carry an item a buyer has requested (a traveler whose own trip is being booked confirmed the policy when posting that trip), and when you pay at checkout. Each confirmation is recorded, with the version of this policy you confirmed.

2. The rule

Every item transacted on the Platform must pass all of these tests:

Legality end to end. The item must be legal to possess and transport — in the origin country, in the destination country, and in any country transited en route — in the quantity and form being carried.
Hand-carriable and declarable. It must be something a private individual can lawfully carry in personal luggage and personally declare at customs without a commercial import license, permit, or broker.
Not prohibited below. It must not fall in any Prohibited category (Section 3).
Restricted conditions met. If it falls in a Restricted category (Section 4), every stated condition must be met.
Within limits. Its value must not exceed USD $2,500, and it must fit within the trip's declared weight (never above 50 kg) and size limits (Section 6).
Truthfully described. The listing and proposal must describe the actual item, completely and accurately (Sections 7 and 8).

When any test fails or is uncertain, the item does not belong on the Platform. If you are not sure an item is allowed, do not list it, and do not carry it.

Prohibited

3. Prohibited items — never allowed

The following may never be listed, requested, proposed, carried, or arranged through the Platform, on any route.

3.1 Weapons and explosives

Firearms and their parts, components, and accessories; ammunition; explosives and fireworks of any kind; stun guns, tasers, and pepper spray; restricted knives and blades; military or law-enforcement equipment subject to legal restriction. This category is a blanket prohibition — including items that may be legal in one of the countries involved. To be concrete about common edge cases: replica and airsoft weapons, and anything that looks like a weapon at a security checkpoint, are prohibited; ordinary household cutlery in retail packaging may be carried as general merchandise, but any blade that is regulated in any involved jurisdiction — and all tactical, combat, and concealed blades — is prohibited; multitools with blades are subject to the same rule and to airline carriage restrictions.

3.2 Drugs and all prescription medication

Illegal drugs and controlled substances of every kind, and drug paraphernalia intended for illegal drug use (pipes, bongs, scales, grow equipment); all prescription medication — even with a valid prescription, even between family members; injectable medication and prescription medical devices; cannabis, CBD, and hemp-derived products in any form and any concentration, regardless of local legality at either end; performance-enhancing substances of the kind controlled in sport and law. Over-the-counter medicine is allowed under Section 5. The prescription-medication ban is absolute because carrying another person's prescription across a border is a drug-law violation in most of the world — no marketplace checkbox can make it safe or legal, and no personal circumstance creates an exception on this Platform.

3.3 Counterfeit, stolen, and infringing goods

Counterfeit products of any kind; replicas presented as genuine; stolen goods; goods that infringe trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual-property rights. Buyers of branded goods should expect to receive — and travelers should expect to buy — genuine products with receipts from legitimate retailers.

3.4 Live animals and protected species

Live animals of any kind; products derived from species protected under CITES (the international convention restricting trade in endangered species — ivory, certain skins, corals, tortoiseshell, and similar); plants, seeds, and plant material restricted without phytosanitary (plant-health) permits.

3.5 Hazardous and dangerous goods

Flammable liquids and solids; compressed gases and aerosols outside airline personal-use allowances; corrosives, toxins, and radioactive material; dry ice; strong magnetized materials; loose or spare lithium batteries not installed in a device — power banks included (airlines restrict these to specific carriage rules that a marketplace delivery cannot satisfy); lighters and matches beyond what airlines permit a passenger to carry personally; and anything classified as dangerous goods under air-transport dangerous-goods rules (IATA) or maritime rules (IMDG). The practical test: if an airline would refuse it in checked or carry-on baggage, it is prohibited here.

3.6 Money and bearer value

Cash and currency; gold bullion, bars, and investment precious metals; loose gemstones; bearer instruments (checks, money orders, bearer bonds); gift cards and stored-value cards in quantity (a single retail gift card accompanying a genuine gift is tolerated; stacks of cards are value transfer); cryptocurrency hardware wallets that are pre-loaded or being transferred as value; anything whose purpose is moving value rather than goods. HandCarry is a goods marketplace — using it to move value is prohibited and may constitute unlicensed money transmission or structuring (splitting value into smaller parcels to evade reporting thresholds), both of which we report where required.

3.7 Illegal content and crime-facilitating goods

Child sexual abuse material in any form: zero tolerance — immediate permanent ban and referral to law enforcement, without exception. Obscene or otherwise illegal content. Also prohibited: any good whose primary purpose is to facilitate illegal activity — for example, card skimmers, signal jammers, lock-defeating tools marketed for break-ins, forgery equipment, and covert surveillance devices restricted by law.

3.8 Human and biological material

Human remains, including ashes; human or animal biological material (blood, tissue, organs, samples); medical waste. These are prohibited outright — the permits and airline conditions they require are incompatible with peer-to-peer carriage, however sympathetic the circumstances.

3.9 Sanctioned and export-controlled goods

Items whose export, import, or transfer would violate economic sanctions (including OFAC, EU, and UN measures) or export-control law (including dual-use goods — civilian items with potential military application — and controlled technology); any transaction involving a sanctioned person or sanctioned territory.

3.10 Items requiring commercial importation

Anything that cannot lawfully be hand-carried and personally declared by a private traveler: items requiring a commercial import license, quota, or customs broker; commercial quantities of any good — as a rule of thumb, multiple identical units, or quantities beyond plausible personal use, read as merchandise for resale to a customs officer and are treated the same way here; items subject to mandatory certification the traveler cannot provide at the border. Splitting a commercial shipment across multiple orders or travelers does not change its character and is itself a violation.

Restricted

4. Restricted items — allowed only with conditions

The following may be transacted only when every stated condition is met. The parties — not HandCarry — are responsible for verifying the conditions hold for their specific route.

4.1 Alcohol and tobacco

Personal-use quantities only — within both countries' duty-free and personal-import allowances, which are typically a bottle or two of spirits and a carton of cigarettes, not a case; legal at origin and destination; the recipient must meet the destination country's legal age for the product — which can exceed the Platform's 18+ age floor (for example, 21 in the United States for alcohol); airline rules on liquids apply. Quantities beyond personal use are prohibited under Section 3.10.

4.2 Food and plant-derived products

Commercially sealed, shelf-stable, non-perishable products only — think packaged sweets, coffee, spices, snacks in retail packaging; permitted for import at the destination (many countries ban meat, dairy, fresh produce, seeds, and honey in passenger baggage — check before you list or agree); labeled and declared truthfully.

4.3 Perishables

Anything that can spoil, melt, or expire in transit is strongly discouraged, and permitted only when the traveler has expressly agreed to carry a perishable item knowing exactly what it is. The buyer bears the risk of spoilage in transit, the traveler accepts the risk of carrying perishables knowingly, and the Platform's dispute process does not adjudicate the freshness or quality of perishable goods. Perishables that require permits, refrigeration, or that fail Section 4.2's import rules are prohibited.

4.4 Electronics with batteries

Devices with installed lithium batteries — phones, laptops, tablets, cameras, smartwatches — are allowed and are among the most common items on the Platform. Conditions: the battery must be installed in the device; spare and loose batteries, and power banks, are prohibited (Section 3.5); e-cigarettes and vaping devices are battery devices with additional airline and import restrictions in many countries — the traveler must confirm their airline permits them and the destination allows import before agreeing; drones are allowed as consumer electronics but are import-restricted or registration-controlled in several countries — verify the destination's rules first. In every case the traveler must confirm the item complies with their airline's battery rules — including watt-hour limits and cabin-versus-checked requirements — before accepting it.

4.5 Documents and data carriers

Personal documents — contracts, certificates, photographs, letters — are allowed. Forged documents, blank official documents (passports, visa stickers, official seals), and government-classified material are prohibited. Carrying another person's original identity documents may itself be restricted by law — verify before agreeing. Data-storage media (USB drives, hard disks, memory cards) are allowed as ordinary electronics; content that is illegal or classified makes the carrier prohibited under Section 3.7, and the buyer is responsible for what is on media they send.

Allowed

5. Allowed items — examples

For clarity, these are examples of items generally welcome on the Platform, subject always to Section 2's tests and Section 6's limits:

consumer electronics with installed batteries (Section 4.4's conditions);
clothing, footwear, and accessories;
sealed retail cosmetics, perfumes, and toiletries — perfume is fine in retail quantities; airline liquid limits apply in carry-on, and aerosols follow airline personal-use allowances;
authentic branded and luxury goods, up to the value cap, with receipts;
over-the-counter medicine and supplements in retail packaging — vitamins, pain relievers, first-aid supplies — never prescription products (Section 3.2);
books, media, toys, and games;
packaged specialty foods meeting Section 4.2;
spare parts, tools, and hobby items that contain no hazardous materials (Section 3.5) and are not blades or weapon parts (Section 3.1).

6. Value and physical limits

Maximum item value: USD $2,500 per item. For Buy & Deliver orders, the Platform enforces this cap automatically — when a listing is posted, when a proposal is made, and at any price adjustment. For Pick Up & Deliver orders, the cap is the buyer's declaration and duty: the declared value field is optional (and is checked against the cap when a value is entered), the Platform cannot verify the value of an item it does not purchase, and listing or handing over an item worth more than the cap is a violation of this policy whether or not a value was declared. The cap may not be evaded by splitting one item or shipment across multiple orders.
Weight: a trip's declared carrying capacity is capped at 50 kg, and an item must fit the capacity the traveler declared.
Size: trips declare a size category — small (fits in a handbag or backpack), medium (fits in carry-on luggage), or large (needs checked-luggage space) — and an item must match what the trip can accommodate. Size and weight fit are checked when proposals are made.

These limits exist for safety, customs, and financial-protection reasons: higher values concentrate fraud risk and can push a personal import into commercial-import treatment at the border.

7. Traveler responsibilities

As a traveler, you are personally answerable to airlines, security screeners, customs officers, and border police for every item in your possession. "Someone from the internet asked me to carry it" is not a defense anywhere on earth — and it is not one under the Terms of Service. Therefore:

7.1 Know what you carry — inspect it.

For Pick Up & Deliver items, you have the right and the duty to inspect the item before accepting it. The sender must hand it to you unsealed (Section 8.3). A practical inspection at handover:

Receive the item unsealed — refuse any package you cannot open and examine.
Confirm the item matches the listing: what it is, its quantity, its condition, its approximate value.
Check it against this policy — no prohibited categories, restricted conditions met, batteries installed rather than loose.
Only then package or seal it, yourself, for the journey.

For Buy & Deliver items, you purchase the item personally from the retailer, so you know exactly what it is — keep the receipt with you, and buy exactly what the order describes. Aviation-security law expects you to know the contents of your own luggage; make that literally true.

7.2 If the item is not right — refuse and report.

If at handover the item does not match its listing, or appears to fall under this policy's prohibitions: do not take it, and report it through the Platform rather than cancelling the order yourself. Report the mismatch in the app (or to [email protected]), and HandCarry will cancel the order without penalty to you — this routing matters, because it protects your delivery record while we deal with the buyer. If you simply become unwilling to proceed with a compliant item, contact support before acting: cancellations for genuinely reported safety concerns are handled with judgment, but walking away from a compliant, accurately described order is a cancellation under the Terms of Service's rules.

7.3 Comply with carriage rules.

You are responsible for complying with your airline's baggage and dangerous-goods rules and all aviation-security requirements, and for any airline fees your baggage incurs. Booking, missing, or changing flights is between you and your airline; your delivery commitment on the Platform stands independently.

7.4 Declare honestly.

You are responsible for lawful, truthful customs declarations for everything you carry, at every border on your route. Never misdeclare an item's nature or value — including at a buyer's request. A buyer who asks you to understate value on a declaration is asking you to commit a customs offense; refuse and report them.

7.5 Carry proof.

Keep the purchase receipt and the Platform's order record available when crossing borders — they document what the item is, what it cost, and why you have it. Being able to show that you are carrying a described, receipted item for a fee is your best answer to a border officer's questions.

8. Buyer and sender responsibilities

8.1 Describe truthfully and completely.

Your listing and proposal must identify the actual item — what it is, what it is made of, what it contains, its real value. Misdescribing an item so that a traveler unknowingly carries something prohibited or undeclared is the most serious violation of this policy: it puts a real person at legal risk at a border. It leads to a permanent ban, forfeits your payment protections, makes you responsible to the traveler for the consequences (Terms of Service, Section 12.2), and — where the misdescription involves contraband — is referred to law enforcement.

8.2 Verify legality at both ends.

Before requesting an item, confirm it is legal to export from the origin, legal to import at the destination, and legal for you to receive — including any age or license requirement that applies to you as the recipient. This research is your obligation, not the traveler's and not HandCarry's.

8.3 Present items unsealed.

For Pick Up & Deliver requests, you (or your sender) must present the item to the traveler unsealed and available for inspection. A traveler will refuse a sealed package — this policy requires them to. Package the item for protection only after the traveler has seen the contents. A gift can still be a surprise for its recipient; it cannot be a surprise for the person carrying it through security.

8.4 Duties and taxes are yours.

Import duties, VAT, and similar destination charges on your item are your responsibility, as the Terms of Service state. Do not ask the traveler to evade them, and do not ask them to misdeclare on your behalf (Section 7.4).

9. Customs outcomes: who bears a loss

When customs or security authorities seize, confiscate, tax, or delay an item, responsibility follows fault:

The buyer misdescribed the item, or requested something prohibited or unlawful

The buyer bears the loss in full. There is no refund, and the buyer is responsible to the traveler for consequences the traveler suffers (Terms of Service, Section 12.2).

Example: a "toy drone" that is actually a restricted surveillance device is seized at the destination — the buyer receives nothing back, and enforcement follows.

The traveler failed to declare properly, or otherwise handled a compliant item unlawfully or negligently

Treated as a failed delivery: the buyer is refunded in full and the failure is recorded under the Terms of Service's rules.

Example: a traveler walks a declarable camera through the green channel to save time and it is confiscated — the buyer is made whole; the failure is the traveler's.

A lawful, properly described, properly declared item is seized or refused anyway — it happens; border officers have discretion

Neither party is automatically at fault; the dispute process decides the outcome on the evidence, and HandCarry's role and liability remain limited as the Terms of Service describe.

Example: an officer disallows a lawful quantity of a food product on an unpublished local rule — the dispute process weighs the documentation both sides can show.

Duty and tax assessments on lawful items are not "losses" — they are the buyer's cost (Section 8.4).

We do not publish country-by-country duty-free thresholds or import rules — they change constantly and vary by route. Consult official customs sources for your specific countries before transacting; that research is part of Section 8.2's obligation.

10. How this policy is enforced

10.1 What the Platform does.

Enforcement is human and report-driven. HandCarry does not pre-screen listings; instead, every listing and conversation carries reporting tools, reports are reviewed by our team, reported listings are automatically queued for moderation review, and concerns about a specific order can be raised through the dispute process or with support. We reserve the right — without obligation — to review any listing, remove or redact content, block or restrict categories or routes, cancel orders, withhold payouts pending investigation, and suspend or ban accounts.

10.2 Consequences.

Depending on severity: warning; listing removal; order cancellation — an order cancelled for a prohibited item before payout is refunded in full to the buyer, and where the buyer's own misdescription or unlawful request caused the violation, the refund does not end the matter: enforcement, responsibility to the traveler, and (where applicable) the dispute process's allocation under Section 9 still apply; suspension; permanent ban; and recovery of amounts under the Terms of Service's offset provisions. Category-level severity: safety-critical violations — weapons, hazardous goods bound for aircraft, child sexual abuse material, sanctions violations — and deliberate misdescription lead directly to permanent bans.

10.3 Law enforcement.

We report to law enforcement where the law requires it, and we reserve the right to report where we discover credible evidence of serious crime — including child sexual abuse material (always reported), stolen goods, sanctions violations, drug trafficking, and fraud. We cooperate with lawful investigations as described in the Privacy Policy.

10.4 Discovery after payment.

A prohibited item discovered after payment can be raised through the dispute process — "prohibited item" is a dispute type. The buyer may dispute at any point up to the dispute window's close after delivery confirmation; a traveler may dispute while the order is paid but the item has not yet been purchased or collected, and after collecting or purchasing the item should use the Section 7.2 report path instead. Section 9's allocation applies either way.

11. Reporting

Report suspected prohibited items through the report button on any listing or conversation, or by email to [email protected]. Reports are confidential; the reported user does not learn who reported them. Do not carry an item you have doubts about "just this once" — report and let us look.

12. Common questions

"Can I send my own prescription medication to myself while abroad?"

No. Section 3.2's ban has no exceptions — not for your own prescriptions, not between family members. Prescription medication crosses borders through pharmacies and licensed channels, not through this Platform.

"Can I ask a traveler to bring a sealed gift?"

The gift can be wrapped for its recipient — but it must be presented to the traveler unsealed first (Section 8.3). The traveler seals or wraps it after inspecting it, or watches you do so.

"Is a laptop or phone with its battery allowed?"

Yes — installed batteries are fine (Section 4.4). The spare battery or power bank in the same box is not.

"Can a traveler carry perfume or cosmetics?"

Yes, sealed retail products — with carry-on liquid limits in mind (Section 5).

"Can I split a $4,000 item into two orders?"

No. The $2,500 cap applies per item and may not be evaded by splitting (Section 6); attempting it is a violation.

"What happens if a traveler opens my package and refuses it?"

If the item does not match your listing or violates this policy, the order is cancelled with enforcement consequences for you (Sections 7.2, 10.2). If the item was exactly as described and compliant, contact support — refusals of compliant items are handled under the Terms of Service's cancellation rules.

"Can I carry documents for someone?"

Personal documents, yes (Section 4.5). Someone's passport or identity card — check the law of every country on your route first; many restrict carrying another person's identity documents.

13. Changes to this policy

We update this policy as law, carriage rules, and Platform experience require. Material changes are announced at least 14 days before taking effect, by email and in the Platform. Each version is numbered and dated; the version you confirm at posting, proposal, or checkout is recorded with your confirmation. The current version always lives at handcarry.app/prohibited-items.