Delivery & Collection Policy

This policy is part of the Terms of Sale.

The words used here are the ones defined in section 1 of the Terms of Sale: MercadoBon (also the Platform) is the marketplace, operated by PhaseShift Technologies B.V.; the Buyer — "you" on this page — is the person who placed the Order; a Seller is the independent business selling the goods or services; a Delivery Partner is an independent transport company MercadoBon works with to deliver Orders — today EAA Transport; a Driver is the person who brings the Order, either for a Delivery Partner or for a Seller; and an Order is one Seller's part of a basket.

Whoever makes a delivery is responsible for it. A delivery by a Delivery Partner is that Delivery Partner's responsibility. A delivery a Seller makes themselves is that Seller's responsibility. MercadoBon makes no deliveries itself. That covers a delivery that fails, comes late, or loses or damages the Order on the way through no fault of the Buyer: the cost falls on the Delivery Partner or the Seller, whichever was delivering, and never on the Buyer. Either way, the Buyer raises a claim with MercadoBon, which decides it under the Refund & Returns Policy and sees that the Buyer is refunded, so the Buyer never has to chase a Delivery Partner or a Seller.

1. Where Orders are delivered

MercadoBon serves Bonaire only. Delivery covers the whole island; some Sellers deliver only in their own area, which is shown on their store page.

MercadoBon does not ship off the island and does not export goods.

2. The Buyer's options

You choose for each Seller at checkout, from the options that Seller offers.

Self pickup

You collect the Order from the Seller, at the Seller's address and during their opening hours. It is free.

MercadoBon tells you when the Order is ready. Collect it within the time the Seller allows — the same day for prepared food, and as agreed for everything else. An Order that is not collected may be disposed of and is not refunded.

Each Order has a pickup code: a QR code and four digits on the Order page and in the order emails. Show it at the Seller's counter; the Seller scans or types it before handing the Order over. If you can't show it, the Seller may hand the Order over after checking your name against the Order. Anyone you give the code to can collect the Order for you, so share it only with someone you send to collect it.

Seller delivery

The Seller delivers the Order themselves, with their own Driver, and is responsible for that delivery.

• The fee is set by the Seller and shown at checkout before you order. Many Sellers deliver for free.
• The Seller delivers on their own delivery days, shown at checkout, and most need about a day's notice. The dates you can choose at checkout already allow for this.

A Delivery Partner

A Delivery Partner is an independent transport company MercadoBon works with, shown at checkout under its own name. MercadoBon arranges the delivery and sets its fee; the Delivery Partner carries it out and is responsible for it, from the moment its Driver collects the Order from the Seller until it is handed to the Buyer. Its Drivers work for the Delivery Partner, not for MercadoBon or the Seller.

• One fee per Order: each Seller's Order is collected and delivered separately, so a basket with two Sellers delivered by a Delivery Partner pays two fees. Each fee can depend on where that Seller is and the area you are in, and every fee is shown at checkout before you order.
• Late-night fee: an Order placed between 23:30 and 06:00 (Bonaire time) pays $2 more per Delivery Partner fee. The time that counts is when the Buyer starts paying.
• The fee includes ABB, Bonaire's spending tax, at the rate in force for services.
• Delivery starts once the Seller has the Order ready.

When the Delivery Partner is very busy. When MercadoBon expects a new delivery to take more than an hour, checkout may say so and suggest collecting the Order instead. For an Order already placed, MercadoBon may offer to switch it to self pickup, on the Order page or in one WhatsApp message. Where it does, the Buyer can switch as long as no Driver has collected the Order from the Seller yet, the Seller offers collection for everything in it, and it is due today. The delivery fee is then refunded to the card it was paid with, or no longer charged where the Buyer pays the Seller on account; the card fee already charged on it is not refunded. The Driver is taken off the Order, the Seller is told, and the switch cannot be undone. An Order paid in cash or by bank transfer cannot be switched this way.

3. Free delivery

When the goods in a basket reach the free-delivery threshold shown at checkout, the delivery fees on its Orders are waived, up to the amount shown at checkout for each Order. The threshold counts the whole basket across all Sellers. Checkout always shows exactly what the Buyer will pay for delivery before the Order is placed.

4. When the Order arrives

Nothing is on its way until the Seller confirms the Order. A restaurant has 15 minutes to confirm; every other Seller has up to 1.5 hours, and most respond much sooner. An Order placed while the Seller is closed is a pre-order: their time to confirm it starts when they next open, and the delivery follows from there. An Order booked for a later time or day may be confirmed until two hours before the delivery or collection time the Buyer chose (or, if the Buyer chose only a day, the time the Seller opens that day), and never in less than the time above. If the Seller has not responded by then, the Order is cancelled and refunded, and the Buyer can cancel it themselves, for a full refund, at any time before the Seller confirms. Where the Buyer paid online, the payment was taken at checkout, so the Seller starts as soon as they confirm — and an Order nobody confirms is refunded. MercadoBon tells the Buyer when each Seller confirms and when an Order is ready.

The delivery day and time chosen at checkout are a request — the Buyer can ask for a delivery as soon as possible or for a particular half-hour, and the driver confirms the exact time when they take the Order on. Delivery times are estimates, not guarantees: weather, traffic, a ship that did not dock and how busy a Seller is can all move them. If MercadoBon knows an Order will be late, it tells the Buyer. If an Order would arrive more than 30 days after it was placed — and the Buyer did not choose a later date themselves — MercadoBon tells the Buyer, who can cancel it for a full refund of anything paid.

A basket from several Sellers arrives as several deliveries, at different times. It is charged once, at checkout, and each Seller's Order is then settled on its own — see section 6 of the Terms of Sale.

5. Showing the delivery is yours

To record that an Order reached the Buyer, the Driver may ask for the delivery code shown on the Order in the MercadoBon app, or photograph the delivered Order. Only the Buyer can see the code — the Seller never does, and the Driver only checks the one the Buyer shows them. Share it only with the person handing you your Order, and treat it like a PIN.

Alcohol is for adults only. Products marked 18+ are sold only to Buyers aged 18 or older, and the Buyer confirms this on the website before the first one goes in a basket. The Driver checks the photo ID of the person taking an Order that contains alcohol, and hands the alcohol over only to someone who shows they are 18 or older.

Delivery photos show the Buyer's door. The Buyer and the Seller can see the photo on the Order for 24 hours after delivery. MercadoBon keeps it for 7 days to settle claims, and the Buyer or the Seller can ask MercadoBon about it during that time. Then it is deleted; see the Privacy Policy.

6. If nobody is there

The Driver tries to reach the Buyer on the phone number on the Order. If they cannot, and nobody can take the delivery:

• Food and anything perishable goes back to the Seller. It cannot be left outside or delivered again later, and it is not refunded.
• Everything else goes back, and MercadoBon contacts the Buyer to arrange another attempt. A second delivery fee may apply.

Please give a phone number you answer, and add delivery notes if your address is hard to find.

A safe drop-off spot. A Buyer can describe a safe spot at their address in their profile, with a photo of it — behind the house next to the laundry room, say — and choose at checkout, for each Order, whether a Delivery Partner's Driver may leave that Order there when nobody answers. The Driver then leaves it at that spot instead of taking it back, and photographs it there. The Buyer sees their own photo of the spot beside the Driver's photo on the Order. An Order left at the safe spot the Buyer chose counts as delivered, food included, and from then on it is at the Buyer's risk. A Driver may still hand the Order over in person, or take it back if the spot cannot be found or is not safe.

Where the Order offers a chat with the Driver, the Buyer and a Delivery Partner's Driver can message each other on it while the Driver is carrying the Order — to say "I'm outside", or to explain the way in. The chat closes when the Order is delivered, and nobody can message through it afterwards.

7. If the address is wrong

The Buyer is responsible for the delivery address and phone number they give. A delivery that fails because they were wrong is not refunded, and a new delivery is charged.

If you spot a mistake before the Seller confirms, cancel the Order and place it again with the right details. After that, message MercadoBon straight away and it will try to put it right.

8. Damaged, wrong or missing

Check the Order when it arrives. If something is damaged or wrong, or did not come, raise a claim on that Order in your account within the deadlines in the Refund & Returns Policy: 24 hours for food and anything perishable, and 72 hours for other goods and for an Order that never arrived. Photograph anything damaged before the packaging is thrown away. Raise it with MercadoBon, not with the Seller or the Driver, whoever made the delivery.

9. Weather and other disruption

During a hurricane or tropical storm, flooding, a power or fuel shortage or a shipping disruption, deliveries may stop at short notice. MercadoBon tells the Buyer, and if an Order cannot be delivered within a reasonable time, anything the Buyer paid for it is refunded in full.

10. Questions

Message MercadoBon on WhatsApp at +599 785 5159 or email felix@mercadobon.com.