Terms of Use

1About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and Alo Express (“we”, “us”).

By creating an account or placing an order, you accept these terms and our Privacy Policy. We record which version you accepted.

You must be 18 or older and legally able to enter into a contract.

Partner businesses and drivers also sign a written contract with us. Where that contract and these terms differ, the contract applies to the business or driver relationship.

2What Alo Express does

Alo Express runs a marketplace app and a delivery service. Products are prepared and supplied by independent partner businesses: restaurants, grocery stores and shops. The business's name is shown on its shop page, at checkout and on your receipt. Alo Express takes your order and payment through the app and delivers the order to you.

Nothing in these terms limits the rights you have under consumer protection law.

3Your account

• You log in with your phone number and a one-time code sent by WhatsApp or SMS. Never share your code: Alo Express staff will never ask you for it.
• Keep your details correct, especially your name, phone number and delivery address. You are responsible for orders placed from your account.
• You can browse without an account; you need to log in to place an order.
• Logins for partner businesses and drivers are created by our staff.

We may limit, suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, is used for fraud, abuses drivers, shop staff or our team, or repeatedly refuses deliveries. You can delete your account at any time on the account deletion page or in the app.

4Placing an order

• One shop per order. Your cart holds items from one shop at a time. To buy from another shop, place a separate order.
• Prices are set by the shops and shown in Iraqi dinars (IQD), including any tax the shop must charge. Product photos are for illustration.
• Delivery area. We deliver only inside our active delivery zones. The map point you choose decides whether we can deliver.
• Confirmation. Your order is confirmed when the shop accepts it. If the shop rejects it or does not answer in time, the order is cancelled.
• Unavailable items. If an item is not available, the shop may remove it or reduce the quantity before confirming, and the app shows you the new total. If you pay with FIB for a grocery or shop order, you pay only after the shop has confirmed the final total.
• Times are estimates. If your order is delayed, we tell you in the app.

5Delivery and delivery fees

• The delivery fee is shown before you place your order. It depends on the road distance, the delivery zone and the vehicle your order needs: motorbike, car, pickup or 2-ton truck. If the items need different vehicles, the largest one is used.
• Delivery fees are always rounded up to the next 250 IQD. For example, a calculated fee of 2,100 IQD is charged as 2,250 IQD.
• The fee shown at checkout is held for 10 minutes. If it changes after that, you see the new fee before you confirm.
• Please keep your phone with you. If the driver cannot reach you at the address after waiting about 10 minutes and calling you twice, the delivery counts as failed (see “Cancellations and refunds”).
• For shop orders and big items, you can check the goods at the door before you accept them. This does not apply to restaurant food.
• Pickup and 2-ton truck orders are delivered to the entrance of your building, unless the app offers a carrying service and you choose it.

6Payment

• For each order you choose one payment method: cash on delivery or FIB (First Iraqi Bank). One order cannot be split between the two.
• Cash on delivery: you pay the driver the order total in Iraqi dinars when you receive your order.
• FIB: you approve the payment in the FIB app. The app tells you when to pay: restaurant orders are paid when you place the order; grocery, shop, pickup and truck orders are paid after the shop confirms your order, within the time shown in the app. If the payment is not completed in time, you can try again or switch to cash on delivery once; otherwise the order is cancelled.
• We do not charge you any fee for paying with FIB.
• No wallet and no credit. Alo Express does not keep a balance for you and does not offer a wallet, top-ups or store credit. Refunds and compensation are paid to your FIB account or in cash, never as credit.
• We may limit cash on delivery, for example on a first order, on very large orders or after refused deliveries. The app tells you when a limit applies.
• Every order has a receipt showing the business, the items, the delivery fee, the total and the payment method.

7Cancellations and refunds

Before the shop accepts

You can cancel for free in the app. If you already paid with FIB, the whole payment is refunded automatically. If the shop rejects your order or does not answer in time, the order is cancelled and any FIB payment is refunded automatically.

After the shop accepts

You can no longer cancel in the app; contact our support team. A restaurant starts preparing your food as soon as it accepts, so if you cancel after that, an FIB payment is not refunded, and a cash order counts as a refused order. If we or the shop cancel your order, or we are very late through our own fault, you get a full refund.

How FIB refunds work

FIB can refund a payment only in full, only to the FIB account that paid, and only within 7 days of the payment. A payment cannot be partly refunded. If money is due to you after that period, we send it by FIB transfer or pay it in cash.

Missing, wrong or damaged items

Report the problem with a photo in the app using Help with this order: within 2 hours of delivery for restaurant orders and within 72 hours for other orders. If we confirm the problem, we pay you the value of the affected items in cash through the driver or by FIB transfer to the account that paid, usually within 24 hours. We never partly refund an FIB payment. If the whole order is wrong or unusable, you get a full refund. You can also refuse damaged goods at the door: you pay nothing, or your FIB payment is refunded in full.

Refused or failed deliveries

• Restaurant food that was prepared correctly is not refunded if you refuse it or cannot be reached.
• If you refuse a shop order that has nothing wrong with it and you chose cash on delivery, you pay the delivery fee in cash at the door.
• If you already paid with FIB, the goods go back to the shop and the whole payment is refunded once they arrive there. No extra fee is charged.
• After two refused or failed deliveries, cash on delivery may be switched off for your account.

Returns after delivery

Returns and exchanges of shop goods follow the shop's own return policy. Our support team can help you reach the shop.

8Prohibited items and conduct

The following may not be sold or ordered through Alo Express:

• cigarettes, cigars and all other tobacco and nicotine products, vapes and e-liquids, hookah (shisha) tobacco, hookah pipes and hookah charcoal;
• alcoholic drinks;
• medicines, with or without a prescription, injectables, weight-loss or sexual-enhancement pills and unapproved supplements;
• cannabis, CBD and other drugs;
• weapons and ammunition, airsoft and BB guns, explosives, fireworks, pepper spray, electroshock weapons, combat knives and knuckle-dusters;
• counterfeit or replica branded goods;
• digital codes such as gift cards, game credits and streaming or VPN codes, and phone top-up cards;
• adult products, and gambling or lottery products;
• live animals and hazardous materials;
• anything else that is illegal in Iraq or the Kurdistan Region.

We remove such listings. You can report a shop or product with the Report button in the app or through our support page.

You must not place fake orders, use the service for fraud, harass drivers, shop staff or our team, or try to disrupt or copy our apps and systems.

9Partner businesses and drivers

• Business accounts are created by our staff after a written partner agreement that sets the commission, delivery zone and payment schedule. The business is responsible for correct products, prices and stock, its licences, food safety, suitable packaging, accepting orders on time and never listing prohibited items.
• Amounts shown to a business in the app are statements only. They are not a balance that can be withdrawn or spent; businesses are paid under their agreement.
• Each member of a business can delete their own login, and our team completes it within 7 days. A member cannot delete the business itself: to end the partnership, the owner uses Request business closure in the business settings, and our team handles it under the partner agreement.
• Driver accounts are created by our staff. Company drivers work under an employment contract, and pickup and truck owners under a carriage agreement. The Alo Express Driver app shares a driver's location only while they are Online.

10Responsibility and liability

We look after your order from the moment the driver collects it until it is handed to you. Partner businesses are responsible for their products, including quality, ingredients and allergens, expiry dates and product warranties.

We work to keep our apps and deliveries running, but they can be interrupted, for example by network outages, maintenance, strikes, fuel shortages, weather or safety situations. We may pause deliveries in an area when it is not safe.

Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Iraqi law that cannot be excluded, including consumer protection law.

11Changes, law and contact

We may update these terms. We publish the new version on this page with a new date, tell you in the app about important changes before they take effect, and may ask you to accept them again.

These terms are governed by the laws of Iraq as applied in the Kurdistan Region. Disputes are decided by the competent courts in Duhok. This does not affect your right to complain to a consumer protection authority.

These terms are published in Kurdish (Badini and Sorani), Arabic and English. The Kurdish and Arabic versions are the official versions; the English version is a translation.

Questions? Email support@aloexpress.app or visit our support page.