What’s changing?
On March 1st 2021, Uber Eats is introducing a new business model designed to simplify and improve the experience of those who use the Uber Eats app. Under the new model, merchants will now exclusively sell goods to customers, and Uber Eats will provide delivery services to customers, and charge those customers directly for delivery. This will save partners time as small business owners no longer have to manage accounting for every individual delivery, simplifying their reconciliations and tax calculations and allowing them to focus on growing their business.
To reflect the changes, we’ve updated our agreements with Merchants. This includes an updated General Terms and new set of Service Terms.
This is not a binding contract or a comprehensive summary of the changes, so it is important that you read the full agreement (including your order form).
Summary of Changes
| What used to happen? | What will change? | What does this mean for you? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Previously, you were required to account for delivery costs and income from delivery fees | Now, when you choose the Uber Delivery Option, Uber Eats will provide delivery services to customers which will be fulfilled by independent delivery people that Uber contracts | When you choose the Uber Delivery Option, you will not have to invoice a delivery charge and report it in your accounting |
| 2. | Previously, you received invoices from delivery people | Now, when you choose the Uber Delivery Option, Uber Eats will handle all delivery invoices directly | When you choose the Uber Delivery Option, you will no longer be required to collect and retain delivery person invoices, nor claim GST credits based on delivery person payments |
| 3. | Previously, some merchants received a weekly invoice with a discounted service fee to partly offset the delivery charges that were invoiced on a per-trip basis | Your invoices will be simplified. The rebalancing of delivery charges and costs will no longer happen | Uber Eats will send you one weekly invoice, detailing only the agreed Uber Eats Fee. You will no longer see any line related to delivery charges in your invoices. |
| 4. | Previously, you received advance notice of changes to customer delivery fees. | Now, as you no longer sell delivery you will not receive notice of these changes. | As Uber is providing the delivery service to eaters, any changes to customer delivery fees will be managed directly between Uber and eaters and you will no longer receive notice of these changes. |
To implement the above changes and continue to deliver on an outstanding customer experience we will make some alterations to your agreement.
Key sections of your agreement that are changing include:
- Provision of Delivery Services – the new agreement simplifies the way that delivery services are provided. Under your old agreement, Delivery People provided delivery services to you which you then provided to your customers. With the new changes, Portier NZ (the local Uber Eats business in New Zealand) provides delivery services directly to customers, which means you’ll no longer see any delivery charges or fees on your invoices.
- Simpler fees and payments – Portier NZ will charge you a fee based on the option that you choose (such as Uber Delivery, Self-Delivery, Pickup or Dine-In), but no delivery-related fees will appear on your invoice. These fees will be available on a new fee webpage that you can check at any time and we’ll notify you if we change the fees.
- New ‘Service Terms’ – we are always looking for ways to improve our platform, so the ways you can choose to allow customers to complete orders with Uber Eats may change from time to time. We’ve created a new set of Service Terms, which describe the different services you can choose, and you can activate these services whenever you like as long as you meet any applicable requirements. These services include Uber Delivery, Self-Delivery, Pickup and Dine-In, Alcohol (where permitted), Virtual Storefronts and Promotions. If you don’t use a service, its service terms won’t apply – but the option is there.
- Clarity on temporary restrictions – we’ve updated your agreement to clarify the circumstances in which your Uber Eats account may be temporarily restricted, including if there is a serious complaint about your conduct under the Community Guidelines that we need to investigate.
- Self-Delivery – For merchants that use the ‘Bring Your Own Delivery Staff’ (or ‘Aggregator’) option, we have renamed this to ‘Self-Delivery’. There are a few changes in the way that you choose your pricing, self-delivery area and delivery fees. If you’re already using this service, you may need to sign a new form but the way that Self-Delivery operates will not change significantly.
- Simplified wording – we’ve changed some of the descriptions in the document to make it easier to understand. ‘Delivery Partner’ has become ‘Delivery Person’, ‘Aggregator’ has become ‘Self-Delivery’ and the agreement is now called a ‘Merchant Agreement’. There are a few other edits in the document as well, designed to help simplify your agreement.
- Changes to your responsibilities – to help improve the experience of our users, we’ve added some new responsibilities for merchants using the platform and clarified the application of certain existing merchant responsibilities. These include notifying us when your licences, permits or registrations change, complying with modern slavery laws, maintaining appropriate privacy protections, providing us with accurate information upon request, and complying with our brand guidelines.
- Simplifying indemnities – as part of our new terms, we’ve moved indemnities out of the specific service terms (such as the Aggregator Terms and Promotion Terms) and grouped them all in the General Terms. This will make it easier for you to understand how key risks are allocated under your agreement.
Other notable changes
Below, we set out some of the other changes to your agreement. This is not a comprehensive summary of what’s new, so we encourage you to carefully read the agreement and consider if it’s right for you.
| Section | Change | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Quality of items | Clarification regarding our rights to approve items offered by you via the Uber Eats App (as well as to remove those items from being offered in certain limited circumstances) and also to ensure that you remain responsible for ensuring that items are handled appropriately and comply with all laws (including food laws). | 4.2 4.5 |
| Refunds | We have updated the terms relating to refunds to better reflect how refunds are actually managed in practice, including the application of the Merchant Refund Policy. | 4.7 |
| Licences and permits | You are now required to notify us if there is change or modification to the licences, permits or registrations you are required to maintain. | 4.12 |
| Modern slavery | Under this new section, you must not engage in any modern slavery practices, and must tell us as soon as you become aware of or suspect any modern slavery in your supply chain. | 4.13 |
| Franchising | This new section replaces special agreements for some franchises. If you are a franchisor, you must comply with notification obligations with respect to your franchisees. If you are a franchisee, you are agreeing to additional information sharing and termination rights. | 4.15 4.16 |
| Suspension rights | In exceptional circumstances (such as a legal or regulatory risk, potential breach of law, insolvency or bankruptcy) we may be required cancel or suspend a payment to you. | 5.1 |
| Fees | Fees are now available on a new fee webpage that you can check at any time and we’ll notify you if we change the fees. If you do not agree with a fee change, you can end the agreement. | 5.2 |
| Tax | We have added certain tax provisions that were previously included in tax details supplemental terms. We have also updated the tax provisions to reflect current New Zealand tax law and the nature or our arrangement with you. | 5.7 |
| Additional information | This new provision allows us to collect information about your items (such as product codes, ingredients, and serving sizes), to assist with compliance and provision of the services. | 5.9 |
| Brand guidelines | This section has been updated to refer to Uber’s latest brand guidelines. | 6.3 |
| Confidentiality, privacy and data protection | Additional clarifications regarding the integrity, security and confidentiality of data, and updated privacy and data protection obligations to reflect recent changes to New Zealand privacy laws. We have also simplified the confidentiality obligations that apply to our relationship with you. | 8.1 8.2 |
| Representations and warranties | Clarifications to how these warranties apply, and the inclusion of certain additional warranties regarding your store name and that any information (eg NZBN / NZCN, GST registrations) you give to us will be accurate, complete and up-to-date. We have also clarified our commitment regarding the availability and uptime of the Uber Tool and Uber Eats App. | 9 |
| Indemnification | This section is updated to incorporate existing indemnities from previous supplemental terms for self-delivery and use of the Uber Eats promotional tools. | 10.1 |
| Insurance | Clarification that you must maintain commercial auto liability insurance if you use self-delivery. | 12 |
| Termination or suspension | Amendments to our ability to terminate our agreement with you or to temporarily restrict or deactivate your account for legitimate business, legal or regulatory reasons. We have also clarified the nature of your right to terminate the agreement where we make changes to the terms. | 13.1 13.2 14.2 |
| Additional service terms | The additional service terms consolidate older supplemental terms that apply to the different options, in the event that you choose to use Uber delivery, self-delivery or non-delivery (pickup or dine-in options), to sell alcohol items (where permitted) and/or to use Uber Eats promotion tools. | Service Terms |
If you have questions about your new agreement or would like more details about the changes, please contact restaurants.anz@uber.com.
Posted by the Uber Eats team
Category:
Partner with Uber Eats
Deliver with Uber
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