Privacy Policy

CostAware ("we", "us", "our") is an Australian-based provider of warehouse cost modelling and contract pricing software for third-party logistics (3PL) providers. We are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

This policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal information when you visit our website at costaware.com.au or interact with our services.

Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of personal information:

• Contact form submissions — When you submit an enquiry through our website contact form (powered by Web3Forms), we collect your name, email address, company name, and message content.
• Website usage data — We collect anonymised analytics data including pages visited, time spent on site, referring URLs, browser type, device type, and general geographic location. This data is collected via Google Analytics and does not personally identify you.
• Cookies and similar technologies — Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and gather analytics data. See the Cookies section below for details.

We do not collect sensitive information such as financial details, health information, or government identifiers through our website.

How We Use Your Information

We use the personal information we collect for the following purposes:

• Responding to enquiries — When you contact us through our website, we use your details to respond to your message and provide information about CostAware.
• Improving our website — We use anonymised analytics data to understand how visitors use our site, identify popular content, and improve the overall experience.
• Product updates — If you have opted in to receive communications from us, we may send you occasional updates about CostAware features, industry insights, or relevant news. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

We will not use your personal information for purposes other than those outlined above without your consent, unless required or authorised by law.

We Do Not Sell Your Data

CostAware does not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. Your data is used solely for the purposes described in this policy.

Data Storage and Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access or disclosure. These measures include:

• SSL/TLS encryption on all website traffic
• Australian-hosted infrastructure where possible
• Access controls limiting who within our organisation can view personal information
• Regular review of our data handling practices

Please note that no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

AI Features and Your Data

The CostAware platform includes AI-assisted features (referred to as "Margo") that help customers work with their own commercial information — for example, reading a tender document to draft a quote, answering questions about figures already held in the platform, and analysing recorded actuals. This section explains how data is handled in those features. It applies to the CostAware platform used by our customers; this public website itself does not run any AI feature.

What is processed

• Documents you upload — tender and volume documents provided by a customer are processed to extract operating figures for that customer's own quote, and are stored against that quote in the customer's account.
• Figures already in your account — when a user asks a question, the relevant screens of that user's own account are read in order to answer it.

How it is used

• Content is processed for the sole purpose of producing a result for the account it came from.
• Customer content is not used to train AI models. Documents and platform data are not contributed to model training by us, and we use AI providers under terms that exclude submitted content from their model training.
• AI processing may occur on infrastructure operated by our AI provider, which may be located outside Australia. Where that is the case we take reasonable steps to ensure comparable privacy protections, consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.
• AI features are advisory. They propose; a person in your organisation reviews and approves. No AI feature alters a signed contract.
• We retain limited technical records of AI usage (such as timestamps, feature used and volume of processing) for billing, security and service-quality purposes.

Industry benchmarking

Where a customer participates in industry benchmarking, only derived, aggregated statistics are used — never another operator's individual figures, documents or customer names. Aggregates are released only where enough separate organisations contribute that no individual business can reasonably be identified, and participation can be withdrawn at any time by a customer administrator in the platform's system settings.

Third-Party Services

Our website uses the following third-party services that may process limited data:

• Web3Forms — Processes contact form submissions. Your name, email, company, and message are transmitted to Web3Forms for delivery to us. See their privacy policy at web3forms.com/privacy.
• Google Analytics — Collects anonymised website usage data to help us understand visitor behaviour. Google may process this data on servers outside Australia. See Google's privacy policy.
• AI processing provider — Used by the CostAware platform's AI features to process documents and questions submitted by customers. Content is processed under terms that exclude it from being used to train the provider's models. Not used on this public website.
• Google Fonts — Serves web fonts used on our site. When you load a page, your browser may connect to Google's servers to retrieve font files. See Google Fonts privacy information.

Where third-party services process data outside Australia, we take reasonable steps to ensure those providers maintain privacy protections comparable to the APPs.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit a website. Our site uses the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies — Required for basic site functionality. These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies — Used by Google Analytics to collect anonymised usage data. These help us understand which pages are most useful and how visitors navigate our site.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies, though this may affect your experience on our site. Disabling analytics cookies will not affect your ability to browse or use our website.

Your Rights Under the Australian Privacy Act

Under the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Access your personal information that we hold
• Request correction of any inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information
• Request deletion of your personal information where it is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected
• Opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time
• Lodge a complaint if you believe we have handled your information inappropriately

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your personal information, you are entitled to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992

We encourage you to contact us first so we have the opportunity to address your concern directly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable legislation. Any updates will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us at:

Email: hello@costaware.com.au