Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) applies to all Services offered on the website www.sharetheload.com (the “Website”), the Sharetheload mobile applications, and related features (together, the “Services”) provided by Sharetheload International (“Sharetheload”, “we”, “us”). It applies to all personal information collected about users of the Services and visitors to the Website.

Sharetheload is a technology services provider that connects senders with independent travellers. Sharetheload does not provide any form of courier, parcel delivery, logistics, or transportation services. References to the Services in this Privacy Policy are to our technology platform only. Carriage of parcels is performed by independent travellers and, where applicable, the airlines and carriers they use.

When you use Sharetheload, you trust us with your information, and we are committed to keeping that trust. This policy describes what information we collect, how it is used and shared, your choices and rights regarding that information, and how to contact us.

2. Who This Policy Covers

This policy applies to users of the Services anywhere in the world, specifically:

• Senders: users who arrange for parcels to be carried by travellers;
• Travellers: users who independently provide carriage to senders they connect with via the platform;
• Receivers: the persons who receive parcels;
• Visitors: anyone who accesses the Website or Services from time to time.

It also applies to people who provide information in connection with an application to use the Services, or whose information is otherwise received via the Services. All of the above are “users” for the purposes of this policy. The practices described in this policy are subject to applicable laws in the places in which we operate; we engage in them in a particular country or region only where permitted by local law.

3. Data Controller, Contact, and Cross-Border Processing

Sharetheload International is the data controller (in Australia, the “APP entity”) responsible for personal information collected in connection with the Services. Sharetheload is headquartered in Australia and provides the Services to users worldwide.

Personal information is processed in Australia and in other jurisdictions where we, our affiliates, or our service providers operate, including Hong Kong, where information may be processed and stored on behalf of our international subsidiaries and affiliates. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we do so using mechanisms recognised under applicable law, including the overseas disclosure requirements of Australian Privacy Principle 8, and, for information subject to the GDPR or UK GDPR, appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

Questions, comments, requests, and complaints about Sharetheload’s data practices can be submitted to our privacy office at admin@sharetheload.com.

4. The Information We Collect

Sharetheload collects:

• information you provide to us, such as when you create your Sharetheload account, complete identity verification, or sign up to our newsletter;
• information created when you use the Services, such as location, usage, transaction, and device information;
• information from other sources, such as identity verification and background check vendors, Sharetheload partners, and third parties that use Sharetheload APIs; and
• information collected by cookies and similar technologies when you visit the Website or use the apps (see our separate Cookie Statement).

This information may include your name, email address, phone number, login details, address, payment or banking information where required, government identification details, date of birth, profile photo, signature, travel route details, flight information, bookings, airline details, ratings, delivery status, verification status, live location tracking where enabled, and the preferences and settings you enable for your account.

4.1 Background check information

Where you apply to use the Services (in particular as a traveller), we may collect background check information where permitted by law, which may include criminal record history and other watch-list information. A vendor may collect and process this information on Sharetheload’s behalf.

4.2 Usage and demographic data

We may collect information about how you interact with the Services, including access dates and times, app features or pages viewed, app crashes and other system activity, browser type, and the third-party site or service you were using before interacting with the Services, and demographic information collected through user surveys. In some cases we collect this information through cookies, pixel tags, and similar technologies that create and maintain unique identifiers; see our Cookie Statement.

4.3 Device information

We may collect information about the devices you use to access the Services, including hardware model, device IP address, operating system and version, software, file names and versions, preferred language, unique device identifiers, advertising identifiers, serial numbers, device motion information, and mobile network information.

4.4 Communications data

The Services enable users to communicate with each other and with Sharetheload, including by calling or texting (in some countries, without disclosing telephone numbers to each other). To provide this, Sharetheload receives some information regarding the calls or texts, including date, time, and the content of the communications.

5. How We Use Your Information

Sharetheload uses the information we collect to operate the technology platform that connects senders, travellers, and receivers, and to make those connections reliable, safe, and convenient. We also use the information for safety and security, customer support, research and development, communications between users, promotions, and legal purposes, each as described below.

Sharetheload does not sell your personal information, and does not share it with third parties for those parties’ own direct marketing purposes.

5.1 Providing the platform

• creating and updating your account, and verifying your identity;
• enabling you to arrange the sending or carriage of parcels, including automated determination of the price of sending a parcel based on market factors such as supply and demand, weight, region, zones, taxes, and other applicable fees, surcharges, and cost recoveries;
• processing or facilitating payments, including escrow-supported payments;
• facilitating insurance offered by third parties in connection with the Services, where available;
• enabling tracking of delivery progress;
• enabling sharing features (such as compliments, referrals, or sharing departure and arrival times), personalisation, and accessibility features; and
• performing internal operations necessary to provide the Services, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, and monitoring of usage trends.

5.2 Safety, security, and automated decisions

• screening users before enabling access to the Services, including background checks where permitted by law;
• using information from user devices to identify unsafe practices, such as sending prohibited items;
• real-time ID check, which may prompt users to share a selfie before using certain features to confirm that the person using the app matches the account and to prevent fraud;
• using device, location, profile, usage, and other information (including from third parties) to prevent, detect, and combat fraud and unsafe activities; and
• using user ratings to encourage improvement, and as grounds for deactivating users with ratings below the applicable minimum.

Automated decision-making disclosure. Some safety, fraud, pricing, and ratings decisions are made by substantially automated means and may significantly affect your ability to use the Services — for example, automated deactivation for suspected fraud, safety incidents, or ratings below the applicable minimum, and automated pricing of parcel sending. The kinds of personal information used in these computer programs include profile and identity verification information, device and location information, usage and transaction information, ratings, and communications metadata. You may contact Sharetheload to request human review of a significant automated decision and to exercise any rights available under applicable privacy laws.

5.3 Customer support

We use the information we collect (including recordings of customer support calls, after notice to you and with your consent) to direct your questions to the appropriate person, investigate and address concerns, and monitor and improve our support responses.

5.4 Research, development, and communications

We may use the information we collect for testing, research, analysis, and product development, to enable communications between users (for example, a traveller may text or call a sender to confirm a handover location), and to communicate with you about products, services, promotions, studies, surveys, news, updates, and events, including serving relevant ads and content about the Services. You can opt out of marketing communications as described in Section 12.

5.5 Legal proceedings and requirements

We may use the information we collect to investigate or address claims or disputes relating to your use of the Services, as otherwise allowed by applicable law, or as requested by regulators, government entities, and official inquiries.

6. Cookies and Third-Party Technologies

Sharetheload and its partners use cookies and other identification technologies on our apps, websites, emails, and online ads for purposes described in this policy, including authenticating users, remembering preferences, measuring content popularity, delivering and measuring advertising, and analysing traffic and trends. We may also allow third parties to provide audience measurement and analytics services and to serve and report on advertisements. Please see our Cookie Statement for details, including your choices, consent, and opt-out mechanisms.

7. Information Sharing and Disclosure

7.1 With other users

• If you are a sender, we may share your first and last name, ratings and feedback, address, pick-up location, photo, and verification status with travellers.
• If you are a traveller, we may share with your sender and receiver your first and last name, photo, verification status, live GPS location where enabled, your declaration of goods, estimated departure and travel times, method of travel, flight number, airline, ratings, total number of trips completed, time on the platform, and contact information depending on applicable laws, together with profile information and compliments submitted by past senders.
• If you are a receiver, the shared information will include the tracking code provided by the sender, information about the traveller, and your first and last name, address, and location as needed to complete the handover.

7.2 At your request and with the public

We may share your information with other people at your request (for example, sharing your ETA and location with friends or family), and with Sharetheload business partners where you request a service through a partnership or promotional offering (including apps or websites that integrate with our APIs). If you submit content to a public forum — blogs, social media, or public features of the Services — those communications may be viewable by the public.

7.3 Account owners

If you use a profile associated with another party, we may share your transaction information with the owner of that profile — for example, a sender using a Business profile, a traveller using an account owned by a logistics or parcel delivery company, or a sender whose parcel is arranged by a friend or under a Family profile.

7.4 Subsidiaries, affiliates, service providers, and partners

We share information with our subsidiaries and affiliates to help us provide the Services or conduct data processing on our behalf. We may also provide information to vendors, consultants, service providers, and business partners that help perform or provide the Services, including payment processors, identity verification and background check providers, cloud hosting providers, analytics providers, customer support tools, professional advisers, airports, customs authorities, airlines, and other delivery-related partners where required to provide the Services or comply with law.

7.5 Legal reasons and disputes

We may share your information where we believe it is required by applicable law, regulation, operating agreement, legal process, or governmental request, or where disclosure is otherwise appropriate due to safety or similar concerns. This includes sharing with law enforcement, government authorities, or airports (where required by airport authorities), or other third parties as necessary to enforce our User Agreement or other policies, to protect Sharetheload’s rights or property or the rights, safety, or property of others, in connection with a claim or dispute, where you use another person’s payment card, or in connection with any merger, sale of company assets, consolidation, restructuring, financing, or acquisition of all or part of our business. We may share your information in other cases if we notify you and you consent.

8. Security and Data Breaches

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure, including encryption in transit, access controls, and verification measures for account changes. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Where a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected users and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and comply with breach notification obligations in other applicable jurisdictions.

9. Information Retention and Deletion

Sharetheload retains user profile and other information for as long as you maintain your Sharetheload account. Once information is no longer necessary to provide the Services, enable customer support, enhance the user experience, or for other operational purposes, we take steps to prevent access to or use of it for any purpose other than legal compliance, safety, security, and fraud prevention and detection.

Sharetheload retains transaction, location, usage, and other information for seven (7) years in connection with regulatory, tax, insurance, and other requirements in the places in which it operates, and thereafter deletes or anonymises such information in accordance with applicable laws, including the destruction and de-identification requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles.

You may request deletion of your account at any time through the privacy settings in the Sharetheload app or via the Website. Following such a request, Sharetheload deletes the information it is not required to retain and restricts access to information it must retain. In certain circumstances we may be unable to delete your account immediately — for example, an outstanding credit or an unresolved claim or dispute — and will complete the deletion once the issue is resolved. If you withdraw consent for optional features (such as calendar or contacts syncing), we delete the personal information collected for those features. We may retain certain information where necessary for legitimate interests such as fraud prevention and user safety, including information about deactivated accounts to prevent re-registration.

10. Your Rights

10.1 Australia

Sharetheload is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), as amended by the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 and subsequent reforms. You have the right to request access to, and correction of, the personal information we hold about you, and to complain about our handling of your personal information. Australian law also now provides a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy. We will respond to access and correction requests within the timeframes required by the Privacy Act. If you are not satisfied with our response to a complaint, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au or by phone on 1300 363 992.

10.2 European Economic Area and United Kingdom

If you are in the EEA or the UK, our processing of your personal data is subject to the GDPR or UK GDPR. We process your personal data on the legal bases of contract performance (providing the platform you request, including profile, verification, location, transaction, and usage information), vital interests (disclosures in case of threats to safety), legitimate interests (safety and security, fraud prevention, reporting criminal acts, customer support, service optimisation and development, research and analytics, direct marketing, and enforcing our terms), compliance with legal obligations, substantial public interest under applicable laws, and consent (for optional features such as live location sharing, discount and news notifications, address book and calendar syncing, accessibility features, and voluntary surveys — which you may withdraw at any time).

You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection (including to profiling and direct marketing), and the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects except as permitted by law; Section 5.2 describes our automated decisions and your right to request human review. You may lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in your country. To exercise your rights, contact admin@sharetheload.com.

10.3 United States

Residents of California and certain other US states have rights to know, access, correct, and delete personal information, to opt out of “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, and to non-discrimination for exercising those rights. Sharetheload does not sell personal information for money; where the use of advertising cookies constitutes “sharing” under applicable state law, you may opt out via the cookie preferences described in our Cookie Statement, including the Global Privacy Control signal, which we honour.

10.4 Everywhere else

Users anywhere in the world may request an explanation of the information Sharetheload holds about them, a copy of that information, correction of inaccurate information, or deletion of their account, by contacting admin@sharetheload.com. Requests are subject to authentication and verification measures.

11. Children

The Services are not directed to, and must not be used by, persons under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a person under 18, we will delete it. Sharetheload monitors the development of the OAIC’s Children’s Online Privacy Code and will comply with it to the extent it applies.

12. Choice and Transparency

Sharetheload provides means for you to see and control the information we collect, through in-app privacy settings, device permissions, in-app ratings pages, and marketing opt-outs.

• Location information. We use device location services to make arranging and tracking parcel handovers safer and more cost-effective. You may enable, disable, or adjust location collection at any time through the app’s Privacy settings or your device settings; without location sharing, matching, tracking, or completing a handover may be more difficult.
• Account notifications. Status notifications and account updates are a necessary part of the Services and cannot be disabled, but you can choose how you receive them.
• Discounts and news. You may enable or disable promotional push notifications at any time in the app’s Privacy settings.
• Address book and contacts. You may enable periodic syncing of your device contacts to support personalised features, and disable it at any time; disabling it turns off features that rely on contact information.
• Calendar syncing. You may enable access to device calendar data (event titles, responses, times, locations, attendee counts) to support suggestions, and disable it at any time in the app settings.
• Device permissions. Mobile platforms (iOS, Android) require your consent before apps access certain device data, using their own permission systems; you can manage these permissions in your device settings.
• Ratings look-up. After every delivery, senders and travellers can rate each other and give feedback. This two-way system supports accountability and a respectful, safe environment, and ratings are available on the app dashboard.
• Marketing opt-outs. You may opt out of promotional emails by emailing admin@sharetheload.com or using the unsubscribe link in any promotional message. We may still send you non-promotional messages, such as receipts and information about your account.

13. Updates to This Policy

We may occasionally update this policy. If we make significant changes, we will notify you through the Sharetheload apps or by other appropriate means, such as email, and where required by applicable law we will seek your consent. We encourage you to periodically review this policy for the latest information on our privacy practices.

14. Contact

Privacy office: admin@sharetheload.com | General support: customerservice@sharetheload.com