Welcome to the FreightNow™User Agreement. This Agreement describes the terms and conditions that govern your use of our services at http://www.freightnow.com.au/ (the "Site") and our general principles.

You must read, agree with and accept all of the terms and conditions contained in this User Agreement and the Privacy Policy, which include those terms and conditions expressly set out below and those incorporated by reference, before you may become a member of FreightNow™.

By accepting this User Agreement, you also agree to be bound by the User Agreements and posted terms and conditions on other FreightNow™ websites to the extent that you use those websites.

We may amend this Agreement at any time in our discretion by posting the amended terms on our Site. The fact that amendments have been made to the User Agreement will also be notified on our Announcements Board located at www.freightnow.com.au/marketing. Except as stated below, all amended terms shall automatically be effective 30 days after they are initially posted on our Site. If you do not agree with such changes, you must terminate your membership of FreightNow™. This Agreement may not be otherwise amended except in writing signed by you and FreightNow™. This agreement is effective from 1st July 2005 for all registering members.

1. Membership. Our services are available only to individuals who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. Our services are not available to minors or to temporarily or indefinitely suspended FreightNow™ members. Minors may only use this service in conjunction with their parents or guardians. Your FreightNow™ membership may not be transferred or sold to another party. If you are registering as a business entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind the entity to this agreement. Members who engage in the transportation of goods must have a valid license to operate the vehicle they intend to use.

2. Fees. There are currently no membership fees to join FreightNow. FreightNow reserves the right to change our fees at any time. We may temporarily change or suspend our fees as a promotion and such changes are effective for the promotional period described on our website. All fees are quoted in AUS Dollars. We currently charge $10.00 per load allocated to the transport carrier only. We do not charge the sender any fees to use the service. You are solely responsible for paying all fees associated with using our services as well as all applicable taxes. You are responsible for all actions taken with your User ID and password, including fees. We recommend that you not disclose your FreightNow password to any third parties.

3. Match Retractions and Refunds. FreightNow™ requires all our members, whether senders or carriers, to give a good faith effort to complete the delivery of shipments matched on our site. When a dispute arises after a match is made, carriers and senders should communicate with each other to try and work out a mutually agreeable solution
 
4. FreightNow™ is a Venue. FreightNow™ is not a carrier, freight forwarder or broker. Our site acts as a venue where senders and carriers can meet and enter into agreements. We are not involved in the actual transaction between senders and carriers. As a result, we have no control over the quality, safety, or legality of the transactions that take place on our website, the accuracy of our listings, the ability of carriers to transport items, or the ability of senders to send items. We cannot ensure that a sender or carrier will actually complete a shipment.

5. No Agency. You and FreightNow™ are acting as independent contractors. No agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or other relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

6. Release. Should you have a dispute with one or more FreightNow™ members, you release FreightNow™ Pty Ltd its officers, directors, agents, and employees from all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of any kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.

7. Sending. As a sender, you are obligated to complete the transaction with the carrier if you accept the carrier's bid, unless the transaction is prohibited by law or by this Agreement. By accepting a carrier's bid, you agree to be bound by the conditions of the bid included in the bid details so long as those trip details are not in violation of this Agreement or unlawful. Acceptance generally is not retractable unless: (1) the carrier materially changes the bid details after your acceptance; (2) a typographical error is made; or (3) you cannot authenticate the carrier's identity.
The carrier reserves the right to inspect your shipment before accepting it, and to refuse to transport any item prohibited by this Agreement or by law. We recommend that you do not seal any package before inspection by the carrier. IMPORTANT: FreightNow™ does not screen or qualify carriers for compliance with federal, state or local laws and regulations. It is recommended that you confirm such compliance directly with the carrier before services are rendered by the carrier.

8. Prohibited and Restricted Items. Prohibited Items: Hazardous or dangerous goods. These are items that may pose a danger to health, safety, or property while being transported (such as explosives, radioactive materials, flammable gases and solids, and toxic substances). Hazardous goods that cannot be shipped through the mail or commercial carrier are not allowed on FreightNow™. The few hazardous materials that lawfully may be transported under certain conditions (if they are properly packaged and labeled) may be listed on FreightNow™ - provided that the listing contains a clear notice of the hazardous nature of the material and a description of the planned method of shipping that complies with the law. For details on particular hazardous substances and transportation requirements in Australia see the dangerous good code. Department of roads and transport code, for the land transport of dangerous goods. DOTRS http://www.dotars.gov.au/transreg/dgoods.aspx . Restricted Items: Prohibited regulated or perishable goods. These are items considered restricted or perishable by the department of road transport which generally do not pose a danger to health, safety, or property while being transported, but their transport is regulated or banned for public policy reasons. Generally, restricted or perishable items that lawfully must be transported by mail or commercial carrier are permitted on FreightNow™. Full responsibility rests with the sender to comply with all postal and DOTRS laws and regulations that relate to the mailing of hazardous, restricted and perishable material. Anyone who sends, or causes to be sent, a non mailable or improperly packaged hazardous material can be subject to legal penalties.

9. Driving. You must legally be able to transport the shipments you bid on, including, if required, appropriate licensing and registration with federal, state and local government authorities. You must describe your offer and all terms of your services on the member profile form on our site. Your bid may only include content relevant to the description of your transportation services. If you bid on any shipment and your bid is accepted by the sender, you are obligated to perform the services offered in your bid at the accepted bid price. We provide distance calculations and driving directions (or links to 3rd party driving directions) to carriers as part of our service. We are not responsible for the accuracy of this information. We recommend that you verify with the sender the information that we provide.

10. Information You Submit. You solely are responsible for any information you provide to us or other members in the registration, sending, or driving process. Your personal information and any shipment or trip listings must be true, legal, accurate, and non-fraudulent. You may not provide contact information to other members for the purpose of bypassing FreightNow™ membership fees. Information may not contain any viruses or other malware that may damage or interfere with our website. Furthermore, you may not list any shipment on our site that, by paying us a membership fee could cause us to violate any applicable law, statute or regulation, or that violates our Prohibited Items terms. You authorise FreightNow™ to use the information you supply to us in connection with our services and in accordance with this Agreement.

11. Fraud. FreightNow™ may suspend or terminate your account if we suspect that you have engaged in fraudulent activity in connection with our website. Members may not manipulate the shipping offer price of any shipment or interfere with other members' listings or transactions.
 
12. Off-Site Communications. FreightNow™ prohibits offers by its members to transport shipments, or to offer shipments for transport, outside of the FreightNow™ site. Offers of this nature circumvent FreightNow™ fee structure and are a potential fraud risk for both senders and carriers.
 FreightNow™ reserves the right to edit, amend, or delete any personal contact information that members submit on our site. FreightNow™ reserves the right to suspend or delete the account of any member that attempts to make off-site transactions.

13. Identity Verification. We use several techniques to verify the identity of our carriers when they register on our website; however, FreightNow™ cannot confirm each carrier's identity. We have implemented a user-managed feedback system to help you evaluate other members you are transacting with.

14. Feedback. If you undermine the integrity of our feedback system in any way, or if you earn a net feedback rating of negative three (-3) or lower, your membership may be suspended. You acknowledge that your feedback consists of comments left by other FreightNow™ members and a composite feedback number compiled by FreightNow™. You agree that you will not use your FreightNow™ feedback in any venue other than FreightNow™.

15. Remedies. Remedies for use of our website that violate this agreement include, but are not limited to, the immediate removal of your listing, notifying our members of your actions, issuing a warning, temporarily suspending your membership, terminating your membership, and refusing to provide our services to you.

16. No Warranty. FreightNow™, our employees, and our suppliers provide services without any warranty or express, implied or statutory conditions. We specifically disclaim any implied warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

17. Limited Liability. In no event shall we, our employees, or our suppliers be liable for lost profits or any special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with our website or company FreightNow™.
 
18. Indemnity. You agree to indemnify and hold us and our officers, directors, agents, and employees harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your negligence, breach of this Agreement, or violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

19. Legal Compliance. You shall comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations regarding your use of our service and your listing, shipping, transporting, and solicitation of offers to send and transport items.
 
20. Arbitration. Any legal claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or our services, excluding legal action taken by FreightNow™ to collect our fees and/or recover damages for, or obtain an injunction relating to, the FreightNow™ site operations, intellectual property, and our services, shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules. The arbitration shall be conducted in NSW, Sydney and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof.

21. Dispute Resolution. Disputes between you and FreightNow™ regarding our services should be reported to support@freightnow.com.au. We will attempt to resolve any disputes you have with us. We encourage you to report all member-to-member disputes to law enforcement officials or a certified mediation or arbitration entity. When appropriate, we also encourage you to report disputes involving fraud, theft, or other criminal activity to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.


22. Privacy Policy. We will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties without your consent. If you choose to use our services, we may require you to provide contact and identity information, billing information, and other personal information as indicated on forms throughout our website. We use cookies on certain pages of our site to help analyse usage and to remember your login information (if requested). Agents or contractors of FreightNow™ may have access to your personal information for the purpose of performing services on behalf of FreightNow™. All such agents or contractors who have access to your personal information are required to keep the information confidential and not use it for any other purpose than to carry out the services they are performing for FreightNow™. Periodically, we may send you information about our various products and services, or other products and services we feel may be of interest to you. Only FreightNow™ (or agents working on behalf of FreightNow™ and under confidentiality agreements) will send you these direct mailings. If you do not want to receive such mailings, simply tell us when you give us your personal information. Or, at any time you can easily opt-out of receiving further marketing from FreightNow™ by contacting us and requesting to have your name removed from our lists. You authorise us to disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements, or other illegal activity. If FreightNow™ becomes insolvent or merge with or be acquired by another company or sells it's business, we may sell the information you provide to us to a third party or share your personal information with any entity resulting from such transaction.

23. Security. FreightNow™ uses industry standard practices to safeguard your personal information, including firewalls and Secure Socket Layers. We utilise several different security techniques to protect data from unauthorised access, but we cannot guarantee the security of our system. We also do not guarantee uninterrupted or secure access to our system, as the operation of our website can be interrupted by numerous factors outside of our control.

24. Governing Law. This agreement and your use of the site shall be governed by the laws of the state of NSW and Australia without regard to where the member is located.

25. General. This Agreement may not be modified, supplemented, qualified, or interpreted by any trade usage or prior course of dealing not made a part of the Agreement by its express terms. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this Agreement shall not affect the validity of this Agreement as a whole and any such provision should be enforced by authorities, and reconstructed if need be, to apply to the maximum extent allowable under applicable law. The failure by either party to enforce at any time any of the provisions of this Agreement, to exercise any election or option provided herein, or to require at any time the performance of the other of any of the provisions herein will not in any way be construed as a waiver of such provisions. Reasonable solicitors' fees and costs will be awarded to the prevailing party in the event of litigation involving the enforcement or interpretation of this Agreement. The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal import.