Cookie Policy

About This Policy

This Cookies, Web Beacons and Similar Technologies Policy (‘Cookie Policy’) explains how Gumtree AU Pty Ltd ABN 33 616 996 840, including its business Autotrader Group with the same ABN, and Carsguide Autotrader Media Solutions ABN 37 150 757 574 (‘Gumtree’, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) uses cookies, web beacons, pixels, device identifiers and similar tracking technologies when you visit or interact with one of our sites ( gumtree.com.au, carsguide.com.au, autotrader.com.au), our mobile applications and our related services (collectively, ‘Services’). By agreeing to this policy when creating an account to use our Services, you agree to our use of cookies as set out in this policy.

This Cookie Policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy , which explains how we collect, use, disclose and manage your personal information more broadly.

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. When we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated policy on our website. The ”last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

What are cookies and similar technologies?

A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer, tablet, mobile phone or other device ('device') by a website or app when you visit or interact with it. Cookies allow the website to recognise your device on return visits and to store information about your preferences and activity.

We also use related technologies that work in a similar way:

• Cookies: Small text files placed on your device by a website you visit. They allow the website to recognise your device and remember information about your visit (such as your preferences or login status). Cookies may be ‘session’ cookies (which expire when you close your browser) or ‘persistent’ cookies (which remain on your device until they expire or you delete them). They may be ‘first-party’ cookies (set by us) or ‘third-party’ cookies (set by another organisation through our Services).
• Web beacons (pixel tags): Small graphic images embedded in web pages or emails that work alongside cookies to track user behaviour and measure the effectiveness of content.
• Local storage and HTML5 storage: Browser-based storage that allows information to be saved on your device across sessions, similar to cookies but using different technology.
• Device identifiers: Unique identifiers assigned to your mobile device, including the Advertising Identifier (IDFA on Apple devices) and advertising ID (on Android devices), which function like cookies for mobile apps.

We may use the term 'cookies' in this Policy to refer collectively to all of these technologies.

How we use cookies

Gumtree uses cookies for the following purposes:

1. Functional — to make our sites work. These cookies are essential for you to browse our site and use its features, such as remembering items you have saved, keeping you logged in during a session, and preventing fraudulent activity. You cannot opt out of strictly necessary functional cookies as they are required for the site to operate.
2. Authentication — to recognise you as a registered Gumtree member and provide you with member-only features such as My Listings, saved searches, and account management. These cookies remember that you have logged in so that you do not need to re-enter your password on every page.
3. Analytics and performance — to understand how visitors use our sites on an aggregated and where practicable, de-identified basis. This helps us measure the effectiveness of features, identify pages that need improvement, and understand how users navigate our platform. Information collected includes IP address, device ID, pages visited, time on site, and traffic sources.
4. Advertising and remarketing — to show you advertisements that are more relevant to your interests on our sites and apps. These cookies track your browsing behaviour across the site (and, through third-party partners, across the wider web) and use that information to serve targeted ads. For example, if you have been looking at cars on our sites, you may see car-related ads on other websites you visit.
5. Marketing and attribution — to measure the success of our marketing campaigns, understand which channels drive users to our sites, and avoid showing you the same advertisement too many times. These cookies link user actions on our site back to the marketing source that brought the user to us.
6. Experience optimisation — to test different versions of pages and features (A/B testing) so that we can identify what works best for our users and continuously improve our platform.

Your Choices

Browser settings

Most web browsers allow you to manage your cookie preferences. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, delete cookies or alert you when a cookie is being set. The method for doing this varies by browser. You can typically find instructions in your browser’s ‘Help’ or ‘Settings’ menu. Please note that if you disable or refuse cookies, some parts of our Services may become inaccessible or may not function properly.

Mobile device settings

On mobile devices, advertising is often tracked using the device's Advertising Identifier (IDFA on Apple devices, Advertising ID on Android). For information on how to reset or to limit the use of these identifiers please consult your device manufacturer.

Opting out of advertising identifiers does not mean you will stop seeing advertisements. It means the advertisements you see may be less relevant to your interests. Resetting your advertising ID means that any profile built from your previous activity will no longer be linked to your device. However, a new profile may begin to build from that point.

Location data

If you access one of our sites from a mobile device, we may request permission to collect your location. You can disable location access at any time by changing the location settings on your device. This may limit your ability to use location-based features such as 'near me' search results.

Interest-based advertising opt-outs

If you do not want to block all cookies but would like to opt out of personalised advertising from participating companies, you can use the following industry opt-out tools:

• Australian Digital Advertising Alliance: www.youronlinechoices.com.au
• Network Advertising Initiative: optout.networkadvertising.org
• Digital Advertising Alliance: optout.aboutads.info
• Your Ad Choices (DAA AppChoices for mobile): youradchoices.com/appchoices

Important: these opt-out mechanisms work by placing an 'opt-out cookie' on your device. This means:

• they are device-specific — you need to opt out on each device and browser you use;
• if you clear your cookies or use a browser that blocks third-party cookies (such as Safari in default mode), your opt-out preference may be reset; and
• opting out stops personalised advertising but does not prevent contextual advertising (ads that relate to the content of the page you are viewing).

Publisher Provided Identifiers (PPID)

We use encrypted Publisher Provided Identifiers to deliver more relevant advertising. These identifiers are shared with partners such as Google but cannot be decrypted to reveal personally identifiable information. You can opt out of PPID-based advertising at any time through your account settings at www.gumtree.com.au/t-settings.html. When you opt out, we immediately stop sending PPID data associated with your account to our partners.

Third-party cookie providers

The table below lists the main third-party companies that may set cookies or collect information via gumtree.com.au, carsguide.com.au, autotrader.com.au or our app, the type of information they collect, how we use it, and where you can find more information or opt out. This list may be updated from time to time as we add or remove providers.

Third-party service providers and advertising cookies: we work with third-party service providers who help us operate our website and deliver relevant advertising to you — both on our services and on other websites you visit. These service providers include companies that assist with site functionality, analytics, and online advertising.

To provide these services, our service providers may place cookies on your device when you use our platform. Through these cookies, they may collect information that identifies or can reasonably identify your device, including your IP address, browser type, and other device identifiers. This information is used to personalise the ads you see, measure how ads perform, and improve the relevance of content shown to you.

Where a service provider collects this information through our platform, they do so as an authorised third party acting on our behalf or for their own purposes as described in their own privacy policy. We take reasonable steps to ensure our service providers handle your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

You can manage or opt out of third-party cookies through your browser settings or via your cookie preferences / the opt-out tools provided by our advertising partners.

Security of cookies

Where possible, Gumtree implements security measures to help prevent unauthorised access to cookies. We do not store sensitive personal information (such as passwords or payment card details) in cookies.

If you believe a third-party listing or content on one of our sites is using unauthorised tracking technologies, please report it to us via our help desk or to privacy@gumtreegroup.com.au

Changes to this Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, law, or our business practices. When we make material changes, we will post the updated policy on this page and update the effective date above. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Information collected through cookies may, on its own or when combined with other information we hold, constitute personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Where that is the case, our collection, use and disclosure of that information is governed by our Privacy Policy and the Australian Privacy Principles. We do not store passwords, credit card details or other highly sensitive personal information in cookies.

This Cookie Policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy , which explains in more detail how we collect, use and protect your personal information.

Contact us

For questions about this Cookie Policy or how we use cookies you can contact us via our Privacy Coordinator:

Privacy Coordinator
Gumtree AU Pty Ltd
Address: 1 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Email: privacy@gumtreegroup.com.au

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.