Expert Terms

Revised 1 November 2026 | Version ET-2026-11-01-R2

These Expert Terms govern use of Costimate’s expert account and participation in its expert network. They are between VIA SOCIUM FZE, trading as Costimate ("Costimate", "we", "us"), incorporated in SRTIP, Sharjah, UAE, registration number 7100, with registered address Block B, Office B36-040, Sharjah Research Technology Innovation Park, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and the individual accepting them ("you").

These Expert Terms become operative for you only when you expressly accept this identified version. An earlier signup does not count as acceptance of this revision. They do not retrospectively waive rights or determine the effect of any previous acceptance.

1 How the documents fit together

The Terms of Service presented with your acceptance govern your use of the platform. These Expert Terms prevail for conflicts about expert participation. A separately signed Expert Network Agreement prevails for engagements by Costimate and matters expressly addressed in that agreement. A change to these public Terms does not amend a signed Network Agreement or an existing engagement. The Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data; accepting these Terms is not blanket consent to processing or marketing.

2 The network and your account

An expert account is free and personal. Companies can find your profile in their Experts directory and give you access to assigned bids and shared files. Membership, approval or featuring does not guarantee work, earnings, exclusivity or endorsement of your qualifications. You may decline any engagement and work for other clients, including competitors, subject to confidentiality and conflicts obligations.

Keep your identity, experience, qualifications, rates and availability accurate. Do not share credentials, allow another person to use your account, claim qualifications you lack or access information outside your permissions. Notify support@costimate.net promptly of suspected misuse or unauthorised access. You have no authority to bind or speak for Costimate. You may describe yourself accurately as a member of the Costimate Expert Network, but not as Costimate staff.

3 Work arranged directly with companies

Where a company engages you directly, the engagement is between you and that company. Agree the scope, deliverables, price, payment, ownership of work, confidentiality, data handling and liability in writing before starting. Costimate charges no commission or placement fee on that directly contracted work and does not guarantee payment or performance. Ordinary platform subscription charges remain separate.

Costimate is not a party to that engagement unless it expressly agrees in writing to be one. This does not exclude responsibility for Costimate’s own platform obligations, representations, negligence or liabilities that cannot lawfully be excluded. You and the company must resolve performance and payment disputes between you.

4 Work commissioned by Costimate

Costimate may separately offer to engage you. The private Expert Network Agreement and each written engagement set the applicable rate and payment terms. The Costimate rate is an agreed proportion of your stated standard rate; the exact proportion and resulting amounts must be disclosed to you before you sign or accept work. These public Terms do not themselves impose a discounted rate.

You are free to decline. No work, reserved availability or unpaid services are required merely because you join the network. Costimate’s payment obligation arises only from an engagement it has accepted in writing; company assignments alone do not constitute such acceptance.

5 Independent professional status

The parties intend a relationship between independent businesses. Subject to agreed outcomes, deadlines, client requirements and security rules, you control how you deliver accepted work. You are responsible for your own equipment, business expenses, registrations, permissions, insurance and taxes to the extent the law places them on you.

Status depends on applicable law and actual working arrangements. Nothing removes employment or worker rights, shifts statutory tax obligations away from the party responsible, or overrides licensing, immigration or labour requirements. The relevant engager and expert must address any required status assessment before work starts.

6 Profile visibility and publicity

Your profile is available to companies within Costimate as described in the app and Privacy Policy. It appears publicly on costimate.net only if you separately choose “Show my profile publicly on costimate.net” and Costimate selects it for featuring. That choice is optional and can be withdrawn through your profile without ending your account or existing engagements. Withdrawal removes the public website profile; copies already made by third parties or search engines may remain outside our control.

Email, phone, rates, availability and project references are excluded from the public profile. Website-profile permission is not permission to use your image or endorsement in separate advertising or campaigns; we will obtain separate permission for those uses. You must have rights to any photograph, biography or endorsement you provide. We may moderate or decline profile content, but must not fabricate an endorsement or materially change its meaning without your approval.

7 Confidentiality and security

Use information shared by a company or Costimate only for the authorised work. Protect it with reasonable care, restrict it to authorised recipients and do not share it with other clients. This includes bid strategies, prices, documents, personal information and access details, whether or not marked confidential. These obligations do not cover information lawfully public without breach, already lawfully known, independently developed or lawfully received without restriction.

Disclose confidential information only with the owner’s written authority or as legally required. For required disclosure, give advance notice where lawful and disclose only what is necessary. Do not upload client material to external AI tools or other services without the relevant written authorisation and required data safeguards. Use of an authorised Costimate feature must still follow the customer’s instructions.

Report suspected loss, disclosure or misuse without undue delay. Return or delete working copies when instructed or when the assignment ends, subject to narrowly required legal retention. Keep retained copies secure, restricted and unused for other purposes. Do not delete customer workspace records without authority. Confidentiality continues after access ends; trade secrets remain protected while they remain secret.

8 Professional conduct and conflicts

Exercise reasonable care and skill, use appropriately qualified personnel and comply with applicable law. Disclose actual or reasonably foreseeable conflicts before accepting work and promptly if they arise. Do not use one bidder’s confidential information for another bidder or accept incompatible assignments. Do not offer bribes, misrepresent evidence or knowingly assist a misleading submission. Verify any AI-assisted deliverable before using it; you remain responsible for your professional work.

9 Referrals

A referral link records the source of a signup. No commission, reward or other payment is earned unless separately agreed in writing.

10 Suspension and closure

You may request closure at support@costimate.net. We may suspend access where reasonably necessary to address a security risk, unlawful activity or material breach. Suspension must be proportionate and reviewed promptly. Where practicable, we will explain the issue and allow it to be remedied; immediate action may be necessary to protect confidential information or the service.

Either party may end network membership on 14 days’ written notice. Material breaches may justify termination after a 14-day cure notice, or immediately where incapable of remedy. Account closure does not cancel accrued payment rights or automatically cancel a separately agreed engagement; that engagement’s terms govern its conclusion and handover. Confidentiality, ownership and applicable liability provisions survive as necessary.

11 Liability and changes

The Terms of Service govern Costimate’s liability for the platform, including their single overall cap and mandatory exceptions. These Expert Terms do not create a separate, additional or higher cap for confidentiality, data-protection, security or intellectual-property claims. The signed Network Agreement governs liability for work commissioned by Costimate and other matters it expressly covers; it sets Costimate’s cap separately from the expert’s responsibility. A direct engagement contract governs work commissioned by a company. The same loss cannot be recovered twice. Nothing excludes fraud, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other non-excludable liability or mandatory right.

We will give at least 30 days’ notice of material revisions and request express acceptance of the identified version before applying it to you. If you decline, the earlier terms continue pending agreement or termination under them. Necessary urgent legal or security changes may take effect sooner with prompt explanation, to the extent lawful. Purely editorial changes that do not alter rights or obligations may be recorded without fresh acceptance. No revision applies retrospectively or changes agreed fees for existing work without agreement.

12 Law and contact

These Terms and non-contractual obligations arising from them are governed by English law, with exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, subject to mandatory laws and rights. The parties will seek resolution for 30 days after written notice, without preventing urgent relief or action needed to preserve a legal deadline.

The contracting entity is VIA SOCIUM FZE at the address above. Notices and support: support@costimate.net. Personal data: privacy@costimate.net. Notices to you use your account email, which you must keep current. This notice provision does not govern service of court proceedings.