Privacy Policy
How Start The Barter handles your information, and how little of it we want. Effective date: on first publication of this app.
Template wording for a small platform — the entity name and contact email are placeholders. Have a lawyer review before you launch publicly.
What we collect
Account details: your display name, email address and the general town or area you type in. Trading content: your listings, photos, negotiation messages, ratings, flags and dispute statements. Basic technical logs needed to keep the service running and secure.
We deliberately do NOT collect street addresses or precise GPS location. Map pins are approximated to town level before they are ever stored or shown.
If you tap "Check my area" while browsing, your browser asks your permission and we use that reading once, in memory, only to count how many listings sit within 25 km of you. It is not stored, not linked to you and not shared. Typing a town instead does the same job without any location access at all.
What we never see
Card numbers and bank details. Payments are handled entirely by Stripe under its own privacy policy; we only receive a confirmation that a membership is active.
How we use it
To show your listings to other members, run automatic trade matching, deliver in-app and email alerts you have opted into, generate Pro trade documents, operate ratings and juries, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations.
We do not sell your personal information. Free-tier advertising slots in this app are placeholders and do not currently share your data with any ad network.
Who else sees it
Other members see your display name, town, ratings, badges and listings. Dispute juries see ONLY the two written accounts — never names, contact details, gender, location or ratings.
Service providers who help us operate: our hosting and database provider, Stripe for membership billing, Resend for email delivery, OpenStreetMap for map tiles, and Google if you choose to sign in with Google.
Retention and your choices
We keep account and trade records while your account is open, and for a reasonable period afterwards where needed for disputes, safety or law. You can edit your profile, delete your listings, and request account deletion at any time.
Depending on where you live you may have rights to access, correct, export or erase your data, and to object to certain processing.
Children and contact
This service is not for anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly collect information from children.
Privacy requests: support@startthebarter.example.