Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect information in the following ways:

• Account information: name, email address, password (stored hashed), and role (for example, community member, business owner, or administrator).
• Profile and activity: favorites, reviews, ratings, reports, and other content you submit.
• Business owner information: business details, photos, hours, stories, commitment claims, evidence links, and claim requests.
• Communications: messages you send us and transactional emails (for example, verification and password reset).
• Usage data: pages viewed, search queries, filters applied, device/browser type, IP address, and similar technical logs collected by our hosting provider.
• Imported business data: when we import or display listings from third-party sources (such as Google Places), we may store business names, addresses, phone numbers, websites, ratings, photos, and place identifiers.

2. How We Use Information

We use information to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Service.
• Create and manage accounts, authenticate users, and enforce our Terms of Use.
• Display business listings, search results, reviews, and commitment information.
• Operate verification and moderation workflows.
• Send transactional emails (account verification, password reset, and similar notices).
• Respond to support requests and protect the security of the Service.
• Analyze usage to understand how the Service is used and to fix issues.
• Comply with law and protect our rights, users, and the public.

3. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information in these situations:

• Public content: reviews, business stories, commitment claims marked as public, and business profile information you choose to publish are visible to other users and visitors.
• Service providers: vendors that help us operate the Service (for example, hosting, email delivery, file uploads, maps, and AI processing), subject to contractual protections.
• Business claims: when you claim a listing, relevant account information may be associated with that business for administration and support.
• Legal and safety: when required by law, legal process, or to protect rights, safety, and security.
• Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, with notice where required by law.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for authentication, session management, security, and preferences (for example, theme selection).

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may limit some features, such as staying signed in.

5. Third-Party Services

We rely on third-party services that may collect information as described in their own policies:

• Vercel — website hosting and infrastructure.
• Neon (or similar) — database hosting.
• Resend — transactional email delivery.
• UploadThing — business photo uploads.
• Google Places API — business discovery, geocoding, address autocomplete, and photos for imported listings.
• Anthropic (via our AI integration) — optional AI-assisted commitment discovery when business owners use those features.
• OpenStreetMap Nominatim — location search fallback when Google Places is unavailable.
• Cloudflare Turnstile — captcha verification on the contact form.

6. AI-Assisted Features

When business owners use AI discovery tools, we may send business website URLs or text they provide to our AI provider to generate draft commitment suggestions and stories.

AI output is presented for owner review only; we do not publish AI suggestions as verified commitments without human action.

Do not submit sensitive personal information in AI inputs unless necessary for your business listing.

7. Your Choices and Rights

You may update account information from your dashboard where available.

You may request account deletion by contacting us. We may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (for example, fraud prevention or dispute resolution).

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict use of your personal information. Contact us to exercise these rights.

8. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as needed to provide the Service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Public business content and reviews may remain visible after account deletion where they are part of the community record, unless removal is required by law or our policies.

9. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children’s Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

11. International Users

Buy Pock is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the U.S., your information may be processed in the U.S. or other countries where our service providers operate.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy on this page and update the "Last updated" date. Material changes may also be communicated by email or a notice on the Service where appropriate.

13. Contact Us

For privacy questions or requests, email privacy@buypock.com.