Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

phoneAtrade ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website located at phoneatrade.com (the "Platform"). We are a US-based online marketplace that connects customers with local tradespeople. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal information when you use our Platform.

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at our support center.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

• Account information: Name, email address, and password when you register.
• Profile information (tradespeople): Business name, trade category, phone number, city, state, ZIP code, bio, services, license number, insurance status, website, and profile photo.
• Profile information (customers): Name and optionally your city and state.
• Reviews: The text and star rating of reviews you submit.
• Support tickets: Your name, email, and the content of messages you send us.
• Shared lists: Names and contents of lists you create and share.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: Pages visited, search queries, clicks, and time spent on pages.
• Device information: Browser type, operating system, and screen resolution.
• IP address: Used for approximate geolocation (city/state level) and fraud detection.
• Cookies and local storage: Session authentication tokens and UI preferences (language, font size). We do not use advertising cookies.

Information We Do Not Collect

• Credit card numbers or financial account information (we process no payments).
• Social Security numbers or government ID numbers.
• Precise GPS location data.
• Data from minors — our Platform is for users 18 and older.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate and maintain the Platform and user accounts.
• Calculate and display ranking scores and tier badges for tradesperson listings.
• Display tradesperson profiles publicly to customers.
• Facilitate reviews and saved lists between users.
• Respond to support tickets and inquiries.
• Detect and prevent fraud, fake reviews, and abuse.
• Analyze aggregate usage trends to improve the Platform (using anonymized data).
• Send transactional emails (account confirmation, password reset, support replies). We do not send marketing emails without your explicit opt-in.

4. How We Share Your Information

Publicly Visible Information

Tradesperson profiles — including business name, trade, bio, services, city, state, phone number, and reviews — are publicly visible to all visitors of the Platform by default. Tradespeople control what information they add to their profile.

Customer reviews are publicly visible and attributed to the reviewer's display name.

Service Providers

We share data with trusted third-party vendors who help us operate the Platform, including:

• Supabase: Database and authentication infrastructure.
• Vercel: Web hosting and content delivery.
• Anthropic: AI services powering our Pat assistant (chat messages are processed but not stored by Anthropic beyond the current session).

These vendors are contractually prohibited from using your data for any purpose other than providing services to us.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or government authority, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of any person or to prevent fraud or illegal activity.

We Do Not Sell Your Data

phoneAtrade does not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party for marketing or advertising purposes — ever.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove your personal information within 30 days. Reviews you submitted may be retained in anonymized form to preserve the integrity of the review record. Support ticket records are retained for 2 years for quality assurance purposes.

6. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: Update inaccurate or incomplete information (you can do this directly in your account settings).
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated personal data.
• Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Opt-out of communications: Unsubscribe from any non-transactional emails at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, submit a request through our support center.

7. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

California residents have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). You have the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, the right to delete your personal information, and the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information. phoneAtrade does not sell personal information. To exercise your rights, contact us through our support center.

8. Security

We use industry-standard security measures including encrypted connections (HTTPS), bcrypt password hashing, row-level security on our database, and regular security reviews. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure — we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take every reasonable precaution to protect your data.

9. Children's Privacy

phoneAtrade is not intended for users under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact us immediately and we will delete the account.

10. Third-Party Links

Tradesperson profiles may include links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For material changes, we will notify registered users by email. Your continued use of the Platform after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us through our support center.