🔒 Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

• Account Information: Name, email address, password (for email accounts), username, ZIP code, profile details, and email verification status.
• Third-Party Sign-In: If you sign in with Google or another supported provider, we receive basic profile information from that provider (such as name and email) to create or access your account.
• Location Data: ZIP code provided during registration, profile updates, listings, or item requests, used to personalize item availability, distance-based search, and friend suggestions.
• Item Listings: Descriptions, images, visibility settings (friends or public), condition, and metadata related to items you post.
• Item Requests: Descriptions, duration, visibility settings, ZIP code, and status of wanted posts you create.
• Offers: Links between item requests and listings offered by other members, including offer status and timestamps.
• Borrowing Data: Borrow requests, approvals, declines, returns, not-returned closures, and related activity.
• Ratings & Reviews: Star ratings and optional comments you submit after a completed borrow, including ratings you give or receive as a lender or borrower.
• Reports: Item and item-request reports you submit about content you believe violates platform policies.
• Messaging Data: Item messages and friend messages, including timestamps and read status.
• Social Graph Data: Friend requests, accepted friendships, blocked users, and spam reports you submit.
• Notification Preferences: Whether you have opted in to email notifications for messages and item-request offers.
• Gamification Data: Points, badges, ranks, and activity logs related to engagement.
• Usage Data: IP address, browser type, device information, rate-limit logs, and interaction logs.
• Moderation Logs: Flags, audit trails, admin actions, and system-generated alerts for abuse prevention.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To operate and improve the BuddyAvenue platform.
• To facilitate borrowing, lending, item requests, offers, messaging, and friend interactions.
• To display listings and item requests according to visibility rules you choose (friends-only or public to logged-in members).
• To send optional email notifications about new messages or new offers on your item requests when you have enabled email notifications.
• To display ratings and lender or borrower reputation metrics to other members.
• To personalize your experience, including rank progression and ZIP-based search results.
• To enforce our Terms of Service, apply platform limits, and prevent misuse.
• To support moderation, abuse detection, spam reporting, blocking, and audit logging.
• To communicate with you about your account, activity, or support inquiries.

3. Sharing of Information

• We do not sell your personal data.
• Other logged-in members may see information you choose to make public, including public listings, public item requests, ratings, username, and profile fields displayed on the platform.
• We may share data with service providers who help us operate the platform (e.g., hosting, email delivery, analytics).
• We may disclose information if required by law or to protect our rights and users.
• We may share anonymized or aggregated data for research and platform improvement.

4. Cookies & Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to maintain your session, enhance user experience, analyze traffic, and remember preferences. You can manage cookie settings in your browser.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including access controls, secure session cookies, and audit logging. However, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.

6. Message Retention & Soft Deletion

• Messages may be retained until both sender and receiver delete them.
• Soft-deleted messages are hidden from view but may remain in the system for moderation or audit purposes.
• Friend messages and item messages follow separate retention logic based on context.
• Spam reports and block records may be retained for safety and moderation purposes.

7. Email Notifications

• You may enable or disable email notifications in your profile settings.
• When enabled, we may email you about new messages or new offers on your item requests.
• Transactional emails (such as account verification or password reset) may still be sent when necessary for account security.

8. Your Rights

• You may access, update, or delete your personal information by logging into your account.
• You may update your ZIP code, profile details, or notification preferences in your account settings.
• You may block other users and report abusive messages through platform tools.
• You may request data export or account deletion by contacting support.
• Deleted accounts may retain audit logs, moderation records, and anonymized activity data for abuse prevention and legal compliance.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Major changes may be announced via dashboard alerts or email.

10. Contact Us

BuddyAvenue is operated by Jackson Tech Ventures LLC. If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, contact us at: support@buddyavenue.com