Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account information: When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, business name, category, and optionally your home ZIP code, website URL, bio, and profile photo.

Location data: With your permission, we use your browser's geolocation, or your device's location in the mobile apps, to show nearby events and calculate distances. You can also manually set a home location instead. We do not track your location in the background.

Application data: When you apply to events, we store your application details, messages with event organizers, and application status.

Photos: Gallery photos you upload are stored securely and displayed on your public vendor profile.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To operate and improve the VendorsMap platform
• To display your public vendor profile to event organizers
• To send you notifications about application status changes, new events in your area, and platform updates
• To enable event organizers to send broadcast messages to vendors in their geographic area
• To calculate distances between your location and events

3. Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

Public profiles: Your vendor profile (name, business name, bio, category, gallery photos, and reviews) is publicly visible when you participate on the platform.

Event organizers: When you apply to an event, the organizer can see your profile information and application message.

4. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored on secure servers provided by Vercel and Neon (PostgreSQL). Photos are stored on Vercel Blob Storage. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt. We use HTTPS for all data transmission.

5. Cookies and Tracking

We use essential cookies for authentication (session tokens).

On the website, the public pages carry Google Analytics, the Google Ads tag, the Meta pixel and Plausible, so we can tell which pages bring makers to us and what our advertising is doing. We deliberately do not load any of them once you are signed in: they are absent from your dashboard, from the admin area, and from the event widgets that run on organizers' own sites, so what you actually do inside your account never reaches an ad network. We also send Google and Meta a record of signups and purchases from our own server so those numbers are accurate, and where an email address is used to match it, it is hashed before it is sent.

In the mobile apps, none of this exists. There is no advertising SDK, no analytics SDK and no cookie. See section 6.

6. The Mobile Apps

This policy covers the VendorsMap apps for iPhone, iPad and Android as well as the website. The apps talk to the same servers and hold the same account. A few things work differently on a phone, and this is all of them.

Location: The app asks for location only while you are using it, to show the markets nearest you and work out how far away they are. There is no background location and no geofencing. You can refuse the permission and still use everything: set a home town instead, or search any city.

Camera and photos: The app asks for the camera or photo library only at the moment you choose a picture for your profile or a market. It does not read your library at any other time.

Push notifications: If you allow them, we store a device push token so we can tell you when an organizer replies, when a decision lands on an application, and when a market opens near you. Turn them off in your device settings or from your dashboard at any time, and the token is dropped when you sign out or delete your account.

Subscriptions: Subscriptions bought in the app are processed by Apple or Google. We never see your card. We use RevenueCat to tell us whether a subscription is active, and the only thing we send them is your numeric VendorsMap account id. What comes back is your subscription status, which is what unlocks member features.

No tracking: The apps carry no advertising SDK, no analytics SDK and no third-party tracker. We do not track you across other companies' apps or websites, and we have nothing to ask you to opt into.

7. Email Communications

We send transactional emails for account verification, password resets, and application updates. Event organizers may send broadcast messages to vendors in their area. You can manage your notification preferences from your dashboard.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access and update your personal information via your dashboard
• Delete your gallery photos at any time
• Delete your account and its data yourself, from your profile settings in the app or on the web, without asking us first
• Opt out of non-essential communications

9. Children's Privacy

VendorsMap is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect information from minors.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via email or a notice on the platform.

11. Contact

Questions about your privacy? Email us at james@vendorsmap.com