Effective date: [effective date]
This policy explains what information Hopebid collects, how we use it, and who can see it. Hopebid is run by Ashton Apps LLC, a US company ("Hopebid," "we," "us").
The short version
- We collect what's needed to run auctions: your name, email, phone number if you add one, and your bids.
- The organizer of an auction you bid in sees your name, email and phone (if given), so they can reach you if you win. Other bidders see only your bidder number.
- Each auction's items, photos, bids and bidder details are deleted 7 days after it closes.
- No ads, no selling your data, and no marketing emails. We use privacy-friendly product analytics that never include your name, email, phone or what you type.
What we collect
Account details. Your name, email address, how you sign in, and when you accepted our terms. A phone number is optional, though some organizers require one to bid. If you sign up as an organizer, we record that, plus any organization name you give. If you sign in with Google, we get your name and email from Google.
Your password goes to Firebase Authentication, not to us. We never see or store it.
Bidding activity. Your bids and max bids and when you placed them, Buy It Now purchases, items you watch, your bidder number in each auction, and your in-app notifications.
What organizers post. Auction pages, items (titles, descriptions, donor names, prices and photos), the organizer's contact details, payment and pickup instructions, results (such as which winners have paid), and moderation actions like voided bids and blocked bidders.
Stories. An organizer's optional story about how their auction went, and how they want it credited.
Technical information. Our server receives basic details with each request, such as your IP address, browser type and the time. We use them to keep Hopebid running and secure, including limiting how fast any one person or address can send requests.
Product analytics. To learn which parts of Hopebid work well, we record actions like opening an auction, placing a bid or downloading a QR code, with a random ID that isn't your account ID. We don't send your name, email, phone number, anything you type, or recordings of your screen, and we ask our analytics provider not to keep your IP address. If you delete your account, the link between you and that random ID is deleted too.
What we don't collect. No payment card details: Hopebid has no payments today, and if we add them, card details will go to our payment processor and we'll keep only its references (tokens), never card numbers. No advertising trackers. No photo location data: photos are re-encoded in the organizer's browser before upload, which strips location and camera details, and our server rejects any photo that still has them.
How we use it
- To run your account and the auctions you take part in: taking bids, working out prices and winners, and showing in-app notifications.
- To let organizers reach winners and runners-up to arrange payment and pickup.
- To keep auctions fair and safe, such as by enforcing blocks and preventing abuse.
- To answer you when you contact us.
- To share an organizer's story publicly, only if they've given permission.
- To report overall totals, like the amount committed across all auctions, without identifying anyone.
We don't use your information for advertising. The only emails you'll get are sign-in emails, like email verification and password reset, which Firebase sends for us. Everything else is an in-app notification.
Who can see what
| Who | What they can see |
|---|---|
| Anyone with an auction's link, including other bidders | The auction page, items and photos, the organizer's contact details, payment and pickup instructions, and bid history (bidder numbers, amounts and times). Never your name, contact details or max bid. |
| The organizer of an auction you bid in | Your name, email, phone (if given), bidder number and bids, including max bids |
| Hopebid | What we need to run and support the service, including all auction summaries and stories |
Organizers can export results, including winners' and runners-up's contact details, as CSV or PDF files. Once exported, those files are in the organizer's hands, not ours. Our Organizer Terms require organizers to use bidder details only to run their auction.
Who we share it with
We don't sell your personal information or share it for targeted advertising, and we haven't in the past 12 months. We share it only:
- with the organizer of an auction you bid in, as described above;
- with service providers that help run Hopebid:
- Oracle Cloud hosts our server in the United States, including our PostgreSQL database and auction photos;
- Firebase Authentication (Google) handles sign-in and sends sign-in emails. If you use Google sign-in, Google's privacy policy also applies;
- Cloudflare runs our domain's DNS and sits in front of our server to protect it from attacks, so your requests pass through Cloudflare;
- PostHog (US) receives the product analytics described above, without your name, contact details or IP address;
- for legal reasons, when the law requires it or to protect someone's safety or Hopebid's rights;
- if Hopebid changes hands, such as in a merger or sale, and the new owner must follow this policy.
Cookies and browser storage
Hopebid stores your sign-in in your browser so you stay signed in, and may remember small settings like light or dark mode and a bid you were about to place while you finish making an account. It also keeps the random analytics ID described above in your browser's storage. We don't use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
How long we keep it
- Auctions: items, photos, bids, watches, bidder details, notifications and moderation records are deleted 7 days after the auction closes, or earlier if the organizer deletes it.
- Unfinished drafts: a draft with no start or end date 7 days after it was started is deleted, photos included.
- Auction summaries: after deletion, we keep the title, dates, currency, items listed and sold, amount committed (the total of winning bids) and number of bidders, linked to the organizer. No photos, item details or bidder information.
- Stories: until the organizer removes them or deletes their account.
- Your account: until you delete it. When an auction is deleted, your account stays; you just lose that auction's history.
- Server logs: 14 days.
- Records of photo uploads refused because our storage was full: one year, to plan storage. They hold the auction and account numbers, not photos.
- Backups: deleted data may remain in our database backups for up to [backup retention period] before it's overwritten.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account yourself in Account settings. This removes your profile and sign-in.
- Bidders can't delete their account while they have bids in an auction that's still running, since deleting would take those bids back. After it closes, you can delete right away; for auctions you won, the organizer keeps your name, email and phone in their results until that auction is deleted (at most 7 days after it closes), so they can still reach you.
- Organizers can't delete their account while one of their auctions is scheduled or running, or a closed one hasn't been deleted yet (so its winners keep their pickup details). Unfinished drafts are deleted with the account. Deleting an organizer account removes your summaries' link to you, their titles and your stories, and takes down any published story. The remaining numbers are kept with no link to anyone.
Your rights
You can see and change your name and phone number in Account settings at any time. For anything else, email ashtonappsllc@gmail.com.
If you live in California or another US state with a privacy law, you have the right to:
- know what personal information we have about you, and get a copy;
- correct it;
- delete it;
- opt out of its sale or sharing (we don't sell or share it, so there's nothing to opt out of);
- use these rights without being treated differently.
To make a request, email ashtonappsllc@gmail.com from the address on your account so we can confirm it's you. An authorized agent can also ask for you, with your permission. We'll reply within the time the law requires. If we turn down your request, you can ask us to reconsider by replying to our answer.
Children
Hopebid isn't meant for children under 13, and you must be 13 or older to make an account. If we learn we have information from a child under 13, we'll delete it.
Security
We protect your information with encrypted connections (HTTPS), sign-ins checked by our server, and by keeping passwords and card numbers out of our systems. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password and keep it private.
Where your information is stored
Our server is in the United States. If you use Hopebid from another country, your information is handled in the US.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy. If we make significant changes, we'll tell you in the app or on this page before they take effect.
Questions or requests? Email Ashton Apps LLC at ashtonappsllc@gmail.com.