Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Account information. We collect information needed to create and maintain an account, such as your email address and authentication information handled through our authentication provider.

Customer request information. When you post a job, we may collect the job title, category, description, town, province, service address, destination where applicable, contact email, optional phone number, access details, requested date or time, photos and information about equipment or vehicle needs.

Provider information. Provider profiles can include name, business name, contact information, home community, service area, travel radius, services, vehicles, equipment, availability, experience or profile text and an answer about insurance.

Booking and payment records. We record quotes, accepted bookings, booking events, payment status, payout status and transaction references entered by administrators after checking PayPal. We do not ask you to enter your payment-card number into Find Local Help.

Technical information. Our hosting, security and authentication providers may process basic technical information such as IP address, browser/device information, request logs, cookies or similar session data needed to operate and secure the service.

2. How we use information

• Provide accounts, job posting, provider matching, quotes and bookings.
• Review customer requests and provider applications.
• Share the information needed for providers to evaluate jobs and for selected parties to arrange booked work.
• Send transactional emails about account, application, quote, booking, payment and completion events.
• Verify and record payment, refund and provider-payout status.
• Prevent abuse, investigate complaints and maintain marketplace security.
• Improve marketplace coverage, usability and operations.
• Comply with legal obligations and protect the rights and safety of users or the service.

3. When information is shared

With providers. Approved providers can see enough job information to decide whether to quote. Exact address and customer contact details are restricted before selection. After a provider is selected, the booking can reveal information needed to arrange the work.

With customers. Customers reviewing quotes can see relevant provider-profile information and the quote submitted for their request.

With service providers. We use third-party services to host the website, store application data, authenticate users, send email and process payments. These currently include Netlify, Supabase, Resend and PayPal. Those companies process information under their own terms and privacy practices.

For legal or safety reasons. We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to lawful requests, protect users, prevent fraud or defend legal rights.

We do not sell lists of customer or provider personal information to advertisers.

4. Photos and job content

Photos and descriptions you upload are used to operate the marketplace and show relevant job details to authorized users. Do not upload images or text containing information you do not want used for the job. Avoid including unrelated people, financial information, government identification or other unnecessary sensitive information.

5. Retention

We retain account, marketplace and transaction records for as long as reasonably needed to operate the service, resolve disputes, maintain security, meet accounting or legal obligations and preserve booking history. Retention periods can vary by record type. Data may also remain in backups for a limited period.

6. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to the service, including authenticated accounts, restricted database access, private job-photo storage and secure hosting. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

7. Cookies and session storage

Authentication and security features may use cookies or similar browser storage needed to keep you signed in, complete account flows and protect sessions. We do not currently describe the site as using behavioural advertising cookies.

8. Your choices

You can update provider-profile information through your account. You can contact us to ask about access, correction or deletion of personal information, subject to records we need to retain for security, transactions, disputes or legal obligations.

9. Children

Find Local Help is intended for people who can enter into marketplace transactions. It is not designed as a service for children.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the marketplace changes. The effective date above will be updated when material revisions are published.

11. Contact

Privacy questions can be sent to info@findlocalhelp.ca.