Privacy Policy

Nearbuy is a hyperlocal marketplace that helps neighbours discover and buy genuinely handmade, homegrown, and pre-loved items from makers in their local area, and arrange to collect them in person.

Nearbuy is operated by Nearbuy Team (ABN 84 313 476 757) ("Nearbuy", "we", "us", "our"), based in Sunbury, Victoria, Australia.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your rights. It is written to align with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Questions or requests: privacy@near-buy.app.

Information you give us

• Account details: your name, email address, mobile phone number, and password (handled by our platform provider — we do not see your password).
• Profile: profile photo, bio ("My Sunbury Story"), display name, and your suburb/general location.
• Verification: we verify your email and phone number (via SMS) to confirm you're a real local person.
• Listings and content: items you list, photos, descriptions, prices, and the messages you send to other users.

Information created as you use Nearbuy

• Activity: reservations, trades, in-person "handshake" history, receipts, saved items, vouches you give or receive, your trust/Scout score, and badges.
• Messages: the content of in-app messages between buyers and makers (see Section 4 on safety monitoring).
• Device and usage data: standard technical logs (e.g. device type, app interactions) and essential cookies/local storage needed to keep you signed in and run the app.
• Location: your suburb-level location to match you with nearby makers and show map pins. We do not continuously track your precise GPS location.

Payment information

Payments and seller payouts are processed by Stripe. We do not collect or store your full card number or bank account details — Stripe collects these directly. We keep records of transactions (amounts, dates, status, and which items were involved) for receipts, payouts, tax, and dispute purposes.

We use your information to:

• create and manage your account and verify you're a genuine local member;
• show your public profile and listings to other users, and match buyers with nearby makers;
• process payments and seller payouts (via Stripe) and provide receipts;
• send you notifications and updates by email and SMS (e.g. about reservations, meetups, messages, and account matters);
• keep the community safe (see Section 4);
• provide customer support; and
• maintain, protect, and improve the service.

We rely on your consent (which you give by using Nearbuy and agreeing to this policy) and on our legitimate need to operate the service and meet legal obligations.

To keep the community safe, in-app messages may be monitored, including by automated tools. Specifically, message content may be sent to our AI provider (Anthropic, which provides the "Claude" AI) so that an automated safety system can detect harmful, unsafe, fraudulent, or policy-violating content. Messages that are flagged may be reviewed by our team.

We also use AI features to help operate the app (for example, assisting with parts of the experience). Where AI is used, your relevant content may be processed by the AI provider for that purpose.

We do this to protect users — particularly to prevent scams, harassment, and unsafe behaviour. We do not sell your messages, and we use this monitoring only for safety and operating the service.

We share personal information with the following types of recipients:

Service providers (subprocessors) who run parts of Nearbuy for us:

• Base44 — app hosting, backend, and database (stores your account and app data).
• Stripe — payment processing and seller payouts.
• ClickSend — sending SMS verification codes and notifications.
• Anthropic (Claude) — AI safety monitoring of messages and AI-assisted features.
• Resend — sending transactional emails.

These providers may only use your information to provide their service to us.

Other users: your public profile, listings, vouches, and the messages you send to someone are visible to the people you interact with. Don't share anything in a listing or message you wouldn't want another user to see.

Legal and safety: we may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with the law, respond to lawful requests from authorities, enforce our Terms, or protect the safety, rights, or property of users or the public.

We do not sell your personal information.

Some of our service providers store or process data outside Australia, including in the United States and potentially other countries. This includes Base44, Stripe, Anthropic, and our SMS/email providers.

By using Nearbuy and providing your information, you consent to your personal information being disclosed to, and stored or processed by, these providers overseas. We take reasonable steps to use reputable providers, but we cannot guarantee that overseas recipients are subject to laws substantially similar to the Australian Privacy Principles, and APP 8.1 may not apply to such disclosures because you have consented.

We use essential cookies and local storage to keep you signed in and make the app work. We do not use advertising cookies.

We take reasonable steps to protect your information, including using Stripe for payment data, restricting access to personal data, and applying access controls within the app. However, no online service can be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We keep your information while your account is active and for as long as needed to provide the service. We keep transaction and payment records for as long as required for tax, accounting, legal, and dispute-resolution purposes (which may be several years). When information is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to delete or de-identify it.

Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you can:

• access the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or out of date; and
• make a complaint if you think we've mishandled your information.

To do any of these, contact us at privacy@near-buy.app. We'll respond within a reasonable time. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

You can also update much of your profile information directly in the app, and you can ask us to close your account.

Nearbuy is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make a significant change, we'll take reasonable steps to let you know (for example, by notice in the app or by email). The "Last updated" date at the top shows the current version.

Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy:

Nearbuy Team — privacy@near-buy.app — Sunbury, Victoria, Australia.