Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

When you interact with CardCompass, we may collect the following types of information:

• Store submissions — business name, address, contact details, and other information you provide when submitting a shop listing.
• Store claims — name, email address, and any documentation you provide when claiming a listing as its owner.
• Contact form submissions — your name, email, and the content of your message when you contact us.
• Analytics data — pages visited, time on site, browser type, and device type, collected via analytics tools to help us improve the directory.
• Cookie identifiers — anonymised identifiers stored in your browser to support site functionality, analytics, and advertising, subject to your consent.

We do not require you to create an account and do not collect payment information.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Verify store ownership — to review and approve store claim requests.
• Review submissions — to evaluate and moderate user-submitted listings for accuracy and quality.
• Improve the directory — to understand how the site is used and make data-driven improvements to content and functionality.
• Respond to enquiries — to answer questions you submit via our contact channels.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties, data brokers, or advertisers.

3. Cookies & Advertising

CardCompass uses cookies and similar technologies. We and our third-party partners, including Google, may use cookies to:

• Ensure core site functionality (necessary cookies — always active).
• Analyse traffic patterns and user behaviour to improve the site (analytics cookies).
• Serve personalised or non-personalised advertisements based on your browsing activity and interests (advertising cookies).

Google, as a third-party vendor, may use cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads based on your prior visits to this or other websites. You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings.

When you first visit CardCompass, you will be asked for your consent to non-essential cookies. You can update your preferences at any time by clearing your browser cookies and revisiting the site, or by contacting us at hello@cardcompass.co.uk.

No non-essential cookies or advertising scripts are loaded until you have granted explicit consent.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (UK GDPR)

Where we process personal data, we rely on the following legal bases under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR):

• Consent — for analytics and advertising cookies, and for direct communications you opt into.
• Legitimate interests — for directory moderation, fraud prevention, and improving the service, where these do not override your rights.
• Contract — where processing is necessary to fulfil a request you have made (e.g., processing a store submission).

5. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

If you are located in the UK or EEA, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — to request corrections to inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure — to request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restrict processing — to request that we limit how we use your data.
• Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@cardcompass.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose it was collected for, or as required by law. Store submission and claim data is retained for the duration of the associated listing's existence on the platform.

7. Third-Party Services

CardCompass uses the following third-party services which may process data on our behalf:

• Vercel — hosting and infrastructure.
• Supabase — database and backend services.
• Google Analytics / Google AdSense — analytics and advertising (subject to consent).

Each third party operates under its own privacy policy and data processing terms.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the most recent changes were made. Continued use of CardCompass after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact

For any privacy-related questions or to exercise your data rights, contact us at: hello@cardcompass.co.uk