Privacy Policy

1. Scope and accountability

This policy applies to personal information under BidBooth's control. “BidBooth,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the operator of the BidBooth service in Hamilton, Ontario. A designated Privacy Officer is accountable for our privacy practices and responds to access requests, questions, and complaints.

This policy does not govern contractors' independent handling of information outside the platform. Contractors are independent businesses and may have their own privacy obligations.

2. Information we collect

Depending on how you use BidBooth, we may collect:

• Account information: name, email, city, account role, protected login credentials, session information, and account status.
• Homeowner and project information: service address or area, postal code, descriptions, measurements, budget, timing, photos, videos, attachments, estimates, quotes, schedules, progress records, change orders, agreements, signatures, reviews, and support requests.
• Contractor information: owner contact details, legal and public business names, business address and phone, service area, qualifications, services, team information, availability, profiles, quotes, job performance, and reputation information.
• Verification information: government identification, business registration, proof of insurance, trade licences, file metadata, review status, and operations notes. Please do not provide information that is not needed for verification.
• Communications: messages, notifications, support messages, safety reports, dispute information, and records of actions taken through the service.
• Subscription information: contractor plan, subscription and billing status, transaction identifiers, invoices, and limited records received from our billing provider. We do not intend to store complete payment-card numbers or bank credentials.
• Technical and security information: IP address or a privacy-protective derivative, browser and device information, request timestamps, authentication attempts, security events, diagnostic logs, and session identifiers.
• Information from others: details another user provides when requesting work, quoting, communicating about a job, reporting a concern, or posting a review.

3. How we use personal information

We use personal information for the purposes identified when it is collected, including to:

• create, authenticate, administer, and protect accounts;
• prepare planning estimates and project-request summaries;
• match homeowners with contractors based on service, location, availability, and eligibility;
• enable quotes, messaging, scheduling, agreements, progress records, reviews, and support;
• verify contractors and review identification, registration, insurance, and licensing evidence;
• operate contractor subscriptions and maintain billing and accounting records;
• prevent fraud, misuse, security incidents, and violations of our terms;
• investigate complaints, disputes, and safety concerns;
• maintain, troubleshoot, audit, and improve the service; and
• meet legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, and reporting obligations.

We will seek additional consent before using personal information for a materially new purpose unless the use is permitted or required by law.

4. How we disclose personal information

• Between marketplace users: we show information needed to request, quote, schedule, document, and review work. Access is limited based on account role, job relationship, and project stage.
• To service providers: vendors may process information for cloud hosting, database and file storage, security, communications, AI functionality, support, and subscription billing. They may use it only to provide services to us, subject to their contracts and applicable law.
• Within BidBooth: authorized operations personnel may access information for verification, account administration, support, safety, fraud prevention, disputes, and legal compliance.
• For legal and safety reasons: we may disclose information where required or permitted by law, to respond to lawful process, protect rights and safety, investigate misuse, or enforce agreements.
• Business transactions: information may be transferred as part of a proposed or completed financing, reorganization, sale, or transfer of the business, subject to appropriate protections and law.
• With your direction or consent: we may disclose information when you ask us to or give valid consent.

We do not sell personal information or use it for third-party behavioural advertising at initial launch.

5. Optional AI features

BidBooth offers optional AI tools that can help analyze planning photos or organize a homeowner's project description. When you deliberately use an AI feature and give the required consent, the text and selected photos you submit may be sent to our AI service provider to generate the requested result and perform safety screening.

Do not include faces, identification documents, licence plates, mail, financial details, or other sensitive personal information in planning photos. AI outputs can be incomplete or incorrect and are planning aids, not professional inspections or final quotes. BidBooth records limited safety and diagnostic information to prevent abuse and operate the feature; submitted planning images do not need to be retained in those safety records.

6. Contractor subscriptions

Contractor access may be offered through a base subscription. When subscription checkout is activated, a third-party processor will collect the contractor's payment details under its own privacy policy. BidBooth expects to receive limited information such as customer and subscription identifiers, plan, payment status, invoices, and transaction records. We will identify the processor and provide applicable terms before collecting payment information.

7. Cookies and device information

BidBooth uses a browser-session cookie to keep you signed in while you use the service. The login cookie is not configured to persist after a normal browser restart, and an inactive session expires automatically. Tabs in the same browser session share the login. We may also use server logs and similar technical records for security, rate limiting, reliability, and diagnostics. Disabling essential cookies may prevent account features from working. We do not use third-party advertising cookies at initial launch.

A planning-estimate draft may be stored in your browser's session storage so you can continue the same task. This data remains on your device and can be cleared through your browser.

8. Retention

We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary to provide the service, preserve project and transaction records, resolve disputes, maintain security and audit trails, enforce agreements, and comply with legal, tax, accounting, insurance, or regulatory requirements. Periods vary by record type, sensitivity, account or project status, and applicable law.

When information is no longer required, we delete it, anonymize it, or securely isolate it until deletion is reasonably possible. Closing an account may not immediately delete records that must be retained or that remain relevant to another user's project history.

9. Safeguards and international processing

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the information's sensitivity, including role-based access, protected credentials, secure session cookies, restricted verification-document access, logging, and security monitoring. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Some providers may process information outside Ontario or Canada, where it may be subject to local laws and lawful access by courts, law enforcement, or government authorities. BidBooth remains accountable for personal information transferred to service providers for processing under our control.

10. Your choices and privacy rights

Subject to applicable law and appropriate identity verification, you may:

• request access to personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• withdraw consent where processing depends on consent, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice;
• ask us to delete information that is no longer required, subject to lawful retention requirements;
• choose not to use optional AI photo analysis; and
• challenge our compliance with this policy.

You can update some account and contractor-profile details in the service. For another request, contact the Privacy Officer below. We may verify your identity before responding and will explain any lawful limit.

11. Communications

We send service communications needed to operate your account, including security, job, quote, verification, subscription, and support notices. If BidBooth later sends optional promotional electronic messages, we will obtain consent where required and provide an unsubscribe method. You may still receive necessary service messages.

12. Children

BidBooth is intended for adults who can enter binding agreements. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. Contact us if you believe a minor has provided personal information.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service, providers, or legal requirements change. We will post the revised policy with a new effective date and give additional notice or seek consent where required. If subscription billing or another material processing practice changes, we will update this policy to describe the relevant processing.

14. Contact the Privacy Officer

Send privacy questions, access or correction requests, deletion requests, and complaints to:

Write “Privacy Request” in your message and do not send identity documents unless we request them through a secure channel. If we do not resolve your concern, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.