Privacy
Privacy policy
What Shop Local Delmarva collects, why, who handles it, and what we never do with it. Written to be read.
What we collect
In the app
- Your first name and mobile number. That is the account. There is no password. We confirm the number with a code sent by text.
- Your email, if you give it. It is optional.
- Your location, only if you allow it. When you allow location, or tap Use my location, your phone’s location is sent to find the areas and businesses near you. Its exact position is used only while answering that request, to put what is nearest first, and the app does not store it. We keep an approximate position, to within about a kilometer (a little over half a mile), with that install of the app, so what is near you shows the next time you open it, and replace it when a newer one is sent. A ZIP code you type instead is kept the same way. While you are signed in, that install is tied to your account, and deleting your account deletes the approximate position and ZIP code kept with it. Turn location off in your phone’s settings at any time.
- Your area. A question you ask carries the name of the area worked out from your location or ZIP code, so it reaches neighbors there. An event you submit carries the place you name for it, the venue and town you type, as its location, never your phone’s location.
- A push address, if you turn notifications on. Your phone gives us a push address that we use only to send you the app’s notifications. We store it with the name of the browser or app it came from, and with your account when you are signed in. Turn notifications off in Mine, under Your account, or in your phone’s settings. Turning them off in the app deletes the address.
- A device identifier that ties your account to the phone it was set up on, and lets you sign back in with a code.
- What you post: the questions you ask, the recommendations you write, the offers you clip, the businesses you save.
- Your consent to texts, when you give it: the exact wording you agreed to and the date and time you agreed. We keep that record because the law and the carriers require it.
On the website
- What you type into a form: the application, contact, giveaway and text-alert forms ask for things like your name, business, mobile number, email, town and message. Each entry is stored with the address your connection came from and the browser you used, so we can tell a person from a bot.
- Taps on a member’s listing. When you tap Call, Directions or Website, we count the tap for that member’s monthly report. The count has no name on it. Your browser keeps a random identifier so the same tap is not counted twice.
- The usual server logs that any website’s hosting keeps, for the site and the app alike: addresses, pages requested, times. For the app, a request can include the approximate location it was sent with, to within about a kilometer.
From members
- The business details a member puts on their listing, the contact person’s name and mobile number, and their billing records. Card numbers go to Stripe and are never stored by Shop Local Delmarva.
Why
- Recommendations. To carry a neighbor’s question to neighbors in their town and bring the answers back, with a first name and a town on each one.
- Offers. To let you clip a member’s offer, show it at the counter, and let the member mark it used.
- The giveaway. To enter you when you ask to be entered, and to reach the winner.
- Texts you agreed to. Only the texts you said yes to, at the frequency the consent sentence states. A verification code is not marketing and does not need that consent.
- Member reports. To tell a member how many times their listing was shown, called or given directions, by town. Never who.
- Neighbor of the Month. To work out whose recommendations neighbors used, so Shop Local staff can thank Neighbors of the Month with $10 at any member business.
- Keeping the service running and telling a person from a bot.
Who processes it
We use a short list of companies to run the service. Each one handles only what its job needs.
- Twilio sends and receives texts, including verification codes.
- Stripe processes member payments. Card numbers are entered on Stripe’s pages and stored by Stripe. Shop Local Delmarva never sees or stores a card number.
- Amazon SES, or the website’s own mail, sends email.
- Hostinger hosts the website and the app.
- Apple, Google and your browser’s push service carry push notifications to your phone.
We also share what the law requires us to share when a court or a government agency properly demands it, and what is needed to protect a person from harm.
Text messages
- What we text. The monthly giveaway: when it opens, the last day to enter, and when the winner is drawn. Nothing else is sent on this program. A sign-in code is sent only when you ask for one, and only to the number that asked.
- How you join. By ticking the box on the text-alerts page or the giveaway entry form. The box is never ticked for you, and ticking it is not a condition of entering the giveaway or of any purchase.
- How often. Up to 6 messages a month. Message and data rates may apply.
- Stopping. Reply STOP to any message to stop them. Reply HELP for help.
- Consent records. The wording each person agreed to is stored with the date and time they agreed.
- Sharing. We do not share your mobile number or your consent to receive texts with any third party for their marketing or promotional purposes. Twilio carries the messages and uses the number only to deliver them.
What we never do
- We do not sell your information. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to members.
- We do not share your mobile number or your consent to receive texts with any third party for their marketing or promotional purposes. Twilio carries the messages and uses the number only to deliver them.
- We do not run ads. There is no ad network in the app or on the site, and nothing here tracks you across other sites.
- We do not rank businesses for money. Nothing a business pays changes where it appears in a list or what neighbors said about it.
- We do not show a member who recommended them. A member sees a first name and a town, the same as everyone else.
- We do not send marketing texts to a number that has not been verified, and we do not send them to anyone who has not agreed to them. A verification code goes only to a number that just asked for one.
How long we keep it
- Your account and what you posted: for as long as you have an account.
- Recommendations you wrote: for as long as you leave them up. They stay when a member leaves, because they are yours, not the member’s.
- Text consent records: for as long as you have an account. They are deleted with it. If you replied STOP, the number alone stays on a do-not-text list, with no name or email attached, so we never text it again.
- Form entries and server logs: for as long as they are useful for running the service and telling a person from a bot, then they are removed.
- Member billing records: for as long as tax and accounting rules require.
Deleting it
- Your account. In the app, open Mine, and under Your account tap Delete my account, then type DELETE to confirm. It is done immediately: your name, number and email, every device signed in and the approximate location and ZIP code kept with it, your notification subscriptions and settings, your clipped and used offers, the places you saved and the answers you marked helpful, and the record of the text wording you agreed to are deleted. The same steps are on the delete-account page. If you cannot get into the app, contact us and we delete it within 7 days and tell you when it is done.
- The one thing we keep. If you ever replied STOP to a text, your number stays on a do-not-text list with no name or email attached. Deleting that too would make your number look new to us, and the next time somebody typed it into a form we would text you again. It is used for nothing else and never shared.
- Recommendations and questions you posted stay up under the first name and town you posted them with, because neighbors rely on them. Ask us and we take them down.
- A business listing. A listing exists only because a neighbor named the business. If it is your business and you want it gone, use the contact page and name the listing. Removal is honored on request.
- Texts. Reply STOP to any message. Reply HELP for help.
- Anything else. Ask us, using the contact details below, and we will confirm what we hold and remove it.
Children
The app and the site are not for anyone under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from a child under 13. If you believe a child has made an account, contact us and we will remove it.
Your rights, in California and elsewhere
If you live in California, or in another state with a consumer privacy law, you have the right to know what we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to receive a copy of it, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of your information. We do not sell or share it, so there is nothing to opt out of, and we will never treat you differently for using any of these rights.
To use a right, contact us using the details below. We will confirm it is you, usually with a text to the number on the account, and respond within the time the law allows. You can ask someone to act for you; we will still confirm with you directly.
Effective October 7, 2026
