ShoutShot Privacy Policy

This policy says what information ShoutShot collects, what we do with it, who we share it with, and what choices you have. It covers shoutshot.com and everything you do there, whether you are a shopper, a business, or just visiting.

If you have a question about this policy or your information, email support@shoutshot.com.

1. Who we are

ShoutShot is a local business discovery platform. It is operated by Nikki Taylor and Tim Taylor. We are not yet a registered company. Until we form one, Nikki Taylor and Tim Taylor are the people responsible for the information described here, and we are who you contact about it.

When we form a company, this policy will apply to that company, and "we" will mean that company.

2. What we collect

We collect what you give us, a small amount that arrives automatically, and, for businesses we contact, some publicly listed contact details. Each is described below.

If you create a shopper account, we collect:

• your name, your email address, and your ZIP code;
• a password, which is stored in scrambled form that we cannot read;
• your date of birth, which we use once to check that you are 18 or older and then discard. We do not keep it. We keep a record that the check passed, and when;
• how you found us, if the link you followed carried a campaign tag.

As you use your account we also keep what you do in it: the deals you save, the deals you redeem and when, the businesses you mark as favorites, the Shouts you love, and any reports you file about a Shout.

If you create a business account, we collect:

• your business name, your own name, your email address, and your phone number;
• your business's city, state, and ZIP code, and a street address only if customers come to you and you choose to show it. If customers pick up by arrangement, or you ship, deliver or go to them, we don't collect a street address at all;
• your business categories, and your website if you give one;
• a password, stored in scrambled form;
• your confirmation that you are 18 or older, and when you gave it. We do not ask a business owner for a date of birth;
• a record that you accepted the Terms, and when;
• how you found us, if the link you followed carried a campaign tag. If you started with a shopper account, this is the tag from when you created it.

We also keep what you post: your Shouts (videos, images, captions, links, and deals), your logo, and your intro video. And we keep your membership status, described under payments below.

If you pay for a membership, your payment details go directly to Stripe, our payment processor. We never see or store your card number. We keep the identifiers Stripe gives us for your customer record and your subscription, and whether your membership is active.

If you ask for our free guide, we collect your email address and, if you give it, your first name. We keep a copy of the consent wording you saw, and how you found us if the link carried a campaign tag. This list stays in our own database; it is not loaded into any outside sending tool.

If you joined one of our earlier waitlists, we still hold what you gave us then: your name and email address, and your business name or your city. Those waitlists are closed and collect nothing new.

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write.

If you send us feedback from inside your account, we keep your message, the page you sent it from, when you sent it, and whether you said we may email you about it. It is linked to your account, so we know whether it came from a shopper or a business. A copy is emailed to our own inbox. We only email you about it if you tick the box saying we may.

Business contact details we gather ourselves. To tell local businesses about ShoutShot, we keep a list of publicly listed business contact information: business name, business email address, business phone number, category, city, and state. We get this from public business listings, through a data provider called Outscraper. We use it only to contact those businesses about ShoutShot, and to do that we load the list into Instantly, the tool that sends those emails. Every such email has an unsubscribe link, and we honor it.

What arrives automatically. Like every website, ours receives some technical information when you use it:

• When you log in, we record the internet (IP) address and the type of browser used for that session.
• Our hosting provider receives your IP address and browser type as part of delivering each page, and keeps its own short-lived logs.
• We count page visits using a tool that does not use cookies and does not identify you.
• To stop automated abuse of our sign-up forms and our admin login, we keep short-lived counters of attempts by IP address and, for sign-ups, by email address. These are deleted after about one week.

3. What we do not collect

• We do not keep a shopper's date of birth, and we do not ask a business owner for one.
• We do not see or store card numbers.
• We show only an address you choose to share. We don't collect one at all from a business that customers don't visit.
• We do not track your location. Your ZIP code is whatever you type.
• We do not use advertising trackers or tracking pixels on shoutshot.com.
• We do not collect sensitive categories of information such as government ID numbers, biometric data, or precise location.

4. How we use information

We use what we collect to:

• create and run your account, and keep you logged in;
• show shoppers the businesses and Shouts near their ZIP code;
• show a business's public profile and its Shouts;
• let anyone open a Shout from a link someone shared;
• let shoppers save and redeem deals, and let businesses confirm a redemption;
• let shoppers love a Shout, and show each business how many shoppers loved each of its Shouts, and how many saved and redeemed each of its deals;
• take payment for memberships and keep them current;
• review reports, and enforce our Terms and Content Rules;
• read your feedback, and reply to it if you asked us to;
• send email about your account, your membership, and moderation;
• send the guide and occasional local-marketing email to people who asked for it, and contact businesses about ShoutShot, always with a way to unsubscribe;
• understand how the site is used, and protect it from fraud and abuse.

We do not sell personal information to anyone.

5. What is public

A business account exists to be found, so most of what a business gives us is shown publicly on its profile and in the directory: the business name, city, categories, phone number, website, logo, intro video, its Shouts, and its street address if it chose to show one. A business that customers don't visit has no street address to show.

A business owner's own name and email address are not shown publicly.

Shared Shouts. Anyone can share a live Shout by link. Anyone who has that link can see that one Shout, and the business details shown with it, without an account, until the Shout expires, is removed, or is taken down. A redeem code is never shown on a shared Shout, and saving its deal needs an account. Pages for shared Shouts are kept out of search engines.

A shopper account has no public profile. Other shoppers and businesses cannot see your name, email address, ZIP code, saved deals, favorites, or which Shouts you love. A business sees only how many shoppers loved each of its Shouts, and how many saved and redeemed each of its deals, never who. When you redeem a deal in person, the business sees the code for that deal.

6. Who we share information with

We share information only with the companies that help us run ShoutShot, and only what each needs to do its job:

• Supabase stores our database, handles logins, and stores images.
• Vercel hosts the website and counts page visits.
• Stripe processes membership payments.
• Cloudflare stores and delivers videos.
• Resend sends our account email and the guide.
• Instantly sends outreach email to businesses. It receives the business contact list described in section 2.
• Google hosts our email inboxes. Our outreach inbox, hello@joinshoutshot.com, is on Google Workspace, and support@shoutshot.com forwards to a Gmail inbox, so email you send us is stored with Google.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of ShoutShot, the people who use it, or others. If ShoutShot is ever sold or merged, your information may pass to the new owner, and we would tell you.

A link on a business's Shout goes to a site we do not control. What you give that site is between you and that business.

When you share a Shout, you use your own phone's or browser's share feature, so we do not see who you share it with or how. The link carries a tag saying it came from a share, and whether a business shared its own Shout or someone else did. The tag does not identify you or the person you send it to. If someone creates a business account after following a shared link, we record that tag with the account, as described in section 2.

When a link to ShoutShot is pasted into an app such as Messages or Facebook, that app may fetch the page to show a preview with the Shout's picture and title. What that app does with it is governed by its own policies.

7. Cookies and what is stored in your browser

We use cookies to keep you logged in, and for a short time while a password reset or email confirmation is in progress. We do not use cookies to track you across other sites, and we have no advertising cookies.

We also use one cookie to remember the ZIP code you last browsed with, so you do not have to type it again. Your browser sends it to us with each page, and we use it only to show you businesses near that ZIP. It lasts one year from the last time you changed it. Your browser also remembers whether you closed the announcement bar; that one stays on your device.

8. Email and your choices

Account email. If you have an account, we send email about it: confirming your address, resetting your password, a one-time welcome when you open a business account, your membership and billing, and moderation of your Shouts. You cannot unsubscribe from these while your account is open.

Other email. The guide, local-marketing tips, news about ShoutShot, and messages inviting a business to join are optional. Every one has an unsubscribe link, and we honor it. Our outreach email to businesses is sent through a separate tool, Instantly, which keeps its own unsubscribe list. Unsubscribing there stops that email. If you want to be sure you are off everything we send, email support@shoutshot.com and we will remove you everywhere.

Seeing, correcting, or deleting your information. You can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. You can delete your account yourself from your account page. For anything else, email support@shoutshot.com. A business can change most of its own details from its account page.

9. Keeping and deleting

We keep your information while your account is open, or while you remain on one of our lists. We delete it when you ask us to, except where the law requires us to keep something, such as a record of a payment.

When you delete your account, the feedback you sent is deleted with it. The copy in our email inbox is deleted when you ask us to.

When a business account is deleted and its Shouts had been reported or it had strikes, we keep a small record: a scrambled fingerprint of the account's email address (not the address itself), the date the account was deleted, the number of strikes and the reason for the last warning, and the reports made about its Shouts, without the names of the people who reported them. We use it for one thing: if the same email address opens a business account again, its strikes carry over.

We delete two things automatically on a schedule: the sign-up counters described in section 2, and the loves on a Shout. Within a day after a Shout expires, the individual loves on it are deleted and only the total number is kept, with nothing that says who loved it. When you take back a love, it is deleted at once.

10. Children

ShoutShot is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account. Shoppers give a date of birth at sign-up, which we check; business owners confirm that they are 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has given us information, email support@shoutshot.com and we will delete it.

11. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information, and we rely on established providers with their own security practices. No way of storing or sending information is completely secure, and we cannot promise that ours is.

12. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy as ShoutShot changes. When we make a significant change, we will change the date at the top and, where it matters, tell you.

13. Contact us

support@shoutshot.com

ShoutShot, operated by Nikki Taylor and Tim Taylor