Privacy Policy

Accounts. Your email address and a password (stored only as a secure hash by our authentication provider) or a sign-in link from Google or Apple.

Buyer profiles. If you create one: your name, an optional photo, a short introduction and your goals. These stay private unless you choose to share them with a professional you connect with.

Professional listings. Business name, category, contact details, service areas, specialties, website, license or registration details and biography. Approved listings are public. License and registration details are provided by the professional and are not independently verified by us.

Messages and attachments. Messages, photos, documents and voice notes you exchange with other users are private to the participants of that conversation.

Appointments and connections. Requested dates, times and notes. Your contact email is shared with the professional only after they accept your request.

Saved budgets. If you save a home budget, we store your target price range, down payment and monthly target. Budget figures you type into the calculator without saving are not stored.

Reviews, reports and appeals. The rating, text and display name you publish, plus any reports or appeals you file. Reports are private to our moderation team.

AI Concierge conversations. If you use the AI Concierge, your messages and the AI's replies are saved privately to your account so you can continue conversations later. To answer, the AI also receives a limited summary of your authorized account activity — never other users' private details. Deleting a conversation removes it from your account history; it does not cover records our service providers may keep under their own policies.

Push notifications. If you enable them, we store the browser push endpoint and encryption keys for your device, plus a device label you choose.

Spotlight story statistics. Each time you open a Spotlight story, including repeat opens, we add one to that story's daily open total. Each Share, Copy link or outbound story-link action adds one to its daily link-click total. Share and Copy link counts reflect button actions, not confirmed deliveries. We store no ID, cookie, IP address, name or account with these counts, and no story-counting data in your browser. Known search-engine bots and the professional's own team are not counted; daily abuse limits apply.

Optional listing analytics. If you choose Accept, we count when a real (non-demo) listing appears in your results, is viewed, or when you press its phone, email, website, Message or Appointment buttons. Each record holds only a random session identifier, the listing ID, the event type, the contact-link category and the time — never your name, messages, search text, URL parameters, IP address, precise location or a device fingerprint. Professionals viewing their own listings or their team's listings are not counted.

Nothing is counted unless you choose Accept; registration and continued use are not consent. The banner offers Accept, Reject and Preferences, and Privacy choices in the footer lets you change or withdraw at any time. We ask once: your choice is remembered on this device until you change it or clear your browser data. Withdrawing stops counting immediately and deletes the events recorded under that consent. Recorded events are kept for up to 24 months, then deleted. Professionals see only totals, never individual visitors. Counting can be switched off by us at any time; while it is off, nothing is recorded.

With the same Accept choice, we also count visits to our public pages (home, search, categories, professional profiles and information pages) to see overall site traffic. Each record holds a random session code that resets after 30 minutes of inactivity, the page address without any search terms or parameters, the time, and your approximate country as reported by our hosting network. Private areas such as your account, messages and dashboard are never counted. Only the site administrator sees these records, as charts and an anonymous recent-visits list. Rejecting or withdrawing deletes this browser's records, and all records are deleted after 24 months. Sign-up totals come from the number of new accounts and are not linked to visits.

Event reminders. If you choose "Remind me" on an event, we save that choice with your account and send one in-app notification (and a push notification, if you've turned those on) about 24 hours before the event. The professional doesn't see who asked for reminders. You can turn a reminder off at any time from the event.

To run the directory: display listings, connect buyers and professionals, deliver messages and notifications, moderate reviews, provide the AI Concierge, keep accounts secure, and understand aggregate usage. We do not use your private messages or AI conversations for advertising.

Other users, only as the feature requires. Approved listings are public. A professional you connect with sees your shared buyer details and, once they accept an appointment, your contact email. Conversation participants see their shared messages.

Service providers. Stripe, our payment processor (and, for some orders, its affiliate Link as seller of record), receives the data needed to sell your plan or boost, manage subscriptions, take payment, handle tax and send invoices (it receives your checkout details, not your password). Our cloud hosting provider stores the database, files and sign-in records. The AI Concierge is processed by our AI gateway provider. Map tiles are loaded from a map tile service when you view the map. Push notifications are delivered through your browser's push service. Each provider handles data under its own privacy terms.

We may also share information with professional advisers (such as lawyers and accountants) and with authorities when the law requires it.

We do not sell personal data or share it with advertisers.

Listings stay until the professional withdraws them. Conversations can be deleted from your account. Saved budgets can be deleted at any time. A 13-month profile-visit purge function exists, but its recurring cleanup has not been verified; optional visit recording remains off. Some records — such as payment history and moderation logs — are kept for accounting, fraud-prevention and safety reasons. To request deletion of your account and associated personal data, contact us; we will confirm your identity before acting.

We use browser storage to keep you signed in, remember preferences such as your AI Concierge privacy acknowledgment and your accept/reject choice under me_privacy_choices. Optional If you accept listing analytics, we set one secure, first-party cookie holding a random identifier (it cannot be read by page scripts and expires after 30 minutes of inactivity); rejecting or withdrawing removes it. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

We use encrypted connections and access controls, and administrator access requires two-step verification. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure. You can edit your profile, withdraw a listing, delete conversations and saved budgets, turn off push notifications, and clear browser storage at any time.

We use your information to provide the service you signed up for (contract), to keep the platform safe and improve it (legitimate interests), where you have agreed, such as optional analytics and push notifications (consent), and to meet legal duties (legal obligation).

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export your information, object to or limit certain uses, and withdraw consent at any time. To make a request, contact us; we respond within 30 days.

Mate Estate is intended for adults and is not directed at children. If we change this policy we will update the date above; material changes will be noted on this page.