Trade Buddy Privacy Notice

1. Introduction

Trade Buddy is committed to protecting your personal information and ensuring its privacy, accuracy, and security. This Privacy Policy outlines the types of data we collect, how it is used, and your rights regarding your information.

2. Data We Collect

• Personal Information: Name, contact details, payment information, and profile pictures.
• Usage Information: Details of how you use our app, services, and website.
• Location Data: Real-time geographic location of tradespeople for job tracking and customer matching.
• Device Data: IP addresses, browser type, and operating system for troubleshooting and analytics.
• Verification Documents: A copy of a valid ID and, where provided, trade qualification/insurance evidence for limited document checks.
• Call recordings and session artefacts: video recordings of your TradeBuddy video calls; your booking project description; and any videos you uploaded before the session. We also store a parts/tools list snapshot linked to your booking.

3. How We Use Your Information

• Quality, safety, and dispute resolution: to review session quality, ensure platform safety, and resolve disputes using the session evidence on our systems.
• Internal training: to help experts and support staff improve remote-advice quality (access is restricted).
• Anonymisation for safety analytics and service improvement: to create truly anonymised datasets (e.g., blurring, redaction, or voice masking) that no longer identify you.
• Provide and improve our services.
• Match customers with tradespeople.
• Process payments securely.
• Send updates and marketing communications (if consented).
• Ensure safety and prevent fraudulent activities.

4. Identity Verification Data

To keep our platform safe and trustworthy, we may process limited personal information for optional verification (see Terms – Verification & Badges Policy). This may include:

• Verification Documents you choose to provide (e.g., a photo ID and, where applicable, a trade qualification or insurance document); and
• a manual visual comparison (e.g., live video review or selfie) to confirm the document appears to match the account holder.

What we do: We perform a limited document check for internal consistency and obvious defects at the time of review. We do not authenticate with issuing bodies and we do not use automated biometric identification.

Retention: Verification Documents are stored securely with strictly limited access, and retained only as necessary to perform verification, handle complaints/disputes, and maintain an audit trail. We keep:

• The documents themselves for the shorter of: (i) the badge validity period plus 90 days, or (ii) 24 months, unless a longer period is required by law or for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims; and
• Lightweight metadata (e.g., document type and review date) and the verification outcome (e.g., “verified” or “not verified”) for audit and safety purposes in line with our general retention rules (see Section 9).

If you withdraw a submission or your badge expires/revokes, we will minimise retained data to the audit trail noted above unless we reasonably need the documents for an ongoing complaint, dispute, or legal obligation.

5. Legal Basis for Processing

For verification, our lawful basis is legitimate interests in platform safety, fraud prevention, and user protection, and - where relevant - compliance with legal obligations and/or establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims. You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests (see Section 8).

For call recordings and related session artefacts, our lawful bases are:

• Performance of a contract (to deliver the booked video session and, where offered, make a recording available to you).
• Legitimate interests in safety, quality assurance, fraud prevention, and dispute resolution (you have the right to object - see Section 8).
• Legal obligations / legal claims where applicable (e.g., to comply with law or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims).

6. Sharing Your Information

We may share your information under the following circumstances:

 
• With Customers: Tradespeople's profiles, reviews, and qualifications are shared to help customers make informed decisions.
• With Tradespeople: Customer names, locations, and job details are shared to match you with appropriate trades.
• With Service Providers: Payment processors, hosting providers, and customer support teams to help deliver our services. This may include secure storage and verification tooling providers. We require them to use the data only under our instructions and to apply appropriate safeguards.
• For Legal Obligations: When required by law or to protect our legal rights.

Service providers for anonymisation (processors): We may use vetted third-party apps/APIs acting as our processors to anonymise recordings (e.g., blur faces, mask voices/identifiers, redact on-screen references). They act only on our instructions, under data-processing agreements, may not use your data for their own purposes, and where processing occurs outside the UK/EEA we apply appropriate transfer safeguards (e.g., UK IDTA/EU SCCs).

7. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Authenticate users.
• Measure traffic and app performance.
• Enhance your overall experience.
 

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may limit certain functionalities.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access and Correct: Update your personal information via your account settings.
• Data Portability: Request a copy of your data in a commonly used format.
• Deletion: Request the deletion of your account and data.
• Restrict Processing: Limit how we use your data under certain conditions.
• Withdraw Consent: Opt-out of marketing communications or revoke location tracking permissions.
• Right to object: You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests (including verification).
• Regulator: You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk. We encourage contacting us first so we can resolve concerns quickly.

You may object to ID verification processing; however, if you choose not to complete verification, you may be unable to use certain Trade Buddy services

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only as long as necessary to provide services, comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, and enforce our terms. When no longer required, we delete or irreversibly anonymise your data.

• Verification data: We retain Verification Documents and related records only as necessary for verification and audit as described in Section 4. As a guide, Verification Documents are kept for the shorter of the badge validity + 90 days or 24 months, unless law or legal claims require longer. We retain the verification outcome, review date, and minimal metadata for audit/safety in accordance with these retention rules.
• ID documents previously handled by email: Where applicable, we now store submitted Verification Documents in controlled systems with access restriction and audit logging. Legacy email submissions (if any) are migrated or deleted securely.

You may request deletion (see Section 8), and we will comply unless we need to retain specific items for legal obligations, fraud prevention, or ongoing dispute resolution.

Call recordings & uploaded videos: We keep video/audio call recordings and the associated session artefacts for up to 180 days. If a dispute is opened, we keep relevant records until it is resolved and for up to 90 days thereafter. We may retain data for longer only where required by law. Truly anonymised data (no longer identifying you) may be kept for longer for safety analytics and service improvement. If you download a copy of your recording, deleting our copy does not remove your downloaded copy.

10. Data Security

We use industry-standard encryption and secure servers to protect your information. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Please notify us immediately of unauthorized access to your account. Verification Documents are stored in restricted repositories with access controls and audit logging.

11. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries outside your residence with different data protection laws. By using our services, you consent to these transfers. Where data is transferred outside the UK/EEA, we use appropriate safeguards (e.g., the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or EU Standard Contractual Clauses, as applicable).

12. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Any significant changes will be communicated via our website or app. Please review this policy regularly for updates.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@tradebuddy.uk