Privacy Policy — Expert Bucket

Last updated: 10 September 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Expert Bucket ("we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you use Expert Bucket at http://localhost/expertbucket and our mobile applications (the "Platform"). It forms part of our Terms of Service.

By using the Platform you confirm you have read this Policy. Where the law requires your consent for a particular use, we ask for it separately and you may withdraw it as described in section 9.

1. Who is responsible for your information

We decide how and why your information is processed when you use the Platform, and we are responsible for it in that respect.

We are not responsible for what another user does with information you give them. When you place or accept an order, you share information directly with the other user — a brief, files, account credentials you choose to hand over, contact details, or a shipping address. That user is independently responsible for that information and for their own compliance with data-protection law. Share only what the job requires.

2. Information we collect

2.1 Information you give us

Account: name, username, email address, password (stored only as a cryptographic hash), phone and WhatsApp number.
Profile: profile photo, cover image, headline, biography, skills, languages, education, certifications, work experience, portfolio items, hourly rate, availability, and social or professional links you add.
Location and preferences: country, state, city, time zone, language and display currency.
Verification (KYC): where we need to verify identity, the identity or address documents you upload, the details on them, and their expiry date.
Payout details: the bank, wallet or payment-service details you give us to send you money, and tax identifiers where the law requires them.
Transactions: orders, briefs, proposals, custom offers, milestones, time logs, invoices, wallet and escrow entries, withdrawals, refunds and disputes.
Communications: messages and attachments you exchange with other users on the Platform, support tickets, dispute submissions, reviews, and correspondence with us.
Marketing: your newsletter and notification preferences and consent records.

2.2 Information collected automatically

Device and connection: IP address, browser and operating system, device identifiers, app version, and the IP address recorded at registration.
Approximate location: derived from your IP address, including the country detected when you registered. We do not collect precise GPS location from the website.
Usage: pages and listings viewed, searches, clicks, referral and campaign parameters, session and login history, online status and last-seen time.
Security: authentication events, active sessions and devices, two-factor status, and records of suspicious or blocked activity.
Cookies and similar technologies: see section 7.
Mobile app: push notification tokens, and — only if you grant permission — access to your camera, photo library, microphone or files for the specific feature you are using.

2.3 Information from third parties

Social sign-in: if you sign in with Google, Facebook or Apple, we receive the identifier and the basic profile fields that provider shares, subject to your settings with them.
Payment providers: confirmation of payment, payout status, and limited card metadata such as the last four digits and card brand. We do not receive or store your full card number, CVV or banking password.
Verification, fraud-prevention and geolocation providers: results of identity, sanctions, IP-reputation and risk checks.
Attribution providers: which advertisement, link or referral brought you to the Platform.
Other users: reviews, ratings, reports and dispute evidence about you.

3. Why we use it

Purpose	Examples
Providing the Platform	Creating your account, showing listings, running orders, messaging, notifications, wallet and withdrawals.
Payments	Taking payment, holding funds under our payment-protection process, paying out, invoicing, refunds and chargebacks.
Trust and safety	Verifying identity, detecting fraud, circumvention, multiple accounts, review manipulation, spam, scraping and abuse; enforcing our Terms and Acceptable Use Policy.
Disputes	Reviewing evidence, deciding what the Platform does with an order or held funds, and keeping a record of the outcome.
Support	Answering your questions and investigating problems.
Improvement	Understanding how the Platform is used, diagnosing errors, and developing features. Wherever possible we use aggregated or de-identified data for this.
Communications	Transactional email, SMS, WhatsApp and push messages about your account and orders — which you cannot switch off while you hold an account — and, separately, marketing you have opted into.
Legal	Meeting tax, accounting, anti-money-laundering, sanctions and reporting obligations; responding to lawful requests; and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

Depending on where you are, our lawful basis is one or more of: performing our contract with you; your consent; compliance with a legal obligation; or our legitimate interests in operating a safe, functioning marketplace and protecting it from abuse — balanced against your rights.

4. Who we share it with

The other side of a transaction. A Buyer and a Seller see each other's public profile, the order details and everything exchanged in that order's messages.
Publicly. Your username, profile photo, headline, biography, skills, portfolio, country, ratings, reviews and listings are visible to anyone, including search engines. Do not put anything in those fields you would not want published.
Payment providers, to take payment and to pay you.
Service providers acting on our instructions: hosting and storage, email, SMS and WhatsApp delivery, push notification and real-time messaging infrastructure, analytics, error monitoring, advertising and attribution measurement, IP-geolocation, and identity or fraud-check providers. They may process your information only for us.
Professional advisers — auditors, accountants and lawyers — under a duty of confidence.
Authorities and others, where we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law or is necessary to investigate suspected fraud or a breach of our Terms, to protect the rights, property or safety of any person, or to enforce or defend legal claims.
A buyer of our business. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of it. We will notify you if it becomes subject to a materially different policy.

We do not sell your personal information.

5. International transfers

We and our service providers may store and process information in countries other than yours, which may have different data-protection rules. Where we transfer personal information across borders we use appropriate safeguards, such as contractual protections with the recipient, and we transfer only what is needed for the purposes in section 3.

6. How long we keep it

We keep personal information for as long as your account is open and afterwards only as long as we need it. In particular:

transaction, invoice, tax and payment records — for the period required by tax, accounting and anti-money-laundering law;
verification (KYC) records — for the period required by law after the relationship ends;
messages, disputes, reviews and moderation records — for as long as needed to resolve, defend or evidence a claim, and to keep the marketplace's history coherent for the other party;
security and audit logs — for a limited period appropriate to investigating abuse.

When you close your account we deactivate your profile and remove it from public view. Some records are retained as above, and content you shared with other users, or that is part of a completed transaction, may remain visible to them. Where we no longer need information to identify you, we may keep it in aggregated or de-identified form.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember preferences such as language and currency, keep the Platform secure, measure how it is used, and — where you allow it — measure advertising. Strictly necessary cookies cannot be switched off without breaking the Platform. You can control the rest through your browser settings and, where shown, our cookie notice. Blocking cookies may stop parts of the Platform working.

8. Security

We use technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk, including encryption of traffic in transit, hashed passwords, optional two-factor authentication, session and device management, access controls, audit logging and monitoring for suspicious activity.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential, for enabling two-factor authentication, and for the security of the device and email account you use to access the Platform. Tell us immediately at admin@example.com if you believe your account has been compromised.

9. Your rights and choices

Subject to the law that applies to you, you may:

access the personal information we hold about you, and ask for a copy;
ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date — much of it you can edit yourself in your account settings;
ask us to erase information, where we no longer have a lawful reason to keep it;
object to, or ask us to restrict, certain processing;
withdraw a consent you gave, without affecting anything done before you withdrew it;
unsubscribe from marketing at any time, using the link in any marketing message or your notification settings — transactional messages about your account and orders will continue;
nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity, where the law provides for it; and
complain to your data-protection authority.

To exercise a right, write to admin@example.com from the email address on your account. We may ask you to verify your identity, and we may decline or limit a request where the law allows — for example where it would reveal another person's information, defeat fraud prevention, or conflict with a retention obligation in section 6. We respond within the period the applicable law requires.

10. Children

The Platform is for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us information, write to admin@example.com and we will delete it and close the account.

11. Automated processing

We use automated systems to rank search results, recommend listings, calculate levels and badges, and flag suspected fraud, spam or abuse. Automated flagging can lead to a restriction on your account. Where a decision that significantly affects you is made without meaningful human involvement, you may ask for it to be reviewed by a person by writing to admin@example.com.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy. We will post the new version with a fresh "Last updated" date and, where the change is material, give notice through the Platform or by email. Continuing to use the Platform after the change takes effect means you accept the updated Policy.

13. Contact us

For any privacy question or request:

Grievance Officer
Expert Bucket
Expert Bucket
Email: admin@example.com

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate to the data-protection authority in your jurisdiction.