Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information: your email address, display name, and a profile photo (either the one your sign-in provider gives us, or one you upload yourself).
• Sign-in identifiers: if you sign in with Google, your Google account identifier. If you sign in with Apple (iOS only), your Apple account identifier and whichever email Apple provides us — this may be your real email address, or a private relay address if you choose "Hide My Email." We only ever see the address Apple gives us, never your real address in that case.
• Mini-shop information: shop name, description, cover image, and shop settings you create as a seller, including whether your shop is link-only or discoverable in Explore.
• Product information: titles, prices, descriptions, tags, and photos you upload for items you list.
• Messages and order requests: the content of messages you send or receive through the buyer–seller chat for a listing, and — for order requests — the name, contact method, quantity, and any note you provide when submitting one. You do not need an account to submit an order request.
• Interest data: products you ’heart’ (favorite) and shops you follow as a buyer.
• Technical data: login session identifiers, IP address, and browser/device user-agent string, collected automatically to keep your session secure. On the website, this includes a first-party session cookie (httpOnly, readable only by our server) that lasts up to 30 days and is used solely to keep you signed in. We do not use advertising scripts or cookies.
• Website analytics (only if you agree): on the website only, and only after you choose "Accept" in the analytics cookie banner, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how CoffeeCong is used — which pages are viewed (with shop addresses, product, message and seller identifiers removed), how visitors arrive (referring site and campaign tags such as utm_source), approximate location and device/browser information determined by Google, and actions such as creating a shop, adding a product or sharing a link. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_*) for this. We never send your name, email address, shop or product names, account or listing IDs, or sign-in tokens, and Google signals and ad personalization are turned off. If you decline, nothing is loaded or sent and every feature still works. You can change your choice at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of the homepage or on this page. Google Analytics event data is kept for up to 14 months and then deleted automatically (see Section 7). The mobile apps do not contain any analytics SDK.

2. How We Use Information

• To operate the core service: creating shops and listings, matching buyers with sellers, and delivering messages and order requests between them.
• To keep your account secure and your login session valid.
• To send push notifications about new messages and order activity (see Section 4), and account/moderation emails.
• To enforce our Marketplace & Content Policy — for example, sending you an email if a listing or shop of yours is suspended or closed by moderation, or keeping a record of a report you filed.

3. Public vs. Link-Only Mini-Shops — What Others Can See

When you create a mini-shop, you choose whether it’s link-only (the default — reachable only by people you share your shop’s link with) or discoverable in Explore (visible to anyone browsing CoffeeCong). You can change this anytime from Shop settings, along with turning your shop’s link itself on or off and setting a public period.

Whenever your shop is visible to someone — whether they reached it through your link or found it in Explore — they can see your shop name, description, cover image, product listings, and the display name/profile photo shown on your shop page. Your email address is never shown on your shop page.

4. Messages, Order Requests & Push Notifications

Buyer–seller chat messages and order request details are stored so buyers and sellers can communicate and so you can review your own trade history.

We send push notifications for new messages and order activity using Firebase Cloud Messaging (operated by Google). These notifications include a short preview of the message or order content (up to 80 characters), so a snippet of your message content passes through Firebase/Google’s servers as part of delivering that notification to your device.

5. Third-Party Services We Use

We rely on a small number of service providers to run CoffeeCong. We do not sell your personal information to anyone. We do not use advertising SDKs, and the mobile apps contain no analytics SDK; the website uses Google Analytics only with your consent (see Section 1).

• Google — used for Google Sign-In (OAuth) authentication, to deliver push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging (see Section 4), and — on the website, only with your consent — Google Analytics 4 for usage statistics.
• Apple — used for Sign in with Apple (iOS only). If you use this, we store an encrypted copy of the token needed to let Apple revoke CoffeeCong’s access on your behalf when you delete your account; it is never stored or logged in plain text.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) — we operate our own PostgreSQL database and file storage (for product photos, shop covers, and avatars) on AWS infrastructure that we run ourselves, not a third-party database or storage platform.
• Gmail SMTP — used to send account and moderation-related emails (e.g. a notice that your listing was suspended).

6. How Information Is Shared

A mini-shop and its listings are visible as described in Section 3 — that is the core design of the product, not a data leak. We do not otherwise share your personal information with third parties except the service providers listed in Section 5, or where required by law.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your account, mini-shop, and product data for as long as your account remains active. Once you delete your account, that data is removed or anonymized as described below — we do not keep it indefinitely.

Website analytics data (collected only if you accepted analytics cookies) is kept in Google Analytics for up to 14 months and then deleted automatically. It is not linked to your CoffeeCong account, so it is not removed when you delete your account; it expires on that schedule instead. Choosing "Decline" in Cookie settings stops further collection and removes the Google Analytics cookies from your browser.

You can permanently delete your CoffeeCong account at any time from Account settings in the app, or at coffeecong.com/account/delete without installing the app.

When you delete your account: your login credentials, session data, device push tokens, liked products, followed shops, and block list are deleted immediately. Order requests you submitted while signed in are deleted along with your account.

Shops you own are made private (removed from all public and Explore views) rather than deleted outright, so that buyers who previously messaged you keep an accurate record of what they purchased.

If you had an active buyer–seller chat thread, your name and contact details are removed from that conversation, but the conversation itself remains visible to the other participant.

If you had filed a content report, the report record is kept for moderation purposes but is no longer linked to your account.

If you signed in with Apple, we make a best-effort attempt to revoke CoffeeCong’s access with Apple when you delete your account. This is never guaranteed to succeed (for example, if Apple’s service is temporarily unavailable) and never blocks your account deletion either way.

8. Your Rights

• You can edit your display name at any time from Account settings.
• You can request deletion of your account and associated personal data as described in Section 7.

9. Children’s Privacy

CoffeeCong is not directed at children under 14, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 14.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will update the "Last updated" date above when we do.

11. Contact

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at: [email protected]