Privacy Policy

ShopLocal.website is operated by Jason Ansell in Ontario, Canada. Contact info@shoplocal.website for privacy questions, access or correction requests, or a complaint. Include only the information needed for us to understand your request.

Account and profile information can include your name, email address, sign-in details and the profile information you choose to publish. Business submissions can include business names, addresses, telephone numbers, websites, categories, hours, photos, descriptions, products and social links.

We also process listing claims and evidence of authority, suggested edits, reviews, saved listings, contact messages and correspondence. Please do not upload identity documents, health information, card details or other sensitive information unless specifically requested through an appropriate secure process.

Listings may be created from business websites, public directories and openly licensed datasets, as well as submissions by owners. We keep source and verification information where available. A listing can exist before its owner claims it.

Published business details are visible to visitors and may be indexed by search engines. Public availability does not remove all privacy interests, particularly where business contact details identify an individual. Contact us if a listing contains personal information that should be corrected or removed. We may need to confirm your relationship to the information.

The hosting platform and service providers may process network and device information, including IP addresses, request times and security logs, to deliver and protect the service.

With optional analytics enabled, Google Analytics and our own event records measure page visits and interactions such as vacation-rental link clicks. Optional analytics stays off until you accept it. These measurements are not necessarily anonymous.

Nearby search uses location only when you request it and grant any browser permission required. Device coordinates stay in your browser session and are used locally to compare stored city centres. A manually entered postal code is searched against directory records and resolves to a city, not a street address. You can clear a location or withdraw browser location permission.

We use information to operate accounts, publish and maintain the directory, review listing authority, handle requests and reviews, deliver paid features, provide support, and prevent misuse. We use optional analytics to understand and improve the site.

Business invitation records may contain a published contact source, relevance notes, review history, delivery status and unsubscribe preferences. Listing invitations include an unsubscribe option. Transactional messages concerning an account, payment or request are handled separately. We do not sell account contact lists.

Base44 supports hosting, application data, account functions and certain AI features. Microsoft 365 supports business email. Stripe processes listing-package payments and recurring billing. We store relevant payment identifiers, package status and billing dates; Stripe handles full payment-card details in its checkout. Google provides optional analytics. OpenStreetMap and geocoding providers support map and location features; loading their resources can disclose network information such as your IP address.

Providers may process information outside your province or Canada, where local laws and lawful access requirements may differ. We remain responsible for the information we control and use service providers for the purposes described here.

Vacation-rental links may go through affiliate networks, including CJ, to Booking.com, Vrbo or another identified booking provider. Once you follow an external link, that provider’s privacy and cookie practices apply. ShopLocal does not process your rental booking or receive your full booking payment details.

ShopLocal has applied to participate in Google AdSense. Where Google ads are enabled, Google and other advertising providers may place or read cookies, use web beacons, and process IP addresses, browser or device identifiers and ad interactions to deliver, measure and protect advertising. Learn how Google uses information from sites and apps that use its services.

Personalized advertising, where offered, requires a separate applicable consent choice; accepting ShopLocal analytics alone does not authorize personalized ads. You can manage Google ad personalization through My Ad Center. Advertising consent controls, when ads are enabled, are separate from our analytics settings.

Submitting the site for AdSense review does not itself activate advertising. We will configure the required advertising consent controls before serving Google ads.

Some directory summaries, guides and chat responses are assisted by AI. Information you enter in a chat or request can be processed by the platform and its AI service providers to produce a response. Avoid entering confidential or sensitive information. AI output can be inaccurate and should be checked against the business or original source.

We keep information while needed for the service, support, payment records, dispute handling, fraud prevention and applicable legal requirements. Different records have different purposes, so there is no single retention period for every record.

We may retain a limited suppression record to honour an unsubscribe or avoid contacting you again. Removing public content may not immediately remove backup copies or copies cached by search engines and other websites. We use access controls and other reasonable safeguards, but no online service can guarantee absolute security.

Use Cookie settings to change optional analytics, your browser to manage location access, and invitation unsubscribe links to stop those invitations. You can ask for access to or correction of your personal information, account deletion, or removal of personal details from a public listing.

We may ask for proportionate verification and may need to retain information required for legal, security, payment or dispute purposes. We will explain any applicable limitation. You may raise unresolved privacy concerns with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or the relevant provincial regulator.

The service is intended for general business discovery and adults managing business accounts; it is not directed at children. Contact us if a child’s personal information has been submitted inappropriately.

We will update this page when our practices change. Material changes that require a new choice will be brought to your attention through the service or another appropriate channel.