Privacy Policy

When you submit a listing, use Small Spotter Directory, or choose to support the site, we may collect:

• Listing information — business name, description, category, services, employee range, location or service area, website, social links, and other details you provide about your business.
• Contact information — your name, email address, and telephone number, including any public contact email or phone you choose to include on your listing.
• Account and authentication information — when accounts are used to submit or manage listings, we collect the identifiers needed to sign you in and secure your account.
• Support-payment information — if you make a voluntary one-time or recurring support payment, PayPal processes the payment on its hosted website. We may receive transaction details from PayPal such as the payer name or email, contribution amount, payment frequency, transaction identifier, and payment status. We do not receive or store your full payment-card or bank-account credentials on SmallSpotter.
• Basic technical information — our hosting, security, database, and other infrastructure providers may automatically process standard request information such as IP address, browser type, device information, and request timing as part of normal website operation and security.
• Limited site activity information — if you allow optional analytics, we may count visits to individual business listings. We use a browser timestamp to reduce duplicate view counts within a 24-hour period.

We do not use third-party behavioral advertising trackers, and we do not sell personal information. Our optional analytics are limited to SmallSpotter listing view measurement.

Information you submit for a business listing is intended to be shown publicly. If your listing is approved, that information may appear on Small Spotter Directory, in on-site search results, and be indexed by search engines. It may also be used in social media posts, promotional materials, advertisements, emails, and other Small Spotter Directory marketing.

Please do not include personal or confidential information in your listing that you do not want to appear publicly. The account or administrative email you use to submit or manage a listing will not be displayed publicly unless you also provide it as your listing's public contact email.

The business owner's name that you provide on the submission form is collected for administrative review, verification, and communication with the listing owner. It is visible to authorized Small Spotter Directory administrators, but is not displayed on public listing pages, search results, metadata, or structured data. Public listings show the label "Owner-Led" instead of the owner's name. If you separately choose to include the owner's name in public business content, such as in the business description or business name, that content will appear publicly as submitted.

We use the information you provide to:

• Review, approve, publish, update, manage, and promote business listings.
• Communicate with listing owners about their submissions and listings.
• Verify and process listing claims and ownership requests.
• Provide account, security, feedback, and other requested site functions.
• Process, reconcile, and maintain records of voluntary support payments and respond to payment-related questions or refund requests.
• Maintain the security of the website, prevent fraud or misuse, improve the directory, measure listing activity when permitted, and comply with legal, accounting, and recordkeeping obligations.

Submitted information is stored in Small Spotter Directory's cloud-hosted database and supporting systems. Small Spotter Directory currently uses Supabase, so listing, account, and administrative information may be stored and processed using Supabase's hosted database and authentication infrastructure.

Support-payment records may also be retained within the PayPal business account used to process those payments and within ordinary business or accounting records.

Some site functions also use browser storage on your device. For example, account sessions may be stored locally so you can remain signed in, and your privacy choice is stored so the site can remember it.

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards to protect the information we hold. No online service can guarantee absolute security, and you submit information at your own risk.

To operate the website we rely on service providers for hosting, database services, authentication, security, email delivery, payment processing, and other technical functions. These providers may process information on our behalf as needed to deliver their services.

Voluntary support payments are processed by PayPal on PayPal's hosted payment pages. When you choose to support SmallSpotter, you leave the SmallSpotter website and provide payment information directly to PayPal. PayPal's collection and use of that information is governed by PayPal's own privacy practices and terms.

Cloudflare Turnstile is used on protected forms and sign-in functions to help detect automated abuse. Turnstile may process browser, device, and network signals needed to provide that security function.

Some eligible business listings offer an embedded Google Map. The map is not loaded unless you enable External content in Cookie Settings. If you enable it, your browser connects directly to Google, which may receive technical information and use cookies or similar technologies according to Google's own terms and privacy practices.

Small Spotter Directory does not sell personal information. We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that it is required by law, to enforce our Terms, to protect the rights, property, or safety of Small Spotter Directory or others, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or transfer of assets.

Small Spotter Directory uses cookies, local storage, and similar browser technologies for a small number of specific purposes. These technologies fall into three groups:

• Essential technologies — used for security, authentication, remembering your privacy choice, and functions you intentionally request. For example, Supabase authentication can store a sign-in session in your browser. When you submit article feedback, SmallSpotter may store an anonymous browser ID and a record that the browser has already voted so duplicate feedback can be limited.
• Optional analytics — used only when you allow Analytics through Cookie Settings. SmallSpotter may store a listing-specific timestamp in your browser to avoid counting repeated views of the same business too frequently and may increment the listing's aggregate view count in our database.
• Optional external content — used only when you allow External content through Cookie Settings. This currently controls embedded Google Maps on eligible business listings. The Google Maps iframe is not loaded before this permission is given.

PayPal is not embedded as an on-site payment script in the current SmallSpotter support flow. Selecting a support link takes you to PayPal's separate hosted website, where PayPal may use its own cookies or similar technologies. SmallSpotter's Cookie Settings do not control technologies used after you leave SmallSpotter for PayPal.

Optional technologies are off until you make a choice. Choosing "Necessary only" keeps both optional listing-view measurement and external embeds disabled. Choosing "Accept all" enables both. "Customize" lets you choose them separately.

You can change or withdraw either optional choice at any time by selecting Cookie Settings. Changing your preference controls future optional processing. It does not remove server-side aggregate counts that were lawfully recorded before the change.

Business listings may link to third-party websites, social networks, payment services, and other services. Those services have their own privacy and cookie practices, and Small Spotter Directory does not control how they collect or use information after you visit or interact with them. This includes PayPal's hosted support-payment pages. Embedded Google Maps are blocked until you allow External content through Cookie Settings.

We retain listing, account, contact, and support-payment information for as long as reasonably necessary for directory operations, payment reconciliation, accounting, security, recordkeeping, tax, dispute-resolution, or other legal purposes.

You may request access to your information, corrections to your listing, removal of your listing, deletion of your account, or deletion of eligible personal information by contacting us through the site. Some information, including certain transaction or accounting records, may be retained after removal where required or reasonably necessary for legal, security, tax, or recordkeeping purposes.

You can also clear cookies or site storage through your browser. Doing so may sign you out, reset your privacy choice, or cause the consent notice to appear again.

Small Spotter Directory is intended for business owners and adult users. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take reasonable steps to remove it.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date and version at the top of this page. If our use of optional cookies or similar technologies materially changes, we may ask you to make a new privacy choice.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to make a privacy request, please contact Small Spotter Directory through the website. We will do our best to respond in a reasonable time.