VIPMate Privacy Policy

1. What we collect

• Account and profile: name, alias, date of birth, phone, email, photos and media, roles and skills, work eligibility declarations, and (optionally, for Talent) an ABN.
• Identity verification: our primary method is Stripe Identity — your identity document and selfie are captured and processed by Stripe, and we store only the verification result, provider reference and timestamp. In limited fallback or dispute cases we may collect document copies directly, stored in private, access-controlled storage.
• Bookings and payments: booking details, prices, fees, GST amounts, payout records and transaction references. Card details are collected by Stripe, not by us. We never collect Tax File Numbers.
• Safety: if you use safety features during a booking, we collect check-in status and, where you enable it, periodic location pings for the duration of safety monitoring.
• Communications: messages sent through the Platform, support correspondence, and delivery metadata for SMS/WhatsApp/push/email.
• Technical: device and app data, log and usage data, and analytics events.

2. Why we collect it

• To operate the marketplace: accounts, discovery, bookings, messaging, payments, payouts and reviews.
• Trust and safety: identity verification, age checks (18+), fraud prevention, incident response and the safety check-in features.
• Legal and tax compliance: GST on our fees, Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR) reporting to the ATO, record-keeping, and responding to lawful requests.
• Service communications (transactional/operational), and marketing only with your consent.
• Improving the Platform through analytics and support quality.

3. Who we disclose it to

We do not sell personal information.

• Other users, as needed to operate the marketplace: e.g. Hosts see Talent profiles and verification status (never documents); after a confirmed booking, counterparties see the details needed to fulfil it.
• Stripe (payments, payouts and Stripe Identity verification).
• Twilio (SMS, WhatsApp and phone verification delivery).
• Amazon Web Services (hosting and private storage, Sydney region — ap-southeast-2).
• Analytics and error-monitoring providers acting for us.
• The Australian Taxation Office (SERR seller reporting) and other regulators or law enforcement where required or authorised by law.
• Professional advisers, and a purchaser in a genuine restructure or sale (with equivalent privacy obligations).

4. Overseas disclosures

Our infrastructure is hosted in Australia where practicable (AWS Sydney). Some providers (including Stripe and Twilio) process data in other countries, including the United States. We take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle personal information consistently with the APPs.

5. Security and retention

We use encryption in transit, access controls, audit logging and least-privilege practices. Identity documents (fallback cases only) are held in private, access-controlled storage, never in public buckets, and access is audit-logged.

We retain personal information only as long as needed for the purposes above and to meet legal obligations (tax and transaction records are kept for the periods required by Australian law), then delete or de-identify it.

6. Your choices and rights

• Access and correction: you can access and update most information in the app; for anything else contact us and we will respond within a reasonable period.
• Marketing: opt out any time via the message itself or your settings. Transactional messages continue while you have an account.
• Location: safety location sharing is controlled by you and your device permissions.
• Deletion: you may request account deletion; we will delete or de-identify personal information we are not legally required to retain.

7. Complaints

Contact support@vipmate.app with any privacy concern and we will investigate and respond. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

8. Changes and contact

We may update this Policy from time to time; the current version and effective date are shown above, and material changes will be notified through the Platform.

Privacy contact: support@vipmate.app.