Privacy Policy
Effective Date: September 20, 2026 • Last Updated: September 20, 2026
1. Overview & Our Commitment
StepsPoint ("we," "our," or "us") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal data of our users and business partners. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use our website, mobile platforms, and related services, how we use and safeguard that information, and your legal rights under applicable data protection laws (including the General Data Protection Regulation / GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act / CCPA).
2. Information We Collect
We collect information in several ways depending on how you interact with StepsPoint:
Personal Information You Provide: Your name, email address, profile avatar, account password, phone number, and submitted reviews or business listings.
Business Verification Credentials: For business owners claiming listings, we collect company registration records, corporate email addresses, and phone verification codes.
Fraud Prevention Telemetry: When you submit a review or claim a business, our automated security engine logs your client IP address, device hardware fingerprint, browser user-agent, and submission timestamp to prevent bot farms, competitor smears, and self-review spam.
Automated Usage Data: Pages viewed, referring URLs, search queries, and interaction metrics gathered through Google Analytics.
3. Cookies & Consent Management
We use cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies to maintain user sessions, remember theme and language preferences, and analyze platform traffic.
We integrate with CookieYes to manage your cookie consent in full compliance with European ePrivacy and GDPR directives. You can review, update, or withdraw your cookie consent at any time by visiting our dedicated Cookie Policy or clicking the consent banner.
4. How We Use Your Information
We process your personal information for the following legitimate business purposes:
- To provide, operate, and maintain the StepsPoint business directory.
- To publish verified customer reviews and calculate authentic business trust ratings.
- To detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent reviews, bot attacks, and security vulnerabilities.
- To send transactional emails (such as review approvals, claim verification OTPs, and rejection notices via
support@gmail.com). - To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms and Conditions.
5. How We Share Information
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We only share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our platform, including:
- Cloud Infrastructure & Database Hosting: Secure cloud providers (PostgreSQL/Supabase) with encrypted storage.
- Analytics & Performance: Google Analytics (configured with IP anonymization).
- Email Delivery: Transactional SMTP services for system notifications and alerts.
- Legal Compliance: When required by law, subpoena, or to protect the safety of our users and the public.
6. Data Security & Retention
We implement industry-standard administrative, physical, and technical safeguards (including TLS/SSL encryption, hashed passwords via bcrypt, and strict access controls) to protect your personal data against loss, theft, and unauthorized access. We retain personal data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy or to comply with statutory legal requirements.
7. Your Legal Privacy Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Right of Access & Portability: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to Rectification: Correct any inaccurate or incomplete details in your profile.
- Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): Request the permanent deletion of your account and associated personal data.
- Right to Object: Object to our processing of your data for direct marketing or analytics purposes.
To exercise any of these rights, please email our Data Protection Officer at privacy@stepspoint.com.
8. Children's Privacy
StepsPoint is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal data, we will take immediate steps to delete such information.
9. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our data handling practices, please contact our team at:
StepsPoint Privacy & Legal Team
Email: privacy@stepspoint.com
Support: support@gmail.com