Privacy Policy

Effective October 18, 2026 · Last updated October 18, 2026

This policy explains what information Distinct. Developers (“VendorScout,” “we,” “us”) collects when you use VendorScout, how we use and share it, and the choices you have. We don't sell your personal information, and we don't use advertising trackers. Questions: support@distinctdevelopers.com.

1. Information we collect
2. Information from public sources
3. How we use information
4. How information is shared
5. Service providers
6. Cookies and local storage
7. How long we keep it
8. Security
9. Your choices and rights
10. US state privacy rights
11. International users
12. Children
13. Changes
14. Contact

1. Information we collect

You give us

• Account: name, email, password (stored hashed by our authentication provider), phone number and profile photo if you add them. If you sign in with Apple, we receive the name and email Apple shares.
• Business or organizer profile: business name, what you sell, city and travel radius, description, website and social links, logo, photos, products, booth setup, team members and invitations, markets you run, and public page settings.
• Documents: files you upload such as licenses, permits and insurance certificates, with their type and expiry dates.
• Activity: leads you save or dismiss, notes, applications (answers, messages, attached documents and status), listings, claims and the evidence you provide, reviews and replies, watched pages, and notification preferences.
• Payments: if you subscribe to Plus, our payment processor Stripe collects your card details. We never see or store full card numbers; we receive a customer ID, subscription status and billing dates.
• Messages to us: what you send when you contact support.

Collected automatically

• Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, pages requested and timestamps, recorded in our hosting and database providers' logs for security and reliability.
• Sign-in session: stored in your browser so you stay signed in (see section 6).
• Approximate location: only the city you enter. We look up its map coordinates to measure distances; we don't collect your device's GPS location.

2. Information from public sources

To find vendor opportunities and local market news, VendorScout searches public websites, search engines and news, and stores facts about markets and events: names, places, dates, fees, application links, the pages they came from, and article headlines and links. These pages can include business contact details such as an organizer's name, email or phone number. We use this information only to show vendors where and how to apply. If you are named in a listing and want it corrected or removed, email support@distinctdevelopers.com or claim the listing.

3. How we use information

• to provide VendorScout: matching leads to your business, scanning your area, alerts, applications, profiles, team features and reviews;
• to send service emails you need (sign-in, invitations, application updates, decisions, claims, reviews) and, if you leave them on, lead digests and deadline reminders;
• to process subscriptions, prevent fraud and abuse, keep the service secure, and enforce our Terms;
• to understand and improve VendorScout using aggregate usage, search and cost statistics;
• to comply with law and respond to lawful requests.

We use AI models to read public web pages about markets and summarize vendor opportunities. We don't use your documents or private account information to train AI models.

4. How information is shared

• With your team: members of your organization can see its shared leads, applications, documents and settings.
• With organizers you apply to: your business profile, answers, message and the documents you choose to attach, plus the account email that submitted it. Organizers lose access to attached documents through VendorScout if you withdraw.
• Publicly, when you choose: public vendor and organizer pages you turn on, listings you publish, and reviews (with your business name) are visible to anyone and may be indexed by search engines.
• With service providers who process information for us under contract (section 5).
• For legal reasons: to comply with law, legal process or government requests, or to protect the rights, safety and property of users, the public or VendorScout.
• Business transfers: if Distinct. Developers is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, information may transfer as part of it, subject to this policy.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

5. Service providers

• Supabase: database, file storage, authentication and server functions.
• Netlify: website hosting.
• GitHub: runs the scheduled search agent (it processes public web data and search settings).
• Stripe: subscription payments and billing.
• Resend: sending email.
• Anthropic: AI reading of public web pages about markets.
• Brave Search and Google News: web and news searches (queries contain place and market terms, not your personal information).
• OpenStreetMap / Nominatim: converting city names to map coordinates.
• Apple: Sign in with Apple, if you choose it.

6. Cookies and local storage

We use your browser's storage only for things VendorScout needs: keeping you signed in, remembering preferences like how you sort leads, and returning you to the page you were on after signing in. We don't use advertising or third-party analytics cookies. Payment pages hosted by Stripe may set their own cookies under Stripe's privacy policy. Blocking storage will sign you out.

7. How long we keep it

• Account, organization, profile, documents and applications: while your account or organization exists. Deleting your account removes your personal account and any organization where you are the only member, including its documents and files.
• Search logs: 90 days. Local market news: 60 days. Notifications: until you or your organization is deleted.
• Billing records: as long as needed for tax and accounting law, typically up to 7 years.
• Activity and audit logs used for security and records may be kept longer in limited form. Backups are overwritten on our providers' normal schedules.
• Reviews you wrote remain on the organizer's page attributed to your business unless the business is deleted or you ask us to remove them.

8. Security

Data is encrypted in transit, access is controlled by database rules that limit each organization to its own information, and private documents are only available through short-lived signed links. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security. Please use a strong, unique password. If we learn of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.

9. Your choices and rights

• Access and correct: view and edit your account, business profile, documents and settings in VendorScout.
• Delete: delete your account in Account settings, or remove individual documents, photos, reviews and listings yourself.
• Copy: email support@distinctdevelopers.com for a copy of your personal information.
• Email: turn off lead digests and reminders in Account → Email notifications. Required service emails (such as sign-in links) can't be turned off while you have an account.
• Public pages: turn your vendor or organizer page off at any time.

We will respond to requests within the time the law requires and won't discriminate against you for making them. We may need to verify your identity first.

10. US state privacy rights

Depending on where you live (for example California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and other states with consumer privacy laws), you may have rights to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, to access, correct or delete it, to receive a portable copy, and to opt out of its sale, sharing for targeted advertising, or profiling. We don't sell or share personal information for targeted advertising and don't use it for profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. The categories we collect are described in section 1 (identifiers, commercial information such as subscriptions, professional or business information, documents you upload, internet activity in logs, and approximate location from the city you enter); sources are you, your organization's members, and public sources; and purposes and recipients are described in sections 3–5. To make a request, email support@distinctdevelopers.com; you may use an authorized agent. If we deny a request, you may appeal by replying to our decision.

11. International users

VendorScout is operated from, and data is stored in, the United States. If you use it from elsewhere, your information will be transferred to and processed in the US, where privacy laws may differ from yours.

12. Children

VendorScout is for adults running businesses and is not directed to children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 (or under 13 for COPPA purposes). If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

13. Changes

We may update this policy. We will post the new version here with a new “last updated” date and, for material changes, notify you by email or in VendorScout before they take effect.

14. Contact

Distinct. Developers · distinctdevelopers.com · support@distinctdevelopers.com