Privacy Policy

In the course of providing our services, we collect personal and other information about users of our services and how they interact with us, our website and app, and our services. We collect personal information through a number of mechanisms, including:

1. 1.1. Collection from you: We collect and store information you provide directly to us (either in person, by email, by phone, or by any other direct means) in order to deliver our products and services. This includes:
   1. (a) Contact information: such as your name, address, email address, telephone number;
   2. (b) Financial and credit information: such as your payment information (credit card, bank account, etc). Credit-related personal information is collected for the purpose of identity verification and fraud prevention in connection with payment processing via Stripe. BreedBuddies does not directly store or process credit card numbers — this is handled by our payment gateway, Stripe, in accordance with Stripe's Privacy Policy;
   3. (c) Dog and breeding information: such as your dog's breed, microchip number, breeding registration details, age, gender, health records, and photos submitted as part of your Application (as defined in our Terms of Use).
2. 1.2. Automatic collection: We use cookies (small text files stored on your devices that provide us with information such as your internet protocol (IP) address, server information, internet service provider, and information on how you interact with our website) and other services that allow us to understand how you use our online media. This information is not linked to you personally.
3. 1.3. Error tracking: We use Sentry to track bugs, crashes and app performance which tracks and measures user interaction and provides data to help improve our products and services. This data may include device information, usage patterns, and crash reports but does not include personally identifiable information such as your name or email address.

4. If you opt-out of third party tracking technologies or elect to prevent the use of cookies, this may result in the loss of website and/or app functionality, restrict your use of the website and/or app, or delay or affect the way in which the website and/or app operates.

5. 1.4. Device information: If you use our services or interact with us through a mobile device, we receive technical information about your device, numbers that identify the device and your location information. This information is associated with you.
6. 1.5. Communications: When you communicate with us, we collect information such as your contact details (such as email address or phone number). We also engage third party services that provide us with information about how you interact with some communications we distribute. You can elect to not receive communications from us by contacting our Privacy Officer.
7. 1.6. Digital platforms: If you access our products or services by connecting a social media login (such as Facebook or Google) we collect information derived, associated or connected with that platform where permitted by the platform's terms of service. Any information we collect from social media, or other online, platforms is collected in accordance with that platform's terms and conditions.
8. 1.7. Other sources: Where necessary, we also collect your information from publicly available records. This can include information relating to an individual's credit worthiness and other information from credit providers, subject to legal restrictions. Where appropriate and necessary to do so we collect information from public records such as those maintained by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Australian Financial Security Authority (PPSR), and land titles offices in each state. We may do this where it is unreasonable or impractical to collect this information from you.
9. 1.8. Information about others: If you provide us with personal information about someone else, you must ensure that you are authorised to disclose that information to us and that, without us taking any further steps required by applicable privacy laws, we may collect, store, use and disclose such information for the purposes described in this Policy. Where we request you to do so, you must assist us with any requests by the individual to access or update the personal information you have collected from them and provided to us. If you do not have a relationship with us but believe that one of our customers has entered your personal information into our servers, you will need to contact that customer for any questions you have about your personal information (including where you want to access, correct, amend, or request that we delete your personal information).
10. 1.9. Sensitive information: We collect information considered to be sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We collect reviews of our service and users in order to ensure we uphold ethical breeding practices. We will only collect this information directly from you or where we have consent to collect the information from a third party. You have the option of not identifying yourself or interacting with us using a pseudonym. However, this may not be practicable when engaging our services or purchasing our products. You can choose not to provide your personal information, but it may mean that we are unable to provide you with our products and services.

We will only use your information for the purposes for which it was collected (primary purpose) or a purpose related to that primary purpose if it would be reasonably expected by you or where we have separately obtained your consent.

We use personal information for the primary purpose of providing our website, app and services. This includes:

1. (a) Creating and managing your user account and dog profile(s);
2. (b) Facilitating matches between dog owners and breeders;
3. (c) Processing payments via Stripe;
4. (d) Releasing Application information to matched users when both parties approve a match (as described in our Terms of Use, clause 5.3);
5. (e) Conducting baseline compliance reviews of Applications by the Woof Team;
6. (f) Communicating with you about your account, matches, and service updates;
7. (g) Investigating reports of fraud, misuse, or breaches of our Terms of Use;
8. (h) Improving our website, app and services.

How we use the information we collect depends, in part, on which services you use, how you use them and any preferences you have communicated to us. If you would like to restrict how your personal information is handled beyond what is outlined in this Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer.

We may disclose your information to third parties who assist us in providing, managing and administering our products and services. These third parties include:

1. (a) Stripe: our payment gateway, which processes all payments and may receive your financial information in connection with transactions. See Stripe's Privacy Policy;
2. (b) Sentry: our error tracking service, which receives anonymised usage and crash data. See Sentry's Privacy Documentation;
3. (c) Matched users: when both parties approve a match and pay the applicable fee, the information submitted as part of each dog's Application will be released to the other dog owner, as described in our Terms of Use (clause 5.3). This information may only be used for the specific purpose for which it is disclosed;
4. (d) Professional advisors: including legal, accounting, and compliance advisors where necessary;
5. (e) Law enforcement and regulators: where required by law, court order, or to comply with regulatory obligations.

We will also disclose your personal information where such disclosure is required by law.

We will not sell or license your information to third parties or otherwise disclose your personal information unless we believe on reasonable grounds that you have provided your authorisation. In certain circumstances we may be required to disclose your personal information without your consent in order to comply with any court orders, subpoenas or other legal process or investigation including by tax authorities, if such disclosure is required by law. Where possible and appropriate, we will notify you if we are required by law to disclose your personal information.

We store your personal information as physical files in a secured area or on our electronic database system and on computers with appropriate backup and security systems.

Payment information is not stored by BreedBuddies. All payment processing is handled by Stripe, which stores and processes financial data in accordance with PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) requirements.

We will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, and unauthorised and accidental access, modification, disclosure, destruction, or other action which prevents or otherwise hinders our access to your personal information on a temporary or permanent basis. We do this by:

1. (a) Putting in place physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in line with industry standards;
2. (b) Requiring any third party providers to have acceptable security measures to keep personal information secure;
3. (c) Limiting access to the information we collect about you;
4. (d) Imposing confidentiality requirements on our employees;
5. (e) Only providing access to personal information once proper identification has been given.

Data breach notification: In the event of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to any individual whose personal information is involved, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as soon as practicable, in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme under Part IIIC of the Privacy Act (to the extent applicable to us).

Data retention: We will only keep your personal information for as long as we require it for the purpose for which it was collected. However, we may also be required to keep some of your personal information for specified periods of time, for example under certain laws relating to companies, money laundering and financial reporting legislation. If we no longer require your personal information, and are not legally required to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the personal information.

1. 6.1. Accessing the information we hold about you:

   Under the APPs you may be able to obtain a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. To make a request to access this information please contact us in writing. We will require you to verify your identity and specify what information you wish to access. If eligible, we will grant you access to the information within 30 days. We may charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs of verifying your application, and retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested.

2. 6.2. Updating your personal information:

   We endeavour to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Please contact us at the details above if you believe that the information we hold about you requires correction or is out of date. We endeavour to process any request within 30 days and will provide written reasons if your request is rejected, as well as providing details for making a complaint about the refusal if necessary.

3. 6.3. Deletion of your information:

   You may request that we delete or de-identify your personal information by contacting our Privacy Officer. We will process your request within 30 days, subject to any legal obligations requiring us to retain certain information. Please note that deleting your personal information may result in the termination of your account and loss of access to our services.

If you are concerned that we have not complied with your legal rights or the applicable privacy laws, contact our Privacy Officer in the first instance. Please contact our Privacy Officer (contact details above) with a thorough description of your concerns and a response will be provided within a reasonable period. All complaints must be in writing.

When processing a complaint, we will require you to provide us with information to confirm your identity before processing a request related to information we may hold about you.

We expect our procedures will deal fairly and promptly with your complaint. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can also make a complaint to:

You may also contact your state or territory's consumer protection agency (e.g., Fair Trading) or the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) if your complaint relates to consumer rights under the Australian Consumer Law.