How We Use Your Information

• Providing and Improving Services: The primary use of your information is to allow you to use UrbanBazaar’s features and to continually improve those features. For example, we use your personal information to create and manage your user account, to display your business listings or reviews on the Platform, and to customize your experience (such as showing you relevant local business listings based on your location or past activity). We analyze usage and technical data to understand how the Platform is performing, to diagnose and fix technical issues, and to develop new functionalities and services. 

• Account Maintenance & User Communication: We use your contact information (email address, phone number) to communicate with you and maintain your account. This includes sending verification codes or links when you register or login, notifying you about important account or service updates, alerts about activities (for instance, if someone leaves a review on your business listing), and responding to any inquiries or support requests you send us. We may also inform you of changes to our terms or policies through these channels. If you provide a phone number, we might use it for account recovery or urgent service notifications (e.g., suspected fraud alerts). 

• Service-Related and Marketing Emails: We may send you service-related communications that are necessary for the Platform’s operation or for security/legal reasons – for example, confirmation emails, password reset messages, billing invoices or receipts for any paid services, or communications mandated by law. You cannot opt out of these essential notifications. Marketing & Promotions: With your consent (where required), we may also send you occasional newsletters, special offers, or promotional communications to the email or phone number you provided. For example, we might email you about new features or sponsored deals on UrbanBazaar that could interest you. You have the choice to opt out of marketing emails or texts at any time – every marketing email will contain an unsubscribe link, and you can also adjust your preferences in your account settings or by contacting us. (Even if you opt out of marketing, you will still receive essential transactional or legal notices as noted above.) 

• Publishing Your Contributions: If you are a business listing owner, the information you submit about your business is used to populate your listing page, which is then made available to all users of the Platform. Likewise, if you submit a review or any user-generated content, we use that information to publish it on the Platform, along with your username/profile as the author, so that others can read your contribution. This is fundamental to how UrbanBazaar works as a public directory and review site. Facilitating User Connections: If you choose to contact a business through UrbanBazaar (for example, by filling out a “Contact Business” form or clicking on a provided email/phone contact), we use the information you provide to send your message or connect your call to that business. The business will receive the details you provided in the inquiry (such as your name, contact info, and message). Similarly, if a business contacts a user through our Platform (e.g., responding to a review or inquiry), we route those communications. Information shared in this manner is used strictly to facilitate the intended interaction between consumers and business listers, and we instruct businesses that they may use a user’s contact information obtained through UrbanBazaar only for responding to that specific inquiry (and not for unsolicited marketing). 

• Personalization: We may use data about your browsing and search history to personalize the content you see on UrbanBazaar. For instance, we might highlight certain listings or ads that are relevant to your interests or past searches, or customize the order of search results based on your location or preferences. This helps enhance your experience by making the Platform more relevant to you. 

• Analytics and Product Development: Usage and device data (like how often certain pages are visited, what features are used, crash reports, and general site traffic patterns) are analyzed to understand user behavior and preferences. We use analytics tools to identify trends and gather statistical information, which informs our decisions on improving the user interface, adding new features, and optimizing performance. This data is typically aggregated and does not focus on individual users, but it may involve processing personal data like IP addresses or device IDs in the course of analysis. 

• Security and Fraud Prevention: Protecting our users and maintaining the integrity of UrbanBazaar is a top priority. We use personal and technical information to detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent transactions, spam, abuse, security incidents, and other malicious or illegal activities on the Platform. For example, we may analyze login activity and IP addresses to detect suspicious logins, or monitor communications and content for violations as described earlier. If we discover content or behavior that violates our Terms or the law, we may use your information to take action (such as warning, suspending or banning an account, and working with law enforcement as needed). We also use your information to enforce our agreements (Terms of Service, this Policy, and other policies) and to resolve disputes.

• Legal Compliance: We may process and retain your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations – for instance, fulfilling tax and accounting requirements, maintaining records required by law, responding to lawful requests by public authorities, or complying with any applicable law, regulation, subpoena, or court order. If required by law enforcement or government authorities in accordance with applicable law, we may use (and later disclose) certain personal data to respond to such requests (more details on disclosure are below). We also use your data to assert or defend against legal claims, and generally to exercise our legal rights. 

• Other Purposes (with Notice): If we intend to use your personal data for any purpose that is materially different from the purposes listed in this Policy, we will provide you with additional notice and, if necessary, request your consent. Legal Bases for Processing: (Applicable primarily to users in jurisdictions like the EU) We only use your personal data as permitted by law. In practice, this means that at least one of the following legal bases applies to each use: (1) Contractual necessity – we process data to provide the services you requested under our Terms (e.g., displaying your listings or reviews, sending service communications); (2) Consent – for example, we send marketing messages or collect certain cookies only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time; (3) Legitimate interests – we use data to improve our Platform, prevent fraud, and show relevant content, in ways that do not override your privacy rights; (4) Legal obligation – we retain or disclose data where we are legally required to do so; and (5) Public interest or protection of vital interests – rarely applicable, but if the law allows processing for public interest or to protect someone’s life, we would rely on that basis if relevant. We will happily explain the specific legal basis for any particular processing of your personal data if you contact us. 

How We Share Your Information

• Sharing with Other Users and the Public: Some information by its nature is meant to be shared with others on the Platform. If you are a business listing owner, any information you include in your business listing profile (including business contact details like phone number, address, website, etc.) will be visible to all users who visit your listing. Similarly, if you post a review or other content, your username and any public profile information will be displayed alongside your content for others to see. In general, content you contribute (business info, reviews, comments) will be made public on UrbanBazaar by default – we will not hide this information from other users, since sharing it is the purpose of the Platform. If you send a message or inquiry to a business through UrbanBazaar’s tools, the information in that message (and your contact details) will be shared with the intended recipient (the business) so they can respond to you. We instruct businesses and users who receive personal data through such interactions to use it only for the intended communication and to protect it, but we do not control how they handle your data, so exercise discretion in what information you share with others via our Platform. (Note: once your information is displayed publicly or shared with another user, that recipient could copy or re-share it; though this is against our Terms in many cases, we cannot absolutely prevent it.)

• Service Providers and Partners: We may share your information with third-party companies that perform services on our behalf to support the UrbanBazaar Platform. This includes, for example, payment processors (to handle credit card or digital payments if you purchase a premium listing or advertisement), cloud hosting providers (that store our data on secure servers), email/SMS delivery services (to send out verification codes or notifications), analytics providers (that help us understand how users interact with our site), and other such vendors. These service providers are given access to information only as needed to perform their functions for us, and they are contractually obligated to keep your information confidential and to use it only for providing their services to UrbanBazaar. For example, if you make a payment on the Platform, your credit card and billing details will be processed by a PCI-compliant payment gateway; we do not store your full card details on our own servers (aside from perhaps the last few digits for reference). All third-party processors we engage are required to handle personal data in a manner consistent with this Policy and applicable law. 

• •  Affiliates: We may share information with our corporate affiliates (such as parent company, subsidiaries, or other companies under common ownership with UrbanBazaar) for purposes aligned with this Privacy Policy. For instance, if UrbanBazaar operates other related services, we might share data across them to streamline operations or for internal administration. Any such affiliate receiving your data will also honor the commitments in this Policy. 

• Legal Requirements and Protection: We may disclose your information when we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or request. This includes complying with court orders, subpoenas, or other lawful demands by authorities, as well as disclosing information to respond to government or law enforcement investigations (consistent with applicable law). We may also share information if we have a good-faith belief that it is necessary to: investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities or fraud; enforce our Terms of Service or other agreements; protect our rights, property, and safety, or that of our users or the public. For example, if required by law to provide user information for an investigation, or to report content that violates the law, we will do so. We will notify users of such requests when allowed by law. 

• Business Transfers: If UrbanBazaar Platform is involved in a merger, acquisition, investment, reorganization, or sale of some or all of its assets, your personal data may be disclosed to the prospective or actual new owners as part of the transaction.For instance, if UrbanBazaar is acquired by or merged with another company in the future, user information (including personal data) would likely be one of the assets transferred to that company. In such cases, we will ensure that your personal data continues to be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy, or else we will notify you if the new owner will implement a different privacy policy and give you an opportunity to opt out or delete your data before the change takes effect. 

• With Your Consent: Apart from the cases above, we will seek your consent before sharing your personal information with third parties in situations that are not already covered by this Privacy Policy. You have the right to authorize or refuse any such sharing. For example, if we ever wish to share your details with a partner for their direct marketing, we would only do so if you explicitly opt- in to such sharing.

• Anonymized Data: We may share information that has been aggregated or anonymized in such a way that it can no longer be linked to any specific individual. This type of data is not considered personal and may be used freely — for example, publishing trends about how many users use UrbanBazaar in a given city, or sharing statistics with a business about the number of views its listing has received. We reiterate that we do not sell your personal data to third parties for their independent use. Any sharing of data is done for the purposes described above and mainly with service providers or as required by law. 

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

• Essential Cookies: These are necessary for the Platform to function properly. For example, when you log in, we use a cookie to keep you logged in as you navigate between pages. Essential cookies also help us enforce security (e.g., to keep track of your session and detect account misuse). 

• Preference Cookies: We might use cookies to remember your preferences and settings, like language selection or the last location you searched for, so that you have a smoother experience on return visits. 

• Analytics Cookies: We use analytics tools that set their own cookies (or similar identifiers) to collect information about how users access and use UrbanBazaar. This helps us understand user behavior, such as which pages are visited most often, how users progress through the site, and if users encounter errors. The data collected is generally aggregated and used to improve the Platform. Examples may include Google Analytics cookies that track page view statistics and click events. These analytics cookies might collect your IP address or device ID, but they do not directly identify you by name. We treat the information collected through analytics cookies as non-personal, or personal when linked with other identifying data. 

• Advertising and Third-Party Cookies: Currently, UrbanBazaar features sponsored listings and ads that are typically served by us on behalf of the listing businesses (and labeled as "Sponsored"). We do not show third-party network advertisements that profile you across different sites. However, if in the future we partner with advertising networks or allow third-party ads, those partners might use cookies or trackers to collect information about your online activities over time and across other websites, in order to show you targeted ads. We will update our Policy and obtain any necessary consent before introducing such third-party advertising cookies. Additionally, some pages on UrbanBazaar may include content from third-party services (for example, an embedded map for a business location, or a social media share button). These third-party services may set cookies of their own when you interact with them. We do not control these third-party cookies and their use is governed by the privacy policies of the third parties.

Data Security

• Encryption of data in transit: The UrbanBazaar website is served over HTTPS, which means that any personal data you send us (for example, when you fill out forms or log in) is encrypted in transit using industry-standard protocols. This helps prevent eavesdropping on your communications with our site. We also employ encryption or other protections for certain sensitive information stored in our databases. 

• Access controls: We restrict access to personal data strictly to our employees, contractors, and service providers who need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf. These authorized personnel are bound by confidentiality obligations. We use authentication measures (such as passwords and multi-factor authentication for our internal systems) to prevent unauthorized staff or outsiders from accessing user data. 

• Secure storage: Personal data collected by UrbanBazaar is stored on secure servers. We use reputable cloud service providers that maintain appropriate security practices and certifications. Regular backups are performed to prevent data loss. Verification documents and other sensitive files you provide are stored in encrypted form or in secure environments with limited access. 

• Monitoring and testing: We monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we conduct periodic security assessments and penetration testing to evaluate the strength of our defenses. We also keep our software and infrastructure updated with the latest security patches. Despite all these precautions, it’s important to understand that no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your information. However, we continuously strive to protect your personal data to the best of our ability. You also play a role in keeping your data secure: we urge you to use a strong, unique password for your UrbanBazaar account and to keep your login credentials confidential. Do not share your password or account access with anyone else, and change your password immediately if you suspect any unauthorized access. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel your account has been compromised), please contact us immediately so we can assist. In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law. We have a breach response plan in place to quickly mitigate any security incidents. 

Internal Access to User Accounts

Data Retention

• Active Accounts: For as long as you maintain an active account on UrbanBazaar, we will keep the information you have provided (profile details, listings, reviews, etc.) accessible on our systems. This allows us to provide the service to you. 

• Inactive Accounts: If you stop using your account or it becomes inactive, we may retain your data for a reasonable period of time in case you return or to keep records of your transactions. We periodically review accounts and may anonymize or delete data of users who have been inactive for a long time, unless we need to keep it for legal reasons. 

• Account Deletion: You have the right to delete your UrbanBazaar account (see “Your Rights” below). Upon your request to delete or if you permanently close your account, we will take steps to remove or anonymize your personal data in our live systems. This means that your profile information will be deleted or irreversibly de-identified, and you will no longer be able to log in. However, please note that content you have contributed that is useful to other users or part of the platform (such as reviews, ratings, or forum posts, if any) may remain on the Platform even after your personal profile is deleted, provided that content is not directly identifiable to you. In such cases, we might disassociate your username from the content and instead label the author as “Anonymous” or “Former User,” so the content can still inform others without revealing your identity. This practice is intended to preserve information that is valuable to the community (e.g., business reviews) while respecting your privacy. 

• Backup & Archived Data: Even after account deletion, some of your data may persist in our backup files or archives for a limited time until those backups are cycled out. We maintain backups to ensure we can recover from system failures and for audit purposes. These are stored securely and are only accessed if needed for disaster recovery or investigation of incidents. 

• Legal and Operational Retention Needs: We may retain certain information for longer periods if necessary for legal compliance or legitimate business purposes. For example, we might keep transaction records, payment histories, and communications with you to satisfy accounting rules, tax requirements, or to resolve disputes. If you made any purchases or payments on the Platform, we will retain records of those transactions as required for financial reporting. We also keep logs and records to enforce our terms, prevent fraud, or resolve any disputes. Even after you delete your account, we might retain some minimal information to identify that an account existed (like an email hash and account deletion date) so that we can keep a record that the account was deleted and avoid creating a new account with the same credentials maliciously. Additionally, if a user was banned for misconduct, we may retain certain info to block them from re-registering under a new identity. All such retained data will continue to be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law. In summary, we only keep personal data as long as necessary. When we no longer have a legitimate need to retain your information, we will securely delete it or anonymize it so that it can no longer be associated with you. For any specific questions about our data retention practices (for example, how long we keep server logs or analytics data), you can contact us for more detail. 

Your Rights and Choices

• Right to Access Your Information: You have the right to know what personal data we have about you and to obtain a copy of that information. Much of your basic information is available for you to view directly by logging into your UrbanBazaar account – for example, you can see your profile details, the content you have posted, and your account settings. If you require a comprehensive report of the personal data we hold on you, you can request this by contacting us. We will provide you with a summary of your data, and explain how it’s being used, within a reasonable timeframe. 

• Right to Update or Correct Your Data: We want to ensure that your information is accurate and up- to-date. Through your account settings or profile page, you can access and update many personal details (such as your name, contact information, or profile description) at any time. If you are a business listing owner, you can edit your business listing information via your dashboard to correct or update it as needed. If you find that any other information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to ask us to correct it. In some cases, we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide before making the change, for legal or security reasons. 

• Right to Delete Your Data: You have the right to request deletion of your personal data. This is often referred to as the “right to be forgotten.” On UrbanBazaar, the primary way to exercise this right is by deleting your account. As described in the Data Retention section, when you delete your account, we will remove your personal data from our active systems (with certain content being anonymized rather than removed, in order to preserve the integrity of the platform). If you are unable to delete your account yourself, or if you have specific data erasure requests (for example, you want to delete a particular review you wrote but keep your account), you can contact our support or Grievance Officer to assist. We will evaluate and comply with deletion requests unless we are legally required or have compelling legitimate grounds to keep the data (we will inform you if that is the case). Do note that after deletion, we may retain some information in backups or for legal compliance as outlined earlier, but we will isolate it from active use. 

• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your data (for example, for sending marketing emails or for enabling optional features that use personal info), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we already conducted based on your prior consent. If you withdraw consent for a certain type of processing, we will stop that processing for your data. For instance, if you had consented to receive promotional emails, you can unsubscribe, and we will stop sending them. If you consented to a feature that collects location data and you withdraw it, we will stop collecting that data moving forward. 

• Right to Object or Restrict Processing: In certain situations, you may have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, or request that we restrict how we use it. For example, if we are processing your data based on legitimate interests, you can object if you feel it infringes on your rights and freedoms. You can also request that we temporarily restrict processing your data (apart from simply storing it) if you are contesting its accuracy or if you want to preserve data in the context of a legal claim. We will honor such requests in accordance with applicable law. Where your objection is related to online tracking (cookies), you can also utilize browser settings or opt-out mechanisms as described in the Cookies section. 

• Right to Data Portability: For users in some jurisdictions (like the EU), you have the right to portability of the data you have provided to us. This means you can request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that data to another service. On request, and where feasible, we will provide you with your data in a CSV or similar format that you can take to another platform. 

• Right not to be subject to Automated Decisions: UrbanBazaar does not make any legally significant decisions about you purely by automated means without any human involvement. We may use automated filtering (for example, to sort search results or to detect spam reviews), but these do not produce legal effects or similarly significant effects on you. If we ever implement automated decision-making that could significantly affect you, we will ensure we comply with applicable laws and that you have the right to request human intervention.

• Right to Complain: We are committed to resolving any concerns you may have. If you believe your rights have been violated or you have a privacy-related dispute, we encourage you to contact our Grievance Officer or privacy team first, so we can attempt to resolve the issue. However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority. For Indian users, you can approach the Data Protection Board of India (once established under the DPDP Act) or the jurisdictional adjudicatory authority under the IT Act. For EU users, you have the right to complain to the supervisory authority in the member state of your residence or wherever an alleged infringement occurred. We sincerely hope it never comes to that, and we will do our best to address your concerns. How to Exercise Your Rights: Many of the rights above (access, correction, deletion, consent preferences) can be exercised directly by logging into your UrbanBazaar account and using the profile/account settings or relevant tools. For instance, you can edit your info or delete content on your own. For rights or requests that cannot be handled through your account (or if you do not have an account and are a non- registered user), please send us a request via email or mail as listed in the Contact section. To protect your privacy, we may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests (for example, we might ask you to confirm control of the email associated with your account). We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe, and in any event within any timeframe required by law. If we cannot fulfill your request, we will provide an explanation (for example, if you request deletion of data we are legally required to keep, we will inform you of that). There is generally no charge for exercising your rights, though if you make excessive or unfounded requests, we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to act on them as permitted by law. 

Third-Party Links and Services

International Data Transfers