Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

We collect information you voluntarily provide when using our Service:

• Account Information: Name, email address, username, password, and profile picture
• Profile Information: Bio, location, website, social media handles, and photography preferences
• Content: Photographs, competition entries, comments, and other content you submit
• Payment and tax information: When you make purchases, Stripe collects billing address, payment and optional tax-ID information and returns transaction and tax status to Lenspost
• Communications: Messages you send to us or other users through the platform

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access our Service, we automatically collect:

• Device Information: Browser type, operating system, device type, and unique device identifiers
• Log Data: IP address, access times, pages viewed, and referring URLs
• Usage Data: How you interact with our Service, features you use, and actions you take
• Cookies: Small data files stored on your device (see our Cookie Policy)
• Photo Metadata: EXIF data from uploaded photographs (camera model, settings, date taken)

1.3 Information from Third Parties

We may receive information from third parties:

• Social login providers (Google, Apple) when you sign in with these services
• Payment processors regarding transaction status
• Analytics providers about Service usage patterns

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve our Service
• Process competition entries and manage your account
• Process payments and send transaction notifications
• Send you updates about competitions you've entered or follow
• Respond to your comments, questions, and support requests
• Send promotional communications (with your consent)
• Monitor and analyze usage trends and preferences
• Detect, prevent, and address fraud and security issues
• Comply with legal obligations
• Enforce our Terms of Service

3. How We Share Your Information

We may share your information in the following circumstances:

3.1 Public Information

Your profile information, portfolio, and competition submissions may be visible to other users and the public, depending on your privacy settings and competition requirements.

3.2 Competition Organizers

When you enter a competition, the organizer will have access to your submission and relevant profile information as specified in the competition rules.

3.3 Service Providers

We share information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf:

• Clerk: Authentication and user management
• Stripe: Payment processing
• Cloudinary: Image hosting and optimization
• Neon: Database hosting
• Vercel: Website hosting
• Resend: Email delivery and optional-email preference management. For optional email, the limited contact record may include your email address, name, Lenspost account ID, role, profile-completion state, participation count and dates, account-link state, consent source, consent notice version, and topic choices. We do not send photographs, submissions, biographies, payment details, or judging data to Resend for marketing targeting.

3.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or government request, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of others.

3.5 Business Transfers

If Lenspost is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

4. Your Rights and Choices

4.1 Account Information

You can update, correct, or delete your account information at any time through your account settings. If you wish to delete your account entirely, please contact us.

4.2 Marketing Communications

Optional email topics start off. You may choose competition email during signup, on your first competition entry, or later in account settings. Ignoring that choice never affects your account or entry. If you choose a topic, Lenspost records the topic, notice version, source, and time of your choice. You can opt out using the unsubscribe link in any promotional email or update your email preferences in your account. Entry receipts, payment and refund updates, judging assignments, cancellations, security messages, and results for a competition you entered are service communications and never contain offers or recommendations.

We use the limited optional-email record described above to keep your choices synchronized, prevent sends after withdrawal or suppression, and select only broad audiences that match the topic you chose. We do not enable open-pixel or rewritten-link click tracking for optional marketing email. If that practice changes, we will update this notice and complete the required privacy review before enabling it.

4.3 Cookies

Optional analytics and session replay are off until you choose to enable them. You can revisit that choice at any time:

4.4 Data Access and Portability

You may request a copy of your personal data in a portable format. Contact us to make such a request.

4.5 Rights for EEA/UK Residents

If you are in the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, you have additional rights under GDPR, including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, object to processing, and data portability.

4.6 Rights for California Residents

California residents have rights under CCPA, including the right to know what personal information is collected, request deletion, and opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

5. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
• Encryption of sensitive data at rest
• Regular security assessments and updates
• Access controls and authentication requirements
• Secure payment processing through PCI-compliant providers

However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. We may also retain information as required by law, to resolve disputes, enforce agreements, or for legitimate business purposes.

When you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or legitimate business purposes.

If you turn optional email off, we retain the minimum preference and suppression evidence needed to honor that choice and prevent an accidental resubscription. Account deletion removes optional-email topic and consent details and queues deletion of the corresponding Resend contact. While that deletion is being retried, the erasure record keeps only the opaque provider identifier or, if that identifier was not yet recorded, the email address needed to locate and remove the provider contact. The erasure record is deleted after provider removal succeeds or confirms that no contact exists.

7. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own. These countries may have different data protection laws. When we transfer data internationally, we take appropriate safeguards to ensure your information remains protected.

Resend's primary processing operations are in the United States. Where applicable, those transfers are covered by contractual and other safeguards described in Resend's data-processing terms.

8. Children's Privacy

Lenspost is not intended for children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we learn we have collected information from a child under 18, we will delete that information promptly.

9. Third-Party Links

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites and services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on our website and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: