Privacy Policy
EstateMate is operated by Viissue, Inc., a Michigan corporation (“Viissue,” “we,” or “us”). This policy explains what we collect when you use EstateMate.org and the EstateMate app, how we use and share it, and your choices. It covers both sellers (people and companies running estate sales) and shoppers.
What we collect from sellers
- Account details: your name, business name, email, and password (stored only in hashed form), plus two-step sign-in settings if you turn them on. People you add to your account give us the same.
- Sales and inventory: each sale’s name, address, dates and hours; photos of rooms and items; and item names, descriptions, prices, tags and sales records.
- Payments: what you buy from us, and, when you set up or connect your own Stripe account to take shoppers’ payments, its account ID and a summary from Stripe, such as whether it can take payments and your business name. Stripe collects your bank and identity details directly; we don’t receive them.
- Messages: what you send us through Contact or Support.
What we collect from shoppers
- Orders: when you buy online, your name and email (and a phone number if the checkout asks for one), what you bought, and your pickup code. Your card is entered on Stripe’s checkout; we never see the full card number. Your payment is made to the seller’s own Stripe account, so the seller and Stripe also receive your payment details under their own policies.
- Reports and messages: what you write if you report a listing or contact us.
You can browse sales without an account.
What we collect from everyone
- Technical data: your IP address, browser and device type, and server logs of requests, used to run and secure the site.
- Cookies and local storage: a sign-in cookie that keeps sellers signed in, a short-lived cookie during two-step sign-in, and small settings your browser keeps, such as how you like a sale’s items laid out or what’s in your cart. We don’t use advertising cookies or third-party analytics on EstateMate.org.
How we use it
- To run your account, publish your sales, process orders and pay sellers.
- To analyze item photos with AI: finding the items in a photo, suggesting names, descriptions and prices, checking for prohibited items, and checking that a photo is fit to show on the site.
- To send emails you need, such as pickup codes, receipts, account and sign-in emails.
- To prevent fraud, spam and abuse, and to review reported listings.
- To answer your questions and improve EstateMate.
- To meet legal, tax and accounting duties.
We don’t sell your personal information, and we don’t use it for targeted advertising.
What is public
A published sale is public: its name, the seller’s business name, its address, dates and hours, and the photos, descriptions and prices of its items. Sellers choose what to publish. A listing comes off the site no more than 30 days after it is published unless the seller renews it. Shoppers’ names and orders are never public.
Who we share it with
- The seller, when you buy: if you buy an item, the seller sees your name, email, any phone number you gave, and what you bought, so they can hand it over and contact you about pickup. The seller handles that information under their own practices.
- Stripe, which processes payments (shoppers’ payments on each seller’s own Stripe account), verifies sellers’ identities, and helps prevent fraud. See Stripe’s privacy policy.
- Our AI provider, currently Google (Gemini), which analyzes item photos and text for us. We use the paid service, under which the provider doesn’t use our requests to train its models.
- eBay, which receives item descriptions and item photos to look up similar listings for pricing suggestions. It receives no shopper information.
- Amazon Web Services, which hosts EstateMate and its data in the United States and sends our emails.
- Cloudflare, whose Turnstile check on sign-up tells people from bots.
- Google Fonts, which serves the site’s typeface and so sees your IP address.
- The law: when we must, to comply with law or legal process, or to protect the rights and safety of people or Viissue. If Viissue or EstateMate is sold or merged, information would go to the new owner under this policy.
How long we keep it
We keep account and sale data while the account is open. When a seller deletes their account, it is frozen for 30 days so it can be restored, then permanently deleted. Payment, order and tax records are kept longer, for as long as the law requires (we keep them for at least 10 years). Shopper order records are kept as part of those records. Reports, messages and logs are kept as long as they are useful for running and securing the Services.
Your choices
- Sellers can view and correct their details, and unpublish a sale, at any time.
- Sellers can delete their account from the app.
- Anyone can ask us to see, correct, export or delete their personal information, or to stop an email they don’t need, through Contact. We may need to confirm it’s you, and we’ll answer as the law where you live requires.
- You can clear or block cookies in your browser; sellers then need to sign in again.
Security
We encrypt data in transit, store passwords only in hashed form, offer two-step sign-in, and limit who at Viissue can reach your data. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your password private.
Children
EstateMate is not meant for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their information. Sellers must be at least 18. If you think a child has given us information, contact us and we’ll delete it.
Changes
We may update this policy. We’ll change the date above, and for a significant change we’ll tell sellers by email before it applies.
Contact
Questions or requests? Contact us. By mail: Viissue, Inc., 2222 W Grand River Ave Ste A, Okemos, MI 48864. See also our Terms of Service.