Privacy Policy

Last Updated: April 5, 2026

AskDoss (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website askdoss.com (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our Site.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

We may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you:

  • Fill out a contact or inquiry form
  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Leave a comment on an article
  • Request information about advertising opportunities
  • Claim a directory listing and subscribe to a paid plan
  • Update your business listing through the owner dashboard

This information may include your name, email address, phone number, company name, and any message content you submit.

Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our Site, we may automatically collect certain information, including:

  • Device Information: Browser type, operating system, device type, and screen resolution
  • Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, click patterns, and referring URLs
  • IP Address: Used for approximate geographic location, security purposes, and click rate limiting (see Directory Click Tracking below)

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and analyze Site traffic. These include:

  • Essential Cookies: Required for basic site functionality
  • Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our Site (e.g., Google Analytics)
  • Advertising Cookies: Used by our advertising partners to deliver relevant ads

You can control cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect Site functionality.

Directory Data

Our business directory collects and processes the following categories of data from business owners who claim a listing:

Business Information

When you claim a directory listing, we collect:

  • Contact details: Name, email address, and phone number of the business contact person
  • Business details: Company name, address, phone, website, services offered, service areas, hours of operation, and professional credentials (license numbers, insurance status)
  • Media: Business logo, gallery images, and video URLs
  • Social profiles: Links to business social media accounts

This information is displayed publicly on your directory listing page. Contact person details (name, email, phone) are stored privately and used only for account management and billing communications.

Billing and Subscription Data

We use Stripe as our payment processor for directory subscriptions. When you subscribe to a paid listing plan:

  • Payment card details are collected and processed directly by Stripe — we never store, see, or have access to your full card numbers
  • We store your Stripe Customer ID and Subscription ID to manage your listing status
  • We store your subscription expiration date to ensure uninterrupted service
  • Billing history and invoices are available through the Stripe Customer Portal

For details on how Stripe handles your payment data, please review Stripe’s Privacy Policy.

Badge Tracking

If you embed an AskDoss verification badge on your website, the badge loads from our servers. When the badge is displayed, we collect:

  • Badge impressions: A count of how many times the badge was loaded
  • Referring URL: The page on which the badge was embedded
  • Timestamp: When the badge was displayed

We do not collect any personal information from visitors who view the badge on your website. Badge tracking data is used solely to provide analytics to the badge owner and to verify proper badge usage.

Business Owner Accounts

When you claim a listing, a WordPress user account is automatically created with the email address you provide during checkout. This account:

  • Is assigned the “Business Owner” role with limited permissions (manage own listing only)
  • Can be accessed via a magic link sent to your email — no password is required
  • Stores a link to your directory listing for dashboard access

Directory Click Tracking

When you click an outbound link to a business listed in our directory (e.g., a website link on an agency or service company listing), we record the click for analytics purposes. Specifically, we store:

  • Post ID: Which listing was clicked
  • Click Type: The type of outbound link (e.g., website)
  • IP Hash: A one-way SHA-256 hash of your IP address combined with a daily rotating salt. We do not store your raw IP address. The hash is used solely for rate limiting (preventing click fraud) and cannot be reversed to recover your actual IP address.
  • Referring URL: The page you were on when you clicked the link
  • Timestamp: When the click occurred

This data helps business owners understand how many visitors their listing generates and helps us prevent click fraud. Click data is retained for up to 12 months and then automatically purged.

Email Communications

If you are a directory listing owner, we may send you the following email communications:

  • Transactional emails: Subscription confirmations, payment receipts, payment failure notices, and account access (magic link) emails
  • Service emails: Listing status changes (activation, deactivation, plan changes) and badge verification notifications

Transactional and service emails are essential to your subscription and cannot be unsubscribed from while your subscription is active. All emails include a physical mailing address in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act. You may request account deletion to stop all communications.

How We Use Your Information

We use collected information to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve our Site and content
  • Respond to your inquiries and fulfill requests
  • Send newsletters and marketing communications (with your consent)
  • Analyze usage trends and optimize user experience
  • Provide click analytics to directory listing owners
  • Process directory listing subscriptions and manage billing
  • Send transactional emails related to listing subscriptions
  • Verify badge usage and provide badge analytics
  • Protect against fraudulent or unauthorized activity
  • Comply with legal obligations

Advertising and Affiliate Disclosure

AskDoss participates in affiliate marketing programs. Some links on our Site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase or complete an action. This comes at no additional cost to you.

Our advertising partners may use cookies to serve ads based on your browsing activity. We do not control these third-party cookies and recommend reviewing their respective privacy policies.

Third-Party Services

We may share information with third-party service providers that assist us in operating our Site, including:

  • Analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics)
  • Payment processors (Stripe — for directory subscription billing)
  • Email marketing and transactional email platforms
  • Advertising networks
  • Hosting providers

These service providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes we specify.

Data Security

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

  • One-way hashing of IP addresses (directory click tracking)
  • Cryptographic hashing of authentication tokens
  • CSRF protection on all form submissions
  • Rate limiting to prevent abuse
  • Stripe PCI-DSS compliance for payment processing (card data never touches our servers)
  • Magic link authentication with time-limited tokens

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

Data Retention

We retain different categories of data for different periods:

  • Directory listing data: Retained indefinitely in unclaimed state; billing data retained for 7 years for tax compliance after subscription cancellation
  • Click tracking data: Retained for up to 12 months, then automatically purged
  • Badge tracking data: Retained for up to 12 months
  • Business owner accounts: Retained until account deletion is requested
  • Stripe Customer IDs: Retained after cancellation to facilitate resubscription

Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

  • Access the personal information we hold about you
  • Request correction of inaccurate information
  • Request deletion of your personal information
  • Opt out of marketing communications
  • Opt out of the sale of personal information (California residents)
  • Request removal of your business listing from our directory
  • Request export of your directory listing data in a portable format

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information below.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including the right to know what personal information we collect and the right to request its deletion. We do not sell personal information as defined under the CCPA.

Children’s Privacy

Our Site is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last Updated” date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at: