Privacy Policy

• Full name, email address and password (hashed) when you register
• Business name, trade category, location, contact details and service description (for traders)
• Phone number — collected for account and trader verification, account security and, after a trader is hired, coordination of the job between the customer and the hired trader. Trader phone verification codes are sent by one-time SMS or RCS code
• Proposed changes to protected profile details (for example business/company name, contact name, phone number, website, business description, or a customer's personal name or phone number) submitted for Admin review — stored separately from your current approved information while awaiting review, together with the review outcome and an audit history of profile change requests
• Profile photographs and gallery images uploaded by you
• Location data (approximate GPS or postcode) — only collected with your permission
• Early access and trader interest form submissions (name, email, town, message)
• Contact form submissions and report a trader submissions
• Identity documents, business proof documents, public liability insurance documents and trade qualification documents uploaded by traders for verification purposes
• Verification status, admin review notes and document approval/rejection status
• For UK limited company trader registrations, we may collect and process publicly available Companies House information, including company name, company number, company status, registered office address, incorporation date and SIC codes
• Enquiries, messages and conversation history between customers and traders
• Structured quotes sent by traders and quote history — quote details (such as fixed price or estimate), status and acceptance records
• Reviews, ratings and trader replies
• Complaints, reports and evidence submitted through the platform
• Usage data: pages viewed, searches and interactions with listings
• Device information: device type, operating system and app version

• To create and manage your account
• To display trader profiles to customers searching for local trades
• To process payments for Premium plans through our payment providers
• To send transactional emails (account verification, password reset, launch updates)
• To check basic company information for UK limited companies using publicly available Companies House records as part of trader onboarding and pre-screening
• To review trader verification documents and assess whether a trader profile can be approved, rejected, suspended or made visible on the platform
• To manage enquiries, messages and communication between customers and traders
• To moderate reviews, reports, complaints and platform safety issues
• To send important account, verification, enquiry, message, review and platform notifications
• To respond to enquiries and support requests
• To improve the platform and resolve technical issues
• To comply with our legal obligations

For UK limited company trader registrations, MyLocalTrade may use publicly available Companies House information to check basic company details such as company name, company number, company status, registered office address, incorporation date and SIC codes. This is used as a pre-screening and data accuracy check during trader onboarding and does not replace manual verification of identity, insurance, qualifications or other documents.

We may use SMS, RCS or similar messaging services to send one-time verification codes and account security messages to traders as part of phone number verification, trader verification, account access and security checks. Trader phone verification uses Twilio to send the one-time verification code.

Phone number changes for both customers and traders are also verified by a one-time code: when you propose a new phone number, a verification code is sent to the proposed new number through Twilio Verify, and the change request is only created after the code is successfully verified (see section 5 below).

These messages are sent only where required for verification/security purposes or when the user actively requests a verification code. We do not use this SMS/RCS verification sender for marketing, advertising, discounts, promotions or bulk messaging.

If a trader does not wish to receive an SMS/RCS verification code, they may choose not to continue with the relevant SMS verification step. However, this may prevent them from completing trader verification or publishing/maintaining a verified trader profile.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share messaging opt-in data or consent with third parties for marketing or promotional purposes. We only share the phone number and information needed to deliver these messages with our SMS/RCS messaging service provider (for example, Twilio), acting as our data processor solely to send verification and security messages to you.

• Contract: processing necessary to provide the service you signed up for
• Legitimate interests: to maintain platform security and prevent fraud
• Legal obligation: to comply with applicable UK law
• Consent: for location access and launch communications — you can withdraw consent at any time

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only with:

• Payment providers: trader Premium plan subscriptions are purchased in the app through the Apple App Store, with subscription status managed using RevenueCat — we do not receive or store full payment card details, and we do not process customer-to-trader job payments
• SMS/RCS messaging provider (for example, Twilio): to deliver one-time phone verification and account security messages to traders, and one-time codes to customers and traders when verifying a proposed new phone number — used only to provide the messaging service, never for marketing
• App distribution and notification providers: for app delivery and push notifications
• Hosting and infrastructure providers operating under data processing agreements
• Companies House: to check publicly available company information for UK limited company trader registrations as part of trader onboarding and pre-screening
• Between a customer and their hired trader: after a structured quote is accepted, verified contact details are shared automatically and mutually between that customer and that hired trader so they can coordinate the work (see section 6 below)
• Law enforcement or regulatory bodies when required by law

Traders can edit their information freely before submitting their profile. After a trader profile has been submitted, changes to protected business and verified profile details require Admin review before they take effect. Changes made by customers to protected identity or contact details may also require Admin review.

Protected information may include the trader business/company name, contact name, phone number, website and business description, and a customer's personal name and phone number.

Phone number changes for both customers and traders additionally require one-time code verification before the review process begins: a verification code is sent to the proposed new phone number through Twilio Verify, and the Admin review request is only created after the code has been successfully verified. A phone number change cannot be approved unless the proposed number has been verified in this way. This is separate from the phone verification carried out during initial trader onboarding.

While a proposed change is being reviewed, it is stored separately from your current approved information, and your existing approved information remains active and displayed. We aim to review profile change requests within 48 hours; some requests may take longer if additional information or checks are required. Pending changes are not displayed publicly — only approved information appears in public, search and profile surfaces.

Before a trader is hired, customer and trader phone numbers and email addresses are hidden from each other, and communication takes place through MyLocalTrade. After a customer accepts a trader's structured quote, contact details are shared automatically and mutually between that customer and that hired trader so they can coordinate the work: the customer sees the trader's name, business name, phone number and email address, and the trader sees the customer's name, phone number and email address. The trader's website is not automatically included in the post-hire contact details.

After hire, the chat contact-information filter between the two parties is also relaxed, so the customer and the hired trader may share further details with each other themselves.

Contact details are not exposed to unrelated traders or to traders whose quotes were not accepted.

MyLocalTrade does not collect or process payment for the actual job between a customer and a trader. Payment for the work is arranged separately between the customer and the trader.

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, personal data is removed within 30 days, except where retention is required by law. Early access and interest form submissions are retained until the launch period ends or you request deletion.

Trader verification documents may be retained for as long as the trader account remains active and for a reasonable period afterwards where required for fraud prevention, dispute handling, legal compliance or platform safety. Reports, complaints, messages and audit records may be retained where needed to investigate misuse, resolve disputes or comply with legal obligations.

Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal data, and the right to data portability. To exercise any right, submit a request through our contact form. We will respond within 30 days.

Please see our Cookie Policy for full details on how we use cookies and local storage.

MyLocalTrade is not intended for users under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect data from minors.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes via the app or email. The date at the top of this page reflects the most recent update.

For privacy-related enquiries, please use our contact form.

If you are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO at www.ico.org.uk.