Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy describes how Auction Arkansas ("we," "us"), the operator of auctionarkansas.com, collects, uses, and shares information when you use auctionarkansas.com and related services (the "Platform"). It applies to bidders, auctioneers, and visitors.

2. Information we collect

Account information. When you register we collect your name, email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), street address, city/state/ZIP, and an assigned bidder ("paddle") number. Auctioneer registrations additionally include the company name, town, and Arkansas auctioneer license number and expiration.

Activity on the Platform. We record the bids you place (including your confidential maximum bids), lots and sales you watch, saved searches, invoices and their payment status, sale terms you accept, notifications sent to you, support requests you file, and page and lot views (used for seller statistics).

Payment-related information. We never collect or store your payment card number. Card payments are handled entirely by the auctioneer's payment processor (such as Stripe or Square) on the processor's own pages; we receive only confirmation that an invoice was paid. If saved-card features launch, cards will be stored in the processor's secure vault — we would hold only a reference token, never the card itself.

Technical data. Like most websites, our hosting infrastructure processes standard log data such as IP address, browser type, and timestamps. We use session cookies to keep you signed in and browser storage for interface preferences (such as dismissed alerts). We do not use third-party advertising trackers.

Contact lists uploaded by auctioneers. Auctioneers may import their own customer contact lists (name, email, phone) to reach their existing customers. The auctioneer is responsible for having permission to use those contacts; we process them solely on the auctioneer's behalf.

3. How we use information

To run the auctions: placing and settling bids, enforcing increments and soft-close timing, generating invoices, and delivering notifications (outbid alerts, ending-soon alerts, invoices, payment reminders, pickup information, sale-status notices).

To keep auctions fair: verifying auctioneer licenses, enforcing the no-seller-bidding rule, maintaining append-only bid records, logging every instance in which an auctioneer views leading maximum bids on its own sale, and investigating reports of misconduct.

To operate and improve the Platform: statistics for sellers (views, watchers, bidders), support, security, and legal compliance.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising.

4. What other users see

Other bidders see your paddle number in bid activity — never your name, email, or address. Your maximum bid is confidential while it leads; a maximum that has been outbid or tied may be reflected in the visible bid history as the price it defended.

Auctioneers you buy from see your name, paddle number, and invoice details for their own sales, as any merchant would; they also see aggregate counts (watchers, views) but not who is watching.

Winning bidders receive the sale's pickup address and schedule after settlement. The pickup address is never shown publicly — public pages show only a city/area.

Auctioneer storefronts are public: company name, town, license number, verification status, logo, and sale history.

5. When we share information

With auctioneers, as described above, to complete transactions you enter.

With service providers who run the Platform on our behalf — hosting and database infrastructure (e.g., Vercel, Supabase), payment processors chosen by auctioneers (e.g., Stripe, Square), and, when connected, an email delivery provider — each bound to use the data only to provide their service.

For legal and safety reasons: to comply with law or valid legal process, to enforce our Terms, to prevent fraud or abuse, or to protect the rights and safety of users and the public.

In a business transfer: if Auction Arkansas is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to this Policy.

6. Retention and deletion

We keep information for as long as your account is active and as needed for the purposes above, and for auction records that both sides of a sale rely on.

Bidder accounts include a self-serve deletion tool (Account settings). Deletion removes your watchlists, saved searches, maximum bids, notifications, terms acceptances, and support tickets, and permanently deletes your login. Because auctions are transactions other people depend on, bid and invoice records are retained in anonymized form (your name and contact details are removed and the records point to a de-identified placeholder). Accounts with unpaid invoices or leading bids on open lots must resolve them before deletion.

Auctioneer accounts are closed through support, so open sales and unpaid platform fees can be wound down first.

7. Security

We use industry-standard measures appropriate to the data we hold: encrypted connections (TLS), hashed passwords, row-level access controls in our database (for example, pickup addresses are readable only by the sale's winners and the auctioneer, and payment-processor tokens are readable by no client at all), audit logging of sensitive seller actions, and least-privilege service credentials. No system is perfectly secure; please use a strong, unique password.

8. Your choices

You can update your display name and town in Account settings, dismiss notifications at any time, and unsubscribe from any auctioneer marketing email via the link it contains. Transactional messages about your own bids, invoices, and pickups are part of using the Platform and are sent as long as your account is active.

9. Children

The Platform is for adults. It is not directed to children under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a minor has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy as the Platform evolves. Material changes will be posted here with a new effective date; where required, we will provide additional notice.

11. Contact

Privacy questions or requests: contact Auction Arkansas via the Contact page at auctionarkansas.com/contact.