Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Recommendly is a service operated by Recommendly LLC, 371 7th Ave, New York, NY 10001, USA. We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy.

You can reach us at info@recommendly.co about anything in this policy, including a request to see or delete your information.

2. Information we collect from website visitors

You do not need to give us any personal information to read this website. There is no signup form on it. When you visit, the following is collected:

• Server logs. Our hosting provider, Hetzner, records standard request data such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the time of the request. This is used to run and secure the site.
• Approximate city. The site shows examples using your city rather than a default one. Your browser asks our own server for that city, and the server reads it from the IP address of the request using data our host already has. We do not send your IP address to any third-party lookup service, and we do not store the city on our side. Your browser keeps it in session storage until you close the tab.
• Analytics. If we have a Google Tag Manager container configured, it may load analytics tools that set cookies or similar identifiers. See Cookies and analytics.
• Button clicks. When you click a "Subscribe now" button we record which button it was, so we can see which part of the page people use. This is tied to the analytics tools above, not to your name.

3. Information we collect from clients

If you subscribe, we collect what we need to recommend your business and to bill you:

• Business and contact details. Your name, business name, trade, city and service area, phone number, email address, and the page or profile you want us to link to.
• Payment information. Payments are handled by our payment processor, PayPal. They collect your card or bank details directly. We do not see or store full card numbers. We receive a record that a payment succeeded or failed, along with basic billing details.
• Correspondence. Emails and messages you send us, and our replies.

4. Information about people who post publicly

Our service works by finding public posts where someone asks for a recommendation, for example in a Facebook Group, on Nextdoor, Reddit or X. To deliver the service we record, for each post we act on:

• The display name shown on the public post
• A link to the public post
• What the person asked for and, where the post says so, the city or area
• The date of the post and the date we replied

We collect this only from posts the person made publicly. We do not collect private messages, email addresses, phone numbers or home addresses from these posts, and we do not buy this information from anyone. We pass the list to the client whose business was recommended in that thread, so they can follow up. We do not sell it, and we do not share it with anyone else.

Where the law requires a legal basis, ours is legitimate interests: connecting a person who publicly asked for a local service with a business that can do the work. If you posted publicly and you do not want us to hold a record of it or pass it on, email info@recommendly.co with a link to the post and we will delete our record of it.

5. How we use information

We use personal information to:

• Run the service, which means finding relevant public posts, recommending our clients in those threads, and sending clients their monthly list
• Take payment and keep accounting records
• Answer your questions and provide support
• Keep the website and the service working, secure and free of abuse
• Understand which parts of the website people use, so we can improve it
• Meet our legal obligations, including advertising and disclosure rules

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.

6. Cookies and analytics

The website itself does not set advertising cookies. It uses session storage, which stays in your browser and is cleared when you close the tab, to remember the city shown in the examples.

We load Google Tag Manager, which can load analytics tools such as Google Analytics. Those tools set their own cookies or identifiers to count visits and see which pages and buttons people use. You can block them with your browser settings, a content blocker, or the Google Analytics opt-out add-on. Blocking them does not change how the website works for you.

When you click "Subscribe now" in the pricing section, the page loads PayPal's checkout. From that point PayPal may set its own cookies and collect information under the PayPal privacy statement. PayPal's checkout is not loaded for visitors who don't click the button.

7. Who we share information with

We share personal information only with service providers that help us run the business, and only as far as they need it:

• Hetzner hosts the website and processes server logs
• PayPal processes payments and subscriptions
• Google provides Tag Manager and analytics
• Our email provider carries the messages we exchange with you
• Our accountant and professional advisers, where needed for tax, accounting or legal advice

We also share the monthly lead list with the client it belongs to. We may disclose information if the law requires it, to enforce our terms, or to protect the rights and safety of people involved. If the business is sold or merged, information may transfer to the buyer, who would remain bound by this policy.

8. How long we keep information

• Lead records: up to 12 months after the post, then deleted, unless you ask us to delete them sooner
• Client account details: for as long as you are a client, and up to 12 months after you cancel
• Billing and tax records: as long as tax law requires, which is normally six to seven years
• Emails: up to 24 months, unless they relate to a dispute
• Server logs: for the period our hosting provider keeps them, normally weeks rather than months

9. Security

We keep personal information in a small number of accounts protected by strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication, and we limit access to the people who need it. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot promise that information can never be accessed by someone who should not have it. If a breach affects you and the law requires us to tell you, we will.

10. Your rights and choices

Whoever and wherever you are, you can email info@recommendly.co and ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. We answer within 30 days. We may ask you for enough detail to find your record, such as a link to the post or the email address you used.

If you live in a US state with a privacy law, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas and others, you have the right to know what we collect, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and not to be treated worse for exercising those rights. We do not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of there. You can appeal a decision we make about your request by replying to our answer.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you also have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests, to ask us to restrict processing, to receive your information in a portable format, and to complain to your national data protection authority.

11. International transfers

Our service providers may store or process information in countries other than the one you live in, including the United States. Where information moves out of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on the safeguards those providers have in place, such as standard contractual clauses.

12. Children

This service is for businesses and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.

13. Third-party platforms

Facebook, Nextdoor, Reddit and X are run by other companies. When you use those platforms, or when you look at a post we link to, their own privacy policies apply and we have no control over what they collect. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them.

14. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of the page. If a change materially affects how we use information about you, we will tell clients by email before it takes effect.

15. How to contact us

Email info@recommendly.co, or write to Recommendly LLC, 371 7th Ave, New York, NY 10001, USA.