Privacy Policy

1. Data We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Account registration information: full name, email address, city, state, and account password (stored as a hashed value — we never store plaintext passwords)
• For Smiths: business name, biography, blade category specialties, years of experience, portfolio photos, certifications, and state of operation
• Commission and order information: blade specifications, special requests, communications between buyers and smiths, build photos uploaded by smiths
• Electronic signature data collected during Smith registration: full legal name and timestamp
• Contact form submissions: name, email, subject, and message content

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Log data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and time stamps of Platform visits
• Device information: device type, screen resolution, and browser version
• Usage data: feature usage patterns, quote submission frequency, order completion rates, and session duration
• Cookie data: see Section 5 for full details

1.3 Information From Third Parties

We may receive information from identity verification services used to verify Smith accounts, from Stripe in connection with payment processing (see Section 3), and from analytics partners in aggregated, anonymized form.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and maintain your account and verify your identity
• Process orders, payments, and commission transactions
• Facilitate communication between buyers and smiths
• Display smith profiles, portfolios, tier badges, and ratings to prospective buyers
• Send transactional emails including order confirmations, status updates, quote notifications, and delivery alerts
• Send agreement confirmation emails upon Smith registration containing the signed Smith Platform Agreement
• Enforce our Terms of Service, Prohibited Items Policy, and Smith Platform Agreement
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, circumvention, and policy violations
• Improve the Platform through analytics and user feedback
• Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful law enforcement requests
• Contact you about Platform updates, policy changes, and, with your consent, marketing communications

3. Payment Data & Stripe

All payment processing on BladeHubs is handled by Stripe, Inc. BladeHubs does not store, process, or transmit payment card numbers, bank account numbers, or other sensitive financial instruments. When you provide payment information through the Platform, you are providing it directly to Stripe through their secure hosted payment pages and APIs.

BladeHubs receives from Stripe only non-sensitive payment confirmation data such as the last four digits of a card, card brand, and payment status. Stripe's use of your payment data is governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy. BladeHubs is not responsible for Stripe's data practices.

4. Data Sharing

BladeHubs does not sell personal data to third parties. We share personal data only in the following circumstances:

• With Stripe for payment processing as described in Section 3
• With other users as necessary for the function of the Platform — for example, a customer's city and state are shared with the smith assigned to their order; a smith's name, location, tier, portfolio, and rating are publicly visible on their profile
• With identity verification services for Smith account verification
• With analytics providers in aggregated, anonymized form that cannot identify individual users
• With law enforcement, courts, or regulatory authorities in response to lawful subpoenas, court orders, or legal process
• With professional advisors (attorneys, accountants, auditors) under confidentiality obligations
• In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all assets, with appropriate notice to users

5. Cookies & Tracking

BladeHubs uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to maintain your login session, remember your preferences, and analyze Platform usage. We use:

• Session cookies: required for authentication and maintaining your logged-in state. These expire when you close your browser.
• Preference cookies: store your display preferences and settings. These are persistent and expire after 12 months.
• Analytics cookies: used to understand how users navigate the Platform in aggregate. We use privacy-respecting analytics that do not build individual user profiles.

You may disable cookies in your browser settings. Disabling session cookies will prevent you from logging in. BladeHubs does not respond to Do Not Track browser signals at this time.

6. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; correct inaccurate data; request deletion of your account and associated data; restrict or object to certain processing; and receive a copy of your data in a portable format. To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@bladehubs.com. We will respond to verifiable requests within 30 days. Some data may be retained after account deletion as required by law or for legitimate business purposes such as dispute resolution and fraud prevention.

7. Data Retention

We retain account information for as long as your account is active. Order data, including commission specifications, build photos, and communications, is retained for 7 years following order completion to support dispute resolution and legal compliance. Electronic signature records and signed agreement copies are retained permanently as required for contract enforcement. Log and analytics data is retained for 24 months. You may request deletion of your account at any time, subject to the retention requirements above.

8. Children Under 13

9. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information, including HTTPS encryption for all data in transit, bcrypt password hashing, access controls limiting staff access to user data on a need-to-know basis, and regular security reviews. No security system is impenetrable. In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify affected users within 72 hours in accordance with applicable law.

10. Contact for Privacy Questions

For privacy-related questions, data access requests, or deletion requests, contact our Privacy Officer at:

BladeHubs LLC · Privacy Officer
Email: privacy@bladehubs.com
Mailing: BladeHubs LLC, Citrus County, Florida

11. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the State of Florida. For users in the European Economic Area, we note that BladeHubs is a U.S.-based service and data is stored in the United States. By using the Platform, non-U.S. users consent to the transfer of their data to the United States. BladeHubs is not currently certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. If you have concerns about cross-border data transfers, contact us at privacy@bladehubs.com before using the Platform.

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy. Material changes will be communicated via email to registered users at least 30 days before taking effect. The current version of this Policy is always available at /legal/privacy.