Privacy Policy

This policy explains how NamasteJAX collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects personal information across the public website and related account features. Please read it carefully.

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy explains how NamasteJAX collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects personal information when you visit NamasteJAX.com, create an account, submit content, purchase a paid posting, send a message through Contact Poster, submit a testimonial, or otherwise interact with the platform.

This Privacy Policy applies to the public website and related account features offered through NamasteJAX.com. It does not apply to third-party websites, third-party payment pages, or other third-party services that operate under their own privacy notices, terms, or policies.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information:

Account and profile information such as name, email address, phone number, password, and any profile details you choose to provide.

Registration confirmations, including your acknowledgment that you are at least 18 years old.

Listings, events, articles, Places of Worship entries, Featured Business submissions, images, testimonials, and other content or files you choose to submit.

Business and property details you include in paid or free postings, which may include addresses, venues, phone numbers, pricing, descriptions, and other listing-specific information.

Information you submit through Contact Poster, Contact Us, feedback, incorrect-content, and abuse-report forms, including name, email address, optional phone number, message content, and related content references or URLs.

Purchase information related to paid postings, such as posting type, plan duration, amount paid, discount or promo code, transaction reference, payment status, and refund status.

Uploaded images and related metadata, including resized, compressed, thumbnail, or derivative versions used for site presentation, moderation, and performance.

Technical and usage information such as IP address, browser type, device information, referral source, pages viewed, timestamps, request metadata, and similar log or diagnostic data.

Cookie, session, and similar technology data used for site operation, security, account sessions, form protection, and analytics.

Public-site analytics data through Google Analytics 4 on public-facing pages only. NamasteJAX does not apply GA4 tracking to the Admin dashboard.

Spam-prevention and fraud-prevention signals associated with hCaptcha and similar security controls.

3. How We Use Information

NamasteJAX uses personal information to operate the website, provide requested services, complete transactions, protect the platform, and comply with legal obligations.

Specific purposes include: creating and maintaining accounts; operating listings and community features; moderating user submissions; processing paid postings; sending service and operational emails; relaying Contact Poster messages; responding to inquiries and reports; detecting and preventing fraud or misuse; improving the platform; enforcing site rules; and protecting NamasteJAX, its users, and the community.

NamasteJAX may also use information in de-identified or aggregated form for analytics, operational planning, performance evaluation, and business improvement. De-identified information is not reasonably linked to any individual and is not treated as personal information.

NamasteJAX does not sell personal information for monetary compensation and does not use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

NamasteJAX collects only the personal information reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy. We do not use personal information for purposes that are incompatible with those originally stated without first providing you with additional notice.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (Including EEA and UK Users)

Where applicable law requires a legal basis for processing personal information, NamasteJAX processes personal information on one or more of the following bases:

Contract: Processing is necessary to perform the services you have requested or to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement (for example, account registration, posting a listing, or processing a payment).

Legitimate Interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention, platform security, improving the website, and enforcing our Terms of Service, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Legal Obligation: Processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation to which NamasteJAX is subject.

Consent: Where required by applicable law, we will request your consent before processing personal information for a particular purpose, such as placing non-essential analytics cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

5. Public Content and Search Visibility

NamasteJAX is a community website, which means some information submitted by users is intended for public display.

Approved listings, events, articles, places of worship entries, testimonials, and featured business content may be visible to visitors on the public website and may appear in public site search results.

Information you choose to include in public content — such as names, business details, phone numbers, addresses, venues, descriptions, images, event details, and article text — may be visible to visitors and may be indexed by search engines and other public search services.

Featured business entries may publicly display the business name and, if provided by the submitter, the phone number, physical address, and email address. If an email address is displayed in a Featured Business entry, it is not intended to be included in NamasteJAX public site search indexing or search matching.

Approved testimonials display first name and city only. Testimonial email addresses are collected for internal use only and are not displayed publicly.

Even after content is removed from the live website, copies may remain in search-engine caches, archived pages, backups, screenshots, or third-party copies outside NamasteJAX's control.

6. Contact Poster Communications

The Contact Poster feature is an email relay, not a private messaging platform.

The sender provides a name, email address, optional phone number, and message. NamasteJAX sends that message only to the poster's account email address and uses the sender's email address as the Reply-To address.

NamasteJAX does not expose the poster's email address to the sender, does not create a user-to-user inbox or chat thread, and does not maintain message history beyond temporary processing needed to deliver the email. Once a Contact Poster message has been delivered, all further communications take place entirely outside the NamasteJAX platform and are not subject to this Privacy Policy.

7. Payments and Stripe Checkout

Paid postings are processed through Stripe Checkout, which is a Stripe-hosted payment page. NamasteJAX does not store full credit card numbers or card security codes on its own systems.

NamasteJAX stores limited payment-related information needed for operations, such as payment references, transaction status, amounts, discounts, plan duration, posting details, and refund status.

Stripe may receive purchaser and posting metadata needed to complete the transaction and support refund or dispute handling. If you make a purchase, your payment information is also subject to Stripe's own privacy practices, policies, and terms.

8. How We Share Information

NamasteJAX does not sell your personal information. We may share personal information in the following limited circumstances:

Service Providers: We may share information with third-party vendors that help us operate the site, such as website-hosting providers, payment processors, analytics providers, email-delivery vendors, and spam-prevention providers. These providers are permitted to use your information only to perform services on our behalf and are required to protect it.

Contact Poster: We share Contact Poster message content with the intended recipient poster when you use that feature.

Public Content: We share approved public content with the public when it is published on the website.

Legal and Safety Disclosures: We may share information with professional advisors, insurers, law enforcement, regulators, courts, payment processors, or other parties when disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to claims or disputes, investigate fraud or abuse, enforce site policies, or protect the safety, rights, and property of NamasteJAX, its users, or others.

Business Transactions: We may share or transfer information as part of a merger, financing, restructuring, sale of assets, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other business transaction involving the platform, subject to applicable law. In such cases, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient protects your information in a manner consistent with this policy.

9. Cookies, Analytics, and Similar Technologies

NamasteJAX may use cookies and similar technologies for essential site functions, security, account sessions, and analytics.

Essential Technologies. These help keep the website working, support secure logins, maintain sessions, and protect forms from misuse. Essential cookies cannot be disabled without impairing site functionality.

Analytics (Google Analytics 4). GA4 may be used on public-facing pages to understand traffic patterns, page usage, and general site performance. GA4 is not applied to the Admin dashboard. You can opt out of GA4 tracking at any time by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, or by adjusting your browser cookie settings.

Spam and Fraud Prevention (hCaptcha). hCaptcha and similar controls may place or read data needed to distinguish real users from bots and reduce spam or abuse. Use of hCaptcha is subject to the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Where required by applicable law, NamasteJAX will use a cookie notice, consent banner, or similar mechanism to provide notice and, where required, obtain consent before enabling non-essential analytics or similar technologies on the public website. You may update your cookie preferences at any time through any such consent mechanism.

The website does not currently respond to Do Not Track (DNT) browser signals, as there is no universal standard for how DNT signals should be interpreted.

10. Data Retention

NamasteJAX keeps personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.

Account Information: Generally retained while your account remains active and may be up to 12 months afterward for operational, security, legal, accounting, and recordkeeping purposes, unless a longer period is required by law.

Public Postings: May remain visible until removed by the user or Admin, or until they expire under site rules. Expired postings may be retained in soft-deleted form for up to six months before permanent purge. Uploaded images and related files are deleted when the parent content is deleted or permanently purged, subject to normal backup cycles.

Contact Us and Abuse Reports: Handled by email. Related email-provider or hosting-system copies may persist for normal operational retention periods, typically up to 12 months.

Transaction and Dispute Records: Transaction records, refund records, moderation history, abuse-prevention records, dispute records, and related logs may be retained for up to 7 years when needed for accounting, fraud prevention, legal compliance, or dispute resolution.

Backup Copies: Backup copies may persist for up to 90 days after deletion from the live system before they cycle out under the site's backup retention practices.

11. Security

NamasteJAX uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information. Examples may include HTTPS encryption, password hashing, restricted administrative access, secure credential handling, protected uploads, validation controls, rate limiting, and anti-spam measures.

No website, database, or transmission method can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should also protect your own account by using a strong, unique password and keeping your login credentials confidential. Do not share your password with anyone.

12. Your Choices and Privacy Rights

You may review and update certain account details through your account area.

Eligible users may delete their account directly from their account area, subject to the site's posting and payment workflow rules. If you have active paid postings, self-serve account deletion may require you to delete those paid listings individually first. If you have paid postings in Paid Pending Approval or Held status, self-serve account deletion is blocked until those postings are resolved.

Deleting your account may also delete your associated postings and profile information, subject to limited retention for legal, financial, security, backup, fraud-prevention, and recordkeeping purposes.

California Residents (CCPA/CPRA). If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how it is used and shared; the right to delete personal information we hold about you (subject to certain exceptions); the right to correct inaccurate personal information; the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (NamasteJAX does not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising); and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. To submit a California privacy rights request, please use the Contact Us page.

EEA and UK Residents. If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may have additional rights under the GDPR or UK GDPR, including the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in your jurisdiction. See Section 4 for information on the legal bases for processing your personal information.

To submit any privacy request, please use the Contact Us page on NamasteJAX.com and clearly identify your request. NamasteJAX may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request. We will respond to verifiable privacy requests within 30 days of receipt, or within any longer period permitted by applicable law, and will notify you if additional time is needed.

Certain account, transaction, moderation, and service-related communications are necessary for platform operation and cannot be disabled.

13. Children's Privacy

Account registration requires confirmation that the user is at least 18 years old. NamasteJAX is not directed to children under 13, and it does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

If you believe that a child under 13 may have provided personal information to NamasteJAX without verifiable parental consent, please use the Contact Us page immediately so the matter can be reviewed, the information removed, and the account terminated. NamasteJAX complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to the extent applicable.

14. International Users

NamasteJAX is based in the United States and is primarily intended for users in the Greater Jacksonville, Saint Augustine, and Saint Johns County, Florida area. If you access the website from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where privacy and data-protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

By using the website from outside the United States, you acknowledge and consent to this transfer, storage, and processing. EEA and UK users should also refer to Sections 4 and 12 for information on legal bases for processing and additional privacy rights.

15. Third-Party Services and Links

The website may use or link to third-party services, websites, or content that are not controlled by NamasteJAX. Examples may include Stripe Checkout, Google Analytics 4, hCaptcha, website-hosting or email-delivery providers, and external websites linked from user-submitted listings or articles.

Those third parties have their own privacy practices and policies. NamasteJAX is not responsible for their content, security, privacy practices, or data handling. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you interact with.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

NamasteJAX may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the platform, services, business practices, legal requirements, or operational needs. The revised policy will be posted on the website with an updated Last Updated date.

Your continued use of the website after the effective date of a revised policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the revised policy, you must stop using the website.

17. Contact

If you have a question, concern, or privacy request related to this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please use the Contact Us page on NamasteJAX.com. We will make reasonable efforts to respond promptly and to address your concern in good faith.