Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 2026
Nearby ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal information when you use our platform. The data controller is Nearby, Dublin, Ireland. Contact: privacy@nearby.ie. Nearby complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
1. Information we collect
We collect information you provide directly when you create an account, list items, or make bookings. This includes your name, email address, phone number, profile photo, and payment details (processed securely by Stripe). We also collect information about your device, IP address, browser type, and how you interact with our platform through cookies and similar technologies. When you enable location services, we collect approximate location data to show you nearby listings.
2. How we use your information
We use your information to operate and improve Nearby, including: facilitating rentals between users, processing payments, verifying identities, providing customer support, sending transactional notifications, personalising your experience, preventing fraud, and analysing usage patterns to improve our service. We check uploaded listing photos to prevent misuse. We will only send marketing communications with your explicit consent.
3. Sharing your information
We share limited information with other users as necessary to facilitate rentals (for example, your first name and approximate location appear on your listings). We share payment information with Stripe to process transactions, and Stripe carries out the identity check every borrower completes before their first booking (see section 11). We may share data with service providers who help us operate the platform, including hosting (Supabase), analytics (Google Analytics, only if you allow Analytics - see section 6), maps (Google Maps, only if you allow Maps - see section 6), and email services. When you search in everyday words (for example "something to clean my patio this Saturday near Terenure"), the text of that search is sent to Anthropic, PBC (the Claude API), acting as a processor, only to work out which items, dates and area you mean; if Anthropic is unavailable, it may be sent to Cloudflare, Inc. (Cloudflare Workers AI), also acting as a processor, instead. Only the text you typed is sent: we never add your name, email address, account or user ID, or your location to it. Before your text is sent, we remove email addresses, web links, phone and other long numbers, and Eircodes. Please don't include names or other personal details. We do not store the text of your search. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
4. Data retention
We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. After account deletion, we retain certain data for up to 24 months to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Transaction records are retained for 7 years as required by Irish tax law. You can request deletion of your data at any time.
5. Your rights under GDPR
As a user in the European Union, you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): the right to access your personal data, the right to rectification of inaccurate data, the right to erasure (the right to be forgotten), the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability, the right to object to processing, and rights related to automated decision-making. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@nearby.ie. We will respond within 30 days.
6. Cookies
We use essential cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in, keep payments working and remember your cookie choices; these are always on. Our cookie banner has two optional categories, Analytics and Maps, and both are off until you choose them: "Accept all" and "Reject all" are each one click, and "Choose" sets each one on its own. We use Google Analytics 4, provided by Google Ireland Limited, only if you allow Analytics: until then it is not loaded at all. Its purpose is analytics: counting page views and a few key actions (sign-ups, new listings, booking requests and payments, and the category you browse) so we can improve Nearby. It sets two cookies, _ga and _ga_FTE30PMWPL, which expire after 13 months, and Google Analytics keeps the event data for up to 14 months. Before anything is sent we remove query strings and replace IDs in web addresses with a placeholder, and we never send your name, email address, user ID, listing titles or anything you type. Google's advertising features are switched off. You can withdraw consent at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of any page: we then switch off and remove Google Analytics in every Nearby tab you have open and delete its cookies from your browser. For full details, see our Cookie Policy. We use Vercel Web Analytics, which is cookieless and does not identify you. We count listing views in aggregate so lenders can see how many people looked at their items, and we never show anyone who viewed a listing: to avoid counting the same visit twice, your browser keeps a random ID in session storage for that tab (not a cookie, deleted when you close the tab), and we keep only a scrambled daily record for 30 days, then just the total. We count searches by category and area (for example, "drills, Dublin") in aggregate, with no personal data: we never store what you type, your account or your IP address. To avoid counting the same search twice, we briefly keep a one-way, daily-changing scrambled version of your IP address. We never use it after 24 hours and delete it in a daily clean-up, normally within 48 hours. Our search page can show listings on a map provided by Google Maps (Google Ireland Limited). Google Maps is not loaded until you allow Maps on the cookie banner or press "Show map" on the map itself: until then nothing is requested from Google Maps. We remember that choice in your browser, so after that the map loads straight away, also on later visits. When the map loads, Google receives your IP address and the address of the page, under Google's own privacy policy. You can turn Maps off at any time with "Cookie settings": we then remove the map and show the "Show map" placeholder in its place.
7. Data security
We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest, regular security audits, and access controls. Payment information is processed by Stripe and never stored on our servers.
8. International transfers
Your data is primarily stored within the European Economic Area. Where we use service providers outside the EEA, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.
9. Changes to this policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or through a notice on our platform. Your continued use of Nearby after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
10. Feedback you send us
When you use the in-app "Send feedback" form, we collect what you type (your message and the category you choose), any screenshots you attach, the page you were on, and basic device and browser information (browser, screen size and app version). If you are signed in, the report is linked to your account; if you are signed out, it is linked only to the email address you choose to give us. We store this to fix problems and improve the service. We may also copy the report, including the screenshots, into the issue tracker we use to plan our work, without your email address or account details. You can ask us to delete a report at any time by writing to privacy@nearby.ie; deletion covers our database, the uploaded screenshots and the copy in the issue tracker.
11. Identity verification
Borrowers verify their identity before their first booking, and other members can choose to, so that members see an "ID verified" badge on your profile and listings. Verification is carried out by Stripe, Inc. (Stripe Identity), acting as a processor: Stripe collects an image of your government-issued photo ID (passport, driving licence or national ID card) and a live selfie, checks that the document is genuine and that the selfie matches it, and tells us the outcome. Nearby never receives or stores the images, the document number, the address printed on the document, or any other data read from it. When a check passes, Nearby briefly reads the first name, last name and date of birth on the document to make a one-way code from them (a keyed hash), so that one person can verify only one Nearby account; we store that code, never the name or date of birth themselves. What we keep is the verification status (for example "verified" or "needs another attempt"), the date and time it changed, the identifier of the Stripe verification session and of each check you submit, the reason Stripe gives when a check does not pass (for example "document expired"), and that one-way code, so we can show the badge, let you resume an unfinished check, limit each account to three checks and stop one person verifying two accounts. Stripe processes and retains the identity data under its own privacy policy and retention rules (stripe.com/privacy); Nearby can ask Stripe to delete a verification, and will do so when you delete your account or ask us at privacy@nearby.ie. We may make identity verification a condition of booking, listing, or receiving a payment under the Nearby Guarantee.
12. Safety declarations
When you list or book certain items we record that you accepted our safety declaration (your account, the declaration version and the time) as evidence of what was agreed.
13. Lending guide
If you use the "What could you lend?" guide, the messages you type and the areas you pick are sent to Anthropic, PBC (the Claude API), acting as a processor, to suggest items you could lend; if Anthropic is unavailable, they may be sent to Cloudflare, Inc. (Cloudflare Workers AI), also acting as a processor, instead. Only what you type and pick is sent: we never add your name, email address, account ID or location to it. Before your text is sent, we remove email addresses, web links, phone and other long numbers, and Eircodes. Please don't include names or other personal details. We do not keep the conversation: it lives only in your browser tab and is gone when you leave the page. Lend mode on our home search works the same way, signed in or not: only the words you type there are sent, never your account, location or device details. To stop it being overused, we count each hour's requests from your IP address and from a random ID kept in your browser until you clear your browser data; neither is sent to the AI provider. We keep only a count of how much the guide is used. Any draft listings you ask the guide to create are saved to your account like any other listing, and only you can see them until you publish them. If you use Concierge, our AI helper, when listing an item, the photo you choose is sent to Anthropic, PBC (the Claude API), acting as a processor, with its metadata (such as location and camera details) removed and at a smaller size, so the AI can suggest details for your listing. Nearby does not keep the copy sent for this, and we keep only a count of how often Concierge is used. If you ask Concierge to write your description when listing an item, the title, category, subcategory and brand you entered are sent to the same AI providers as the guide, in the same way, to draft a description for you to check. Nothing else is sent, and we keep only a count of how often it is used.
14. Contact us
If you have questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, contact the data controller, Nearby, Dublin, Ireland, at privacy@nearby.ie. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) at www.dataprotection.ie.