Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated September 3, 2026

We collect the information you give us and a small amount of technical data needed to run the site. We do not sell your personal information and we never have. Analytics are off until you turn them on. The one sharing you should know about: when you reserve a product, the name and contact details you enter go to that vendor so they can fulfill it.

This summary is here to orient you. The numbered sections below are the terms that actually apply.

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy explains how Market Bee LLC, an Arizona limited liability company ("Market Bee", "we", "us"), handles personal information on www.themarketbee.com and any Market Bee application (the "Service"). It is part of our Terms of Service.

It does not cover what a vendor does with information after we pass it to them. Each farmer, vendor, or maker on the Service is an independent business responsible for its own privacy practices. If you want to know how a particular vendor handles your information, ask them.

2. Information you give us

Account and profile

When you create an account we collect your name, email address, and password (stored only as a salted hash by our authentication provider — we never see it). You may optionally add a phone number and a profile photo. We also store your notification and email preferences, and your role on the platform.

Preorder requests

When you request a preorder we collect the items and quantities you selected, the name and contact information you enter for the vendor to reach you, whether you asked for pickup or delivery, the pickup location you chose or the street address you entered for delivery, which of the vendor's payment methods you selected, and any note you attach, along with the status of the request over time.

Vendor applications

If you apply as a farmer, vendor, or maker, we collect your first and last name, email, phone number, business name and type, a description of your business, product categories, city, state, and ZIP code, and any website or Instagram link you provide, plus the notes and status our team records while reviewing the application.

Vendor content

If you operate a storefront, we store what you publish: business details, product listings and photographs, inventory levels, stand and pickup locations, market attendance schedules, announcements, and your team's membership roles.

Waitlist and marketing signups

If you join our waitlist we collect your email address and, if you provide them, your city, state, and ZIP code. We also record which page you signed up from and any campaign parameters in the link you followed (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content) so we know which outreach is working.

Messages you send us

When you use the contact form we collect your name, email, subject, and message, and we keep our correspondence with you.

3. Information we collect automatically

Technical and log data

Like any website, our hosting and database providers record requests to the Service — IP address, browser type and version, device and operating system, referring page, the pages requested, and timestamps. We use this to serve the site, keep it secure, enforce rate limits, and diagnose problems.

Cookies

We set a small number of first-party cookies. Some are strictly necessary — they keep you signed in, remember your cached permissions, and record your cookie choice. Analytics cookies are set only after you consent. The Cookie Policy lists every cookie by name and what it does.

Analytics

We use PostHog to understand which pages people use so we can improve them. Analytics are opt-in. PostHog initializes with capture disabled and in-memory storage only — no analytics cookie is written and no event is sent — until you accept in the consent banner. If you decline, or simply never answer, we do not track your activity. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time from the "Your Privacy Choices" link in the footer of every page. We do not enable session recording or automatic event capture.

Location

The Service shows vendors and markets on a map and can sort them by distance. If you use a distance or "near me" feature, your browser will ask your permission before sharing your device location; you can decline and browse or search by area instead. We also store the addresses that vendors and market operators enter for their stands and markets, as coordinates, so we can compute distances. Address autofill and map tiles are provided by Mapbox, which receives what you type into an address field and the map area you are viewing.

4. How we use information

to create and maintain your account and authenticate you;
to route preorder requests to the right vendor and keep both sides updated on status;
to display storefronts, products, markets, and schedules, and to power search, filtering, favorites, follows, and the map;
to send transactional email — preorder confirmations and status changes, account and security notices, and material changes to our policies;
to send vendor announcements and marketing email to people who have asked for them, and to honor unsubscribes;
to review vendor applications and manage the onboarding pipeline;
to respond to your questions and support requests;
to monitor, secure, debug, and improve the Service, including through consented analytics;
to enforce our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy, prevent fraud and abuse, and protect the safety of users; and
to comply with legal obligations and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

5. How we share information

With vendors — the sharing that matters most

When you submit a preorder request, we give that vendor the name, contact information, items, quantities, your pickup-or-delivery choice with the pickup location or the full delivery address, the payment method you selected, and any note you provided. They need it to prepare your order and reach you. Once they have it, they handle it under their own practices. We require vendors to use it only to fulfill your request and not to add you to marketing lists without your consent, but we cannot control what an independent business does after the fact.

If you follow a vendor or subscribe to their announcements, that vendor can send you announcements through our system until you unsubscribe.

With customers — if you are a vendor

If you are a vendor and you list a payment method, we show the account it pays to — a username, a $Cashtag, a phone number, an email address, or a payment link — to each customer whose preorder you accept. We include it in the emails we send them, and where the provider supports it we turn it into a payment link with the order amount already filled in. This is how a customer knows where to send the money, so listing a method is what asks us to share it.

Some of these are personal contact details rather than business handles. A Zelle account, for example, is the phone number or email address you enrolled with. Choose the account you are willing to have customers see, and remove a payment method from your storefront if you no longer want it shared.

With service providers

We share information with the vendors and processors that run the Service on our behalf. They may use it only to provide their service to us:

Supabase — database, authentication, and file storage. Holds account credentials and essentially all application data. Hosted in the United States.
Vercel — application hosting and delivery. Processes request and log data.
Resend — transactional and announcement email delivery. Receives recipient email addresses and message content, and records delivery events.
Mapbox — address autofill and map rendering. Receives address search text and map viewport data.
PostHog — product analytics and feature flags. Receives usage events only from visitors who have consented; feature-flag evaluation happens server-side without a cookie.

For legal and safety reasons

We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that it is required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or that it is reasonably necessary to enforce our terms, investigate suspected fraud or abuse, or protect the rights, property, or safety of Market Bee, our users, or the public.

In a business transfer

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of it. We will require the recipient to honor this Policy, and we will notify you before your information becomes subject to a materially different policy.

With your direction

We share anything else only when you ask us to.

7. Your choices

Analytics. Accept or decline in the consent banner, and change your mind at any time via "Your Privacy Choices" in the footer of every page.
Marketing and announcement email. Use the unsubscribe link in any such message, or your account's notification settings. We honor unsubscribes promptly.
Transactional email. These are part of the Service — preorder status, security, and policy notices — and cannot be turned off while you hold an account. Close your account to stop them.
Profile information. Update or remove your name, phone number, and photo from your account settings at any time.
Location. Deny or revoke the browser location permission; the Service still works, you just sort by area instead of distance.
Cookies. Your browser can block or clear cookies. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will sign you out and break parts of the Service.

8. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights. We extend these rights to every user in the United States, regardless of your state, because it is simpler and fairer than checking your address first:

Know / access — what personal information we hold about you, where it came from, why we have it, and who we disclosed it to.
Copy / portability — receive your information in a portable, machine-readable format.
Correct — fix personal information that is inaccurate.
Delete — have us delete your personal information, subject to the exceptions below.
Opt out — of any sale, sharing, or targeted advertising, and of profiling with legal or similarly significant effects. We do none of these, so there is nothing to opt out of.
Limit sensitive information — we do not collect sensitive personal information for the purposes that trigger this right.
Non-retaliation — we will not deny service, charge you a different price, or give you a lower quality of service for exercising a right.

How to make a request

Email privacy@themarketbee.com or use our contact page. Tell us what you want and use the email address on your account if you have one, so we can match the request to your record. We may ask for additional information to verify your identity — we will only use it to process the request. An authorized agent may act for you with proof of authorization, and we may still ask you to confirm directly.

We respond within 45 days and may take an additional 45 days where the law allows, and we will tell you if we need it. There is no charge unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in which case we will explain the reason before doing anything.

Some information must be kept even after a deletion request — for example, records needed to complete a transaction you have already started, comply with a legal obligation, prevent fraud, or defend a legal claim. We will tell you if an exception applies and delete everything else. Note that deleting your account does not retract information a vendor already received for a preorder you placed; contact that vendor directly.

Appeals

If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision or emailing privacy@themarketbee.com with "Privacy Appeal" in the subject. We will review and respond in writing within 45 days, with our reasoning. If we deny the appeal, you may contact your state attorney general.

If you live in Arizona

Arizona has not enacted a comprehensive consumer privacy law, so Arizona residents have fewer statutory rights than residents of some other states. We apply the rights described above to Arizona residents anyway. Arizona's data-breach notification law (A.R.S. § 18-552) does apply to us, and we will notify affected residents as it requires.

9. How long we keep information

Account and profile — while your account is open, and for a short period afterward to handle reversals and disputes.
Preorders and inventory history — retained as a business and tax record for both sides of the transaction, generally up to seven years.
Vendor applications — retained while under review and afterward as a record of the decision.
Waitlist and marketing contacts — until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you, after which we keep a minimal suppression record so we do not email you again by mistake.
Contact form messages — retained as a support record.
Server and email delivery logs — retained on a short rolling window for security and debugging.
Consented analytics — retained per our analytics provider's configured retention.

When information is no longer needed for these purposes, we delete it or aggregate it so it no longer identifies you.

10. Security

We protect information with encryption in transit, database row-level security policies that isolate each vendor's data, signed and short-lived session and permission cookies, role-based access controls, and rate limiting on sensitive endpoints. Passwords are hashed by our authentication provider and are never stored or visible to us in readable form.

No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and any regulator as required by law. Use a strong, unique password and tell us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

11. Children's privacy

The Service is not directed to children. You must be at least 18 to hold an account, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email privacy@themarketbee.com and we will delete it promptly.

12. Visitors outside the United States

The Service is operated in the United States and intended for users here. If you access it from elsewhere, your information will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country. We do not currently offer the Service to residents of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom and this Policy does not attempt to satisfy the GDPR.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Policy. We will change the "Last updated" date above, and for material changes we will give additional notice — by email to the address on your account or a notice in the Service — before the change takes effect.

14. Contact us

Privacy questions, requests, and appeals: privacy@themarketbee.com, or our contact page.

Market Bee LLC