Privacy Policy

The short version

We collect the minimum information needed to run an auction — names, emails, and phone numbers for organizers and bidders. We use it only to operate the platform: verifying accounts, running auctions, and letting people know if they've won or been outbid. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with advertisers or any other third party. We do not process or hold auction payments — winners settle directly with organizers.

Information we collect

Organizers: name, email address, phone number, and a hashed password when you create an account. If you customize your auction, we also store the auction name, description, logo, and any branding you configure.

Bidders: name, email address, and phone number when you place your first bid in an auction, plus the bids you place and whether you've opted in to outbid email alerts. Bidders don't need to create a password or account — a lightweight session tied to your contact info is used to recognize you for the rest of that auction.

We don't collect payment card numbers, government ID, or other sensitive personal information, and we don't use tracking or advertising cookies.

How we use it

• To verify organizer email addresses and secure accounts with a password.
• To run the auction: record bids, determine the current highest bid, and identify winners.
• To email bidders if they've been outbid (only if they've opted in) or won an item.
• To let organizers see who bid on what, and generate their bid report when the auction closes.
• To respond if you contact us for support.

Payments

SilentBid does not process, collect, or hold any payment for auction items. When an auction closes, the organizer contacts winning bidders directly and collects payment however works for their organization (e-transfer, cash, cheque, etc.) — we never see that transaction.

Separately, organizers on our Standard or Pro plans pay a one-time platform fee to SilentBid to unlock a larger auction. That payment is processed securely by Stripe; we never receive or store your card details ourselves.

Who we share it with

We do not sell or share your personal information with advertisers, data brokers, or any other third party for their own purposes. We use a small number of service providers ("subprocessors") to operate SilentBid, who only process data on our behalf and under contract:

• Vercel — application hosting and infrastructure.
• Neon — our database provider, where auction, organizer, and bid data is stored.
• Vercel Blob — storage for uploaded logos and item photos.
• Resend — delivery of verification codes and auction email notifications.
• Stripe — processing organizer platform-fee payments (see above).

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of SilentBid, our users, or the public.

How long we keep it

We keep organizer account and auction data for as long as the account is active. Bid history and bidder contact info tied to an auction are kept for a reasonable period after the auction closes to support bid reports, disputes, and record-keeping, and are deleted or anonymized after that. You can ask us to delete your information at any time — see "Your rights" below.

Your rights

Under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA), you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, and ask us to delete it. To exercise any of these rights, contact us and we'll respond as quickly as we can.

Children's privacy

SilentBid is intended for use by adults organizing and bidding in fundraising auctions. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of SilentBid after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Reach out here.