Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective: October 14, 2026 · Last updated: October 20, 2026
1. Introduction
Prune IO LLC (DBA PleaseStart) ("we," "our," or "us"), a Pennsylvania limited liability company, respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information about you when you use the PleaseStart platform. PleaseStart is a listing marketplace: we charge sellers a listing fee and display no third-party advertising.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Information You Provide
We collect information you provide directly to us, including:
- Account Information: Name, email address, and phone number
- Listing Information: Vehicle details (including VIN and mileage), photos, service records, condition disclosures, and seller notes
- Communications: Messages, offers, and listing questions and answers exchanged with us or other users through the Platform
- Payment Information: Listing-fee and token-purchase payments are processed by our payment processor, Stripe; we do not store full payment card details
- Dealer Business Information: For dealer accounts, business details provided during dealer registration and review
- Profile Information: Optional information like profile photo and bio
2.2 Automatically Collected Information
When you access or use our Platform, we automatically collect:
- Device Information: Device type, operating system, browser type, unique device identifiers
- Usage Data: Pages viewed, time spent, search queries, listings viewed, clicks
- Location Data: IP address, approximate geographic location based on IP address
- Log Data: Access times, pages requested, referring URLs, error logs
- Cookies and Similar Technologies: See Section 10 for details
2.3 Information from Third Parties
We may receive information from third parties, including:
- OAuth Providers: When you sign in with Google, we receive basic profile information
- Vehicle Data Services: Government vehicle databases (such as NHTSA) and other configured specification providers may provide vehicle facts keyed to the VIN — this is information about the vehicle, not about you personally
- Analytics Providers: Unless you opt out, information about how you use our website, collected by Google Analytics on our behalf (see Section 10)
3. How We Use Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Provide and maintain the Platform
- Create and manage accounts
- Process listing-fee and token payments
- Build and curate listings, including AI-assisted description generation and automated photo classification
- Enable user communications
- Improve and personalize your experience
- Prevent fraud and ensure security
- Send service updates and respond to inquiries
- Comply with legal obligations
4. Information Sharing and Disclosure
We may share your information with:
Other Users
When you create a listing, answer a listing question, or communicate with other users, certain information becomes visible to the users you interact with (and, for published listings and Q&A answers, to visitors of the listing page).
Service Providers
We share personal information only with service providers that process it on our behalf under contractual restrictions:
- Payment processing (Stripe)
- Cloud hosting, storage, and email delivery (AWS, including AWS SES)
- Analytics (Google Analytics — on by default on www.pleasestart.com; you can turn it off in your cookie preferences, and we honor Global Privacy Control)
- AI processing of listing content — vehicle photos, service-record documents, and listing data are processed by our AI service providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, and AWS Textract) to build and moderate listings, under service-provider terms
No Sale or Sharing
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are used in the California Consumer Privacy Act. Google Analytics processes website usage data for us with Google signals, ads personalization and Google's own product-improvement data sharing turned off.
Legal Requirements
We may disclose information if required by law or to protect rights, property, or safety.
Business Transfers
Your information may be transferred as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
5. Your Rights and Choices
Correction
Update your account information at any time through your account settings.
Deletion
Request deletion of your account and personal information. We may retain certain information as required by law.
Opt-Out Choices
- Marketing: Click "unsubscribe" in any marketing email
- Analytics: Turn off Analytics in your cookie preferences, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, which we treat as an opt-out
- Cookies: Adjust your browser settings (see Section 10)
6. Data Retention
We retain personal information only as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, using the following criteria:
| Data Type | Retention Criteria |
|---|---|
| Account information | While your account is active; erased across our storage systems following a verified deletion request, except where retention is required by law |
| Listing content and photos | While the listing is live, then as needed for compliance and operational purposes; removed on verified deletion requests, subject to legally required records |
| Communications (messages, offers, Q&A) | While your account is active, and as needed for fraud prevention, moderation, and legal purposes |
| Payment and fee records | As required for tax, accounting, and payment-network obligations (typically seven years) |
| Security and audit logs | Retention varies by record type: operational and web-application firewall logs are generally retained for 30 days; application audit records for at least 24 months; and immutable audit archives for approximately three years. |
| Analytics data | Collected unless you opt out; Google Analytics deletes event-level data after two months, and only aggregated reports are kept longer |
7. Data Security
We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information:
- Encryption: HTTPS protects connections to the website; our database and stored files use encryption at rest.
- Secure Sign-In: Authentication through OAuth 2.0 with HTTP-only session cookies; where password credentials are used, they are stored only as salted adaptive hashes (bcrypt)
- Access Controls: Optional two-factor authentication for your account, plus role-based access controls for internal systems
- Security Assessments: Security review and scanning tools help identify vulnerabilities
- Incident Response: Breach notification procedures in place
- Security Monitoring: Automated monitoring and alerts for selected security events
No system is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Children's Privacy
The Platform is not intended for children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, contact us at privacy@pleasestart.com.
9. International Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States. When we transfer your information, we take steps to protect it in accordance with applicable law.
10. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies for authentication, preferences, and analytics (on by default; you can turn it off). PleaseStart displays no third-party advertising and sets no advertising cookies. See our Cookie Policy for full details and preference controls.
| Type | Purpose | Consent |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Authentication, session security, CSRF protection | Always active |
| Analytics | Aggregate usage metrics (Google Analytics) | Optional — on by default; you can turn it off. Global Privacy Control is honored |
| Advertising | Google consent-mode ad signals (no advertising cookies are set) | Optional — off by default |
11. Third-Party Links and Services
The Platform may contain links to third-party websites we do not control. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing information.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy, updating the date, and sending an email for significant changes.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:
Prune IO LLC (DBA PleaseStart)
Attn: Privacy Team
Lititz, PA 17543 (Lancaster County)
Email: privacy@pleasestart.com