Privacy, without the fog.

1. Scope of this policy

This Privacy Policy covers the MintDex website (mintdex-cards.com and app.mintdex-cards.com), the MintDex apps for iOS and Android, your MintDex account, the MintDex Marketplace and the Early Access mailing list.

Information about cookies and similar browser technologies used on the website is provided separately in our Cookie Policy.

2. Data Controller

The Data Controller for the processing described in this policy is:

Erik Golia — MintDex project
Privacy contact: privacy@mintdex-cards.com
General support: support@mintdex-cards.com

MintDex is currently operated by a team that has not yet been incorporated as a company. If the legal entity or controller changes, this policy will be updated accordingly.

3. Data we process

Website requests and security logs

When you access the website, the web server and hosting infrastructure may process technical information required to deliver and secure the service. This can include your IP address, request time, requested resource, browser/user-agent information, HTTP status, referrer information when supplied by your browser, and security events.

Purpose: delivering the website, maintaining security, diagnosing failures and preventing abuse.
Legal basis: our legitimate interests in operating and securing the website.

Messages you send us

If you contact us by email, we process your email address, message content and any information you choose to provide so that we can respond to your request.

Purpose: answering support, privacy, beta or business enquiries.
Legal basis: our legitimate interests in responding to correspondence, or steps taken at your request before entering into an agreement where applicable.

Your account

You sign in with Google, Apple or an email address and password, through Google Firebase Authentication. We receive your email address and, if your provider shares them, your name and profile photo. You choose a username. You can add a profile photo, a short bio, a city or region, your country, your languages and the games you collect.

Other users see your username, profile photo, bio, the location you typed, your level and your collection statistics. You can hide your statistics. Your real name is shown only if you switch that on. Your binders are public unless you make them private. Your wishlists are private unless you share a link to them.

Purpose: providing your account and the app.
Legal basis: performance of the contract with you.

Collections, wishlists and price alerts

We store the cards in your binders (condition, grade, price paid, notes), your wishlists, your price alerts and a daily value of your collection. They are saved on your phone and synced with our servers so you can use them on other devices and on the website. If you import a file, it is read on your phone; we keep only a fingerprint of the file and what was added, so you can undo the import.

Legal basis: performance of the contract.

Card scanner and AI pre-grading

The card scanner works on your phone. The camera image is not sent to us; we only count your scans.

If you use AI pre-grading, photos of your card are sent to our servers and analysed with the help of Anthropic's Claude model. Anthropic receives the card photos only, with no name or account details, and does not use them to train its models. Temporary copies are deleted within one hour. The result and its images are saved to your account at a private link, until you delete them. The result is an estimate, not an official grade.

Legal basis: performance of the contract.

Community features

If you post, react, follow other collectors, join a club, answer a poll or log a pack opening, we store that content with your username. Logged pack openings are also combined, without names, into the pull rates shown for each set. Leaderboards show your username and points.

If you invite friends, you see the username, profile photo, join date and progress of each friend who joins with your code.

Legal basis: performance of the contract.

Marketplace

When you list a card, we store the listing, its photos, price, condition and the country it ships from. Listings are public. We remove the location and camera data stored inside your photos before saving them.

MintDex does not handle payments or shipping. When you agree a deal, we record what you and the other person tell us: the price, the payment method, the shipping method, and whether the item was paid, shipped and received.

After a deal, each person can rate the other. Ratings (stars, tags and a short comment) are public and show the rater's username and photo. Your seller profile also shows whether your email address is confirmed.

Sellers can see how many collectors want a card. We show only a number, never names, and nothing below three. If a card on your wishlist is listed, we may send you a notification; you can switch this off in Settings.

If you sell as a business, we ask for your business details as required by EU law. They are stored encrypted, and VAT numbers are checked with the European Commission's VIES service.

Legal basis: performance of the contract; for business details, our legal obligations.

Private messages (Marketplace chat)

We store the messages, offers and photos you send in Marketplace chats. Messages are encrypted in our database with a key kept outside the database.

To protect you, phone numbers, email addresses, bank details, card numbers and links to other messaging apps are replaced with “•••” before the message is saved. The original is not kept. During an accepted deal paid by PayPal or bank transfer, the payment details needed for that deal are let through.

When a message is sent, our own servers check it automatically for signs of scams, such as fake payment pages, phishing links or pressure to pay outside safe methods. They also block offensive words. Text inside chat photos is read by our own servers in Germany for the same purpose. These checks use fixed rules, not AI, and no other company is involved. A suspicious message may be saved for review and shown to the recipient with a safety warning.

MintDex staff read a conversation only when it is reported, flagged by the safety checks, part of a dispute, or needed to meet a legal obligation. Every access is recorded with the staff member, the date and the reason.

Message notifications show the first words of the message on your lock screen. They pass through Apple's or Google's notification service.

Legal basis: performance of the contract; for the safety checks, our legitimate interest in protecting users from fraud and abuse.

Reports, blocks and moderation

If you report content or a user, we store your report. If you report without an account, we ask for your name and email address, stored encrypted. We also store blocks, our moderation decisions, appeals and support requests.

Legal basis: our legal obligations under the EU Digital Services Act and our legitimate interest in keeping MintDex safe.

Mint points and rewards

We record the points you earn and spend. To prevent abuse, points for a first sale are not given when we detect that both people are linked, for example when they share an address or one invited the other. Points are taken back if the listing is removed or the deal is cancelled. A reward requires a verified account (Google or Apple sign-in, or a confirmed email address).

Legal basis: performance of the contract; our legitimate interest in preventing fraud.

Subscriptions

Pro and Pro Plus are bought through the App Store or Google Play and managed through RevenueCat. RevenueCat receives a random account ID and your purchase receipts, not your name or email. We never see your card details. We store your plan and its expiry date.

Legal basis: performance of the contract.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, we store your device's notification token. Notifications are delivered by Apple or Google. You choose which notifications you receive in Settings.

App security and device checks

To protect our price data from copying, the app proves it is a genuine, unmodified MintDex app using Apple App Attest (iOS) or Google Play Integrity (Android). We store the result together with a random ID created when the app was installed, a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address, the app version and the platform.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in protecting the service from abuse and data scraping.

Crash reports and analytics

When the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends us a crash report: the error, the device model, the operating system, the app version and your account ID. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in keeping the app working.

If you allow it, Firebase Analytics records how the app is used (screens opened and actions taken), linked to your account ID. We do not use it for advertising. You can change your choice at any time in Settings. Legal basis: your consent.

Feedback, missing cards and store ratings

If you send feedback or report a missing card, we store it with your username. The app may ask you to rate it using Apple's or Google's own rating window; your rating goes to the store, not to us.

4. Early Access and product updates

If you join the Early Access list, we process your email address together with the time and status of your subscription and the version of the privacy notice associated with the signup.

The signup uses double opt-in: submitting the form does not immediately activate marketing or product-update emails. We first send one confirmation message to the address entered. The subscription becomes active only after the confirmation link is used.

Purpose: beta invitations, launch information and MintDex product updates.
Legal basis: your consent. You may withdraw it at any time and without affecting processing carried out before withdrawal.

We do not sell the mailing list or use it for unrelated third-party advertising.

5. Service providers and recipients

We use a limited number of service providers to operate MintDex:

• Hetzner — our servers and database, in Falkenstein, Germany.
• Cloudflare — website delivery, file storage and Turnstile anti-abuse protection for the Early Access form. Chat photos, database backups and price files are stored in Cloudflare's EU storage.
• Google (Firebase) — sign-in, notifications, crash reports, analytics (only with your consent) and Play Integrity checks on Android.
• Apple — Sign in with Apple, notifications, App Attest checks and App Store purchases on iOS.
• RevenueCat — management of subscriptions bought in the App Store or Google Play.
• Anthropic — analysis of card photos for AI pre-grading, only when you use it.
• European Commission (VIES) — checking the VAT numbers of business sellers.
• Netsons — domain registration, website hosting and email service.

These providers may process personal data to provide their services. We do not disclose personal data to data brokers or advertising networks.

Google, Apple, RevenueCat and Anthropic may process data in the United States. These transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

6. How long we keep data

• Unconfirmed Early Access requests: normally deleted after 7 days.
• Confirmed Early Access subscriptions: kept until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent.
• Unsubscribed records: removed within 30 days, except minimal information that must be retained where necessary to demonstrate or respect the withdrawal request.
• Application-level security/rate-limit records: no longer than 24 hours unless an active security incident requires a longer investigation.
• Web/server logs under our control: normally no longer than 30 days, unless a security incident or legal obligation requires longer retention. Infrastructure providers may apply their own limited operational retention schedules.
• Email correspondence: only for as long as needed to handle the request and any reasonable follow-up, unless longer retention is required for legal or security reasons.
• Your account and its content: until you delete your account.
• Deleted accounts: deleted at once, including your sign-in identity. Your encryption key is destroyed, so your encrypted data cannot be read in backups either. Backups are overwritten within 14 days.
• Chats: deleted 12 months after the last message, or 24 months after a deal is closed. Chats under an open report or dispute are kept until it is resolved. Message previews in your notifications are removed after 90 days.
• Chats with a deleted user: the other person keeps the conversation, shown under “Deleted user”, until the chat deletion dates above.
• Ratings you gave: kept without your name after you delete your account, so sellers keep their reputation.
• Removed listings: photos deleted after 30 days.
• Reports, moderation decisions and appeals: 12 months after the case is closed. While an account is banned, we keep what is needed to enforce the ban.
• Staff access records for chats: 24 months.
• Device-check records: 90 days. Device keys: 12 months after their last use.
• AI pre-grading: temporary copies within one hour; results until you delete them.
• Crash reports: 90 days. Analytics: at most 14 months.

7. Security

We protect personal data with access limits, encrypted connections and rate limiting. Private messages, addresses and business details are encrypted in our database with keys kept outside it. Staff access to private messages is limited and recorded. The Early Access system uses server-side validation, double opt-in, anti-automation checks and rate limiting. No method of Internet transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely risk-free.

8. Automated decision-making

We use automated checks for safety only: scam and offensive-word checks on chat messages, filters on usernames and public text, device checks in the app, and fraud checks for Mint points. They can block a message, show a warning, or hold back points. Cloudflare Turnstile automatically assesses whether an Early Access form interaction appears legitimate or automated.

Decisions on your account, such as a suspension, are taken or reviewed by a person. You can ask for a human review of any automated decision and appeal it in the app. We do not use personal data for automated decisions that produce legal effects or similarly significant effects.

9. Minimum age

You must be at least 16 to create a MintDex account and at least 18 to use the Marketplace. If you believe a child under 16 has an account or has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have the right to request access to your personal data, correction, deletion, restriction of processing, portability, or to object to processing based on legitimate interests.

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete account, in the app or on the website. To get a copy of your data, email privacy@mintdex-cards.com; it is free. You can switch analytics and notifications on or off in Settings.

Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Early Access emails will include an unsubscribe mechanism once the subscription is active.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. In Italy this is the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as MintDex evolves, for example if we add new features, service providers or processing activities. The effective date at the top of this page will be updated, and we will tell you in the app before a significant change takes effect.

12. Contact us about privacy

For privacy requests or questions about this policy, contact the Data Controller using the dedicated privacy address.