Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Septic Scout (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website at septic-scout.com — a directory of certified septic inspectors and pumping companies in the United States. Questions about this policy can be directed to support@septic-scout.com.

2. Information We Collect

From inspectors and pumpers (business accounts)

• Business name, city, state, and service area
• Business email address (used for login, lead notifications, and account communications)
• Phone number and website URL (displayed publicly on your listing)
• Pricing, certifications, and service flags you choose to publish
• Billing information — handled entirely by Stripe; we never see or store payment card numbers

From buyers and homeowners (quote requests)

• Email address (for OTP verification only — not stored after verification completes)
• Name, phone number, and property address (submitted with your quote request and routed to the inspector)
• Inspection timeline and notes

Buyer PII retention: Your name, phone number, and address are automatically deleted from our systems 30 days after submission. We do not use buyer contact information for marketing.

Usage data

We use Plausible Analytics — a privacy-first analytics service that collects no personal data, sets no cookies, and does not track individuals across sites. We see aggregate metrics like page views and referrer sources only. We do not use Google Analytics or any advertising trackers.

3. How We Use Your Information

• Displaying your business listing in search results (inspectors and pumpers)
• Routing buyer quote requests to the appropriate inspector via email
• Sending one-time login codes and claim verification codes to your business email
• Processing subscription payments through Stripe
• Sending transactional emails (lead notifications, billing receipts) via Resend
• Verifying certification credentials against state licensing registries
• Responding to support requests you send us

We do not send marketing emails. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for their marketing purposes.

4. Cookies and Tracking

We use a single authentication cookie (httpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Lax) to keep inspectors logged in to their dashboard. This cookie contains only your business slug and email address, is signed with a server-side secret, and expires after 30 days. It is not used for tracking or advertising.

Plausible Analytics does not set any cookies. No third-party advertising cookies are present on this site.

5. Third-Party Services

• Stripe — payment processing. Stripe stores your billing information under their own privacy policy. We store only a Stripe customer ID and subscription status.
• Resend — transactional email delivery (login codes, lead notifications). Email content is transmitted to Resend for delivery and is not used by them for any other purpose.
• Supabase— database hosting. Your account data is stored in Supabase’s managed PostgreSQL infrastructure.
• Plausible — privacy-first analytics. No personal data collected. No cookies.
• Vercel — web hosting. Vercel may log IP addresses in server access logs for security purposes.

6. Your Rights

You may request at any time:

• A copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction of inaccurate information in your listing
• Deletion of your account and associated data

To exercise any of these rights, email support@septic-scout.com. We will respond within 5 business days. Account deletion removes your listing from search results immediately; backups are purged within 30 days.

7. Data Security

We use HTTPS on all pages, httpOnly signed cookies for authentication, and store only the minimum data necessary. One-time verification codes are generated using a cryptographically secure random number generator, compared using timing-safe equality checks, and expire after 15 minutes. We do not store passwords.

8. Children’s Privacy

Septic Scout is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us at support@septic-scout.com and we will delete it promptly.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the service evolves. Material changes will be communicated by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, by email to active subscribers. Continued use of Septic Scout after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy: support@septic-scout.com