Handled
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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 24 October 2026

1. Who is responsible

HANDLED MARKET LTD (trading as Handled), company number 17450858, registered in England and Wales, is the data controller for personal data processed through the app. Contact: rhys@handledmarket.co.uk. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration reference ZC243920).

2. What we collect

Account details (name, email); job details, photos, and addresses you add; for pros: identity information (legal name, date of birth, National Insurance number, home address) and credential documents, used solely for verification and legal compliance; payment records created by Stripe (we never see or store full card numbers); device tokens for notifications; and records of key actions in the app for dispute resolution and to keep the marketplace working as described in our terms.

The job you post is stored as posted, including anything you wrote in your own words and, if you used AI, the title and summary it wrote. Photos and documents you add to a job (job photos, issue photos, receipts for materials) and your profile photo are stored at web links until they are deleted; anyone who has a link can open the file, so do not upload anything you would not want seen outside the job. Section 5 says how long each kind of file is kept. Feedback you send from the app (Settings → Send feedback) is stored with the message, the type you chose (problem, idea or other), the app version, the platform and OS version, and the screen it was opened from; a screenshot you attach is stored in private storage, not at a web link; only Handled staff can open a screenshot.

For tradespeople we also record: each application decision (approved or declined, the reason code we chose, the date, and for a declined application the earliest date you may apply again); each account pause or restriction (the kind of pause, when it started, when and why it ended) and each review you request; and which reminders we sent you about a credential's expiry date (30, 14, 7 and 1 days before, and on the day), so that we send each one once. Where a credential your trade requires has passed its expiry date with no checked renewal on record, quoting for that trade stops automatically and we may pause the account; you can ask a person to review it.

3. Why we use it (lawful bases)

To run the marketplace and your contract with us (contract); to verify pros, prevent fraud and resolve disputes (legitimate interests and legal obligation); to make sure tradespeople on Handled meet our requirements, which is why we record application decisions and account pauses (legitimate interests); to run the AI features you choose to use (your consent for "Describe your job"; our legitimate interest in helping tradespeople quote for "Draft with AI"); to meet tax and financial-record duties (legal obligation); and to send service notifications about your jobs (contract). We do not sell personal data and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

4. Who sees what

A tradesperson's profile (a business name, or their name if no business name is recorded) and their checked credentials can be seen by customers they have sent a quote to and by people they are messaging; reviews can be read by anyone signed in. Tradespeople see the details and area of open jobs in their trades, and a customer's full address only after booking. Customers see the quotes sent to them. Verification documents can be opened only by the pro who uploaded them and by our review team.

Our processors, each acting under contract:

  • Stripe — payments, refunds and pro payouts. Stripe receives a customer's name and email, and for pros the identity details needed to open a payout account. If a card payment is disputed, Stripe receives the job's details, the messages exchanged on that job and links to the photos on that job as evidence.
  • Supabase — hosting of the app's database, files and sign-in.
  • Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple's push service — delivery of notifications to your device.
  • Resend — the emails we send about payouts and credential expiry dates.
  • Anthropic — our AI provider. Two features send text to Anthropic, and nothing is sent unless you use them. Describe your job (customers): only when you tick "Use AI to fill in my job" (unticked each time; we record your consent first). We send the description you typed or dictated, the list of questions for the trades we cover, and, for the job post summary, the trade we suggested and the answers filled in from your description. Draft with AI (tradespeople): when you tap "Draft with AI" on a quote. We send the job's title, its trade, the customer's written brief and answers, and your own hourly rate and call-out fee for that trade. In both cases we do not send names, contact details, addresses, messages, or any image or photo link. The suggestions come back to the app; we store what you go on to post or send (the job post, the quote) and, for a job post, the AI's rating of the post and its reasons, not the exchange with Anthropic itself. Anything you type is sent as written, so leave out names, addresses and phone numbers.
  • Vercel — hosting and cookieless analytics for our website, handledmarket.co.uk (see "Our website" below).
  • postcodes.io — turns a postcode into map coordinates so that jobs can be matched to nearby tradespeople; it receives the postcode only.
  • Google Fonts — the app's typeface is loaded from Google when it is first shown, so Google receives your device's internet address and browser type at that moment.
  • Google and Apple — only if you choose "Sign in with Google" or "Sign in with Apple"; the provider shares your name and email with us to create or open your account.

Some of these processors handle data outside the UK, in the United States; each of those transfers uses a route UK law approves (the UK–US data bridge or approved contract terms).

5. How long we keep it

Account data is kept while your account is active. Financial and transaction records are kept for 6 years to meet legal obligations. Photos on a job paid by card (job photos, issue photos and receipts for materials) are kept for 180 days after the job's last payment, or after the job closed if that is later, in case the card payment is disputed; a card payment that was later refunded counts as a card payment for this period. Photos on a job with no card payment are kept for 30 days after the job closes. In both cases the photos are then deleted, unless a card dispute, an open issue or a payout keeps them longer. If a card dispute on the job is open on the date the photos are due to be deleted, or closed less than 60 days before it, they are deleted at least 60 days after the dispute closes. If an issue recorded on the job is open or under review on that date, they are deleted after the issue is closed. If a payout to the tradesperson on the job is still being settled on that date, or was paid or closed less than 60 days before it, they are deleted at least 60 days after the payout is paid or closed. A photo uploaded but not attached to a posted job is deleted 7 days after upload. Your profile photo file is deleted when your account is deleted, and an old profile photo is deleted one to two days after you replace it. Verification documents are kept while you remain a pro on Handled and are deleted when you delete your account. Application decisions are kept for 2 years from the decision so that we handle a repeat application consistently. Account pause and review records are kept for 2 years after the pause ends. Credential reminder records are kept for 1 year. Feedback sent from the app is kept for 12 months and then deleted; a screenshot attached to it is kept for 90 days and then deleted.

6. Your rights

You may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or portability of your data, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. Email rhys@handledmarket.co.uk. You can change your own profile details in the app; for any other correction, or to ask us to review an account pause, email us.

Deleting your account (Settings → Delete my account) is available whenever no job, issue, card dispute or payout of yours is still open. It removes at once: your name, phone number and profile photo link from your profile, your saved addresses, your credential documents and identity details, and your notification devices. We keep, without your name and contact details: records of jobs (including the text you wrote), quotes, messages, reviews, payments and payouts, for the legal retention period and so that other people's records stay intact. If a tradesperson deletes their account, their trading name (their business name, or their name if no business name is recorded) stays on jobs a customer has accepted or paid for. A tradesperson's business profile (description, base postcode) is kept as it is, and copies of the payout and credential emails we sent a tradesperson, which include their email address, are kept with our email records. Stripe keeps its own records of payments and payouts. Your profile photo file, photos you uploaded but did not attach to a posted job and a screenshot you attached to feedback are deleted at the same time, and so are the photos and receipts on jobs you posted with no card payment, unless a card dispute, an open issue or a payout keeps them longer, as section 5 sets out. Photos and receipts on a job you posted and paid by card are kept for 180 days after the job's last payment, or after the job closed if that is later, in case the card payment is disputed, and are then deleted, or are deleted at the same time where that period has already passed, unless a card dispute, an open issue or a payout keeps them longer, as section 5 sets out.

7. How we look after it

Data is encrypted on its way between your device and our servers. Private records — messages, addresses, payment records, identity details and verification documents — can be read only by the people they concern and by our review team, and the database enforces this for every request. Tradespeople's profiles are visible to the people described in section 4, reviews to anyone signed in, and files at web links to anyone with the link. Verification documents are stored in private storage. We take steps to prevent unauthorised access, and we would tell you and the Information Commissioner's Office if a breach put you at risk.

8. Complaints

You may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) at any time, though we would welcome the chance to resolve any concern first.

Our website

This policy also covers handledmarket.co.uk. The site is hosted by Vercel, which also records cookieless analytics: page visits, the page you came from and your browser type, not who you are. When you use a form on the site (founding tradesperson enquiries, early access, contact) we store what you enter — name, email, phone, trade, area and your message — plus the page you sent it from, your browser type, and a campaign code if you arrived through one of our campaign links. We use it to reply to you and to understand which of our campaigns bring people to Handled; we keep it for up to 12 months, or until you ask us to delete it. Campaign links (handledmarket.co.uk/go/…) record that a link was opened, the page you landed on, the page you came from and your browser type, and set a cookie for 30 days so that a sign-up in the app can be matched to the campaign. The site sets no advertising cookies. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running and promoting the service; you can ask us to delete any of it at rhys@handledmarket.co.uk.