Overview
Used & Rated is an independent product review service operated from New Zealand. You can browse public reviews without an account. We collect additional information when you publish reviews, add products or prices, upload evidence, save products, or sign in.
We do not sell personal information. Supporting the service does not affect rankings, contributor trust, or verification results.
Information we collect
Information you provide
- Email address and display name when you create an account.
- Reviews, ratings, prices paid, retailers, product details, and helpful votes.
- Optional age or weight bands included in baby-product reviews. Do not submit a child’s name, image, medical details, or identifiers.
- Receipt, shelf-label, or product images submitted as evidence.
- Messages you send to Used & Rated support.
Information collected automatically
- IP address, device and browser information, request logs, and security events.
- One-way security hashes and a random first-party integrity cookie used to detect coordinated accounts, automated reviews, repeated evidence, and manipulated helpful votes. The cookie does not follow you across other websites.
- Privacy-preserving usage events, such as whether a search returned results, a scan found a match, or a contribution form was completed. These events do not include search text, barcodes, account identifiers, review content, or receipt details.
- Approximate location when you choose to use nearby-price features. We do not require continuous background location access.
- Local browser storage used to remember watches, settings, and draft contributions.
How we use information
We use information to:
- Publish retailer-neutral reviews and optional prices paid.
- Detect duplicate products, spam, fraud, and manipulated ratings.
- Review evidence and calculate reviewer trust signals.
- Send sign-in links, saved-product digests, and service messages.
- Operate, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the service.
- Measure search, scanning, and contribution success using aggregate statistics.
- Comply with law and enforce our terms.
Receipts and evidence
Evidence images can be accessed by the account owner and authorised moderators, and processed by our automated verification service. Public product pages show verification status, not the original image.
Remove names, loyalty numbers, payment details, and unrelated purchases before uploading evidence. The browser upload flow converts images to WebP, and the server rejects WebP files containing common embedded metadata. You remain responsible for checking what is visible in an image.
Storage and retention
Information may be processed outside your country by our service providers. We keep account and contribution records while needed to operate the public review history, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations.
Detailed anonymous usage events are retained for up to three months. Daily aggregate counts may be kept longer to measure service quality over time. A short-lived random flow identifier can connect steps in one activity, but it is not stored with an account or used to follow you across sites.
Detailed review-integrity submission signals are retained for up to 180 days. Resolved moderation decisions may be retained longer to prevent repeated abuse and explain why a contribution was actioned.
Deleting an account removes or de-identifies personal profile information where reasonably possible. We may retain a contribution without your identity when it remains necessary for an accurate public product record.
Your choices and rights
You can turn off alerts, avoid uploading evidence, and use public browsing without an account. You may ask to access or correct your personal information, or request deletion where applicable.
We honour browser Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track signals by not loading usage analytics when either signal is enabled.
New Zealand users have rights under the Privacy Act 2020. Depending on where you live, additional privacy rights may apply. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request.
Children
Used & Rated is not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect account information from them. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy as the service changes. Material updates will be shown in the service with a revised effective date.
privacy@usedandrated.com