Privacy Policy
The short version
- We collect what we need to match your request with people who can do it, and nothing to sell.
- Sellers see your area and budget. Your name, number and address are shared only when you both sign an agreement.
- Anything optional, like storing your CV or getting product news, is off until you turn it on in the app under You, then Privacy. Turn it off and it stops; turning off CV storage deletes your CV.
- You can ask for a copy of your data, correct it, or delete it.
This policy explains how [registered company name] ("we"), which runs Quarko, a product of Threadlane, handles your personal data. Quarko is used worldwide. We follow India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for people in Europe, and US state privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and we apply whichever protections your local law requires.
1. What we collect
| Data | When |
|---|---|
| Name, phone number, account type, company name | When you create an account |
| Your area (locality, city, approximate coordinates) | When you choose an area or allow device location |
| Requests, budgets, offers, agreements and messages | When you use Quarko |
| Seller profile: what you offer, where, licences | When you turn on selling |
| Your CV and job preferences | Only if you turn on CV storage |
| Payment records: amount, currency, order and payment reference, status. Never your card, UPI PIN or bank login | When you pay to post a request |
| Your consent choices, with the date and policy version | Whenever you make or change a choice |
| Device and usage data (app version, errors, pages used) | When you use the app or website |
We don't collect your religion, caste, ethnicity or similar traits, and we remove them from requests.
We count visits with our own self-hosted, cookieless analytics: no cookies, no identifier stored on your device, no cross-site tracking, and never the text you type.
2. Why we use it
- To run your account and sign you in.
- To understand your request, show the local standard price, and send it to sellers who fit (by category, distance and licence).
- To deliver offers, messages, agreements and notifications.
- To keep Quarko safe: block prohibited requests, stop spam and fraud, and handle disputes.
- To improve Quarko using aggregated and de-identified data.
- To meet legal duties, like tax records and responding to lawful requests.
We rely on your consent; on contract (to provide the service you asked for and take payment); on legal obligations; and on legitimate interests such as preventing fraud. Under GDPR these are the lawful bases in Articles 6(1)(a), (b), (c) and (f).
3. Who can see what
- Sellers matched to your request see what you want, your budget and your area. They don't see your name, number or exact address until the agreement is fully signed.
- Messages: phone numbers and email addresses typed into messages are hidden before a deal. A seller sees only the messages you send to sellers and their own, never other sellers' messages or your private chat with the assistant. After you choose a seller, your new messages go only to them.
- Employers see your CV and profile only when you apply or accept their interest.
- Your network: contacts you save are visible only to you.
- Service providers who host Quarko, send SMS, process payments (Razorpay) and run AI models process data for us under contract (see section 5).
- Authorities, only when the law requires it.
4. Your choices
Find these in the app under You, then Privacy and consent. Each one is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time.
| Choice | What it does | When you turn it off |
|---|---|---|
| Store my CV | Keeps your CV so you can apply for jobs quickly | Your stored CV is deleted straight away |
| Product news and offers | Lets us send news and offers by SMS, WhatsApp or email | We stop sending them |
Accepting the Terms and this Privacy Policy is needed to have an account. To withdraw that, delete your account. Messages about your own requests, offers and agreements aren't marketing, so they continue while you have an account.
When we add features that need sensitive data, such as health details for insurance quotes, we'll ask for separate, specific consent first and share that data only with the insurer you ask for a quote from.
5. AI and service providers
We send the text of your requests and assistant chats to AI service providers, under contract, to understand them and to reply. They may process data outside your country. [Confirm each provider's region and retention], and [confirm: provider doesn't train on or keep this data]. Our other providers are [hosting, SMS, analytics]. Some process data outside your country. For transfers out of the EU or UK we use the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or another lawful safeguard.
6. How long we keep it
- Account details: while your account is open, then deleted within 90 days of closing it, except what the law requires us to keep.
- Requests and chats: up to 24 months, then de-identified.
- Your CV: until you delete it or turn off CV storage.
- Consent records: as long as we need to show what you agreed to.
- Invoices and tax records: as long as tax law requires (usually 8 years).
7. Your rights
Wherever you live, you can:
- get a summary of your personal data and who we've shared it with;
- correct, complete or update it;
- have it erased when it's no longer needed or you withdraw consent;
- withdraw consent at any time, as easily as you gave it;
- nominate someone to act for you if you die or can't act yourself;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, and ask for your data in a portable format (EU and UK);
- know what personal information we collect and opt out of its sale or sharing (California). We don't sell or share it for advertising;
- complain to us first, and then to your data protection authority: the Data Protection Board of India, your EU supervisory authority, or the UK Information Commissioner's Office.
To use these rights, write to our Grievance Officer: [name], [email], [postal address]. We acknowledge requests within 24 hours and respond within 15 days.
8. Security
We encrypt data in transit, limit who on our team can access personal data, and log access. If a breach affects your data, we'll tell you and the Data Protection Board as the law requires.
9. What we never do
- Sell your personal data or contact details.
- Let anyone pay to rank higher in your offers or matches.
- Use your request details to target ads without your consent. Any sponsored placement will be labelled and kept apart from your matches.
- Knowingly collect data from children. Quarko is for people 18 and older.
10. Changes
Each version is dated at the top. When we make a change that matters, the app asks you to read and accept the new version before you continue.
11. Contact
Questions about this policy: [privacy email].
Our representative in the EU (GDPR Article 27) is [EU representative], and in the UK [UK representative].