Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 29, 2026

This policy explains what information Photosites collects, why, who helps us handle it, and the choices you have. We collect what we need to run a photographer directory, and we don't sell personal information.

Photosites is operated by Corey Potter ("Photosites," "we," "us"). Questions? Email corey@photosites.com.

1. Information we collect

Listing information from public websites

To build directory listings, we collect information photographers have published on their public websites, such as:

• business name and owner name,
• location and specialties,
• website address, public business email, and social media handles,
• text from public pages (such as the home and about pages), which we use to write a short overview, and
• a few photos, with a record of where each portfolio photo came from (the image address, the page it was on when we know it, when we fetched it, and how it was added).

When we collect this information to build listings, our crawler, PhotositesBot, follows robots.txt and stops at noai / noimageai opt-outs. See photosites.com/bot.

Account information

When you create an account, our sign-in provider Clerk collects your email address and the login details you choose. We keep your email, display name, and account role so we can connect your account to your listing.

Ownership verification

When you claim or remove a listing, we collect what's needed to confirm you run the business. That could be the email address you use for a verification code, or the DNS record details for your domain. If you choose the photo review option when claiming or creating a listing, you upload a photo of yourself with a code. We keep that photo in private storage that only our team can view, and we delete it once your request is approved or rejected, or if the listing is deleted.

Payments

If you buy a paid plan, payment is handled by Stripe. Stripe collects your card details directly on its checkout page. We never receive or store your full card number. We keep your Stripe customer ID, your plan, and your subscription status.

"Suggest an edit" submissions

If you use "Suggest an edit" on an unclaimed listing, we collect your name, email address, message, the reason you chose, and any photos you point to. To prevent abuse, we keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address, not the address itself.

The do-not-add list

When a listing is removed after ownership is verified, or an owner deletes their listing, we keep the website's domain on our do-not-add list, along with the email address used and the reason, so we can keep our promise not to re-add it.

Messages, reviews, and contact forms

• Messages to photographers: if you contact a photographer through their listing, we collect your name, email and/or phone number, session type, and message. We store it and send it to the photographer.
• Reviews: if you leave a review, we collect your rating, review text, the name you want shown, and your email address.
• Contact form: if you contact us, we collect your name, email, and message.

Emails we send

We send transactional emails (such as verification codes, confirmations, and notices about your listing) through Resend. Resend processes the recipient's address and the message content to deliver them.

Security and bot protection

• IP addresses. Our hosting provider receives your IP address when you visit. We use IP addresses to rate-limit forms, and we store only hashed versions.
• Cloudflare Turnstile. The "Suggest an edit" form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that you're a person. Turnstile may process your IP address and information about your browser and device to do that.

Usage information and analytics

• Vercel Web Analytics. We use Vercel's analytics to count page views and see which pages are popular. It records things like the page visited, the referring site, general location, and browser and device type, and it doesn't use cookies.
• Profile statistics. To show photographers how their listings are doing, we record events such as profile views, listing impressions, clicks to a photographer's website, and contact form submissions. These records include a random session ID stored in your browser for that visit, plus hashed versions of your IP address and browser details. We don't count visits from a listing's owner or our team while they're signed in.

Cookies and browser storage

We keep this small:

• Sign-in cookies from Clerk (and our database provider's session handling) keep you signed in and protect your account. They're needed if you want to sign in.
• Session storage: a random ID for profile statistics that lasts until you close the tab.
• Local storage: on our boudoir section, a note that you've confirmed you're 18 or older, so we don't ask every time.
• Cloudflare Turnstile may set its own cookies or similar data when the "Suggest an edit" form loads.

We don't use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking pixels.

2. How we use information

We use information to:

• build and show directory listings and help people find photographers,
• verify ownership, and let owners claim, manage, hide, or delete listings,
• review suggestions and reviews,
• deliver messages from visitors to photographers,
• process payments and manage plans,
• send transactional emails,
• show photographers statistics about their listings,
• protect the site from spam, abuse, and fraud, and
• follow the law and enforce our Terms of Use.

About AI. Some features use AI providers to help with text, such as drafting a short business overview from a photographer's public page text. Those features send text only (for example, page text and the web addresses of images), never image files. We do not use photographers' images to train AI models, and we don't sell or license them. Public profile pages can be read by search engines and AI assistants, like any public web page.

3. Who we share information with

We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We share information with the service providers that help us run Photosites, only as needed for the service they provide:

We may also share information:

• with photographers, when you send them a message through their listing,
• publicly, for anything that's meant to be public, such as listing details and published reviews with the name you chose,
• when the law requires it, or to protect people's safety or our rights, and
• in a business transfer, such as a merger or sale, where this policy would continue to apply to your information.

4. How long we keep information

We keep information as long as it's needed to run the service, or as long as the law requires.

• Listings stay while they're active. When a listing is deleted, we delete its record and its profile and portfolio photo files.
• Removed listings. When a listing is removed after ownership is verified, we delete its photo files and hide the listing. Its domain stays on our do-not-add list.
• Verification photos are deleted once the request is approved or rejected, or if the listing is deleted.
• Accounts stay until you ask us to delete them. Email corey@photosites.com to make that request.

5. If you're a photographer listed without an account

If we created a listing for you from your public website, you're in control:

• Correct it. Use "Suggest an edit" on your listing to tell us what's wrong. A person on our team reviews it.
• Take it over. Claim your listing for free and manage it yourself.
• Remove it. In "Suggest an edit," choose "This is me — remove my listing" and confirm you own the website with a DNS record or a code sent to an email address at your domain. We then delete the listing's photo files, hide the listing, and add your domain to our do-not-add list.
• Stop future imports. Block PhotositesBot in robots.txt, or add noai or noimageai to your robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header. See photosites.com/bot.
• Other privacy requests. Email corey@photosites.com. We may ask you to confirm you're connected to the business so we don't act on someone else's request.

6. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• know what personal information we have about you and how we use it,
• access a copy of it,
• correct it,
• delete it,
• object to or limit certain uses, and
• not be treated differently for using these rights.

California residents. California law gives you these rights. We don't sell or "share" personal information as California law defines those terms.

Visitors from the EU, UK, and similar places. We process information to provide the service you asked for, for our legitimate interest in running a useful and safe photographer directory (including listings built from public business information), to meet legal obligations, and with your consent where required. You can also complain to your local data protection authority. Our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries.

To make a request, email corey@photosites.com. We'll respond within the time the law requires, and we may need to confirm your identity first. You can also ask someone to make a request on your behalf, where the law allows.

7. Children

Photosites is meant for adults looking for photographers and for photographers running businesses. It isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. Our boudoir section is for adults 18 and older. If you think a child has given us personal information, please contact us and we'll delete it.

8. Security

We use reasonable safeguards, including ownership verification, bot protection, rate limits, hashed IP addresses, private storage for verification photos, and access controls on our admin tools. No system is perfectly secure, but we take protecting your information seriously.

9. Changes to this policy

When we update this policy, we'll change the "Last updated" date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll give reasonable notice, for example by email to account holders or a notice on the site.

Contact

• Email: corey@photosites.com
• Web: photosites.com/contact