Privacy Policy

Auktia collects what it needs to run a saleroom: who you are, what you bid on, where to send what you win, and enough about your device to keep the bidding honest. This page says exactly what that means.

Effective October 20, 2026

The short version

• We don’t sell your information, and we don’t use it for advertising. There are no ad trackers on Auktia.
• The auction houses you bid with see who you are: your name, email and bidding in their sales, and, if you win, what you owe and where to ship.
• Other bidders see only your paddle number. Nobody sees your maximum bid.
• Payments go through Stripe. We never see your full card number.
• We record your device and network when you’re signed in, to stop auction houses bidding on their own lots.
• If an auction house invites you, it gave us your email from its own customer list. We use it only to send that house’s invitations, never sell or share it, and every invitation has an unsubscribe link.
• You can ask for a copy of your information, correct it, or delete it, by emailing auktiasupport@gmail.com.

1. Who we are and what this covers

Auktia LLC (“Auktia”, “we”, “us”) runs the online saleroom at www.auktia.com (the “Service”). This policy covers personal information we collect through the Service and when you contact us. The auction houses that sell on Auktia (“Houses”) are independent businesses: what a House does with information it receives about you is also governed by its own practices, within the limits our Terms set. Payments are processed by Stripe, under Stripe’s own privacy policy.

Auktia uses everyday words on its pages, and they mean the same as the auction words in this policy and the Terms: a “seller” is a House, an “item” is a lot, an “auction” is a sale, and your “bidder number” is your paddle number (“My bids” is the page also called My paddle). Either word may be used.

2. What we collect

What you give us

• Account: your email address. If you sign in with Google, the name, email and profile picture Google shares. If you add them, your display name, mobile number and ZIP code. Sign-in is by a one-time code or link sent to your email, or by Google; we don’t store a password.
• Bidding: your bids and maximum bids, registrations for sales, lots you watch, the auction houses you follow, closing reminders you set, and the lots you win.
• Shipping: the name, address and phone number you give for delivering lots you win, saved on your account and on each sale’s invoice.
• Alert settings: which alerts you turn on, and, if you turn on text alerts, your mobile number and the record of your agreement (section 5).
• Messages: what you send through our contact form (your name, email, message, and if you give them, your auction house and phone number) or by email, and our replies.
• Reports: if you report a lot or a seller, what you tell us, the lot, and your email if you give it (or your account’s, if you’re signed in), so we can look into it and reply. If you report by phone, the voicemail you leave and the number you call from.
• Auction houses: the House’s name and location; the names and emails of its owner and staff; its sales, lots, photos and descriptions; pickup address, payment terms and contact details; the barcodes it scans; its plan and bills; and the brand, last four digits and expiry of its billing card (the card itself is held by Stripe). Stripe collects the details needed to verify a House and pay it out, such as identity and bank details; we receive only the account’s status and what Stripe still needs. For sellers, as the INFORM Consumers Act requires: the House’s legal name, business address, phone number, email and tax ID, and when they were last confirmed. We show buyers the legal name, business address, phone number and email on the House’s sales and lots; the tax ID is never shown.

What we collect automatically

• Device and network: each time you open or reload Auktia while signed in, we record a random device ID your browser keeps for Auktia and your IP address, and note that your account was active that day. We compare these with the House teams’ records to prevent shill bidding (section 3 of this policy explains).
• Bid records: the time of every bid, to the fraction of a second. It is the ledger of the sale.
• Site analytics: the pages visited (without the query string), the website that referred the visit, campaign tags in the link (such as utm_source), clicks on main buttons, and a random visitor ID and visit ID kept in your browser. These are recorded without your account, IP address or browser details, and are not linked to your account. We skip them entirely when your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, and on Auktia’s own admin pages. If you arrive from an ad, we note which ad network it came from, not the click identifier.
• Device alerts: if you turn on notifications, the address your browser gives us to deliver them, and the browser type.
• Feature use by auction houses: the scans, product lookups and AI drafts a House’s team runs, in which sale, and what each cost Auktia, so we can run, price and bill the Service.
• Server logs: our hosting providers keep standard request logs (such as IP address, browser type and time) for security and operations.

What others tell us

• Stripe: whether a payment succeeded, the amount, refunds and disputes, and a card fingerprint (a code Stripe derives from a card number that identifies the same card without revealing it). For the card you add before your first bid: that your bank verified it, its brand, last four digits and fingerprint, Stripe’s reference for it, and whether you have automatic payment on (and since when). Stripe keeps the card number; we never see it.
• Houses: whether you have paid them and how, shipping carrier and tracking, registration decisions and blocks, and notes on your invoice.
• Google: the profile details above, if you sign in with Google.
• Auction houses’ customer lists: a House may upload its own customers’ email addresses, and their names and phone numbers if it has them, so we can invite them to its sales in its name. The House confirms that they are its own customers and that it may email them; we record who confirmed it and when. If you are invited and then join Auktia with that email address, we note that you joined, and you follow that House.

Location

On the near-me map, you can let your browser share your location, which stays in your browser and is never sent to us. Or you can type a ZIP code or address, which we pass to a public geocoding service (Zippopotam.us or OpenStreetMap) to find it on the map, without storing it. Your saved location stays in your browser, and you can clear it from the map page.

3. How we use it

• To run auctions: register bids and maximums, extend clocks, decide winners, work out all-in prices, issue invoices, take payments and arrange pickup and shipping.
• To keep the saleroom honest: to stop shill bidding, fraud and abuse. We automatically stop a House’s own team from bidding in its sales, and accounts linked to that team by the same device, card fingerprint or shipping address; bids from an IP address the team also uses are flagged for a person at Auktia to review. If you are blocked, you can ask a person to review it (section 11).
• To send messages: sign-in codes and links, invoices and account notices, the alerts you turn on, replies to what you send us, and (for auction houses and people who ask about Auktia) news about the Service.
• To bill auction houses for Auktia’s fees, and to meter scans and add-ons.
• To send an auction house’s invitations: a House’s customer list is used only to email that House’s invitations to its sales, no more than once every 30 days per person, and to connect invited customers who join Auktia with that House. We never use one House’s list for another House or for Auktia’s own marketing.
• To tell you about houses you follow: when a House you follow publishes a sale, we email you.
• To fill in listings: barcodes a House scans are looked up in product databases, and photos a House uploads may be read by an AI service to draft a lot’s title and description. These carry no bidder information.
• To understand and improve the Service, using the analytics above and counts of active accounts.
• To support Houses: Auktia staff keep records of our conversations with auction houses and people who ask about Auktia.
• To comply with the law, enforce our Terms, and protect Auktia, Houses and bidders.

4. Who sees it

• Houses you bid with. When you register for or bid in a House’s sale, that House sees your paddle number, name and email, your registration status, and how many bids and leads you have in its sale. When you win, it also sees the lots you won, what you owe, whether you’ve paid, and for lots that ship, the shipping name, address and phone number you give. We share this because you ask us to when you bid. Houses may use it only to run and complete sales on Auktia and meet their legal obligations. Houses never see your maximum bid, your device or network, or your full card number. When you pay a House through Auktia, the payment is made on the House’s own Stripe account, so, as with any card payment, its Stripe account shows the card’s brand, last four digits and expiry.
• Automatic payment. If you have automatic payment on and win in a sale of a House that takes cards through Auktia, we ask Stripe to copy the card you saved with us to that House’s Stripe account and charge it there for your invoice. The card details move only within Stripe; we never see the full number. You can turn automatic payment off at any time in Settings.
• Other bidders see your paddle number, bid amounts and bid times in public bid histories, never your name, contact details or maximum bid.
• The public sees what Houses publish: their sales, lots, photos, pickup details and results.
• A House’s customer list is seen only by that House’s team and by Auktia staff, for support, compliance and to look into complaints. A House sees how many of the people it invited have joined Auktia, not who they are.
• Our service providers, who handle information only to provide their services to us: Vercel (hosting), Supabase (database, sign-in and file storage), Stripe (payments), Resend (email delivery), Google (sign-in with Google), Anthropic (AI drafting of lot descriptions from House photos, and product lookups), product databases that look up barcodes, the geocoding services above, the push services run by browser makers that deliver notifications, Twilio (text messages, if you turn text alerts on), and Cloudflare (Turnstile, the check on the sign-in page that tells people from bots, which reads technical signals from your browser).
• For legal reasons: where the law, a court order or a lawful request requires it, or where needed to protect the rights, property or safety of Auktia, Houses, bidders or others, including to investigate fraud.
• In a business transfer: if Auktia is merged, acquired or sells its business, your information may transfer with it, under this policy.
• With your consent, for anything else.

5. Text messages

Text alerts (Auktia Auction Alerts) are opt-in. If you turn them on and give us your mobile number, you agree to receive automated texts from Auktia about your own bidding: outbid notices, closing-soon reminders for lots you bid on and aren’t winning, and notices of what you owe after you win, with a link to pay. Message frequency varies, up to 10 texts a day. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel or HELP for help, or turn texts off in Settings. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

• What we keep: your mobile number; when you agreed, on which page, and the exact wording you agreed to; your timezone as your browser reports it (so payment texts don’t arrive between 9pm and 8am); each text we send and whether it was delivered; and the keywords you text us (such as STOP or HELP).
• How we use it: only to send the alerts you asked for, to honor STOP and HELP, and to keep a record that you agreed.
• Who sees it: Twilio, our text-messaging provider, and the mobile carriers receive your number and each message in order to deliver it. We never sell your mobile number, and your mobile number and text consent are never shared with third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. Auction houses don’t see whether you get texts.
• How long: while texts are on, and for up to four years after you turn them off, so we can show you agreed.

6. Email

Emails about your account, bids and invoices are part of the Service and continue while you have an account. Invoices are sent through Auktia, from auktia.com, on behalf of the House you won from. Auktia also emails auction houses and people who ask about Auktia about the Service. Each of those emails has an unsubscribe link, and once you use it, we stop. Unsubscribing doesn’t stop emails about your own bids, wins and invoices.

If an auction house invites you, the email comes from Auktia in that House’s name, and replies go to the House. It has a link to unsubscribe from that House’s invitations, or from every House’s; we honor it, and we keep your unsubscribe on record so a House can’t add you back. If you follow a House, we email you when it lists a sale; each of those emails has an unsubscribe link, and you can unfollow at any time.

7. Cookies, local storage and analytics

• We use cookies to keep you signed in. Blocking them stops sign-in from working.
• Referral cards: if you arrive by scanning a card someone handed you (a link like auktia.com/r/name), a cookie remembers that person’s code for 90 days. If you create an account in that time, we record that they referred you, so we can pay them for bringing you; they are told only that someone signed up and whether that person went on to bid or sell, not who you are.
• Cards from Auktia’s own team: after scanning one, you may choose to leave your email so that team member can follow up. A team member may also add the email of someone they met, with that person’s agreement; we then send that person one invitation, and nothing more unless they sign up or reply. Either way the email is kept in our customer records under that team member’s name, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
• Your browser’s local storage keeps your preferences (such as the all-in price toggle and your saved location), the device ID used for bidding checks, and the analytics visitor and visit IDs.
• Our analytics are our own. There are no third-party analytics, advertising cookies, pixels or trackers on Auktia.
• We honor Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: when your browser sends either, we record no analytics for you.

8. No selling, no ad tracking

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted or cross-context advertising. We haven’t done either in the past 12 months. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for anything beyond what the Service needs, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

9. How long we keep it

• Bids, results, invoices, payments and bills are kept as long as we need them to run sales and meet tax, accounting and legal obligations, normally seven years.
• Account details are kept while your account is open and for a reasonable time after it closes, to handle disputes and legal claims.
• Device IDs, IP addresses and card fingerprints are kept while your account is open, because the checks against shill bidding depend on them, and are deleted with your account unless we need them for a fraud investigation or a legal claim.
• Messages and records of our conversations with auction houses and people who contact us are kept while they are useful for the relationship, and are deleted on request unless we must keep them.
• Text alert records (your number, your agreement and the texts we sent) are kept while texts are on and for up to four years after you turn them off.
• Customer lists a House uploads are kept while the House uses Auktia. If the House removes someone, we stop inviting them and hide them from the House, but keep the record of the upload and of who was invited and when, to show invitations were sent lawfully. Unsubscribes are kept for good, so an address that is removed and uploaded again stays unsubscribed. You can ask us at auktiasupport@gmail.com to remove your details from every House’s list; we keep only what we need to keep you unsubscribed.
• Analytics are not linked to anyone and are kept to show trends over time.

10. Security

We protect information with encryption in transit and at rest, access limited to the staff who need it, and row-level permissions in our database, so each House sees only its own sales and each bidder only their own records. Stripe handles card and bank details. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your information, we will tell you as the law requires.

11. Your choices and rights

• In Settings you can update your name and shipping address and switch alerts on or off. You can turn off device notifications in your browser, and clear Auktia’s local storage at any time.
• You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, in a portable form; ask us to correct it; or ask us to delete it and close your account. We will delete what we are not required to keep for completed sales, tax, fraud prevention or legal reasons.
• If our automatic checks block you from bidding in a House’s sales, you can ask a person at Auktia to review it.
• To make a request, email auktiasupport@gmail.com from the address on your account, or write to us (section 15). We may need to confirm it’s you. You may use an authorized agent, who must show us your written permission. We will answer within 45 days, and tell you if we need more time.
• If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our answer with “Appeal” in the subject. We will answer the appeal within the time the law allows. If you are not satisfied, you may contact your state attorney general.
• We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.
• For information a House holds about you, you may also contact that House.

12. US state privacy notice

Residents of California, Texas and other states with consumer privacy laws have the rights in section 11: to know and access, correct, delete, and port their information; to opt out of the sale of their information, targeted advertising and profiling with legal or similarly significant effects (we do none of these); and not to be discriminated against. In the past 12 months we collected these categories of personal information, from the sources in section 2, for the purposes in section 3:

• Identifiers: name, email, paddle number, device ID, IP address.
• Customer records: shipping address and phone number; for Houses, billing card brand and last four digits.
• Commercial information: bids, registrations, lots won, invoices and payments.
• Internet activity: pages visited and buttons clicked (not linked to you), and sign-in activity.
• Approximate location: your ZIP code, if you give it.
• Professional information: for auction houses, the business and the people who work for it.

We disclose these categories, for business purposes, to our service providers and, as section 4 describes, to the Houses you bid with. Retention is described in section 9.

13. Children

The Service is for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has an account, contact us and we will close it.

14. Changes

We will post any change to this policy here and update the effective date. For material changes, we will email account holders before they take effect. The Service is run from the United States, and your information is stored and processed there.

15. Contact

Email: auktiasupport@gmail.com. Our Terms of Service set out the rules of the saleroom.