Information we collect
Ants Online collects the information needed to run a small member marketplace. This may include your email address, display name, username, general Australian location, profile information, email preferences and when those preferences were recorded, listings, listing images, messages, saved listings, reports and support requests.
We also process limited technical and security information, such as session records, request timing, approximate country and network information, error records and anti-abuse counters. Public pages may use aggregate analytics to understand site use and reliability.
What other people can see
Your public profile may show your display name, username, optional biography, suburb or region, state and current public listings. Listing pages show the information and images you choose to publish. Your email address, exact street address, postcode, private messages, reports and support requests are not displayed publicly.
Do not put private contact, payment or identity information in a public listing. Messages are visible to the participants and may be reviewed by Ants Online when needed to handle a report, safety issue or abuse.
How public content may be used
Listing text, listing images and public profile information may identify you or another person. When you submit this public content, Ants Online collects it to publish and operate the marketplace and may select it to promote Ants Online. Promotional use may include the Ants Online website, emails and newsletters, organic or paid social media, online or offline advertising, and Ants Online editorial or educational content. The content licence in the Terms of use explains the permitted uses and your ownership rights.
Only content intended to be public is available for promotional use. Ants Online does not use private email addresses, exact addresses or postcodes, private messages, reports, support requests or payment information in advertising or public content. Service providers may handle selected public content only to create or distribute Ants Online material on our behalf; they are not authorised to reuse it independently.
You can archive your listing or use the private privacy form to ask us to stop selecting your public content for new promotional material. We will take reasonable steps to end future use, but cannot always recall printed material or copies already lawfully published, shared or cached. If your content identifies someone else, you must have their permission before submitting it for public and promotional use.
How information is used
We use information to create and secure accounts, publish and manage listings, connect members, deliver account and message notifications, remember saved items, moderate content, investigate reports, answer support requests, prevent abuse, maintain the service, understand aggregate usage and promote Ants Online using selected public content as described above. Ants Online does not sell member information or member content as stock material.
Ants Online offers one optional marketing subscription called Ants Online updates. It may include new-listing roundups, practical guides and free resources, community news, and occasional relevant Ants Online offers. You can create and use an account without subscribing.
The account checkbox is separate from account creation and is unchecked by default. Submitting a footer subscription or free-resource request is an affirmative request for Ants Online updates, as explained beside the form. We record the signup source, consent wording version and time so the choice can be respected.
You can unsubscribe at any time without affecting essential sign-in links, account and security messages, purchase delivery or marketplace notifications. People who previously chose only the daily new-listings roundup keep that narrower choice unless they separately subscribe to Ants Online updates.
Service providers and overseas processing
Ants Online uses specialist providers to host and operate the service. Cloudflare provides website, database, security and media infrastructure; EmailIt provides transactional sign-in, account, purchase and marketplace email; and Encharge stores new-member and public-subscriber email contacts and provides Ants Online updates. For this purpose, Encharge may receive your email address, an Ants Online account identifier or signup source, display name where applicable, and recorded email preference. These providers may process data outside Australia as part of their global services.
We share only the information reasonably needed for each service and do not authorise providers to use member information for their own marketing.
How long information is kept
Public listings normally expire after 30 days unless the owner renews them. Sign-in links expire after 10 minutes and normal sessions after 30 days. Other account, listing, message, report, support, moderation, security and audit records are kept only while reasonably needed to run the marketplace, deal with misuse or disputes, meet legal obligations, or maintain a limited recovery record.
When information is no longer reasonably needed, it is deleted or de-identified where practical. Backup copies may remain for a limited period before normal replacement.
Access, correction and account closure
You can update profile and listing information through your account, archive your listings and change your Ants Online updates choice. Every marketing email must also include a working unsubscribe option. To ask for access, correction, deletion, account closure or to raise a privacy concern, send a private privacy request. We may need to confirm that the request relates to your account before acting on it.
Ants Online is intended only for adults located in Australia. It is not offered to people overseas and does not target or monitor people in the European Union.