who is responsible
The controller of your personal data is [PadelSeat operating entity], LLC, a limited liability company registered in [State], United States, trading as PadelSeat.
Address for correspondence in Portugal: [street address], Lisboa, Portugal.
Privacy contact: privacy@padelseat.com. Write to this address for anything in this policy, including requests to exercise your rights.
EU representative. Because the controller is established outside the EU, we have appointed a representative in the European Union under Article 27 of the GDPR: [representative name and address], [representative email]. You and the supervisory authority can contact the representative about anything in this policy.
We have assessed whether we must appoint a Data Protection Officer under Article 13 of Lei 58/2019. We do not carry out large-scale monitoring and we do not process special categories of data, so no DPO is required. The privacy contact above handles all data protection matters.
When PadelSeat becomes a Portuguese company, we will update this section and tell you in the app.
what we collect
Needed to have an account
- Name and email address, and the identifier your sign-in provider gives us (Apple, Google, or a one-time code sent to your email).
- A payment source: a saved card, held by Stripe. We never see your full card number. See who we share it with.
- Your answers to the level questionnaire at signup, and the skill band derived from them.
Optional
- Photo, one-line bio, and racket-sport background on your profile.
- Neighbourhood, either picked by you or suggested once from your location with your consent.
- Location while using the app, for distances to clubs and the Wanted Here map, with your consent.
- NIF (tax number), only if you ask for a Portuguese invoice.
Created as you use PadelSeat
- Match records: seats claimed, matches attended, released seats, cancellations, and no-shows.
- Payment records: amounts, Stripe identifiers, the last four digits and expiry of your card, the phone number tied to an MB Way top-up, and your PadelSeat Balance history.
- Post-match pace check answers: yours about a group, and other players' answers about matches you played in.
- Push notification token, device type, app version, and IP address.
- Support messages you send us.
If you do not give us the information marked as needed, we cannot open an account for you. Everything else is up to you.
why we use it, and the legal basis
We only use your information where the law lets us. Here is the reason for each use, with the GDPR article it rests on.
| What we do | What we use | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Create and run your account | Name, email, sign-in identifier | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Book you into matches, confirm them, allocate seats | Match records | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Take payment, including charging your saved card when a match confirms | Card token, amounts, Stripe identifiers | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Run your PadelSeat Balance and return money to where it came from | Balance history, original payment source | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Issue invoices and keep tax records | Name, NIF if given, amounts | Legal obligation, Art. 6(1)(c), under Article 52 of the Portuguese VAT Code |
| Show your profile to other players | Name, neighbourhood, racket-sport background | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Show your photo and bio to other players | Photo, bio | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a). Both are optional and you can remove them at any time |
| Show your skill band to other players | Questionnaire answers, skill score | Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f): matches that are safe and evenly matched. You can object |
| Show your reliability flag and match history to other players | Attendance, cancellations, no-shows | Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f): players can rely on a seat being filled. You can object and ask for a review |
| Let Operators see your numeric score and pace check answers about you | Score, pace check answers | Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f): placing players in the right group |
| Suggest your neighbourhood once, on first open | Coarse device location, once | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a) and Article 7 of Lei 41/2004 |
| Show distance to clubs and place your pin on the Wanted Here map | Device location while using the app | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a) and Article 7 of Lei 41/2004. Separate from the one above |
| Send push notifications about your matches | Push token | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b). Any promotional push needs your separate consent |
| Show the weather for outdoor courts | The club's location only | Not your personal data. Nothing about you is sent to the weather service |
| Prevent fraud, defend chargebacks, keep accounts secure | Payment metadata, device, IP address | Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f) |
| Handle suspensions, crew removals and disputes | Conduct records | Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f), with a person reviewing every decision |
| Understand how the app is used and improve it | Usage events | Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f). Storing the identifier on your device needs your consent under Article 5 of Lei 41/2004 |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed our interest against your rights and kept a record of that assessment. You can ask us for a summary, and you can object to any of these uses. See your rights.
your skill band and reliability flag
From your questionnaire answers we work out a numeric skill score. We never show that number to anyone but the Operators. What other players see is your skill band (one of four), your match count, how many matches you have cancelled, and a reliability flag.
The score is calculated automatically, but no decision that matters to you is made by the calculation alone. A person reviews anything that would restrict your account or your access to matches. Operators can override the band by hand.
If you think your band or your flag is wrong, tell us and a person will look at it. You can ask us to correct it, and you can object to us using it at all, though without a band we may not be able to place you in a match.
Your reliability flag is based on the last 12 months only. Older cancellations drop off.
what operators see that players do not
PadelSeat's matches are organised by two people we call Operators. They book the courts and run the crews. To do that they see some things other players never see:
- Your numeric skill score, its uncertainty, and any flags from the questionnaire.
- Other players' pace check answers about matches you played in ("How did the pace feel?" and "Play with this group again?"), and your answers about them.
- Your payment status and Balance, so they can settle a match.
Pace check answers are other players' opinions about a match, not a rating of you, and they never change your skill score. Because they are personal data about you, you can ask to see what has been said about a match you played in. We may not always be able to keep the responder anonymous when we answer.
location
We ask for your location twice, for two different things, and you can say no to either.
- Once, when you first open the app, to suggest your neighbourhood. We work out the neighbourhood, save that, and discard the coordinates. You can edit or clear the neighbourhood at any time.
- While you are using the app, to show how far clubs are from you and to place your pin on the Wanted Here map. Other players can see the approximate area of your pin, never your exact position.
We only use location when you have agreed to it, and only while you are using these features. We do not track you in the background and we do not keep raw coordinates. You can withdraw either permission at any time in the app or in your phone settings. Turning location off does not stop you using PadelSeat; you will just need to pick your neighbourhood yourself.
who we share it with
We do not sell your information and we do not share it with advertisers. These companies process it for us, under contracts that bind them to protect it:
| Company | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe Payments Europe Ltd | Cards, MB Way, top-ups, refunds. Stripe holds your card details; we hold only a token, the last four digits and the expiry | Ireland |
| Amazon Web Services | Hosting of the app's servers, database and your photo | Ireland (eu-west-1) |
| Google (Maps and Routes) | Walking and transit times from your neighbourhood to clubs | EU and US |
| Apple and Google (Sign in) | Signing you in, if you choose those options | EU and US |
| Expo | Delivering push notifications | US |
| [Weather service] | Forecast for outdoor courts. Receives the club's location, nothing about you | [Country] |
Other players see your profile as described above. Clubs do not receive your personal data from us; an Operator books the court in their own name.
We will disclose information where the law requires it, for example to a court, a tax authority, or the police with a valid order, and to our lawyers and accountants where needed to defend a claim.
where your information is kept
Your account, your matches and your photo are stored on servers in Ireland, inside the EU. Payments are processed by Stripe in Ireland.
Some of the companies that help us run the app are outside the EU, or have parent companies there. Where that happens, we transfer your information either under a European Commission adequacy decision covering that company, or under the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, and we assess the risk of each transfer before we make it. You can ask us for details of the safeguards for any specific transfer.
how long we keep things
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account, profile, photo, bio and neighbourhood | Until you delete your account, then removed within 30 days |
| Your match history and attendance | Until you delete your account, plus a short window to settle any open dispute |
| Your numeric skill score and questionnaire answers | Deleted when you delete your account. We do not keep them to re-score you if you come back |
| Your reliability flag and cancellation record | A rolling 12 months |
| Pace check answers | Until you delete your account |
| Your location coordinates | Not kept at all. We keep only the neighbourhood you can see and edit |
| Push token | Until you turn notifications off or delete your account |
| Your Balance | Returned to your original payment source when you close your account |
| Invoices and payment records | 10 years, because Portuguese tax law (Article 52 of the VAT Code) requires it. This is the one thing we cannot delete on request |
| Messages to support | 24 months |
| Records needed to defend a legal claim | Until the limitation period for that claim ends |
your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask us, at any time and free of charge, to:
- Access the information we hold about you (Article 15).
- Correct anything that is wrong, including your skill band or reliability flag (Article 16).
- Delete your information (Article 17). The easiest way is to delete your account; see deleting your account.
- Restrict what we do with it while a dispute is sorted out (Article 18).
- Receive a copy of the information you gave us in a machine-readable format, or have it sent to another service (Article 20).
- Object to any use that rests on legitimate interests, including the skill band, the reliability flag and analytics (Article 21).
- Withdraw consent for location, your photo and bio, and any promotional messages, as easily as you gave it, in the app or in your phone settings. Withdrawing does not affect what we did while you consented.
- Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that affects you significantly (Article 22). A person reviews every restriction on your account.
Email privacy@padelseat.com from the address on your account. We answer within one month. If a request is complex we may take up to two more months and will tell you why.
complaints to cnpd
If you think we have handled your information unlawfully, you have the right to complain to the Portuguese supervisory authority:
Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD)
Av. D. Carlos I, 134, 1.º, 1200-651 Lisboa, Portugal
www.cnpd.pt
If you live in another EU country, you can complain to the supervisory authority there instead. We would rather hear from you first, but you do not have to contact us before complaining.
device identifiers and analytics
The app stores a small amount of information on your phone so that it works: your sign-in session, your settings, and a push notification token. That is strictly necessary and needs no consent.
Anything beyond that, such as an analytics identifier used to understand how the app is used, is stored only with your consent under Article 5 of Lei 41/2004. You will be asked in the app, and you can change your answer in Settings. We do not use advertising identifiers or third-party tracking.
padelseat.com uses no cookies other than those needed to serve the page.
security
Your information is encrypted in transit and at rest. Photos are stored in access-controlled storage that is not publicly listable. Card details never reach our servers; Stripe holds them under PCI DSS. Access to player data inside PadelSeat is limited to the two Operators and is logged.
If a breach ever puts your rights at risk, we will tell you and CNPD without undue delay, as Articles 33 and 34 of the GDPR require.
you must be 18
PadelSeat is for adults. You must be 18 or over to have an account. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 and we offer no features for children. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it and refund any Balance to its original payment source.
deleting your account
You can delete your account in the app, under Settings, Delete account, at any time. You can also request deletion by emailing privacy@padelseat.com from the address on your account.
When you delete it: your profile, photo, bio, neighbourhood, skill score and reliability flag are removed within 30 days; your name comes off past match listings; your Balance is refunded in full to your original payment source; and any seats you hold in upcoming matches are released.
What we have to keep: invoices and payment records, for 10 years, because Portuguese tax law requires it, and anything we need to defend a legal claim, until that period ends. Nothing in that set is used to build a profile of you.
If you owe us money for a match you attended, we will ask you to settle it before we close the account.
changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the app changes or the law does. The date at the top always shows the current version. If a change reduces your rights or uses your information in a new way, we will tell you in the app and by push notification before it takes effect, and where the law requires it we will ask for your consent.
language
This policy is published in Portuguese and in English. If the two versions differ, the Portuguese version applies to players resident in Portugal.