Last updated: 17 October 2023
This privacy notice explains how and why Bark.com Global Limited (also referred to as “Bark.com”, “we”, “our” and “us”) uses personal data about individual users of our website www.bark.com (the “Website”) and those that access our services through APIs and through third-parties, including website users, buyers and/or professionals (whether prospective, current or past), and people that apply to work with us (together, “you”).
You should read this notice so that you know what we are doing with your personal data.
“Personal data” is any information that relates to an identifiable natural person. Your name, address and contact details are examples of your personal data, if they identify you.
The term “process” means any activity relating to personal data, including collection, storage, use and transmission.
Whether you are a buyer, a professional, a website user, or a candidate for a vacancy at Bark.com (or a combination of those), Bark.com is a “controller” of your personal data. This means that we make decisions about how and why we process your personal data and are responsible for making sure it is used in accordance with data protection laws.
If you are reviewing this then you will fall into at least one of the following categories of individuals about whom we process personal data:
(a) prospective, current or past customers of Bark.com who register an account and/or place a buyer request (known as a “bark”) (“Buyers”);
(b) current or past individuals or businesses that register as a Professional on Bark.com to provide a service to Buyers, or businesses who we identify as being of interest to our Buyers and who we may then contact with potential business opportunities relating to our Buyers (“Professionals”);
(c) individuals that access our Website (“Website Users”); and/or
(d) individuals applying for a job with us (“Job Applicants”).
Accordingly, we will collect and process different types of personal data about you depending on which of these categories are relevant to you. The different types of personal data that we collect and the sources we collect it from are summarised below.
Depending on how you use our Website and services, we will collect different types of personal data about you. For example, this might include things like your name, contact details, details about your business, our correspondence with you, records of your transactions with us, and how you use our services. We need these details to provide our services to you. We have set out more specific details on the categories of personal data we collect and process on Buyers, Professionals, Job Applicants, and Website Users here.
We obtain this personal data from a number of different sources. For example, this could be from you, our Website, your business website as well as third party sources such as social media. More details of the sources from which we obtain personal data about Buyers, Professionals, Job Applicants, and Website Users can be found here.
We process your personal data for particular purposes, which are relevant to your relationship and engagement with us. We are required by law to always have a “lawful basis” for processing your personal data.
We use the personal data we collect for a number of different reasons, including to provide our services to you or with you, to communicate with you, to verify your identity, to make sure our website and services are functioning properly and provide the best services for you, to keep accurate records and for legal reasons.
We rely on a number of different lawful grounds or ‘bases’ in order to process your personal data. These include that we have your consent to the processing, we need to process your personal data to enter into or perform a contract with you, we need to process your personal data to comply with our legal obligations, and/or the processing is necessary for our legitimate interests (or the legitimate interests of a third party).
More details on the purposes for which we process personal data on Buyers, Professionals and Website Users, and the lawful bases we rely on, can be found here.
We may also convert your personal data into statistical or aggregated form to better protect your privacy, or so that you are not identified or identifiable from it. Anonymised data cannot be linked back to you. We may use it to conduct research and analysis, including to produce statistical research and reports. For example, to help us understand and improve the use of our Website.
Our core service is the facilitation of introductions between Buyers and Professionals. In order to perform these services, we will share information submitted in a Bark (including the Buyer name, email address and phone number) with relevant third party Professionals where such Professionals elect to respond to the Bark.
In some cases where we are unable to match a Buyer with a relevant Professional, we may share the information submitted in a Bark (including the Buyer name, email address and phone number) with third party aggregators who will endeavour to match that Buyer with a relevant Professional. The third parties that we share personal data with include the companies listed here.
We may use certain trusted third party companies and individuals to help us provide, analyse, and improve our services (including but not limited to Buyer/Professional verification, data storage, maintenance services, database management, web analytics, payment processing, and improvement of our services). These third parties will process your personal data on our behalf (as our processor). We will disclose your personal data to these parties so that they can perform those necessary functions.
We may also share your information with third parties, who then use your personal data for their own purposes. For example, to process payments from you or where you choose to access our services through such an application. These organisations will also use your personal data for their own, separate purposes (also as a “controller”) – they will have their own privacy notices which you should read, and they have their own responsibilities to comply with applicable data protection laws.
In certain circumstances, where necessary for the purposes set out here, we will also disclose your personal data to:
(a) consultants and professional advisors including legal advisors, auditors and accountants;
(b) business partners and joint ventures;
(c) a prospective seller or buyer of our business and their advisors;
(d) insurers;
(e) courts, court-appointed persons/entities, receivers and liquidators;
(f) third parties where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, to enforce a contract, to prevent fraud or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees, customers or others; and
(g) to governmental departments, local government, statutory and regulatory bodies including (in the UK) the Information Commissioner’s Office, the police and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
When we share personal data about you, as set out above, this may include a transfer of your personal data to recipients outside the UK. If any disclosures of personal data mean that your personal data will be transferred outside the European Economic Area, we will only make that transfer in accordance with our obligations under applicable data protection laws.
We will only retain your personal data for a limited period of time and for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which we are processing it for (including as necessary to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements).
You have certain legal rights in relation to any personal data about you which we hold. If you have any concerns or queries about this notice or how we process your personal data please contact us using the details below. Each of these are subject to certain conditions.
More details on your rights can be found here.
We may update this notice from time to time to reflect changes to the type of personal data that we process and/or the way in which it is processed. We also encourage you to check this notice on a regular basis.
If you want more information about any of the subjects covered in this privacy notice or if you would like to discuss any issues or concerns with us, you can contact us at privacy@bark.com.
