Privacy Policy
How 218 Marketplace collects, uses, and protects your information. Effective date: September 17, 2026.
218 Marketplace is a multi-vendor marketplace connecting shoppers with makers across Northern Minnesota. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have.
1. Information We Collect
- Account information — your name, email address, and password when you create a buyer or vendor account.
- Order information — items purchased, order totals, and delivery details (shipping address, email, phone) needed to fulfill your order.
- Vendor information — business name, location, product listings, application and contact details, payout details (PayPal email or bank account/routing numbers), tax identity information (SSN/EIN and, when required, photo ID) collected to verify vendors before payouts and to file IRS Form 1099-K, and subscription plan details for marketplace vendors. Vendor payout and tax details are used solely to verify identity, remit earnings, and meet tax reporting obligations, and are never shared with buyers or other vendors.
- Payment information — checkout is processed by our payment provider; we never store your full card number on our servers. Card data is handled exclusively by the provider and is not visible to vendors.
- Usage information — basic analytics about how you browse and use the marketplace (pages viewed, searches, device type).
2. How We Use Your Information
- To process orders, calculate Minnesota sales tax, and route orders to the correct vendor for fulfillment.
- To create your account, authenticate you, and provide customer support.
- To pay vendors for their sales and manage vendor subscriptions.
- To improve the marketplace, prevent fraud, and comply with legal and tax obligations.
3. How We Share Your Information
- Vendors receive the buyer name, delivery address, and item details necessary to fulfill orders you place from their shop. Vendors may use that information only to fulfill your order.
- Our payment provider receives the data required to process payments and refunds.
- We share tax information with state and local authorities only as required by Minnesota law.
- We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
4. Cookies & Local Storage
- We use local browser storage to keep you signed in and to remember the contents of your shopping cart. You can clear this at any time through your browser settings.
- We use basic analytics to understand aggregate marketplace usage; we do not track you across other websites.
- Do Not Track: we do not currently respond to web browser Do Not Track signals, as no consistent industry standard for them has been established. Our analytics stay on this site only.
5. Data Retention
- We keep order and tax records for as long as required by Minnesota record-keeping law. Account data is retained while your account is active.
- You may request deletion of your account and personal data at any time by contacting us below, except where we are required to retain records (such as completed orders and tax documentation).
6. Your Rights
- You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or request its deletion. These rights apply regardless of your location, and are consistent with state consumer privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA).
- You may opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal data, and limit the use of sensitive personal information, at any time from Your Privacy Choices — these rights come from state privacy laws including the CCPA/CPRA (California) and VCDPA (Virginia), and we honor them for all users regardless of location.
- You may opt out of marketing communications at any time using the unsubscribe link or by contacting us.
7. Data Minimization & Security Safeguards
- Data minimization — we collect seller and buyer data only where it is needed to process transactions or to meet legal obligations: identity verification and payouts, IRS Form 1099-K reporting, INFORM Consumers Act seller verification, and Minnesota sales-tax remittance. We do not collect more than these purposes require.
- Restricted access — vendor Tax IDs, government-issued IDs, and financial records are stored separately from public storefront data, readable only by authorized marketplace administrators. They are masked in every application interface and are never shown to buyers or other vendors.
- Technical safeguards — sensitive records are transmitted over encrypted connections, access is restricted by role-based permissions, and payment card data is handled exclusively by our payment provider and never stored on our servers.
- Administrative safeguards — access to sensitive vendor records is limited to compliance-trained staff on a need-to-know basis, retained only as long as tax and record-keeping law requires, and reviewed as part of the annual vendor information audit.
- Breach response — if we ever become aware of a security incident affecting vendor tax or financial records, affected vendors will be notified without undue delay so they can take protective steps.
8. Children's Privacy
- The marketplace is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
9. Changes & Contact
- If we update this policy, we will post the new version on this page with a new effective date.
- Questions or requests? Contact us at contact@218marketplace.com.
By shopping or selling on 218 Marketplace, you agree to this privacy policy. See also our Vendor Agreement.
