Privacy policy

Who we are

Throttle Marketplace (“Throttle”, “we”, “us”) runs the Throttle app for iPhone and Android and this website, throttlemarketplace.com. Throttle is a marketplace where people and dealers list used vehicles and buyers message them in the app. This policy covers both the app and the website.

Throttle Marketplace is being organized as a New York limited liability company. When it’s formed, this policy transfers to it and we’ll post its legal name here.

Throttle is offered only in the United States. We don’t handle payments between buyers and sellers, so we don’t collect card or bank details. Questions about this policy go to support@throttlemarketplace.com.

What we collect and why

Here’s what we collect, grouped by where it comes from, and why we need it. We don’t collect your contacts, health information, financial information or advertising identifiers, and the app never reads your location in the background.

Your account

• Phone number. You sign in with a one-time code we text to it. We also use it to prevent fraud, to confirm it’s you before an account is deleted and to show a “Phone verified” badge. It isn’t shown to other people.
• Email address, when you give us one. If you use Sign in with Apple, Apple shares an email address with us, which may be a private relay address Apple creates. We also have your email when you write to us. We use it to confirm requests, send your data-export link and reply to you.
• Name and profile. Your display name (2 to 40 characters), an optional bio and avatar, when you joined and your city and state. The first time you use Sign in with Apple, Apple can share your name, which we use to fill in your display name. Contact details typed into a bio are removed automatically.
• Settings and confirmations. Your notification choices, quiet hours, distance units and privacy choices. When you accepted the community standards and confirmed you’re 18 or older. If you delete your account, when you asked and the optional reason you gave.
• Sign-in session. The tokens that keep you signed in, stored on your phone.

Business profiles

Business mode is optional. If you turn it on, we collect your business name and your page’s web address, license number and licensing state, business phone, website, street address (stored as an exact map point), hours, logo and banner. We also record when you confirmed you’re a licensed vehicle business. All of it is public on your dealer page, including the exact street address. The business phone shows when someone taps to see it, and each tap is recorded. Use a business line, not a personal number.

Listings

For each vehicle you list, we collect:

• the VIN and the year, make, model, trim and specs decoded from it
• the mileage, title status, accident history and previous use you state
• colors, price, description and the city and state the vehicle is in
• the listing’s status, dates and price changes
• when you mark it sold, the sale price and the buyer’s Throttle account, if you add them

Contact details in descriptions are removed automatically. We count views, saves, shares and messages for your listing stats and note where each view came from, such as a search, a profile or a shared link. Other people can’t see your drafts in the app, but photos you add to a draft are kept with every other photo, in a store that isn’t behind a sign-in (see Security).

Photos

Listing photos (3 to 15), an optional photo of the VIN plate, photos you send in messages and your avatar, logo and banner. The app resizes and re-encodes listing and message photos on your phone, which removes location metadata, before upload. Only the resized copies are uploaded. Photos a dealer imports by link are fetched and re-encoded on our servers. We keep a short fingerprint of each listing photo to spot duplicates and photos copied from other listings.

Messages

The messages and photos you send and receive in the app, with when they were sent and read and whether you’ve archived or muted the conversation. Before a message is saved, our server replaces phone numbers, email addresses, links and social handles with a note like “[number removed]”. Typing indicators aren’t stored.

If a message you’re about to send mentions escrow, a wire transfer, a cashier’s check, an overpayment or shipping, Throttle explains how that scam works before it goes. When a message mentions meeting up, the conversation shows a safety checklist. We record that these tips were shown.

Location

If you allow location access, the app reads your phone’s location while you’re using it, never in the background. It sends those coordinates to our servers to find your nearest city and to search for vehicles near you. If you save a search, that point can be saved as the search’s center. We treat this as precise location, which some state laws call sensitive, and we use it only for these purposes.

Your phone’s location permission is how you give or withdraw consent. Turn it off in your device settings at any time and type a ZIP code or city instead.

When you post a listing, the app moves its map point by about 1 km (a little over half a mile) on your phone before sending it, and buyers see a city and a distance. Business addresses are the exception: they’re exact and public.

Device and push details

If you allow notifications, your phone’s push token and platform, so we can send them. A random install id the app creates the first time it opens: it isn’t a device or advertising identifier, and we use it to count views and app activity when you’re signed out. Your app version and platform.

Like any online service, our servers receive your IP address with each request from the app. Supabase, which runs our sign-in, uses it to limit repeated sign-in attempts and records it in its sign-in and request logs.

How the app is used

The app records events such as viewing, saving or sharing a listing, running a search, starting a conversation, decoding a VIN and publishing a listing. Each event carries the install id, your account id when you’re signed in, the app version and platform. This is our own analytics: there are no third-party analytics or advertising tools in the app. App events are deleted after 90 days.

Crash reports

When crash reporting is on, the app sends crash and error reports to Sentry. They include technical details about the problem, your device model, OS and app version, a sample of performance timings and an internal account id. We never attach your phone number or email.

Opening a shared listing

When shared links are live and you open a listing link on a phone that doesn’t have the app yet, our listing service stores a one-way hash made from your IP address, your phone’s OS and version and your language for up to 24 hours. That lets the app open the listing after you install it. Your IP address itself is never stored, and the record is deleted the first time it’s used. On Android, Google Play’s install referrer passes the listing to the app instead.

Reports, blocks and support

Reports you make (what you reported, the reason and any note), reports other people make about you or your listings, the people you block and what you send to support in the app or by email. In-app support messages reach our inbox with your display name, account id, email and phone number so we can answer. If you report a listing on the web, where that’s offered, we keep the reason, your note, an optional email for follow-up and a shortened one-way hash of your IP address, used to limit repeat reports.

This website

This website’s own pages set no cookies, run no analytics or advertising tags and load nothing from other companies. Their fonts, images and scripts are served from this site. Like any web host, our host, Vercel, receives your IP address and browser details with each request and keeps short request logs to run and protect the site. The cookie notice has the details.

When our listing service is on, it serves individual listing, dealer and search pages on this domain. Those pages may load fonts from Google Fonts, as described under Cloudflare and Google in Who we share it with.

If you email us from a link on this site, your email reaches our support inbox like any other message.

The launch list

Before the app is in the stores, you can join a launch list on this site. We collect your email address and, if you pick one, whether you’re selling a car, a dealer or buying. We use it for one thing: to send you one email when the app is live.

The form passes your email, your choice and the time you signed up to the email tool we use for that message, through a webhook. This site doesn’t keep a copy. To stop abuse, the site’s server briefly holds your IP address in memory to limit repeat sign-ups. It isn’t saved. If you join by email instead, we add you the same way.

We keep your sign-up until that email goes out or until you ask to be removed, whichever comes first. To be removed, email support@throttlemarketplace.com with the subject “Launch list”.

How we use it

• To run Throttle. Sign you in, show and search listings, decode VINs, deliver messages and notifications and build your listing stats. We also use it to handle your data exports and deletion requests.
• To keep the marketplace honest and safe. Remove contact details from messages and descriptions, show scam and meetup tips, review reports and enforce the community standards. Automated checks flag duplicate VINs, reused photos, unusual prices and individuals listing many vehicles, and a person reviews those flags. New accounts without a verified phone number can start only 3 conversations in their first 48 hours.
• To help you. Answer your support messages and privacy requests.
• To fix and improve the app. Find crashes and see which features get used, from our own events and crash reports.
• To contact you. Send one-time codes, the push notifications you allow and service emails like your export link and support replies. If you joined the launch list, we send the one launch email. “Tips and product news” notifications are off unless you turn them on. We don’t send marketing texts.
• To meet legal duties. Comply with the law, respond to valid legal requests and protect people and our rights.

What other people can see

Some of what you share on Throttle is meant to be seen. Anyone can see it, with or without an account, and it can show up in link previews or be copied and shared by others:

• your display name, avatar, bio, city and state, when you joined and a “Phone verified” badge if your number is verified
• your listings, with their photos, vehicle details, price, view count and location: a city, a distance and the listing’s map point, which the app moves about 1 km before posting (listings a dealer imports use the business address)
• your business profile and dealer page, if you have one, including the business street address

Listings show no more than the first 10 characters of the VIN. Anyone else who’s signed in can tap Show next to the VIN in the app to see all of it, and we record each time they do. The optional VIN plate photo isn’t shown on your listing, but it’s kept in the photo store described under Security, so treat the full VIN as something other people can find. A listing’s save, share and message counts and any moderation flags aren’t shown to other people, and neither is the phone number you sign in with or your email.

When you mark a listing sold, the sale price and the buyer you pick, if you add them, are stored with the listing. They’re private: they aren’t shown on your listing or to other people, though our staff can see them.

Who we share it with

We share information with the service providers that run parts of Throttle for us, and only as much as each needs for its job. Each handles it under its own terms and privacy policy. Providers marked “when enabled” receive data only once the feature that uses them is switched on.

Other people on Throttle

The person you’re messaging sees your display name, avatar and what you send. That’s true when you message a dealer too: they don’t get your phone number or email. Contact details typed into messages are removed before they’re saved.

If a seller marks a listing sold and picks you as the buyer, your account is linked to that listing. That link isn’t shown to other people.

Legal requests and safety

We disclose information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, such as a valid subpoena or court order, or when it’s needed to protect someone from harm, prevent fraud or defend our rights.

If the business changes hands

If Throttle Marketplace merges with another company, is acquired or sells its assets, your information may transfer as part of that deal, and this policy keeps applying to it. When Throttle Marketplace becomes a limited liability company, this policy transfers to it.

Who at Throttle can see it

People who work on Throttle may access any conversation, listing or account to investigate reports, prevent fraud, provide support and respond to legal requests. Staff tools sit behind a separate sign-in. Every moderation and support action staff take there, such as a warning, a listing removal, a suspension, a ban or a reply, is logged. Staff can look up the phone number and email on an account when they need to, and each lookup is logged too.

Text messages

We text you only to send the one-time codes you ask for: to sign in, to confirm a new number and to confirm it’s you before you delete your account. We send them through Telnyx, one message per request. We don’t send marketing texts. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, START to opt back in or HELP for help, or email support@throttlemarketplace.com.

No selling, no targeted ads

Throttle doesn’t sell your personal information, and we don’t share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We don’t show targeted ads, there are no advertising tools in the app and we don’t build profiles of you for advertising.

We use sensitive information — your precise location and the contents of your messages — only to provide and protect the service.

The app’s “Do not sell or share my information” switch records your choice anyway. If our practices ever change, we’ll update this policy first and give you a way to opt out.

How long we keep it

We keep information while your account is open and for as long as we need it for the reasons in this policy. Here’s what happens to each kind.

When you delete your account

Your profile is hidden and your listings for sale come down right away, and we delete your push tokens so notifications stop. People you’ve messaged see “Deleted account” in place of your name, and nobody can send you a message. For a request by email, this happens when we schedule the deletion. You then have 30 days to change your mind: sign back in and tap Keep my account, or reply to us if you asked by email. When the 30-day window ends, we delete:

• your account and sign-in details, including your phone number and email address
• your profile, business profile and settings
• your listings and their photos
• your saved vehicles, saved searches and blocks
• the photos you sent in messages
• conversations with people who have already deleted their accounts
• your support tickets
• any data export we made for you

The messages you sent stay with the person you sent them to, because they’re part of that person’s conversation too. They’re no longer linked to your account: they show “Deleted account” in place of your name, and their photos are removed. We keep them for as long as the other person’s account exists. Nobody can send a message to a deleted account.

App events and records of your views on other people’s listings lose their link to your account, and app events are deleted within 90 days anyway. Reports you filed are kept but no longer linked to your account. Reports about your account, your listings or your messages keep your account’s id, so we can tell which reports were about the same account. We keep reports, records of moderation actions and copyright notices for as long as we need them for safety, fraud prevention and legal obligations. Copies of support emails in our inbox are kept separately from the app. Backups and service-provider logs are overwritten on their own schedules. The steps are also on Delete your account.

Everything else

Your choices and rights

Wherever you live in the US, you can ask us to:

• Access the personal information we have about you and get a copy.
• Correct information that’s wrong.
• Delete your information. Some things are kept, such as the messages you sent, which stay in the other person’s conversation, and reports and moderation records. See How long we keep it.
• Take it with you in a machine-readable file.
• Opt out of the sale of your information, sharing for targeted advertising and automated profiling that affects you in legal or similarly significant ways. We don’t do any of these, so there’s nothing to switch off.
• Withdraw consent to precise location by turning off location access in your device settings.

How to do it

• Download your data. In the app, go to You › Privacy & data › Download your data. You get a JSON file of your profile, settings, listings, saved vehicles and searches, conversations, reports, support tickets and blocks. It includes the messages you sent, not other people’s. It’s usually ready within minutes, and the download link works for 7 days. You can ask for one every 24 hours.
• Correct it. Edit your profile, listings and settings in the app. Details decoded from a VIN are locked on the listing, so to fix a VIN, choose “Correct a VIN” when you contact us in the app, or email us.
• Delete your account. In the app, go to You › Privacy & data › Delete account. To do it without the app, see Delete your account.
• Anything else. Email support@throttlemarketplace.com with the subject “Privacy request”.

When you delete an account that uses Sign in with Apple from the app on iPhone, we ask Apple to revoke Throttle’s access. Deleting by email doesn’t do that part, and you can always remove Throttle yourself in your Apple Account settings (Apple ID on older devices), under Sign in with Apple.

What happens next

We confirm a request comes from you before we act, using details we already have, such as a code sent to the phone number on the account. We answer within 45 days. If we need longer, we’ll tell you why before then, and we can extend once, by up to 45 more days.

Appeals. If we turn down all or part of a request, you can appeal by replying to our answer or by emailing support@throttlemarketplace.com with the subject “Privacy appeal”. We’ll reply within 60 days and explain what we decided. If we deny your appeal, you can contact your state attorney general. In Texas, you can file a complaint with the Texas attorney general.

Authorized agents. Someone you authorize can make a request for you. We’ll ask for proof, such as your signed permission, and may confirm the request with you directly.

No discrimination. We won’t deny you the service, charge you differently or give you a worse experience for using these rights.

State privacy notices

Several states, including California and Texas, give their residents privacy rights and ask companies to describe their practices in set terms. We give the rights above to everyone in the US, whether or not a particular state’s law applies to us. In those terms, over the past 12 months we’ve collected:

• Identifiers: phone number, email address, account id, install id, push token and IP address (from the app, the website and shared links)
• Personal records: your name and contact details
• Commercial information: the vehicles you list, save or ask about
• Internet or app activity: in-app events, crash reports and request logs from the app and the website
• Geolocation: your device location when you allow it, which is precise, and your listings’ approximate locations
• Photos: listing, VIN plate, message and profile photos
• Professional information: business profile details, including a dealer license number
• Sensitive information: precise location and the contents of your messages

We collect it from you, from your phone, from other people (for example when they message or report you) and from Apple if you use Sign in with Apple. We use it for the purposes in How we use it and disclose it for those purposes to the providers in Who we share it with. We don’t sell or share any of it, including sensitive information, and we don’t knowingly sell or share information about anyone under 16. We keep each kind as described in How long we keep it.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

We don’t track you across sites, so Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals don’t change anything here.

Children

Throttle isn’t directed to children under 13, and accounts are for adults: you must be 18 or older to create one, and the app asks you to confirm it when you sign up. Anyone can browse listings without an account. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it. If you think a child has given us personal information, email support@throttlemarketplace.com and we’ll delete it.

Security

We encrypt information in transit between your phone or browser and our servers. Database rules limit what each person can read and change. Staff tools sit behind a separate sign-in, and moderation and support actions taken there are logged.

All photos are kept in one photo store that isn’t behind a sign-in. The app shows message photos only in the conversation, and doesn’t show the VIN plate photo or photos on drafts to other people. But someone who queries that store directly can find and open any photo in it, including those. Don’t send a photo in a message that you wouldn’t want other people to see, such as an ID or a signed title.

No system is perfect, and we can’t promise your information will never be accessed without permission. If a breach affects you, we’ll tell you as the law requires. To report a security problem, email support@throttlemarketplace.com with the subject “Security”.

Changes to this policy

We’ll post changes here and update the dates at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

Version history

• September 23, 2026: first published.

Contact us

Throttle Marketplace
Email support@throttlemarketplace.com with the subject “Privacy”.

For anything else, see the contact page.