Last updated 27 July 2026

1. Who we are

HomeCrowd is operated by TBS Shaw Ventures Pty Ltd (ABN [ABN]), trading as HomeCrowd Australia.

We respect your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who we share it with, and how you can access or correct it. We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

2. What we collect

We collect only what we need to run the Platform.

2.1 Information you give us

What	When	Why
Email address	Submitting an event, claiming a listing, posting to Lost & Found, subscribing to updates, contacting us	To verify you're real, publish your submission, and reply to you
Name	Contacting a Lost & Found poster, contacting us	So the recipient knows who is getting in touch
Contact details you choose to share	Lost & Found contact messages	Relayed to the other user so they can reply
Business details	Claiming or submitting a listing	To publish and maintain the listing
Photographs	Lost & Found posts	To publish with your post
Message content	Contact forms and relays	To pass on or respond to your message

2.2 Information collected automatically

• Usage and device data — pages viewed, approximate location derived from your IP address, browser and device type. Used to keep the Platform working and understand which features are used.
• IP address — used briefly to prevent duplicate voting and abuse of submission forms. We store only a one-way hashed value, not your raw IP address, for this purpose.
• Local storage on your device — game progress, streaks and statistics, and (only if you tick the box) a street address you've searched for bin collection days. Information stored on your device in this way is not transmitted to us.

2.3 Addresses you enter

Some tools ask for a street address — for example, to look up a bin collection day or a school catchment. That address is passed to the relevant data provider to perform the lookup. We do not store it on our servers. If you choose to save an address for bin day reminders, it is saved only in your own browser and you can clear it at any time by clearing your browser data.

2.4 What we do not collect

We do not collect sensitive information as defined by the Privacy Act (such as health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or criminal record). Please do not submit sensitive information through the Platform.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16.

3. Why we collect it

We use personal information to:

• publish the listings, events, posts and content you submit;
• verify that submissions are genuine, by confirming your email address;
• relay messages between users without exposing either party's email address;
• respond to enquiries, complaints and takedown requests;
• operate, maintain, secure and improve the Platform;
• prevent fraud, spam and abuse; and
• send you updates about HomeCrowd, if you have asked to receive them.

4. What we publish

Be aware that some information you submit is published publicly on the Platform:

• events you submit (including the event details and any contact details you include);
• Lost & Found posts, including any photograph and description;
• club and group suggestions; and
• business listing details.

Your email address is never published. It is used to verify your submission and to relay messages to you.

Please do not include personal information about other people — including photographs of identifiable individuals — without their consent.

5. Marketing and email

If you subscribe, we may send you occasional updates about HomeCrowd. Every message includes an unsubscribe link, and we honour unsubscribe requests promptly, in line with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We do not sell your email address.

6. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information.

We use third-party service providers to run the Platform. Depending on the feature you use, your information may be handled by:

• Hosting and infrastructure — Netlify, Webflow, Cloudflare
• Email delivery — Zoho Mail, and our email marketing provider
• Forms — Formspree
• Payments — Stripe (card details are handled by Stripe; we never see or store your full card number)
• Mapping, imagery and business data — Google (Places, Maps and Street View)
• Property data — our property data supplier
• Events and listings data — Ticketmaster and government open data providers
• Address lookup — OpenStreetMap/Nominatim

Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, including in the United States and the European Union. By using the Platform you consent to that disclosure. We take reasonable steps to use reputable providers with appropriate protections, but overseas recipients may not be subject to the Australian Privacy Principles.

We may also disclose information where required by law, to enforce our Terms of Use, or to protect the rights or safety of any person.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and browser local storage to keep the Platform working, remember your preferences, and understand usage. Most browsers let you refuse or delete cookies — but some features (including game progress and saved bin day addresses) rely on local storage and will not work if you disable it.

8. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access, including transport encryption, restricted access to credentials, and storing only hashed identifiers where a raw value is not needed.

No online system is completely secure. If we become aware of a data breach likely to cause serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

9. How long we keep it

• Unverified submissions are deleted automatically if not confirmed within a short period.
• Resolved Lost & Found posts are removed from public view shortly after being marked found, and deleted thereafter.
• Listings and events are kept while they remain current, and removed on request.
• Anonymous, aggregated data (such as game statistics or vote tallies) may be kept indefinitely, as it does not identify you.

10. Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask us at any time to:

• tell you what personal information we hold about you;
• correct it if it's wrong;
• delete it; or
• remove a listing, event or post you submitted.

Email nick@homecrowd.com.au. We will respond within a reasonable time, normally 30 days. There is no charge. We may need to verify your identity first.

11. Complaints

If you think we've mishandled your personal information, contact us at nick@homecrowd.com.au. We will investigate and respond.

If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — oaic.gov.au, or 1300 363 992.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The current version is always published on this page with the date it was last updated.

13. Contact

TBS Shaw Ventures Pty Ltd trading as HomeCrowd Australia ABN [ABN] Email: nick@homecrowd.com.au Post: [postal address]