Privacy Policy

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how Free Market Skills LLC ("FMS", "we", "us") handles personal information when you visit freemarketskills.com or use our services (the "Service"). It should be read together with our Terms of Service.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account details: your name, email address, password (stored only as a secure hash, never in readable form), @handle, country, and the @handle of the member who referred you.
• Profile details: professional titles, skills, industries, locations (including ZIP-based locations), barter rates, your "about" text, skill value offering, wish list, work example and website links, business name and logo, investment listing, phone number, profile photo, availability, and God's Warrior or Religious Leader information if you use those features.
• Communications: messages you send to other members, support tickets, contact-form messages, special offers, and needs you post.
• Transactions: membership purchases, Recognition Store purchases, Barter Coin exchanges, and cash-out requests. If you request a cash-out, we may ask you to verify your identity before a payout.
• Things you type into ALICE: descriptions of your experience and other text you give our AI assistant to help build your profile.

Information collected automatically

• Activity on FMS: logins, directory searches, profile views, contacts added, Barter Coin earned and spent, and login streaks. Many of these drive Barter Coin rewards and your True Market Value.
• Session information: a session identifier that keeps you signed in, and, if you choose "Keep me signed in", a remember-me token. See Cookies.
• Server and security logs: like most websites, our web server records basic request information such as IP address, browser type, pages requested, and time. For contact-form spam protection we store a one-way hash of your IP address (not the address itself) and your browser's user-agent string.

Information from others

• Members: the member who referred you, members who send you recognition or Barter Coin, and members who add you as a contact or message you.
• Payment processor: confirmation that a payment succeeded, such as the amount and a transaction reference. We do not receive or store your full card number.

3. How we use information

• to create and run your account, profile, and membership;
• to show your profile in the directory and help members find you by skill, title, industry, and location;
• to suggest matches, titles, and skills through ALICE;
• to operate Barter Coin, rankings such as the Top 50, referrals, and cash-outs;
• to process payments and send service emails such as account verification, password resets, and replies to your messages;
• to provide support, respond to reports, and moderate content;
• to detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security problems, and to enforce our Terms;
• to maintain and improve the Service, and to comply with legal obligations.

We do not use your information for third-party advertising, and we do not sell it.

4. What other members can see

FMS is a directory, so sharing your skills with members is the point. The directory, member profiles, and search are available to signed-in members.

• Your profile shows your name, @handle, photo, titles, skills, industries, location, rates, and the other details you add, limited by what your membership level displays. You can choose which items to publish when you have more than your level shows.
• Depending on your membership level, your phone number and business details may be shown on your profile.
• Your email address is not displayed on your profile.
• If you are a VIP member, your name, photo, and one of your skills may appear in the Skill Spotlight, including on our public home page.
• Rankings such as the Top 50 show members' names and True Market Value to other members.
• Messages are visible to you and the members you message.

Authorized FMS staff and our platform developer can access account information when needed to provide support, investigate reports, prevent fraud, or keep the Service running.

5. Service providers & sharing

We share information only as described here:

• Payments: Authorize.net processes card payments. Card details go directly from your browser to Authorize.net.
• Email delivery: our email provider sends account and notification emails on our behalf.
• Hosting and development: our hosting provider stores the Service's data, and GoWebSmart Solutions builds and maintains the platform for FMS.
• AI (ALICE): ALICE uses Anthropic's AI service. When you use ALICE, we send the text you type, the titles and skills you are adding, and your profile's offering and wish-list text so it can draft suggestions, screen catalog submissions, and suggest matches. For matchmaking we send other members' offering and wish-list text identified only by an internal number, not their names or contact details.
• Fonts and page components: pages load fonts from Google Fonts and page components from the jsDelivr network. Your browser connects to those services directly, which lets them see your IP address.
• Legal and safety: we may disclose information if required by law or legal process, or when we believe in good faith it is needed to protect the rights, property, or safety of FMS, our members, or others.
• Business changes: if FMS is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.

Our providers may use the information we share only to provide their services to us.

6. Cookies

FMS uses only the cookies needed to run the site:

We do not use analytics, advertising, or social-media tracking cookies. Blocking these cookies in your browser will prevent you from signing in.

7. How long we keep information

We keep your account information while your account is active. If you delete your account, your profile is deactivated and removed from the directory and search right away. We may keep some records afterwards where needed for legitimate purposes, such as payment and Barter Coin records, fraud prevention, resolving disputes, and legal obligations. Contact-form messages are kept as long as needed to respond and follow up. If you would like your remaining information erased, contact us and we will delete what we are not required to keep.

8. Security

We protect information with measures such as encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, restricted access to data files, and protections against cross-site request forgery. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please use a strong, unique password and tell us right away if you suspect unauthorized access.

9. Your choices & rights

• Edit your profile at any time, choose which items to publish, and set yourself as available or unavailable.
• Delete your account from the Account tab of your profile editor.
• Request a copy, correction, or deletion of your personal information by emailing us. We will verify your request and respond within a reasonable time, and within any period required by law.

Depending on where you live (for example, California and other U.S. states with privacy laws), you may have rights to know, access, correct, or delete your personal information and to not be discriminated against for using those rights. FMS does not sell personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

10. Children

FMS is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Where data is stored

FMS is operated from the United States, and information is stored and processed in the United States. If you use the Service from outside the U.S., your information will be transferred to and processed in the U.S.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as FMS changes. We will post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, notify members by email or on the site before they take effect.

13. Contact us

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email support@freemarketskills.com or use our contact form.