Privacy Policy

When you first visit ForgeNet, we use your IP address to estimate your country so we can show you sellers and listings near you first. This happens automatically on your first visit only.

• We call third-party geo-IP services (ipapi.co and ipwho.is) over a secure HTTPS connection.
• Only your country code (e.g., "IN", "AE", "US") is stored locally in your browser.
• We do not store your full IP address, city-level location, or any personally identifying information.
• You can override the auto-detected country at any time using the country selector in the top navigation.

We keep data only as long as necessary to operate the marketplace and comply with legal obligations.

ForgeNet securely collects only the information needed to operate a verified B2B industrial marketplace and connect buyers, suppliers, and skilled workers.

• Business profile: registered company name, trade category (supplier, fabricator, buyer), and primary point-of-contact name.
• Sign-in & contact details: email address and phone number collected during sign-up and verified at sign-in.
• GSTIN / tax identity (suppliers): GSTIN, PAN or equivalent local tax registration is collected to verify legitimate businesses before any listing goes live.
• Location details: city, state, and country are used to power localized filtering, show nearby sellers first, and estimate shipping — never precise GPS coordinates.
• Listing data: product titles, descriptions, images, pricing, and inventory you choose to publish.
• Order data: shipping address and order line items required to fulfill a transaction.

Sensitive business information is strictly hidden behind an authentication wall. ForgeNet never exposes contact details to anonymous visitors or web crawlers.

• Phone numbers and full business profiles are visible only to verified, logged-in users who explicitly initiate a connection or inquiry with the listing owner.
• Public listings show only the trade name, region, and listed inventory — direct contact details (phone, email, address) are never indexed or shared without authentication.
• GSTIN and tax identifiers are used internally for verification only and are never displayed publicly on listings or search results.
• Worker profiles follow the same rule: certifications and skills are public, but personal contact details unlock only after a buyer signs in and sends a hire request.
• We do not sell, rent, or share user data with advertisers or unrelated third parties.

All financial transactions and bank payouts on ForgeNet are processed through trusted third-party PCI-DSS compliant payment gateways (such as Razorpay and Stripe).

• No card or bank account data is ever stored on ForgeNet servers. Card numbers, CVVs, and full bank credentials are captured directly by the gateway in a secured, tokenized environment.
• Split payouts (2% platform commission / 98% vendor share) are executed by the payment gateway directly to the registered bank accounts of suppliers and workers.
• Supplier and worker bank details (account number, IFSC) used for payouts are stored encrypted at rest and are only ever transmitted to the payment gateway over TLS — they are never displayed back in plain text in the UI.
• Our internal systems handle only transaction identifiers, status callbacks, and the last four digits of payout accounts for reconciliation.

We use HTTPS/TLS for all data in transit, encrypted storage at rest, server-side session cookies (httpOnly) for authentication, and role-based access controls so that suppliers, workers, and admins can only reach the actions they are authorized for.

You have control over your data on ForgeNet.

• You can update or delete your account information from your Account settings at any time.
• You can request a full export of your data by contacting support.
• You can request account deletion, which removes your profile and listings within 30 days. Order records may be retained longer for legal compliance.
• Clearing your browser data removes locally stored preferences like your country selection.

ForgeNet is built on modern cloud infrastructure. We rely on the following categories of service providers to run the platform:

• Cloud hosting & database: Lovable Cloud (powered by Supabase) for data storage, authentication, and edge functions.
• IP geolocation: ipapi.co and ipwho.is (free, no-account APIs) for country detection.
• Analytics: No third-party tracking pixels or ad networks are used.

We do not sell your data to third parties. Subprocessors are bound by contractual obligations to process data only for the purposes of providing their services to ForgeNet.

ForgeNet uses browser local storage (not traditional cookies) to remember your preferences:

• forgenet_country — your selected or detected country code.
• forgenet_country_source — whether the country was auto-detected or manually chosen.
• forgenet_geo_privacy_seen — whether you have dismissed the geolocation privacy notice.

These are first-party, strictly necessary storage items. No tracking or advertising cookies are used.

If you discover a security issue or have a privacy concern, please contact us at privacy@forgenet.example.

We aim to respond to all privacy and security inquiries within 48 hours.