How Rare Find collects, uses, and protects your personal information.
The short version: We collect information you give us when you sign up and data about how you use the platform. We use it to run the community, connect you with relevant content, and show you advertising from suppliers relevant to your collecting interests. We never sell your personal data to third parties. You can request deletion of your account and data at any time.
Rare Find is operated by Rare Find Community Pty Ltd (ABN pending), based in Australia. We provide an online community platform for fossickers, gem hunters, and mineral collectors.
For privacy enquiries, contact us at: privacy@rarefindcommunity.com
| Data | Why we collect it |
|---|---|
| First and last name | To personalise your experience and display your profile to other members |
| Email address | To create your account, send notifications, and communicate with you |
| Password | Stored as a secure hash — we never see or store your actual password |
| Fossicking region | To connect you with your local community, relevant legal information, and regional forum discussions |
| What you collect (gemstones, fossils, etc.) | To personalise your feed, match you with relevant community content, and serve relevant advertising |
| Experience level | To match you with appropriately pitched content and community members |
| How you heard about Rare Find | To understand which channels bring us new members — used for internal analytics only |
When you upload a photo for rock identification, the image is sent to our AI identification service for analysis. We store only the identification result, not the original photo, unless you explicitly save the find to your collection. EXIF location data embedded in photos is read to help suggest your region but is not stored.
Rare Find is free to use. To keep it free, we show advertising from suppliers, equipment retailers, gem dealers, tour operators, and other businesses relevant to the fossicking and collecting community.
We use your collecting profile (region, what you collect, experience level) to show you advertising that is relevant to your interests. For example, a member who collects opals in Queensland may see advertising from opal dealers or Lightning Ridge tour operators.
We do not sell your personal data to advertisers. Advertisers never receive your name, email address, or any individually identifiable information. They pay to reach our audience; they do not receive the audience list.
| Third party | Purpose | Data shared |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase Inc. | Database and authentication hosting | All account and profile data, stored in Singapore (closest available region to Australia on free tier) |
| Anthropic (Claude AI) | Rock and mineral identification from photos | Photo image only — no personal account data is sent |
| Mindat.org | Mineral database lookup to enrich identification results | Mineral name only — no personal data |
We do not share your personal data with any other third parties. We do not use Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, or any advertising tracking pixels.
Your data is stored on Supabase infrastructure in Singapore. Supabase is SOC 2 Type II certified and implements encryption at rest and in transit. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt and are never accessible in plain text by us or Supabase.
Row-level security is enabled on all database tables, meaning your data can only be accessed by you when logged in, and by authorised Rare Find administrators.
Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@rarefindcommunity.com. We will respond within 30 days.
We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion of your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days. Aggregated, anonymous statistics derived from your activity (e.g. total number of finds logged in a region) may be retained as they contain no personally identifiable information.
Rare Find is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will notify you by email and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of Rare Find after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
For any privacy-related questions or requests:
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).