Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Howdoicomputer, LLC ("Plukio", "we", "us") collects, uses, and shares information when you use Plukio at plukio.com (the "Service"). Plukio is a search and discovery service for independent online shops — purchases happen on the shops' own websites, never on Plukio, and we never process payments or receive payment details.

Information we collect

Information you give us:

Account details — your email address and display name. We use passwordless, magic-link sign-in, so we do not collect or store passwords. Accounts are optional.
Favorites and follows — the items and shops you save while signed in.
Content you create — messages to claimed shops, shop reports, and support requests.
Shop-claim details, if you claim a shop — the verification data needed to confirm you control the shop's domain or site.

Information we collect automatically: log and device data (such as IP address, browser type, and pages viewed); essential session / authentication cookies; outbound-click records — when you follow a "buy" link off Plukio we record which listing was clicked, when, and a session identifier, so shops can see the traffic Plukio sends them and we can understand what's useful (automated/bot clicks are filtered out); search-query records — when you search the catalog we record the query text, the number of results, and the same session identifier, so we can improve relevance and suggest related searches; and listing-view records — when you open a listing's page we record which listing, when, which part of Plukio you came from, and the same session identifier, so we can tell how often a listing was looked at rather than only how often it was clicked through.

About that third one, plainly: an earlier version of this policy said we kept no server-side history of what you looked at. That is no longer true, and we would rather say so than quietly reword it. Listing views are now recorded, for one reason: without them, "12 people clicked through to your shop" is a number with no denominator, and we cannot tell a shop owner whether their listing was seen and passed over or never seen at all. The record is the listing, the time, the referring part of Plukio, and the session identifier — not a browsing history attached to you, and not shared with anyone. Your recently viewed list, the one you see on Plukio itself, is still kept only in your own browser and is still never sent to us.

Indexed shop information: the shop and product content on Plukio (shop names, listings, prices, images) is collected from shops' own public websites — it is published commercial information about shops, not information about you. Shop owners can control or remove it at any time (see plukio.com/bot).

How we use your information

To operate the Service — search, favorites, follows, and messaging.
To create and secure your account and sign you in via magic-link email.
To send transactional messages (such as magic links) and, where permitted, marketing email you can opt out of at any time. Email is delivered through our provider, Lettermint.
To attribute outbound clicks — showing claimed shops the traffic Plukio sends them, in aggregate.
To improve discovery — search queries, listing views, and clicks feed aggregate relevance signals (related searches, related items, trending) that never identify you.
To tell shops how their listings performed — in aggregate, and never as anything resembling an individual's browsing history. Where a figure would be based on too few people to be anonymous, we withhold it rather than show it.
For trust and safety — preventing fraud, reviewing reported shops, verifying shop claims, and enforcing our policies.
To comply with legal obligations.

How we share your information

With shops you contact: if you message a claimed shop, that shop sees your display name and your messages. Claimed shops see aggregate click statistics, not your identity.
When you leave for a shop's website: clicking "buy" takes you to the shop's own site, which collects information under its own privacy policy. The link tells the shop the visit came from Plukio; anything you do there (including any purchase) is between you and the shop.
Service providers: companies that operate the Service for us — Lettermint (email delivery), DigitalOcean (hosting and infrastructure), and Cloudflare (network and content delivery). They may use your information only to provide services to us.
Legal and safety: when required by law or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Plukio, our users, or the public.
Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

We do not sell your personal information.

Our legal bases (EEA, UK and Switzerland)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on the following bases to process personal data:

Performance of a contract — operating your account, signing you in, delivering messages you send to shops.
Legitimate interests — running and securing the Service, measuring what people find useful, attributing outbound clicks to the shops that earned them, and building and maintaining the index itself. We index public storefront and catalog information; where a shop is run by one person, that information can also be personal data, and our interest in operating a search service is balanced against the shop owner's rights by the controls described at plukio.com/bot — including removal on request, without argument.
Consent — marketing email, where we send it. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Legal obligation — where the law requires us to keep or produce records.

Where we rely on legitimate interests you have the right to object, and for shop information that objection is honored as removal from the index.

Payments

Plukio has no checkout and processes no payments. Any purchase you make happens on the shop's own website under the shop's own payment provider and privacy policy — we never see your payment details.

Cookies and similar technologies

We set one first-party cookie. It is signed, it is cleared when your browser session ends, and it carries two things: your sign-in state, if you are signed in, and a random session identifier.

We want to be exact about that session identifier, because it is not purely technical. It is the identifier attached to the outbound-click, search, and listing-view records described above, which lets us count distinct sessions instead of raw events — so part of its purpose is measurement, not just keeping the Service working. It is random, it means nothing outside Plukio, and it is not linked to your account unless you are signed in.

Because the cookie is cleared when your browser session ends, we cannot and do not recognize you as a returning visitor. That is a deliberate choice rather than a technical limit: we could make the cookie persist and learn a great deal more about repeat behavior, and we have decided not to.

We set no third-party cookies, run no advertising or cross-site tracking, and do not follow you to other websites. Your recently viewed list is stored only in your own browser and never sent to us.

Your rights and choices

Depending on your state, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to opt out of marketing. California residents have rights under the CCPA / CPRA, including the right to know, delete, and correct their information, and to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information — which we do not do.

If you are in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland you also have the right to access your personal data; to have it corrected; to have it erased; to restrict how we process it; to receive it in a portable form; to object to processing we base on legitimate interests; and to withdraw consent where we rely on it, without affecting processing carried out before you withdrew. You may also lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

To exercise any of these, email [email protected]. You can unsubscribe from marketing email at any time using the link in those messages. If you run a shop we index, the fastest route is plukio.com/bot, which removes a shop without needing an account or a conversation with us.

Data retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. When you close your account, we delete your personal information within 30 days, except where we are legally required to keep certain records longer. Raw outbound-click records are kept for a limited period (currently around six months) before being reduced to daily aggregates; raw search-query records are kept for about 90 days before being reduced to aggregate search-phrase statistics; raw listing-view records are kept for a shorter period still — currently about 30 days — before being reduced to daily per-listing counts that carry no session identifier.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

Where we operate

Plukio is based in and operated from the United States, and we store and process information there. Our index covers shops worldwide, and shoppers reach us from everywhere — so if you are outside the United States, using Plukio means your information is transferred to and processed in the United States, a country whose data protection laws differ from your own.

Howdoicomputer, LLC is the controller of the personal data described in this policy. Our contact details are at the end of this page.

Children

Plukio is intended for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your information? Email [email protected], or write to Howdoicomputer, LLC, 1650 NW 21st Avenue, Portland, OR 97209.