This policy explains how Observe handles personal information. It covers this website (getobserve.com.au), the Observe app (app.getobserve.com.au) and the emails they send. Observe is operated by Ahmed Badawe, a sole trader in Victoria, Australia (“Observe”, “we”, “us”). We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Observe is a service for businesses. Most of what it handles is business information, such as product listings, prices, costs and stock. This policy is about the personal information that comes with it: information about you and the people you work with.
What we collect
Your account. Your name, your email address and your password. We never store your password itself, only a one-way hash of it, so nobody at Observe can read it.
Your workspace and team. Your workspace’s name, the names, email addresses and roles of its members, and the email addresses of people you invite.
Your business information. Your store’s web address, the rival stores you track, your decisions on matches and supplier links, the units and holds you set, and anything else you enter. On the Pro plan, it also includes the dealer catalogues, costs and stock Observe reads from the suppliers you connect.
Your dealer logins. On the Pro plan, the usernames and passwords you give us for your suppliers’ dealer portals. They are encrypted with AES-256-GCM as soon as you save them, they are opened only to sign in to that supplier’s portal for your workspace, and nobody can view them again, your own team included.
Billing details. Payments are handled by Stripe. Stripe collects your billing address, your business name and ABN if you give them, and your card once you add one; we never see or store your full card number. We keep the identifiers Stripe gives us for your workspace as a customer and its subscription, with the plan, billing period and status.
Technical information. When you sign in, we record your IP address and your browser’s user agent with your session, so you can recognise your sessions and we can keep accounts secure. Sign-in attempts are counted by IP address to slow down password guessing. Our servers also keep error logs to diagnose faults.
What you send us. If you email us, we keep the message and our reply.
The product listings Observe reads from online stores are what those stores publish for every shopper to see. They describe products, not people.
How we use it
We use personal information to:
- provide Observe: run your account and workspace, sign you in, show you your data, and send the emails the service depends on, such as confirming your email address, resetting your password and inviting your team;
- bill your subscription through Stripe, which also sends receipts and reminders about your trial, renewals and payments;
- keep Observe and your account secure, and prevent fraud and abuse;
- answer your questions and support you;
- understand how Observe is used, to fix and improve it;
- meet our legal obligations, such as keeping tax records.
We do not sell personal information, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not send marketing emails.
Cookies
The Observe app uses cookies only to keep you signed in. They are essential: without them, the app cannot know who you are. This website sets no cookies of its own, and neither the website nor the app uses analytics, advertising or tracking services. Cloudflare, which delivers both, may set a cookie it needs to protect them from attacks.
Who we share it with
We share personal information only with the providers that run parts of Observe for us, and only as much as each needs:
- Stripe, for payments, invoices and billing emails;
- BinaryLane, whose servers in Sydney run the Observe app and hold its database;
- Cloudflare, which delivers this website and the app, and protects them;
- Resend, which sends Observe’s emails.
Within Observe, the members of a workspace can see each other’s names, email addresses and roles. Your workspace’s information is never shown to any other workspace, including other shops that use Observe.
We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Observe, our customers or others. If Observe’s business is ever sold or transferred, the information would pass to the new operator, under this policy.
Information sent overseas
Observe’s app and database run in Sydney. Some of our providers handle information elsewhere: Stripe and Resend are based in the United States, Resend sends our email from servers in Japan, and Cloudflare and Stripe operate around the world. We choose providers that protect the information they handle for us.
How we protect it
All traffic to Observe is encrypted with HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as hashes and dealer logins are encrypted. The servers that hold your information accept no connections from the internet except through Cloudflare, and only the people who run Observe can reach them. No system is perfectly secure, but if a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and, where the law requires, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
How long we keep it
We keep your information while you have an account. Sign-in sessions end after 30 days without use. Sign-in attempt counts are deleted after a day, and email confirmation and password reset links expire after an hour.
You can delete your account in the app at any time. Before you can, you need to hand any workspace you own to someone else, or delete it, so that no workspace is left without an owner. Deleting your account removes your personal information from Observe. Deleting a workspace removes its data, including its dealer logins and supplier catalogues.
Stripe keeps billing records as its own obligations require, and we keep the records that tax law requires. Copies in backups are removed as those backups are replaced.
Your choices and rights
In the app you can change your name and password, sign out your other sessions, see your workspace’s members and invitations, and delete your account. To change your email address, write to us. You can also ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it or delete it, or ask a question about how we handle it, by writing to contact@getobserve.com.au. We will reply within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with how we handle a request or complaint, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
Children
Observe is a service for businesses and is not meant for anyone under 18.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also tell account holders by email before it takes effect.
Contact us
Observe is operated by Ahmed Badawe, a sole trader in Victoria, Australia. Write to contact@getobserve.com.au with any question about this page, your account or your information.