Privacy Policy
Last updated: 26 October 2026
In short
- BarLink is a network for people who work in the bar and hospitality trade, for adults aged 18 and over.
- We use your data to run your account, your profile, chats, jobs, events, World Class and the Marketplace, and to keep the community safe.
- We don't sell your data and we don't show third-party advertising.
- Your profile and what you post are visible to other members. Your chats are only for the people in them.
- You can download your data and delete your account in the app at any time (Settings).
1. Who we are
BarLink (“BarLink”, “we”, “us”) is responsible (the “controller”) for the personal data processed through the BarLink app and website. BarLink is registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KvK) under number 96109092, at Heathrowstraat 98, 1043 CH Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Questions about privacy: support@barlinkapp.com.
2. What we collect
Information you give us
- Account: email address and password (stored encrypted by our login provider), or your name and email from Google or Apple if you sign in with them. With Apple you can choose to hide your email address. Guest accounts have no email address.
- Date of birth: to confirm you are 18 or over.
- Profile: name, username, profile photo, role (for example bartender, bar manager, brand ambassador), workplace, years of experience, bio, favourite cocktail, city, region and country, and optional links such as Instagram or a website. Bars can add an address, location and cover photo.
- Content you post: posts, photos and videos, comments, likes, events and RSVPs, job ads and job applications, bar listings, reviews and ratings, reports, feedback and support requests.
- Messages: your chats and chat requests with other members.
- Marketplace: your listings and photos, offers, orders, delivery address and phone number (for shipping), ratings, and for sellers your seller type. Business sellers also give their business name, KvK number, VAT number and business address.
- World Class and competitions: receipt photos you upload to earn points (with the product, category and quantity), entries and submissions, and the points, scores and rankings that follow from them.
- Settings and choices: for example saved bars, blocked members, notification preferences and the version of our terms you accepted.
Information we receive from others
- Google or Apple, if you sign in with them: your name, email address and (Google) profile photo.
- Stripe, our payment provider: whether a payment succeeded or was refunded, and for sellers whether your payout account is verified and can receive payouts. We never see your full card or bank details.
- Sendcloud and the carriers (such as PostNL and DPD): the shipping label, tracking number and delivery status of a parcel.
- Other members: for example when someone mentions you, messages you, reviews you as a seller or reports content.
Information collected automatically
- Location: only if you allow it. We use your device location to show nearby bars, events and items, and to set your country or region. In the Marketplace we use the city in a listing to show distance; we don't publish exact addresses.
- Device and usage data: app version, device type and operating system, when you were last active, which features you use, crash reports and app performance data. We use Firebase Analytics, Crashlytics and Performance Monitoring for this.
- Push notification token: a code that lets us send notifications to your device, if you allow notifications.
3. Why we use it and our legal basis
| Purpose | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|
| Creating and running your account, profile, feeds, chats, jobs, events, bars and notifications you ask for | Performance of our agreement with you |
| Checking that you are 18 or over | Legal obligation and our legitimate interest in keeping minors off an alcohol-trade platform |
| Marketplace: listings, checkout, payments, shipping, payouts, Buyer Protection, refunds, returns and disputes | Performance of our agreement with you |
| World Class: checking receipts, awarding points, judging entries and showing leaderboards | Performance of our agreement with you (the competition rules) |
| Keeping BarLink safe: verifying accounts, preventing fraud and spam, handling reports, moderating content, suspending accounts and keeping records of these decisions | Our legitimate interest in a safe community, and our legal obligations under the EU Digital Services Act |
| Bookkeeping, invoices and seller statements; reporting seller income to the tax authority where the law requires it | Legal obligation |
| Fixing errors, measuring how the app is used and improving it | Our legitimate interest in a reliable, useful app |
| Service messages (for example security alerts, order updates, changes to our terms) | Performance of our agreement and legal obligation |
| Using your device location and sending push notifications | Your consent, which you can withdraw in your phone's settings |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your privacy. You can object (see Your rights).
We do not use your data for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. Our systems flag possible problems (for example an order that hasn't shipped), but decisions about your account are taken by people.
4. What other members see
- Visible to members: your profile (name, username, photo, role, workplace, bio, city and country and the other details you add), your posts, comments, events, job ads, bars, reviews and Marketplace listings, and your seller rating.
- Only for the people involved: chats, job applications (you and the employer), and order details (the buyer and seller see each other's name and what is needed to complete the order; a seller sees the delivery address for orders they ship).
- Business sellers: the law requires us to show buyers your business name, contact details, KvK and VAT number.
- World Class: your name, points and rankings can appear on leaderboards; judges see the entries they judge.
Our admins and moderators can see what is needed to handle reports, support requests and orders.
5. Who we share data with
We don't sell your personal data. We share it only with:
- Service providers that run BarLink for us (processors), under a contract that limits what they may do with it:
- Google (Firebase): login, database, file storage, server functions, push notifications, analytics, crash and performance reports; Google Maps and Places for maps and address search; Google Workspace for our email.
- Algolia: search in the Marketplace (listing details, not your account details).
- Sendcloud: creating shipping labels and tracking parcels.
- Companies that are responsible for their own processing:
- Stripe processes payments and payouts and verifies sellers' identity, under its own privacy policy (stripe.com/privacy).
- Carriers such as PostNL and DPD receive the name, address and contact details needed to deliver a parcel.
- Google and Apple, if you choose to sign in with them.
- Competition partners: for World Class and other competitions, the brand partner running the competition may receive entries, scores and the contact details of finalists and winners, as described in that competition's rules.
- Authorities, when the law requires it (for example the tax authority for reporting on sellers, or the police with a valid order), or to protect the rights and safety of our members.
- A buyer of our business, if BarLink is sold or merged, under the same protections as this policy.
6. Data outside the EU
We store BarLink's main database and files in the European Union. Some of our providers (such as Google, Stripe and Algolia) are also based in or give support from the United States or other countries. When data leaves the European Economic Area, we make sure it is protected, for example because the provider is certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or has signed the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
7. How long we keep data
- Your account and content: for as long as you have an account. When you delete your account, we delete your profile, posts, comments, photos and videos, and remove you from chats, events and lists, usually straight away and at the latest within 30 days. Copies in our backups disappear within 90 days.
- Messages: your own messages are deleted with your account. Messages other people sent to you stay with them.
- Marketplace orders and invoices: 7 years, because Dutch tax law requires it. When you delete your account, we remove the personal details we don't need from these records.
- Open orders: you can't delete your account while an order is still in progress, because money may be held for you or owed to you.
- Safety records (reports, moderation decisions, bans): up to 2 years after the decision, or longer if needed for a legal claim or a repeated violation.
- Analytics and crash data: up to 14 months.
8. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to:
- access your data and take it with you: use Download my data in the app's settings, or email us;
- correct your data: most of it you can edit in your profile;
- delete your data: use Delete account in the app's settings, or email us;
- restrict or object to how we use your data, including where we rely on legitimate interests;
- withdraw your consent at any time, for example for location or notifications in your phone's settings.
Email support@barlinkapp.com to use these rights. We answer within one month. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.
9. Phone permissions and notifications
- Location: nearby bars, events and items, and your country or region.
- Camera, photos and microphone: only to take or choose the photos and videos you upload (with sound for videos).
- Notifications: messages, replies, events, orders and other updates you can manage in the app.
You can change these permissions in your phone's settings at any time. Some features won't work without them.
10. Security
We protect your data with encryption in transit, access rules that limit who can read what, secure login, and access for staff only where their work needs it. Payment details are handled by Stripe and never stored by BarLink. No system is perfectly secure: if a data breach is likely to put you at risk, we will tell you and the Dutch Data Protection Authority as the law requires.
11. Age limit
BarLink is only for people aged 18 and over. We ask for your date of birth when you create an account. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we delete it.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy, for example when we add features. We show the date of the latest version at the top. If a change is important, we tell you in the app before it applies.
13. Contact and complaints
For questions or requests, email support@barlinkapp.com or write to BarLink, Heathrowstraat 98, 1043 CH Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
If you are not happy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl) or the data protection authority in your own country.