Privacy Policy

Last updated: 6 November 2026

The Philatelist (thephilatelist.in) is a catalogue of Indian stamps and a community for the people who collect them. This policy explains what we collect when you use the site, why, who can see it, and how to have it deleted. We have tried to write it plainly; if anything is unclear, write to us (details at the end).

1. What we collect

When you create an account

• Your name, email address and password. The password is stored only as a secure hash; we can never see it. When you set a password we check it against Have I Been Pwned’s list of passwords exposed in data breaches: only the first five characters of a scrambled (hashed) form of it are sent, never the password itself.
• If you sign in with Google: your Google email address, name and profile picture, which you allow Google to share with us. We do not get your Google password, contacts or anything else.

What you add to your profile

• Where you collect from: a city you type, and an optional pin on a map. We store the pin rounded to about a kilometre, and only ever show the city or district, never a street address.
• What you collect, the year you started, a line about yourself, a photo, the societies you belong to, exhibitions and awards, languages and time zone.
• Whether you are “Open to swaps” or “Happy to help beginners”.
• For clubs and dealers: the contact details you choose to show on your profile.

Your collection and lists

• The stamps you mark as owned, their condition, your albums and their progress.
• Your want list (with notes and stars), the stamps you mark as spare, and the lines you add for things outside the catalogue.

What you write and upload

• Discussions and replies, with any photographs you attach. Photographs are re-saved by the site at a smaller size, which also removes the hidden information (such as camera location) a phone can store in them.
• Comments, questions and answers on exhibits; exhibit plans; finished exhibits (the PDF you upload); notes on stamps; “Shown at” entries.
• Meetups and exhibitions you list, their reports and photographs, and the events you say you are going to.
• Reports you make about posts or members, and their reasons.
• Suggestions and corrections you send us through “Share your knowledge” or the contact form.

Messages

When Messages is switched on, we store the messages you send and receive so that you and the other member can read them. Our team does not read members’ messages, except a message someone has reported to us. We keep counts (how many messages, how quickly people reply) to keep Messages safe, never their text.

Shop orders

When you buy from the shop we keep what an order needs: your name, delivery address, phone number, email address and what you ordered. Payments are made through Razorpay (UPI, cards, net banking): you enter your payment details on Razorpay’s own secure window and we never see or store your card or bank details. Razorpay tells us whether the payment succeeded.

Automatically

• Cookies that keep you signed in and remember your basket (see section 6).
• When you were last seen on the site, which we use for the account clean-up described in section 7.
• If you turn on notifications for Messages on a device, the address your browser gives us for sending them to that device.
• Standard server logs (such as IP address and pages requested), kept by our host for security.
• Visit statistics and advertising measurement, described in section 5.
• For some emails we send to members (such as news about a new product), whether the email was opened and which of its links were clicked. This is recorded by our own site, through a small image in the email and links that pass through thephilatelist.in, and is used only to understand what members find useful. Opens can’t be recorded if your email program blocks images.

2. How we use it

• To run the site and its features: your account, collection, albums, exhibits, discussions, the swap board and its matches, meetups and exhibitions, points and awards.
• To send you email: account emails you always get (confirming your email, password resets, closing your account, an event you listed being approved); a daily summary of what’s new for you (comments and answers on your exhibits, replies in discussions you follow, new swap matches, events coming up), with each part switched on or off in Settings; and occasional news about new features, which you can also switch off in Settings.
• To keep the community safe: reading reports, an automatic check for offers to buy or sell in help discussions, limits on how much can be posted or sent in a day, and our house rules.
• To deliver your shop orders.
• To understand which parts of the site are used, and to improve them.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for any purpose not described here.

3. What other members and visitors can see

• Public: your profile (name, city or district, photo, what you collect and the other profile details you fill in), your points and awards, what you post in discussions and on exhibits, your public notes, published exhibit plans and exhibits, events you list, and, if you are going to an event, your name and photo among those going.
• Public only if you choose: your collection and albums (you can make them private), and your want list and spares (shown only while “Open to swaps” is on).
• Private: your email address, password, messages, private notes and plans, orders, and settings.

4. Google user data

Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use the Google account information you share only to sign you in and set up your profile. We do not sell it, transfer it, or use it for advertising.

5. Services we use

Some parts of the site rely on other companies, which receive the information they need to do their part:

• Hostinger hosts the site and stores its data.
• Google: “Continue with Google” sign-in; Google Analytics (through Google Site Kit) for visit statistics; and, where used, Google Maps for suggesting city names.
• Meta (Facebook) Pixel to measure visits that come from our posts and advertisements on Facebook and Instagram.
• Razorpay to take payments for shop orders.
• Have I Been Pwned to check that a new password hasn’t appeared in a data breach (as described in section 1).
• OpenStreetMap for the maps (collectors, meetups) and, when you use “Find on the map” or “Use my location”, to look up a place. The text or position you look up is sent to OpenStreetMap’s service.
• Public code libraries (such as the map library) loaded from unpkg.com and jsDelivr.
• Your browser’s push service (such as Google’s or Apple’s), if you turn on notifications.

6. Cookies

• Necessary: to keep you signed in, keep your basket, protect forms against misuse, and remember small choices on your device (such as a dismissed message).
• Statistics and advertising measurement: set by Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser’s settings. Without the necessary ones you won’t be able to stay signed in or keep a basket.

7. How long we keep it, and deleting it

• Close your account yourself in My account → Settings. Your profile is hidden straight away; after 30 days your account, collection, lists and profile are deleted for good. Until then you can sign in and keep it. Messages other members already received stay with them.
• Accounts not used for a long time: if you haven’t been seen on the site for six months, we may email you; if you still haven’t signed in, we remind you after 15 days, and the account is deleted 30 days after the first email, with a final email to let you know. Members who have bought from the shop are not included.
• Shop orders are kept for as long as the law requires us to keep business records, even after an account is deleted.
• You can also ask us to delete your account and data at any time by writing to us; we will do it within 30 days.

8. Your choices

• Change or correct your profile at any time in My account → My profile.
• Choose which emails you get in My account → Settings, and who can write to you.
• Make your collection private, keep your lists private by leaving “Open to swaps” off, and keep notes and plans private.
• Ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or to correct or delete it.

9. Security

The site uses encrypted connections (HTTPS), stores passwords only as secure hashes, checks every form against misuse, and re-saves uploaded photographs rather than keeping them as sent. No method of storing or sending information is completely secure, but we take care to protect yours.

10. Children

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top and, for important changes, let members know by email or on the site.

12. Contact

For anything about your data or this policy, write to us at thephilatelist [dot] in [at] gmail [dot] com, or use our contact page.