Privacy Policy
What we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
1. Introduction
In short: This explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and what choices you have. We do not sell your personal information and we do not run third-party advertising trackers.
This Privacy Policy explains how Best Tailgate LLC ("Best Tailgate," "we," "us," "our") collects, uses, and shares personal information when you use besttailgate.com, the Best Tailgate mobile app for iPhone and Android, and our related services (the "Service"). It applies to visitors, account holders, creators, and buyers.
The Service is offered only in the United States and is intended for users located in the United States.
2. Information we collect
In short: Your account basics, what you post, what you buy or earn, and basic technical logs — plus, in the mobile app, only the phone permissions you allow. Payment card numbers never reach us.
2.1 Information you give us
| What | Examples |
|---|---|
| Account | Email address; first and last name; nickname or display name; username |
| Profile | Avatar image, favorite team, and any profile details you add |
| Your content | Photos, artwork you upload for products, posts, chat messages, comments, tailgate page details, and any content you submit |
| Waitlist | If you join before launch: your name, email, and favorite team; for sponsor inquiries, your name, email, company name, and sponsorship type |
| Support and legal | Messages you send us, IP reports and counter-notices, and related correspondence |
2.2 Transaction information. When you buy swag or send a tip, Stripe processes your payment. Best Tailgate never receives, holds, or stores your full payment card number. We receive and store transaction records — amount, currency, the products or tip involved, order and payment identifiers, status, and our platform fee. For shipped orders we receive the shipping name and address needed for fulfillment.
2.3 Creator information. If you enable monetization, Stripe collects the identity, bank, and tax information required to verify you and pay you. That information is held by Stripe under its own agreement with you. We receive your connected account identifier, payout and charge status, and your earnings and balance data — not your full bank or government-ID details.
2.4 Information collected automatically. Our hosting and database providers keep standard request and security logs, which include your IP address, browser and device type, pages requested, referring page, and timestamps. We also use your IP address to limit how often sign-in codes, tips, orders, and similar requests can be sent from one connection; these short-term records are not linked to your account and are usually removed after about a day. We record an IP address alongside certain legal acceptances and attestations (see section 3.5). We also keep our own record of when your account signs in and opens the app (see section 2.8).
2.5 Information from others. A tailgate's owner can invite someone to join the tailgate's crew, and a tailgate's owners and crew can invite someone to a game, by entering that person's email address. When they do, we:
- save the address with the invitation;
- if no Best Tailgate account uses that address yet, create a sign-in for it, holding only the email address, so the invitation can be connected to the person when they sign in; and
- send that address an email from Best Tailgate saying which tailgate the invitation is for and who sent it (the inviter's nickname, or their first and last name if they have not set a nickname), with a link to sign in and respond.
We use the address only to deliver the invitation, show its status to the tailgate's hosts, and connect it to the person when they sign in. A crew invitation's address can be seen by the tailgate's owners; a game invitation's address can be seen by the tailgate's owners and crew. We fetch sports schedules, scores, and news from third-party sports data sources — that content is about games and teams, not about you, and we do not send your personal information to those sources.
2.6 What we do not collect. We do not collect date of birth. We do not run third-party advertising or analytics trackers, and we do not use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking pixels. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.
2.7 The mobile app and device permissions. The Best Tailgate app for iPhone and Android is another way to use the same Service. It collects the same kinds of information described above — your account, what you post, and what you buy — and it contains no advertising or analytics trackers. It keeps your sign-in session in encrypted storage on your phone and remembers a few display preferences on the device. The app asks your phone's permission before it uses any of the following, and you can change each permission at any time in your phone's settings:
| Permission | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| Notifications | If you allow notifications, your phone gives the app a push token — an identifier for the app on that device — which we store with your account and the device type (iPhone or Android). We use it only to send you notifications about your activity on the Service: new chat messages, RSVPs to a tailgate you host, your swag order shipping, and gameday reminders. A chat notification shows the sender's name and the message text. If you do not allow notifications, no token is created. To stop notifications, turn them off for Best Tailgate in your phone's settings. Signing out of the app deletes that device's token from our records, and we also delete a token when the push service tells us the app has been removed from the device. Asking to delete your account deletes all of your tokens right away. Apart from this push token, the app does not create or send us any identifier for your phone or for the app installation. |
| Location | Used only while you are using the app or website, and only when you tap a location button — never in the background. When you ask to see tailgates near you on the Discover page of the website or the app, your location is used on your device to sort the list and is not sent to us. When a tailgate host uses their current location to drop a gameday pin, those coordinates are sent to us and saved with that game, and are shown only to the signed-in people the host chooses: the tailgate's members and followers, that game's attendees, or crew only. The host can change or remove the pin at any time. |
| Camera and photos | Used to scan a gameday check-in QR code and to take or choose photos you want to post. When you scan a code, the camera image is read on your phone and is not saved or sent to us; we record only the check-in itself (which tailgate and game you checked in to). A photo is uploaded only when you choose to post it, and is then handled like any other content you post. |
2.8 Our own activity records. We keep a simple record of when your account is created, when you sign in (on the website or in the app), and when you open the app or return to it. Each record holds your account, what happened, and the time; records from the app also note whether it is the iPhone or Android app and the app version. They do not include your IP address or any identifier for your device. We collect these ourselves — no third-party analytics company receives them — and use them to count active users and understand how the Service is used. Only Best Tailgate staff can see them, through our internal tools. When your account is permanently deleted, these records are kept without any link to you.
3. How we use information
We use personal information to:
- Provide the Service — create and maintain your account, host and display your content, run tailgate pages, crews, chat, and storefronts.
- Process transactions — take payments, calculate and pay out creator earnings, arrange fulfillment and shipping, and handle refunds, returns, and disputes.
- Communicate with you — send sign-in links, order and payment notifications, welcome and waitlist emails, and service announcements.
- Keep the Service safe — detect and prevent fraud, abuse, spam, and payment-card testing; enforce rate limits; investigate violations of our Terms and Community Guidelines.
- Handle IP and legal matters — process copyright and trademark complaints, counter-notices, and repeat-infringer enforcement.
- Maintain legal records — record which policy version you accepted and when, and record artwork rights certifications (section 3.5).
- Improve the Service — understand which features are used and fix problems.
- Comply with law — meet tax, accounting, and other legal obligations, and respond to lawful requests.
3.5 Acceptance and attestation records. When you accept our Terms and Privacy Policy, confirm you are at least 13, accept creator terms, agree to the rules for selling in your store, or certify that you own the rights to artwork you upload, we record your user ID, which document version you accepted, the time, and the IP address of the request. These are legal records that evidence your agreement. They are kept in a server-only store that ordinary application users cannot read.
3.6 We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
6. How long we keep information
| Category | Retention |
|---|---|
| Account and profile | While your account is active |
| Your content | Until you delete it or your account is closed, subject to backups and copies already shared |
| Transaction and payout records | As required for tax, accounting, and legal purposes — generally at least seven years. This includes the name, email address, and shipping address on an order and the name and email address given with a tip, which stay with the record after your account is deleted |
| Policy acceptance and IP attestation records | Retained as legal records after account closure, because they evidence agreements and rights certifications; on deletion the link to your account is cleared, while the document version, the timestamp, and the IP address of the request are kept |
| Artwork files uploaded for swag | Kept after account closure for as long as the swag products and artwork-rights records that refer to them are kept |
| IP complaints, counter-notices, and enforcement records | Retained to administer our repeat-infringer policy |
| Server and security logs | Retained for a limited period for security and troubleshooting |
| Short-term abuse-prevention records (IP address) | Usually removed after about a day; not linked to your account |
| Our own activity records (section 2.8) | Kept to measure how the Service is used; after your account is permanently deleted they are kept without any link to you |
| Invitation email addresses (section 2.5) | Kept with the invitation until the tailgate or game is deleted or the invited person's account is permanently deleted; a crew invitation is also deleted when the account of the person who sent it is permanently deleted |
| Push notification tokens | Until you sign out of the app on that device, we learn the app has been removed from the device, or you ask to delete your account |
| Waitlist entries | Until launch and for a reasonable period afterward, or until you ask us to remove you |
Backups are retained on a rolling basis and are overwritten in the ordinary course.
7. Your choices and rights
In short: You can delete your account yourself, in the app or on the website — the steps are right below. You can also ask us for a copy of your data or to correct it.
7.1 How to delete your account
You can delete your account yourself, in the Best Tailgate app or on the website.
In the app (iPhone or Android)
- Open the Best Tailgate app and sign in.
- Tap the Profile tab.
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Delete my account.
- Type DELETE in the box labeled "Type DELETE to confirm".
- Tap Delete my account.
On the website
- Go to besttailgate.com and sign in.
- Select your profile picture at the top of the page (labeled "Your profile") to open your profile settings.
- At the bottom, select Delete my account.
- Type DELETE in the box labeled "Type DELETE to confirm".
- Select Delete my account.
If you see "Resolve these first:" — you still own a tailgate, or you have creator earnings in Stripe that have not been paid out. Delete each tailgate listed (or wait for your balance to pay out, or withdraw it in Stripe), then try again.
What happens next. Your account is deactivated and hidden immediately, you are signed out on every device, and we email you the date it will be permanently deleted — 30 days later. To change your mind, sign in again before that date and choose Restore my account. After the 30 days we permanently delete your account and email you to confirm.
7.2 What is deleted and what we keep
When your account is permanently deleted, we delete your account and sign-in, your profile details, your profile picture, your crew memberships and the tailgates you follow, crew invitations you sent or received, game invitations sent to you, your check-ins, your reactions, predictions and votes, your badges, teams you follow, the people you blocked or muted, your claims on bring-list items (the items stay on the list), the photos you sent in chat, and your push notification tokens. If you connected a Stripe account to get paid, we ask Stripe to close it.
We keep, without your name on it:
- Posts, comments, and gallery photos you shared on tailgate pages, which are shown as by "Deleted User".
- Gameday posts and chat messages you wrote, with your name removed, so conversations still make sense to the other people in them.
- Game RSVPs, under the nickname or first name you RSVP'd with, no longer linked to your account.
- Our own activity records (section 2.8), no longer linked to your account.
We keep as records we must or are entitled to keep:
- Orders you placed and tips you sent — the amount, the items, and the name, email address, and shipping address given with the order or tip — as transaction records, no longer linked to your account.
- Sales, tips, and payouts you received as a creator, attributed to "Deleted User".
- Policy-acceptance and artwork-rights records (section 3.5) — the document version, time, and IP address — with the link to your account cleared.
- Artwork you uploaded for swag — the image files, and the copies we made of them for printing — because the swag products and artwork-rights records we keep refer to them, and past orders were made from those products.
- Copyright and trademark complaint and enforcement records.
How long each kind of record is kept is in section 6. We cannot remove content that others have shared or reposted, and deleted information can remain in our database backups until they are overwritten. We will tell you if we cannot delete something and why.
7.3 Access, correction, and other requests. You can view and edit much of your profile in the app and on the website. To request access to or correction of your personal information, or to make a deletion request another way, email privacy@besttailgate.com. We will verify your request against the email address on your account. We are still building self-serve data export; until it ships, email is the way to request a copy of your data, and we handle it manually.
7.4 Email. You can unsubscribe from non-essential emails using the link in the message. We still need to send you service messages such as sign-in links and order notifications.
7.5 State privacy rights. Depending on where you live — including California, Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, Utah, and other states with comprehensive privacy laws — you may have the right to:
- know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose;
- access a copy of it in a portable format;
- correct inaccurate personal information;
- delete your personal information;
- opt out of sale, sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising, or profiling with legal effects — we do none of these;
- not be discriminated against for exercising your rights.
We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, including the personal information of anyone we know to be under 16.
To exercise a right, email privacy@besttailgate.com. We will respond within the timeframe the applicable law requires (generally 45 days, extendable where permitted). You may use an authorized agent where the law allows; we will ask for proof of authorization. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision with the word "Appeal"; we will respond to appeals within the period required by your state's law, and where required we will tell you how to contact your state attorney general.
7.6 California "Shine the Light." We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.
7.7 Notice of financial incentive. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information.
8. Children
The Service is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Users must be at least 13 to create an account and confirm this at sign-up. Users must be 18 or older to buy anything or to earn money on the Service. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email privacy@besttailgate.com and we will delete the account and the information.
9. Security
We take reasonable measures to protect personal information, including encryption in transit, database access controls that restrict each user to their own data, server-side authorization checks on sensitive operations, and payment handling delegated entirely to Stripe so that card numbers never reach our systems.
No online service can be completely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to or stored on the Service, and you share content at your own risk. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and any regulators as required by law.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date and version above and post the new version at besttailgate.com/privacy. If we make material changes, we will provide reasonable notice — by email or an in-product notice — before they take effect. Your continued use after the effective date means you accept the updated policy.
11. Contact us
Best Tailgate LLC
- Privacy, data, and deletion requests: privacy@besttailgate.com
- Legal notices: legal@besttailgate.com
- Copyright / IP: dmca@besttailgate.com
- General support: support@besttailgate.com