Policy and Privacy

VAKOA Athletics Pty Ltd (ABN 531 071 824 59) ("VAKOA", "we", "us" or "our") is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

1. What information we collect

• Identity & contact data — name, email, phone, profile photo, suburb and postcode.
• Account data — username, hashed password, authentication tokens.
• Expert data — qualifications, AUSactive registration, certifications, insurance details, ABN, payout details.
• Booking & payment data — sessions, messages, transaction records (card data handled by our PCI-DSS payment provider; we do not store full card numbers).
• Location data — approximate location from IP, or precise location with permission.
• Device & usage data — IP, browser, device IDs, pages visited, cookies.

2. How we collect it

Directly from you when you sign up, complete your profile, book a session or contact support; and from third parties such as identity-verification providers, payment processors and analytics services where authorised by you or permitted by law.

3. Why we use it

• Create and manage your account;
• Match clients with suitable experts;
• Process bookings, payments and expert payouts;
• Verify expert credentials and maintain platform safety;
• Provide customer support;
• Send transactional emails and (with consent) marketing you can unsubscribe from at any time;
• Comply with legal obligations including taxation and consumer-protection laws;
• Detect, prevent and respond to fraud or misuse.

4. Disclosure to third parties

• The expert or client involved in the booking;
• Service providers (hosting, payment processing, email delivery, analytics, identity verification);
• Law enforcement, regulators or courts where required by Australian law;
• A purchaser, in the event of a sale or restructure of our business.

We do not sell your personal information.

5. Overseas disclosure

Some service providers store or process data outside Australia. We take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle personal information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

6. Security and retention

We hold personal information in secure cloud environments protected by encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access controls and regular review. We retain data only as long as needed to provide the platform and meet legal, tax and accounting obligations (typically up to 7 years after account closure for transactional records).

7. Your rights

• Access the personal information we hold about you;
• Request correction of inaccurate information;
• Withdraw consent for marketing at any time;
• Request deletion of your account, subject to records we must retain by law;
• Make a complaint about how we handle your personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@vakoa.com.au. We aim to respond within 30 days.

8. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember preferences and understand platform usage. You can control cookies through your browser settings.

9. Children

VAKOA is intended for users aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

10. Complaints

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated by email.

12. Contact us

VAKOA Athletics Pty Ltd
ABN 531 071 824 59
Tomas Labrador — privacy@vakoa.com.au