Effective date: June 8, 2026
1. Information We Collect
We collect account and contact details such as name, email, role, login provider, and authentication information needed to create and secure accounts.
We collect marketplace information such as counselor profiles, parent-student permission settings, bookmarks, purchases, orders, reviews, disputes, meetings, package requests, document links, uploaded files, signatures, legal names entered for contracts, age and parent/guardian authorization attestations, and messages.
We collect student application and educational information that users choose to provide, which may include grades, transcripts, test scores, essays, essay drafts, resumes, activity lists, school lists, deadlines, admissions outcomes, counselor feedback, uploaded documents, and other academic, family, or application context.
We collect technical and usage information such as device, browser, IP-derived security signals, request logs, cookies, timestamps, and interactions needed for authentication, security, analytics, rate limiting, email delivery, and platform reliability.
If you sell services, we may collect profile review materials, payout-readiness status, connected-account identifiers, offering details, private-offer records, fulfillment records, dispute context, and seller attestations.
2. How We Use Information
We use information to operate CounselorCart, authenticate users, maintain accounts, route messages, show authorized shared dashboards, process purchases, support parent permissions, create meetings, deliver document products, provide notifications, and keep records of user actions.
We use student application and educational information only as needed to provide, coordinate, review, secure, support, and keep records for the services and platform features the user chooses to use. We do not sell student essays, grades, test scores, transcripts, school lists, or uploaded application materials, and we do not use those materials for advertising, unrelated profiling, or AI model training.
We also use information to prevent fraud and abuse, enforce platform rules, troubleshoot issues, improve the service, respond to support requests, comply with legal obligations, and protect users, counselors, students, parents, and the platform.
3. How Information Is Shared
Information is shared with other users only as needed for the features you use. For example, counselors may see student or parent names, messages, orders, files, meeting requests, purchase context, and student application materials such as grades, test scores, essays, drafts, school lists, or uploaded documents when those materials are shared with that counselor; students may see counselor responses and fulfillment; parents may see student information only according to student-granted permissions; and counselors can see that a direct parent chat is from a parent account.
Checkout, parent-permission, shared-dashboard, package-portal, document, dispute, refund, and contract-signature features may share relevant records with the student, parent, counselor, payment provider, calendar provider, email provider, storage provider, or platform administrators needed to operate or review that activity.
We share information with service providers that help us run the service, including account access, file storage, email, analytics, payment processing, calendar tools, security, and abuse prevention.
We may share information when required by law, to enforce our terms, to protect rights or safety, to investigate fraud or abuse, or as part of a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets.
4. Google Calendar Data
Counselor Google Calendar connection is optional and is used only for counselor accounts that choose to connect a Google Calendar account. If a counselor connects Google Calendar, we request Google account profile information needed to identify the connected account and Google Calendar event access so we can create booked meeting events and Google Meet links for CounselorCart meetings.
We may access, use, and store the counselor's Google account email, Google account identifier, granted OAuth scopes, encrypted refresh token, Calendar event IDs, meeting links, meeting times, attendee email addresses, event creation status, and Calendar API error or status information.
We use Google Calendar data only to create, display, troubleshoot, and maintain CounselorCart meeting events and related Google Meet links. We do not use Google Calendar data for advertising, sale, unrelated profiling, or AI model training.
We share Google Calendar data only as needed to operate the meeting workflow, such as sending event invitations to listed attendees, displaying meeting links to authorized participants, using service providers that help run the platform, investigating security or support issues, complying with law, or enforcing platform terms.
Counselors may disconnect or reconnect Google Calendar where available. We may retain limited Calendar-related records when reasonably necessary for security, audit, support, dispute, payment, legal compliance, or platform enforcement. Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
5. Payments
Payment details are processed by third-party payment providers. We do not store full card numbers. We may store order, refund, dispute, status, and audit records needed to operate the marketplace.
6. Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies for authentication, session management, account security, saved preferences, redirects, analytics, and fraud prevention. Some cookies are required for the service to work.
7. Student and Parent Information
CounselorCart is a general-audience service for college application support and is intended for users who are at least 13 years old. Users under 13 may not create an account, submit personal information, or use checkout.
Students ages 13-17 should use the service with parent or legal guardian involvement. Checkout may collect a student's age-range attestation and parent/legal guardian name, email, relationship, authorization, and signature records when a student indicates they are under 18.
Student accounts may involve sensitive application materials, including essays, drafts, grades, test scores, transcripts, school lists, activity lists, and family or academic context. Students, parents, and counselors should share only what is needed for the selected service and should avoid uploading government IDs, university ID numbers, addresses, birthdates, medical details, financial account details, or unrelated private information unless a feature specifically asks for it.
Parent features are permission-based. A parent account does not automatically receive access to a student account unless the student accepts and grants the relevant permissions. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact us so we can review and delete it when appropriate.
8. Security and Retention
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Sensitive student materials are protected through account access controls, role-based sharing, storage controls, and service-provider restrictions designed to limit access to the people and providers needed to operate the service.
We keep information for as long as needed to provide the service, keep audit and payment records, preserve contract-signature records, resolve disputes, defend chargebacks, comply with legal obligations, enforce agreements, and protect the platform. Retention periods may vary by data type and context.
Some records, including payment records, signed contracts, seller attestations, dispute records, fraud-prevention logs, and account-safety events, may be retained even after account closure when retention is reasonably necessary for legal, security, audit, or payment reasons.
9. Your Choices
You can update certain account and profile information inside the app. You can choose whether to grant parent permissions, manage notifications, and decide what information to share in messages, uploads, reviews, and profile fields.
You may request access, correction, deletion, or other privacy help by contacting us. We may need to verify your identity, confirm parent or guardian authority for minor-related requests, and may retain information where required for security, legal, payment, fraud-prevention, dispute, chargeback, or audit reasons.
If you withdraw consent for future electronic records or ask us to delete information needed to operate the service, some features may stop working or your account may need to close.
10. International Use
If you access the service from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States or other locations where we and our providers operate. By using the service, you understand that privacy laws may differ from those in your location.
11. Changes
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. Continued use of the service after an update means the updated policy applies.
12. Contact
Questions or privacy requests can be sent to counselorcart@gmail.com or through the support channels made available inside CounselorCart.