Privacy Policy

Plixico ("we", "us", "our") operates the Plixico website and app (the "Platform"), connecting students with hostel/PG accommodation, bed-sharing, and student-to-student item rentals. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, and what rights you have over it, in line with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).

Operating entity: Plixico is operated directly by its founder, Shivacharan J(India), pending formal incorporation. This section will be updated with a registered company name and address once incorporation is complete.

1. Information we collect

• Account data: full name, email, phone number, password (stored as a salted hash, never in plain text), gender, date of birth, profile photo.
• Identity verification (optional, owner/admin-gated features): government ID type and number (Aadhaar, PAN, passport, driver's licence, college/employee ID) if you choose to verify your identity.
• Booking & transaction data: hostel bookings, item/bed rental requests, reviews, messages, and payment metadata (amounts, status, timestamps — full card/UPI details are handled by our payment processor, Razorpay, and never touch our servers).
• Location data: city and, if you grant permission, precise GPS coordinates, used to show nearby hostels/items and compute distances.
• Content you upload: hostel/room/item photos, review photos, chat messages.
• Device & usage data: IP address, browser/device type, and pages visited, used for security (fraud/abuse prevention) and basic analytics.

2. How we use your information

• To create and secure your account, and authenticate your logins.
• To process bookings, payments, refunds, and the escrow/buyer-protection hold described in our Refund & Cancellation Policy.
• To send booking confirmations, OTPs, payment reminders, and safety-relevant notifications.
• To verify hostel owners and identity where offered, and to detect fraudulent listings or accounts.
• To respond to support requests and investigate reports/complaints.
• To comply with legal obligations (tax, dispute resolution, law-enforcement requests).

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

3. Who we share data with

• Razorpay (payment processing) — receives what's needed to process a payment; we never see your full card/bank details.
• Hostel owners — see your name, phone, and booking details only for bookings made at their property, so they can manage your stay.
• Other students — your name and avatar are visible on reviews, messages, and rental listings you create.
• Service providers we use to run the Platform (hosting, email/SMS delivery, error monitoring), bound by confidentiality obligations.
• Law enforcement or regulators, only when legally required.

4. Data retention

We retain account and booking data for as long as your account is active, plus a reasonable period afterward to satisfy tax, accounting, and dispute-resolution obligations (typically up to 7 years for financial records, in line with Indian tax law). You can request earlier deletion of non-essential data at any time — see Section 6.

5. Security

Passwords are hashed with Argon2id and never stored in plain text. All traffic is served over HTTPS. Access to production data is restricted to essential personnel. No system is perfectly secure, but we follow industry-standard practices and continuously work to improve them. If we become aware of a data breach affecting your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authority as required by law.

6. Your rights

Under the DPDP Act and as a matter of policy, you can:

• Access and download a copy of your personal data.
• Correct inaccurate personal data.
• Request deletion of your account and associated personal data, subject to records we're legally required to retain (e.g. completed transaction history).
• Withdraw consent for optional data uses (e.g. location access) at any time via your device/browser settings.
• Nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity, per the DPDP Act.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@plixico.com or use the "Delete account" / "Export data" options in your dashboard settings once available. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Children's privacy

The Platform is intended for users aged 18 and above (see our Terms & Conditions for our full age policy). We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

8. Cookies

See our Cookie Policy for details on the cookies and local storage we use.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Platform evolves. Material changes will be announced via the Platform or email before they take effect.

10. Contact

Questions about this policy? Email privacy@plixico.com or visit our Contact page.