What Chonk knows, and why.

Ask Chonk and your basket

When you choose to use Ask Chonk, your question, recent questions in the current search and optional screenshot are sent to OpenAI to identify plant names and research public web sources. A screenshot remains in the current browser search until you remove or replace it, so it can be sent again with a follow-up. Crop out personal details and private messages before uploading. Chonk does not save these images or search conversations to its application database or object storage. The provider request sets response storage to false, but provider and hosting security or abuse-monitoring logs are separate. We keep rate-limit counters linked to a one-way account identifier to limit abuse and cost. External links take you to websites with their own privacy notices.

Your basket stores Chonk advert references and external link titles and addresses privately against your account until you remove them or delete your account. Basket items are not orders and do not reserve stock. Only the existing checkout flow creates a paid order. See AI Use & Human Oversight for the feature limits and correction route.

Who is responsible?

Vikkineshwaran Siva Subramaniam is the controller of personal information used to provide Chonk.

Privacy contact: hello@chonkmarket.com

Information we collect

• Account details such as email, authentication identifiers, display name and account status.
• Public profile details such as a picture, bio, general location and social links.
• Ask Chonk questions, current-search context and an optional screenshot while the request is handled, plus pseudonymous rate-limit records. Chonk does not write the question, context or screenshot to its application database or object storage.
• Private basket entries, including Chonk advert references and external link titles and addresses.
• Seller-directory declarations, including hobby or professional status, professional-operator registration, registration authority and reference, plant-passport authorisation, distance-selling choice and confirmation date.
• Adverts, photos, structured plant details, bids, saves, views, enquiries and advert status history.
• Private saved-search names and filters, whether each search and its emails are active, and deduplicated matching and delivery records.
• Combined-enquiry items, offer and handover preferences, reservation expiry, both members’ completion confirmations, and the conversation reference used to establish future review eligibility.
• Seller reviews, ratings, experience dates and edits.
• Campaign source attached to an advert and daily totals of visits from Chonk's printed QR codes. The campaign table stores only the campaign name, calendar date and total visits, not individual visit times, names, IP addresses or device identifiers.
• Seller follows and recommendations. Public seller pages show aggregate totals, not the identities of followers or recommenders.
• Messages and the photos or files attached to them, support requests, guide comments, review reports, complaints, appeals and moderation records.
• Email preferences and limited delivery logs, including seller-advert and saved-search alert status and delivery errors.
• Chonk Weekly consent source and timestamps, confirmation and unsubscribe status, delivery or suppression records, and privacy-conscious link-click records. Newsletter tracking links use internal identifiers and do not place your email address in the URL.
• If you accept optional cookies, first-party public-page analytics: an allowlisted route category, Europe/London calendar day, a day-specific hash derived from a random browser-tab session ID, a page-view count, and first and last receipt times. Query strings, fragments and raw dynamic identifiers are not stored in this analytics table.
• Technical and security information such as IP address, browser, device, timestamps, cookies and request logs.

For optional Chonk checkout, Stripe processes payments, seller identity checks and bank details. Chonk stores private order records, advert snapshots, integer fee calculations, Stripe payment references, tracking, photo evidence and decisions. Authorised sellers and administrators retrieve delivery addresses privately from Stripe after payment. These addresses and payment evidence do not appear on public profiles. Chonk does not store card numbers or bank credentials. Records needed for accounting, payment disputes and legal obligations can be retained after account closure. Do not put card details, passwords or unnecessary sensitive information in adverts, messages, reviews or comments.

Where information comes from

Most information comes directly from you when you sign in, edit a profile, publish, bid, save, message or report. Clerk supplies verified authentication details. Stripe supplies payment, refund and seller-account status when optional Chonk checkout is used. Chonk’s hosting, storage, security and email suppliers provide technical and delivery records.

An email and sign-in identity are required to create an account. Advert details are required to publish. Seller and payment information is required only for the corresponding checkout feature. If required information is not supplied, that feature cannot be provided. Profile biography and social links are optional.

Optional AI plant-placement mock-ups

The recommendation light check happens only in your browser. If you explicitly choose Generate from recommendations or an eligible live plant advert, Chonk sends the prepared spot photo and a Chonk-written description of the plant group to the OpenAI API. The seller’s advert photo is shown for comparison but is not sent to OpenAI. Chonk does not save the spot photo or generated image to its database or file storage; the browser keeps the temporary previews only while you use the page.

OpenAI states that API content is not used to train its models unless the API account opts in. Its default abuse-monitoring logs may contain customer content and can be kept for up to 30 days, unless a different approved retention control applies or longer retention is required for safety or law. Image inputs are scanned for prohibited child sexual abuse material. See OpenAI API data controls. Do not use a spot photo containing people, mail, screens, private papers or other information that is not needed for the mock-up. See AI Use & Human Oversight for the visible labels and listing rules.

Why we use it

Chonk’s legitimate interests are operating the marketplace and improving its safety and reliability, preventing fraud and enforcing the rules. Following a seller turns on their new-advert emails. Saved-search email can be paused, resumed or turned off from your account; deleting a saved search removes its pending alerts. Optional marketing or non-essential analytics will use consent where required.

What is public?

Your public profile, active adverts, photos, general location, seller activity, published seller reviews, ratings, review dates, guide comments and aggregate follower and recommendation totals can be visible to anyone. If you opt into the Chonk seller directory, your seller type, professional-operator status, registration authority and reference, plant-passport status, distance-selling choice and declaration date are also public. Seller-directory declarations are identified as seller-supplied and are not independently verified by Chonk. Seller reviews show the reviewer’s display name, rating, title, review, experience date and publication or update date. The private conversation reference supporting a Chonk interaction is not public. The identities of followers and recommenders are not public. Messages and their attachments are visible only to their participants. Authorised Chonk moderators may access content where needed for support, safety, moderation or law.

Chonk in numbers publishes only allowlisted daily or site-level aggregate totals and may suppress low-volume member activity. It does not publish session hashes, account or advert identifiers, IP addresses, messages, query strings or individual event timestamps.

Who receives information?

• Other members where needed to provide profiles, adverts, bids and messages.
• Clerk for account authentication.
• Stripe for optional Chonk checkout, seller identity and bank-account checks, payment processing, refunds and transfers.
• OpenAI Sites and Cloudflare infrastructure for hosting, database, file storage, delivery and security.
• The OpenAI API when a signed-in member explicitly uses Ask Chonk or requests an AI plant-placement mock-up.
• The configured transactional email provider for service alerts.
• Professional advisers, insurers, regulators, courts and law-enforcement bodies where lawfully necessary.

Chonk does not sell personal information.

International transfers

Some suppliers may process information outside the UK. The applicable transfer position depends on the supplier, service and data flow. Where UK law requires a transfer mechanism, Chonk must verify and document an applicable UK adequacy regulation or approved safeguard before relying on that transfer. Contact hello@chonkmarket.com to ask which supplier and safeguard apply to your information.

How long we keep it

Chonk keeps personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose described above. Account and profile information is normally kept while the account is open. Saved searches remain until you delete them; deleting one also removes its matching delivery records through the linked database record. A seller-directory declaration stops being public when the member withdraws it; the latest declaration and withdrawal state may be retained where needed for safety, misleading-claim reports, disputes or legal claims. Seller follows and recommendations are removed when withdrawn, when either member blocks the other, or when an account is deleted. Seller reviews remain public until withdrawn by the author or removed by Chonk; withdrawn and moderated review records, their private interaction reference, completion confirmations and report snapshots may be retained where needed for review integrity, disputes, appeals or legal claims. Guide comments remain public until removed by the commenter or Chonk. Removed comment records may be kept where needed for moderation, disputes or legal claims. Closed adverts, listing-state audit records, messages and their attachments, bids, reports, complaints and moderation records may be retained after closure where needed for safety, fraud prevention, disputes, appeals, regulatory reporting or legal claims. Aggregated daily campaign totals may be kept to compare promotional effectiveness. Session-level first-party analytics rows, including the day-specific session hash and first and last receipt times, are kept for no more than 35 days. Daily aggregate totals without those fields may be retained for trend and correction reporting. Listing-alert delivery records and security logs are kept for a shorter operational period.

Retention is reviewed by record type. Information is deleted or anonymised when it is no longer needed, subject to limited backups and legal preservation duties. Chonk will publish specific periods once the matching deletion schedules have been verified.

Plant Pals

Plant Pals is optional. To arrange parcels, Chonk stores your delivery name and UK postal address in encrypted form, your plant interests, wishes, things you cannot receive, any optional note and your consent to coordinator assignments. Your display name, profile picture, interests, wishes, things you cannot receive and optional note are visible to signed-in members. Your delivery details are not public: a committed sender can retrieve them only after an active parcel has been created for you. Chonk also stores the participants, parcel status, dates and optional tracking number. The sender’s identity is hidden from the recipient until receipt is confirmed. Chonk emails the recipient when a sender commits and when receipt is confirmed, and stores delivery status metadata for these service emails. Sending is a final commitment after confirmation. Parcel details are visible to the two participants; reports go to the existing restricted complaints process.

Your Plant Pals profile and assignment consent remain while you participate. Leaving or deleting your profile removes your assignment consent. Leaving removes your profile and saved address, clears delivery details from incoming parcels and ends further sender access. Each active parcel keeps the delivery address supplied when the sender committed; this copy and its tracking number are cleared on receipt, cancellation or recipient withdrawal. Unfinished parcels do not expire automatically. Deleting your Chonk account also removes your Plant Pals profile, address copies and tracking details, subject to restricted review of an open complaint. Address access ends when account deletion is requested. The other participant may retain a minimal parcel history showing “Deleted member”. Chonk cannot retract information an authorised sender has already read or copied.

Automated decisions

Chonk does not currently make solely automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on members. Automated checks may help detect spam, rate limits or technical abuse, but a moderator remains responsible for enforcement decisions.

Security

Chonk uses access controls, encrypted connections, managed authentication, restricted administration and audit records. No service can guarantee absolute security. Report suspected account misuse through the complaints process.

Your rights

You may have rights to access, correct, erase or restrict information, object to its use, receive portable information and withdraw consent. Contact hello@chonkmarket.com. Chonk may need to confirm your identity. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Cookies

Chonk uses essential cookies for sign-in, security and core service functions. First-party public-page analytics and Google Ads measurement are optional and do not run until you choose “Accept optional cookies”. After acceptance, first-party analytics keeps a random session ID in your browser's session storage and derives a different one-way hash for each Europe/London day when a page view is received. The public statistics do not treat that hash as a person or visit. You can withdraw or change your choice at any time using the Cookie Settings control; withdrawal stops this analytics and clears the browser session ID. See the Cookie Policy & Settings.

Children

Chonk is intended for adults aged 18 or over. Contact Chonk if you believe a child has supplied information contrary to the Terms. Chonk’s age statement does not replace its legal assessment of whether children are likely to access the service.

Changes

Material changes will be brought to members’ attention before a new use of their information begins where required.