Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 21, 2026

Shelfware ("we", "us", "our") is a personal video game collection management service operated at shelfware.app. We built Shelfware because we're collectors too, and we believe your data should serve you — not advertisers, not data brokers, not anyone else.

This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and what we do (and don't do) with it.

What We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your email address, username, and password (stored as a one-way hash — we never see or store your actual password). You may optionally provide a full name, date of birth, country, gender, avatar image, and preferred currency. All optional fields can be left blank.

Collection Data

The core of Shelfware is your collection. We store the games you catalog, including conditions (loose, complete in box, sealed), regions, acquisition costs you choose to enter, wishlist entries, platform preferences, and barcodes you scan. This data is yours — we just keep it organized for you.

Usage Data

We collect basic server logs (IP addresses, request timestamps, browser type) to keep the service running and to diagnose issues. We also count page visits with our own Matomo analytics, without cookies, so we can see which parts of Shelfware get used.

Gift links

A gift link lets someone you choose see games you'd like. Whoever opens it doesn't need an account. We keep what they tell the page (the occasion, their budget and the country they shop in), the ideas they skip, and what they mark as bought, so nobody buys the same game twice. We don't ask for their name or email, and nothing they do there is tied to their IP address. Nothing they look at or buy shows up in your Shelfware, so you won't spoil it by accident.

AI & Machine Learning

Shelfware uses AI and machine learning to make the service better for collectors:

Barcode identification — When you scan a barcode, we may use AI services to identify the game. The barcode image and lookup request are logged.
Recommendation scoring — Our self-hosted ML models analyze collection patterns to suggest games you might want. No collection data leaves our servers for this purpose.
Game database matching — We use AI to match games across different data sources (IGDB, PriceCharting, TheGamesDB) to provide accurate metadata.

AI/ML service requests are logged with request and response payloads for quality improvement purposes. These logs are retained for 90 days and then automatically deleted. You can opt out of collaborative filtering (recommendations based on other collectors' patterns) in your profile settings.

Third-Party Services

We integrate with the following services to provide game data and keep the platform running. None of these services receive your personal information beyond what's strictly necessary:

IGDB — Game metadata, cover art, and platform information. No user data is shared with IGDB.
PriceCharting — Market pricing data for game values. We fetch pricing data in bulk; your collection details are never sent to PriceCharting.
TheGamesDB — Boxart images. No user data is shared.
Matomo — Privacy-friendly visit statistics (pages viewed, referrer, browser and device type, and your IP address). We run it ourselves, it sets no cookies, and the data is never shared or used for advertising.
Postmark — Transactional email delivery (password resets, email verification, account notifications). Postmark receives your email address only when we need to send you an email.

What We Don't Do

Let's be clear about this:

We do not display advertising of any kind.
We do not sell, rent, or share your data with third parties for marketing purposes.
We do not use social media tracking pixels or beacons.
We do not engage in cross-site tracking.
We do not use third-party cookies. The only cookies we use are strictly functional (session management and CSRF protection).
We do not sell your collection data to price aggregators, resellers, or anyone else.

Data Retention

Account and collection data is retained for as long as your account is active. If you request account deletion, your data enters a 30-day grace period during which you can cancel the deletion. After the grace period, your account and collection data are permanently deleted.
AI/ML service logs (barcode lookups, recommendation requests) are retained for 90 days, then automatically purged.
Audit logs are anonymized when your account is deleted — we retain the technical event data but remove all identifying information.
Public handles you give up are held for 90 days so nobody else can take them, then deleted. After your account is deleted, the held handle isn't linked to you.
Server logs (access logs, error logs) are retained for 30 days.

Public profile

You can give your shelf its own page. A new page starts off, and you choose who can open it on Your public page:

Off — no one can open it.
Unlisted — only people with your private link can open it, and anyone they pass it on to. The link ends in a random code. Search engines are asked not to list it, sites your visitors go on to from your page aren't told the link, and we don't count visits to it in our analytics.
Public — anyone can find it, including search engines, at an address with your handle in it. If you later make it unlisted or turn it off, search engines may take weeks to drop the old page.

When you turn your page off, make it unlisted or hide a game, visitors stop seeing it within 5 minutes.

What visitors see

The games on your shelf and the copies you have of each: titles, systems, regions, box art and release years, plus the shelves and counts built from them. Your handle, and the public name and tagline you choose. The boxes you pin to your front shelf, and the short line you can write under each, are public too. Your wishlist shows when your page is on. You can switch it off in settings. Condition (words like boxed or sealed) shows only when you switch it on.

Handles and private links

Your page shows a handle you pick, never your email address. If your page was public before handles existed, your handle starts as your username, unless that was based on your email address. You can change it any time on Your public page. When you change your handle, links to the old address stop working within 5 minutes. When you press Reset link, your old private link stops working within 5 minutes and you get a new one. A handle you give up (by changing it or deleting your account) is held for 90 days, so nobody else can take it and receive visitors who were looking for you.

When you ask us to delete your account, your page turns off at once, and visitors stop seeing it within 5 minutes.

Shared links

When you, or anyone with the link, share your page in a chat app or on a social network, that service may save its own preview of it (the title, your public name and a picture). Those previews are kept by that service, and we can't recall them. They change only when the service fetches the page again, on its own schedule.

Hidden games

You can hide any game from visitors. It stays in your collection, but it's left out of everything on your page: the shelf, the counts, search, the preview picture and its own page. A preview a chat app saved before you hid it can still show it (see Shared links).

Never public

Your full name, avatar and the other details on your account (date of birth, country, gender).
Your email address and your sign-in details.
What you paid, when you bought a game and where you bought it.
Any value or price, or any ranking by value.
When or how you added a game.
Your personal notes and condition notes.
Your star ratings, and any order based on them.
Whether you have gift links.
Who visits your page.
Condition, while you keep it private.

Your Rights & Controls

You have full control over your data:

View and edit your profile information and collection data at any time through the app.
Opt out of collaborative filtering in your profile settings. Your collection patterns won't be used to generate recommendations for others.
Control your public profile — turn your page off or make it unlisted or public, choose whether your wishlist and condition show, and hide games. Change these on Your public page; see Public profile above.
Request account deletion from your profile settings. Deletion has a 30-day grace period during which you can change your mind. After that, all personal data is permanently removed.
Export your data — contact us if you need a copy of your collection data in a portable format.

Security

We take the security of your data seriously:

Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms (bcrypt). We never store plaintext passwords.
API authentication uses JWT tokens with appropriate expiration.
Rate limiting is enforced on sensitive endpoints (login, registration, password reset, barcode scanning) to prevent abuse.
All forms are protected against CSRF attacks.
Mobile app tokens are stored in the device's encrypted secure storage.
All connections use HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit.

Children's Privacy

Shelfware is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll notify you via the email address associated with your account at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Contact Us

Questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your data? Reach out at [email protected]. We're happy to help.