Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how SastiTripsWale, operated by Sahil Kashyap (Sector 119, Mohali, Punjab 160055), collects, uses, stores, and shares personal information when you use our website and services (the "Platform"). By using the Platform, you agree to the collection and use of information as described here.

2. Information we collect

Account & profile information

• Full name, username, email address, mobile number, and password (stored as a salted hash, never in plain text).
• Gender, age, city, state, profession, a short bio, and your travel-companion preference (who you'd like to travel with - a safety/comfort setting, not a matching algorithm).
• Optional: profile photo, cover photo, social media handles, relationship status (used only to offer Couples Mode trip seating), and an emergency contact.
• Vehicle details if you register as a vehicle owner (type, brand, model, registration number, mileage).
• Travel interests and lifestyle preferences you choose to add to your profile.

Identity verification documents

To verify member identity for community safety, we collect a masked Aadhaar (the redacted copy downloaded from the UIDAI portal, which shows only the last four digits of the Aadhaar number), a live selfie, and optionally PAN, Voter ID, or Driving Licence. Vehicle owners also provide a vehicle registration certificate (RC) and driving licence. We do not collect, store, or process full Aadhaar numbers or unredacted Aadhaar documents, and we are not an authorised UIDAI authentication or e-KYC agency. These documents are stored securely, reviewed by our admin team, and are never shown publicly on your profile or shared with other members.

Trip & community activity

Trips you host or join, expense estimates you enter, club memberships, gallery photos you upload, reviews you post, connection requests, and messages you send in trip/club/direct chats.

Payment information

When you pay your membership fee, payment is processed by Cashfree. We receive and store only the transaction result - order ID, payment ID, amount, currency, status, and the plan you purchased. We never receive or store your card number, UPI PIN, or net-banking credentials - those are entered directly on Cashfree's secure checkout. If you become eligible for a wallet payout (referral or influencer rewards), we collect the bank/UPI details you provide for that payout.

Technical information

We use localStorage in your browser to keep you logged in (an encrypted session token) and remember your display theme. Our server logs standard request information (such as IP address and timestamps) for security and abuse prevention.

Advertising and analytics cookies

We show advertising on parts of the Platform through Google AdSense, and we use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or to other websites, and to measure how those ads perform.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet. You can opt out of personalised advertising at any time through Google Ads Settings. For details of what Google collects on sites that use its services, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

You can also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info/choices, and you can stop Google Analytics from collecting your data by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Blocking these cookies does not stop ads from appearing - it only stops them from being personalised.

3. Why we collect it

• To create and operate your account and let you use trip, club, and chat features.
• To verify member identity and keep the community safe.
• To process your membership payment and maintain a record of it.
• To send you transactional emails (welcome, payment receipt, password reset, trip/connection notifications).
• To respond to support requests and enforce our Terms & Conditions.
• To calculate and pay out referral/influencer rewards, where applicable.

4. Who we share it with

• Cashfree - to process your membership payment. Cashfree's own privacy policy governs the data it collects directly from you at checkout.
• Hosting & infrastructure providers (our application-hosting and database providers) - to run the Platform. They do not use your data for their own purposes.
• Email delivery provider - to send transactional emails.
• Other members - only the information in your public profile (name, username, city, bio, travel interests, verification badge). Your email, mobile number, and ID documents are never shown to other members.
• Law enforcement or regulators - only where required by applicable law.

We do not sell your personal information to anyone.

5. How we protect it

• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt and never stored or transmitted in plain text.
• Sessions use short-lived access tokens plus rotating refresh tokens; a compromised refresh token is automatically revoked on reuse.
• Payment signatures from Cashfree are cryptographically verified server-side before any membership is activated.
• Identity documents and ID/emergency-contact fields are restricted to you and admin reviewers, and excluded from any data returned to other members or the public API.
• Admin access to sensitive user data is role-restricted and logged.

6. Your rights & choices

• You can view and update most of your profile information at any time from your account's Edit Profile page.
• You can block another member (which also stops their connection requests and messages to you) or report a profile from that member's page.
• To request a copy of your data, a correction, or deletion of your account, contact us at support@sastitripswale.com. We will verify your identity and act on the request, subject to any records we're legally required to retain (for example, payment records for tax/accounting purposes).

7. Data retention

We retain account and activity data for as long as your account is active, and payment records for as long as required by applicable accounting and tax law. If you request account deletion, we remove or anonymize your profile and identity documents, subject to the retention exception above.

8. Children's privacy

The Platform is intended for users aged 18 and above. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time; the "Last updated" date above will change when we do. For material changes, we'll take reasonable steps to notify members.

10. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to support@sastitripswale.com or via the Contact page.