Privacy Policy

Information we collect

You can explore much of Skynocular — the telescope catalog, buying guides, and the eyepiece simulator — without creating an account and without giving us any personal information. We only collect what's described below when you choose to sign up, save something, or reach out.

Depending on how you use the site, that may include:

• Account information — your email address, and your name if you choose to add one.
• Authentication information — the credentials you use to sign in. If you sign in with Google, we receive your email and basic profile from Google; we never see your Google password.
• Favorites and saved setups — the telescopes, gear, and equipment setups ("rigs") you save, so they're there when you come back.
• Simulator preferences — the telescopes, eyepieces, and targets you've configured, so the simulator remembers where you left off.
• Search queries — what you search for on the site, used to return results and to understand what people are looking for.
• Messages and contact form submissions — if you contact a seller, submit an inquiry, or email us, we keep what you send so we (or the seller) can respond.
• Device and browser information — standard technical details your browser sends, like browser type, operating system, and approximate region, used to keep the site working and secure.
• Usage information — anonymous, aggregated data about which pages are visited and which features get used, so we can improve them. See Analytics below.

If you buy or sell through the marketplace, payment is handled by our payment provider (see Data sharing). Skynocular does not collect or store your full card number.

How we use information

We use the information above to:

• operate and maintain the website;
• keep you signed in and secure your account;
• save your favorites, setups, and preferences;
• personalize the simulator to the gear you care about;
• improve our search results and recommendations;
• make our guides and editorial content more useful;
• respond to your questions and support requests;
• process marketplace purchases and connect buyers with sellers;
• detect, prevent, and respond to abuse, fraud, and spam;
• monitor and improve the site's performance and reliability.

We do not use your information to build advertising profiles, and we don't sell it to anyone. See Data sharing.

Affiliate links

Skynocular is reader-funded. Some links to retailers are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you buy something after clicking one — at no extra cost to you. That commission is how the site pays for itself.

Here's the important part: affiliate relationships never change our rankings, our editorial opinions, our Polaris Scores, or what we recommend. We don't accept payment for placement, and we don't reorder results based on commission rates. When we point you to a retailer, it's because we think it's a good place to buy — not because someone paid for the spot.

Our loyalty is to readers, not manufacturers. If a product isn't worth your money, we'll say so, affiliate link or not. For the full breakdown, see our Affiliate Disclosure and Editorial Policy.

Cookies

Cookies are small files your browser stores. We use them sparingly, for:

• Login sessions — to keep you signed in as you move between pages.
• Remembering preferences — so the site behaves the way you left it.
• Analytics — to understand, in aggregate, how the site is used (see below).
• Performance and security — to keep things fast and to protect against abuse.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and you can opt out of analytics from the cookie notice at the bottom of the site. If you block essential cookies, some features — like staying signed in — may not work as expected. For the full details, see our Cookie Policy.

Analytics

We use PostHog, a product-analytics tool, to understand how people use Skynocular — which pages are popular, where features confuse people, and what to fix next. We're interested in patterns across everyone, not in tracking you as an individual.

This information is collected and used in aggregated, anonymized form wherever possible. We use it to improve the site — not to advertise to you or to sell your behavior to third parties.

Accounts

Creating an account is optional, and free. A registered account lets you save favorites, build and store equipment setups, keep your simulator preferences, and — if you choose to sell — manage listings.

You're responsible for keeping your login credentials safe. If you think someone else has access to your account, email us at privacy@skynocular.com and we'll help you secure it.

Data sharing

Skynocular does not sell your personal information. Full stop.

We share information only with the service providers we rely on to run the site, and only as much as they need to do their job. Those include:

• Supabase — our database, authentication, and file storage provider, which securely holds your account and content.
• Vercel and Railway — our hosting providers, which serve the website and run our backend.
• Stripe — our payment processor, used to handle marketplace purchases. Stripe processes your payment details directly; Skynocular never stores your full card number.
• PostHog — our analytics provider, as described above.

If you contact a seller through the marketplace, the information in your message is shared with that seller so they can respond to you.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of our users or the public. If Skynocular is ever involved in a merger or acquisition, we'll notify you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Data security

We take reasonable, industry-standard measures to protect your information — including encrypted connections, access controls, and database-level security rules that limit who can read or change your data.

That said, no method of transmission or storage on the internet is ever 100% secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security. We work to protect your information, but we can't promise it's impossible to compromise. If we ever become aware of a breach that affects you, we'll act promptly and notify you as required by law.

Your rights

You're in control of your information. You may:

• access the personal information we hold about you;
• update or correct your account information at any time;
• request that we delete your account and associated data;
• ask us any question about how your information is handled.

To exercise any of these, email privacy@skynocular.com. We'll respond as promptly as we reasonably can. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the GDPR or CCPA; we'll honor those rights where they apply.

Children

Skynocular is not intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, please email privacy@skynocular.com and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

As Skynocular grows, this policy may change. When it does, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of the page. For significant changes, we'll do our best to give you a clearer heads-up. Continuing to use the site after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy? We'd genuinely like to hear from you. Reach us at privacy@skynocular.com.

You can also learn more about who we are on our about page, and how we work in our Editorial Policy.