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312Deals

Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

312Deals (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website at 312deals.com, its associated API, and our mobile applications. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your choices regarding that information.

Information We Collect

We collect minimal data. 312Deals does not require account creation or login, and we do not collect passwords or payment information.

Data you provide voluntarily:

  • Deal submissions: When you submit a deal, we collect the venue name, deal description, and any address, timing, or source-link details you provide. An email address is optional, we use it only to confirm the submission and to follow up if the deal needs clarification. We also record the IP address the submission came from, to prevent spam and abuse of the submission form.
  • Location (only if you ask for it): Features like “Deals open near you” and the map's “Near me” button use your device's location. Nothing happens until you tap the button and grant permission, we never request your location automatically. Your coordinates are sent to our API to run that one search, are not written to our database, and are never linked to you or used to build a profile. Because the search travels as an ordinary web request, the coordinates may appear in our hosting providers' standard server logs (see below). You can decline, or revoke the permission at any time in your browser or device settings, and search by neighborhood instead.
  • AI chat: If you use our AI chat assistant, we store the messages you send and the replies you receive, along with an anonymous session identifier and the page you started from. We use this to fix broken answers and improve the assistant. Your messages are also sent to Anthropic to generate a response (see Third-Party Services). The chat has no login and we do not ask for identifying information, so please do not type anything into it you would not want stored.
  • Deal reports: When you report or confirm a deal, we store the action type (e.g., “report outdated” or “confirm active”), an optional reason, and a one-way hash of your IP address. The hash cannot be reversed to recover your actual IP address.
  • Email subscriptions: If you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Data collected automatically:

  • Usage analytics: We use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-friendly analytics service, to understand how visitors use the site (pages viewed, referrer, screen size, device type, country/region). Plausible does not use cookies, does not collect or store any personal data, and does not build personal profiles. All data is aggregated and anonymous. Plausible is GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant by design.
  • WebMCP analytics: If you use 312Deals through an AI assistant, we record which tool actions were invoked (parameter keys only, never values). No search queries, locations, or personal data are stored through this channel.
  • Server logs: Our hosting providers (Vercel and Railway) may collect standard server logs including IP addresses, browser type, and request timestamps. These logs are managed by the hosting providers under their respective privacy policies.

No User Accounts

312Deals does not have user accounts, passwords, or login systems. All deal data is publicly accessible. Saved deals use your browser's local storage and are never sent to our servers.

How We Use Your Information

  • To display and improve deal information on the platform.
  • To review and publish user-submitted deals.
  • To maintain deal accuracy through community reports.
  • To find deals near you, when you ask us to.
  • To answer your questions in the AI chat and improve its responses.
  • To analyze site usage and improve the user experience.
  • To prevent abuse of our API, submission form, and reporting features.
  • To send our newsletter (only if you subscribed).
  • To respond to businesses that contact us about listings or advertising, and to make a point-of-sale referral when a business asks for one.

We do not sell, rent, or share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Cookies

312Deals uses a minimal number of cookies:

  • Theme preference: A cookie to remember your light/dark mode setting. This is a functional cookie that does not track you.

We do not use Google Analytics, advertising cookies, or third-party tracking pixels. Our analytics provider (Plausible) is cookie-free by design.

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or fingerprinting techniques. However, when you click an affiliate link (see Affiliate Links and Tracking below), the destination site or its tracking partner may set its own cookies under its own privacy policy.

Business Contact Information and Referrals

312Deals maintains publicly available business information about Chicago restaurants, bars, and retailers (name, address, hours, website, and general business contact details) collected from public sources and from businesses that claim or advertise their listing.

If you contact us as a business — to feature your listing or ask about advertising — we use your contact details to respond to you and administer that service. We will not submit your business's information to Toast, Inc. or any other referral program unless you ask us to or opt in when we offer it. If you do, we share only the business name, address, and the contact details you authorize, and Toast processes them under its own privacy policy.

Businesses can ask us to correct their public listing details, or to stop contacting them, at deals@312deals.com.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

  • Vercel: Website hosting. Privacy policy
  • Railway: API hosting. Privacy policy
  • Plausible Analytics: Privacy-friendly, cookie-free, GDPR/CCPA-compliant usage analytics. No personal data collected. Privacy policy
  • Google Maps Platform: Venue location data and map display. When a map is shown, Google receives the information needed to render it, which may include device identifiers and, if you have used “Near me,” your position on the map. Privacy policy
  • Anthropic: Powers our AI chat assistant. The messages you send in chat are transmitted to Anthropic's API to generate a response. Anthropic processes them on our behalf and does not use API inputs to train its models. Privacy policy
  • Stripe: Payment processing for businesses that purchase a featured listing. Payment details are entered on Stripe's own hosted checkout page, we never see or store card information. Privacy policy
  • Resend: Transactional and newsletter email delivery. Privacy policy
  • Awin: Affiliate-network click tracking and commission reporting for partner programs (currently Booking.com). Privacy policy
  • Amazon Associates: Affiliate-link tracking and commission reporting for Amazon product links. Privacy policy
  • Toast, Inc.: Business referral tracking. Links on our Advertise and Partner pages to Toast's point-of-sale services carry a referral identifier belonging to 312Deals (see Terms, Business referral programs). If you click one, Toast may set cookies on its own domain under its own privacy policy to attribute the referral. We receive no personal information about you from Toast, only whether a referral resulted in a signed customer. Privacy policy
  • PartnerStack: Affiliate tracking for the ChowNow program. Tracking links may set cookies on partnerstack.com or its redirect domains to attribute a referral to 312Deals. We receive no personal information about you from PartnerStack. Privacy policy

AI and API Access

Our API is accessed by outside AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, and others) to help people find deals. Those integrations only read public deal data through the same public endpoints the website uses, and we send them no information about you.

Our own AI chat assistant on 312deals.com works differently: the messages you type there are sent to Anthropic to generate a reply, and are stored by us as described under Information We Collect.

Data Retention

Deal submissions and reports are retained indefinitely to maintain the accuracy of our database. IP hashes in deal reports cannot be used to identify you and are retained for abuse prevention. Newsletter subscriber emails are kept until you unsubscribe. AI chat transcripts are retained to diagnose and improve the assistant. Location coordinates are used to run your search and are not retained in our database. Server logs are retained according to our hosting providers' standard retention policies. Business contact records for venues that have featured or advertised a listing are retained while the listing is active.

Your Rights

Because we collect minimal data and do not maintain user accounts, there is limited personal data to access, correct, or delete. If you believe we hold data connected to you and would like it removed, contact us and we will respond within 30 days.

If you are a California resident, you have the right to request disclosure of data collected about you under the CCPA. If you are located in the European Economic Area, you may have additional rights under the GDPR. Contact us to exercise these rights.

Children's Privacy

312Deals is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has provided information to us, please contact us so we can remove it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact

Questions or concerns about this privacy policy? Contact us at deals@312deals.com or visit our contact page.