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Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 3, 2026

Introduction

RF StateSide, LLC (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to safeguarding your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your choices. This policy applies to our website (www.rfstateside.com) and to account, community, contact, project-support, and historical transaction records. Storefront purchasing and shipping-label purchases are currently retired; voluntary PayPal project support is separate. Commercial sales may resume in the future, with applicable notices and terms updated before checkout is enabled.

1. Information We Collect
A. Information You Provide to Us
  • Account Information: name, email address, password hash, and optional profile details.
  • Historical Order Information: products purchased, purchase history, and digital downloads.
  • Historical Shipping Information: name, address, phone number, and any delivery details required to fulfill an order.
  • Support Requests: information you voluntarily provide when contacting us.
B. Information Collected Automatically
  • Technical Data: IP address, browser type/version, operating system, device type.
  • Usage Data: pages viewed, navigation patterns, time on site, referring URLs.
  • Server Logs: security and diagnostic logs maintained by our hosting provider.
  • Essential Cookies: login/session, form security, and browser-bound project-support acknowledgment cookies. The public site no longer creates guest cart cookies.

RFSS does not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies on this website. PayPal and other external sites have their own cookie and privacy practices.

2. How We Use Your Information

The information we collect is used to:

  • Support project and community participation.
  • Manage your account and purchase history.
  • Provide digital product downloads when applicable.
  • Verify voluntary contributions, attribute project support, display authorized acknowledgments, and maintain financial and supporter history, including refunds and reversals.
  • Retain historical transaction records where appropriate.
  • Improve website functionality and product offerings.
  • Detect fraud and maintain platform security.
  • Respond to messages or support requests.
3. Third-Party Services We Use

Stripe and Shippo integrations are dormant. Online purchasing and shipping-label purchases are retired.

Voluntary project support through PayPal

PayPal is an independent third-party payment service that handles voluntary project-support checkout under its own terms and privacy practices. We send project/item information and a random checkout reference to correlate verified payments. PayPal supplies transaction information that we verify directly with PayPal before using it as a contribution record. We retain available supporter first and last name, email address, PayPal Payer ID, project/item information and transaction history, including transaction identifiers and relationships, amounts, currency, fees and net amounts where supplied, dates, status, refunds, reversals and verification/audit records. Fields PayPal does not supply remain unavailable. We do not retain payment-card details or billing addresses for project support.

Retained supporter identity is encrypted at rest separately from financial evidence, and access is restricted to authorized administrators and audited. Name and email searches use protected search indexes. Contribution and supporter history is retained as an ongoing historical and financial record until an authorized privacy or records-retention review determines that it may be removed. Expiring a checkout session or deleting temporary payment-notification payloads does not delete that history. Contact us to request access, correction or deletion; financial-record obligations and legitimate dispute or security needs may limit deletion.

An essential browser cookie authorizes a short-lived personalized acknowledgment. Only a verified first name, project, contribution amount/currency and payment status may appear in that browser. Lost or expired browser state produces a generic acknowledgment. We do not display supporter email or Payer ID publicly, and retaining an email address does not subscribe a supporter to messages or authorize unsolicited email.

See the PayPal Privacy Statement for PayPal’s handling of information. Requests about records held independently by PayPal must be directed to PayPal.

Historical and potential future storefront payment and shipping services

The following describes retained commerce integrations and their roles if commercial checkout resumes. These services are not currently used to accept storefront orders or purchase shipping labels.

A. Stripe (Payment Processing)

For commercial sales, Stripe is the retained payment-processing integration. RF StateSide does not store or access your full credit card number. When enabled, Stripe collects payment details directly as part of checkout and handles:

  • Credit/debit card processing
  • Fraud prevention
  • Payment authentication

For details, see Stripe’s Privacy Policy: https://stripe.com/privacy.

B. Shippo (Shipping & Labeling)

For commercial shipping, Shippo is the retained label and shipping-rate integration. When needed to fulfill an order, information shared includes:

  • Name
  • Shipping address
  • Phone number (if required by the carrier)

RFSS does not send your full payment-card details to Shippo. See Shippo’s Privacy Policy: https://goshippo.com/privacy.

4. Cookies and Session Data

Our website uses minimal cookies to support essential features such as:

  • Form security
  • Login sessions
  • Securely binding a project-support checkout to the same browser for a short-lived personalized acknowledgment

You may disable cookies in your browser, but login and form functionality may not work correctly, and personalized contribution acknowledgments may be unavailable. The essential support cookie lasts up to two hours; checkout authorization expires separately, normally after one hour. A redirect or transaction reference alone does not authorize disclosure of supporter information. Verified contributions can still be recorded without a return visit.

5. How We Protect Your Information
  • All traffic is encrypted via HTTPS.
  • Passwords are stored using industry-standard hashing algorithms.
  • PayPal handles project-support payment credentials; Stripe is retained for potential future commercial checkout. RFSS stores verified contribution records, not full payment-card numbers.
  • Supporter identity and temporary notification payloads are encrypted; payment routes limit public disclosure and application logging of personal information.
  • Administrative access is restricted and audited.

While no system is perfectly secure, we follow industry best practices to protect your data.

6. Data Retention
  • Order history is retained for accounting, warranty, and download access.
  • Shipping information is retained with your order record.
  • Historical paid-download records may be retained for transaction or entitlement questions. Current open-source/open-hardware publications are $0.00; their accompanying licenses govern permissions without a purchase or contribution.
  • Verified supporter history is retained independently of temporary encrypted notification payloads, which are subject to a configured retention limit of at most 30 days. Records are reviewed at least annually and when a privacy request is received; financial, legal, dispute and security needs inform any removal decision.
  • You may request deletion of your account, subject to legal/financial record-keeping requirements.
7. Sharing of Information

We do not sell or rent your information. We only share information with:

  • PayPal for voluntary project-support checkout and payment verification
  • Stripe and Shippo where needed for historical commerce matters or future enabled commercial services
  • Couriers such as USPS, UPS, FedEx where needed for order fulfillment or historical inquiries
  • Service providers assisting with hosting, backups or security under restricted access
  • Authorities or other recipients where required by law or necessary to address fraud, disputes or legal claims

We do not share your personal information with advertisers or data brokers.

8. Your Rights & Choices
  • Access or update your account information at any time.
  • Contact us to request access to, correction of, or deletion of retained supporter information, or deletion of your account. We may need to verify your identity before releasing information or acting on a request.
  • Disable browser cookies.
  • Opt out of optional communications.
9. External Links

Our website may link to third-party sites. We are not responsible for their content, terms, or privacy practices.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our website and products are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact:

Email: webmaster@rfstateside.com
RF StateSide, LLC
10 Pine Street
Londonderry, NH 03053

We will respond as promptly as possible and within applicable legal requirements. Rights and exceptions depend on applicable law; deleting an account does not automatically delete separately retained financial or supporter history. Do not send payment-card details or passwords with a request.