Privacy Policy
Your privacy matters to us. This Privacy Policy explains how Check-Usernames.com ("we", "our", "us") collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards your information when you visit our website at https://www.check-usernames.com and any of its subpages or tools.
By using our Service, you consent to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the site.
1 Information We Collect
We collect two types of information: information you voluntarily provide and information automatically gathered when you use our Service.
Personal Data — information you voluntarily provide:
- Email address (only when you contact us or subscribe to our newsletter)
- Name (only when you contact us)
- Any message content you send through our contact form
Usage Data — collected automatically when you browse:
- IP address (anonymized where required by law)
- Browser type and version, operating system
- Referring URL and pages visited on our site
- Date/time of visit and time spent on each page
- Device type (mobile, tablet, desktop) and screen resolution
- Language preference and country (from browser locale)
What we do NOT collect:
- Passwords or authentication credentials
- Payment information (all payments happen on our partner's site)
- Precise geolocation data
- Biometric or sensitive personal information
Username searches: When you search for a username or domain on our site, that query is processed in your browser for domain lookups and not stored on our servers. Platform availability checks use only public APIs and are performed anonymously.
2 How We Use Your Information
We use the collected data strictly for the following purposes:
- Providing the Service — running username and domain availability checks
- Improving the Service — analyzing aggregate usage to fix bugs and add features
- Responding to inquiries — replying to your emails or contact form submissions
- Sending newsletters (only if you explicitly subscribed)
- Security and abuse prevention — detecting bots, spam, and misuse
- Legal compliance — complying with applicable laws and court orders
- Notifying you of changes — updates to this policy or our Terms
We never sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.
3 Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, our legal basis for processing your data under the GDPR is:
| Purpose | Legal Basis |
|---|---|
| Providing the Service | Contract performance (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) |
| Analytics and improvement | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Newsletter emails | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Compliance with legal obligations | Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) |
You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us at privacy@check-usernames.com.
4 Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies (localStorage, sessionStorage) to operate the Service and remember your preferences.
| Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Core site functionality (session, CSRF protection) | Session |
| Preference | Remembering language, theme, and last search | Up to 1 year |
| Analytics | Anonymous traffic measurement (aggregated) | Up to 2 years |
| Affiliate tracking | Crediting partner referrals (set by our partners) | 30–90 days |
You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may limit certain features but the core username and domain checkers will continue to work.
5 Third-Party Services
We use trusted third-party services to operate the site. Each provider has its own privacy policy:
| Provider | Purpose | Data Shared |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | DNS-over-HTTPS lookups, CDN, DDoS protection | Queried domain name only |
| Google Analytics / Plausible | Anonymous traffic analytics | Anonymized IP, browser info |
| Namecheap (via pxf.io) | Domain registration (affiliate partner) | Only when you click "Register" |
| Google Fonts / cdnjs | Fonts and JavaScript libraries | IP address (standard HTTP) |
Third parties receive only the minimum data necessary to perform their function and are contractually prohibited from using it for any other purpose.
6 Affiliate Disclosure
Check-Usernames.com participates in affiliate programs, including Namecheap, Hostinger, NordVPN, and GetResponse. When you click certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Our affiliate partners may set their own cookies to track referrals. These cookies are governed by the partner's privacy policy. We do not share any personal data with affiliates beyond the standard referral tracking described above.
7 Data Retention
We retain personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy:
- Contact form submissions: 24 months from last interaction
- Newsletter subscriptions: Until you unsubscribe, plus 30 days
- Server logs: 90 days maximum
- Analytics data: Up to 26 months (aggregated and anonymized)
When retention periods expire, data is permanently deleted or irreversibly anonymized.
8 Data Security
We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data:
- HTTPS/TLS encryption for all traffic between your browser and our servers
- Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent XSS attacks
- Regular security audits and dependency updates
- Minimal data collection — we only store what is strictly necessary
However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
9 Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Right of access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Right to rectification — correct inaccurate or incomplete data
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — request deletion of your data
- Right to restrict processing — limit how we use your data
- Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Right to data portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format
- Right to withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting prior processing
- Right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority
To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy@check-usernames.com. We respond within 30 days.
10 CCPA Rights (California Residents)
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California residents have the right to:
- Know what personal information we collect and how it is used
- Delete personal information we have collected (subject to legal exceptions)
- Opt out of the sale of personal information — we do not sell personal information
- Non-discrimination for exercising your CCPA rights
To exercise your CCPA rights, contact us at privacy@check-usernames.com with the subject line "CCPA Request".
11 Children's Privacy
Our Service is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us immediately at privacy@check-usernames.com. We will delete such information from our systems within 7 days.
12 International Data Transfers
Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside your own. We ensure that any international transfer is protected by appropriate safeguards:
- Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission
- Adequacy decisions where applicable
- Cloudflare's global network is Privacy Shield certified (legacy) and GDPR compliant
13 Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes:
- We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
- We will post a prominent notice on our homepage for 30 days
- If you have subscribed, we will email you a summary of the changes
We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
14 Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us:
- Email: privacy@check-usernames.com
- Contact form: check-usernames.com/contactus
- Response time: Within 30 days for privacy requests, 2 business days for general inquiries