Privacy policy

At a glance

Who we are

DealShield is an independent Chrome extension that helps creators spot scams in brand-deal messages and understand the terms of real offers. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean DealShield’s developer, the publisher named on DealShield’s Chrome Web Store listing. DealShield has no servers of its own.

What DealShield reads, and when

DealShield reads web pages in only two situations, and you start both.

• When you ask for a check. DealShield reads the open message, or the text you selected, after you click the DealShield button, choose a DealShield item in the right-click menu, press a DealShield shortcut (Alt+Shift+D or Alt+Shift+S by default), use a check button in its side panel, or paste or import text yourself. If a side panel button can’t read the tab yet, Chrome first asks whether to allow DealShield on that site, or on all sites when Chrome hides which site the tab is on. Once allowed, the panel can also check a page you checked again after it reloads.
• On inboxes you turn on. You can enable Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, WhatsApp Web, Telegram Web, Discord, Snapchat for Web, Twitch, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Proton Mail, iCloud Mail or Fastmail. Chrome asks permission for each site. DealShield reads inbox views and conversations that you load in Chrome: it ranks offer-shaped previews that the inbox list already shows and checks an open conversation on your device. When you press “Scan my inboxes” in the side panel, or turn on the hourly scan in Settings, DealShield first reads the tabs you already have open on each enabled site, as they are, and then opens that site’s inbox views in one background tab of its own: the inbox, message requests, and spam or junk folders where the site has them (for Gmail, one search for offer words across all folders, spam included). In that background tab only, it scrolls the conversation list and clicks list tabs such as “Message requests” or “Other”, reads the previews, and closes the tab. It never opens a conversation to do this, never touches a tab you are using beyond reading it, and cannot read native mobile apps. Automatic scanning of TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp Web, Gmail and Outlook, and the hourly scan, are part of Creator Pro. Turn a site off in Settings and DealShield loses access to it and deletes that site’s saved previews.

DealShield never opens links from a message. When a report highlights flagged phrases on the page, that change exists only in your browser.

What stays on your device

Scam checks and deal reviews run entirely inside the extension on your computer. Message text, senders, links, attachment names and email headers are never uploaded to us or to anyone else.

DealShield keeps the following in your browser’s extension storage:

Settings

Theme, the name used in reply drafts, the sites you scan, feature switches, and how many checks you’ve run, which is used only to decide when to offer the Creator Pro trial.Kept until you change them or delete your data

Ranked offer queue

For messages that look like brand offers in inbox views you enabled: the sender, subject or conversation name, preview line, inbox link, locally calculated opportunity and scam ranking, and when it was seen. DealShield does not open a message to build this queue.Kept for up to 30 days, with at most 150 previews. Clear the queue from the side panel, turn that inbox off, delete your data or uninstall DealShield to remove it sooner.

Saved deals

The message or offer text, its scam check and review, up to 10 earlier versions of a revised offer, notes, status, and follow-up and invoice dates.Kept until you delete them. After 500 deals, the oldest are removed.

Rate card

Your prices for each kind of post, and your usage and exclusivity fees.Kept until you delete your data

Check history

Creator Pro only. For each check: the verdict, the signals found, the brands the message claimed to be, the sender’s address or handle, link domains and the address of the page you checked. Never the message text.Kept until you clear it. Only the latest 300 checks are kept.

Plan status

A copy of your plan and free trial dates, which can include the email address you used, so paid features keep working offline.Kept until you uninstall DealShield

Open checks

The latest page capture for each window, automatic check results for open tabs, and domain age results.Cleared when you close Chrome, or sooner when you close the tab or window

Synced to your other Chrome browsers

ExtensionPay’s anonymous key, install date, and plan and trial status are kept in Chrome’s synced storage so your plan follows you, and they can include the email address you used. If Chrome sync is on, Google copies them to the other Chrome browsers where you’re signed in.

What leaves your device

DealShield connects to two outside services, only for the reasons below, plus a DealShield dashboard if you choose to connect one.

ExtensionPay and Stripe, for payments

Scam checks are free and never contact ExtensionPay. Creator Pro is optional, bought monthly, yearly or once for life, and it and its free trial run through ExtensionPay, which takes payments with Stripe.

• Prices. To show current prices, DealShield loads ExtensionPay’s public plan list. Nothing about you is sent.
• An anonymous key. The first time you open checkout, the free trial or Restore purchase, ExtensionPay creates an anonymous key for your browser. DealShield then uses that key to ask ExtensionPay whether you have an active purchase or trial.
• Free trial. To start the 7-day Creator Pro trial, you enter your email address on ExtensionPay’s page and open the confirmation link it emails you. No payment details are needed, and the trial ends by itself.
• Buying and restoring. You enter your email address and payment details on ExtensionPay’s and Stripe’s own pages. To restore a purchase, you enter your email address and ExtensionPay emails you a sign-in link. DealShield never sees your card details.
• What we can see. ExtensionPay’s dashboard shows us each customer’s email address, plan, trial and payment status. We use them only to provide what you signed up for and to answer your support requests.
• On offervet.com, DealShield’s own website. A small script marks the page so the site knows the extension is installed, and, when you press “Link this browser” while signed in, passes the site a one-time link code. It reads nothing on the page.
• On extensionpay.com. A small ExtensionPay script runs on extensionpay.com pages, and nowhere else, so DealShield knows when a checkout finishes. ExtensionPay says it uses Google Analytics on its own website, but not inside extensions.

Like any website, ExtensionPay can see your IP address when DealShield contacts it. ExtensionPay explains its privacy practices under “What about user privacy?” on extensionpay.com, and Stripe explains its practices in its privacy policy.

rdap.org, only if you turn on domain age lookup

Domain age lookup is off by default. If you turn it on in Settings and click Age beside a link, DealShield sends only that link’s domain name, such as example.com, to the public RDAP service at rdap.org. It passes the request to the registry for that domain, which answers with the date the domain was registered. No message text, sender, cookies or other information about you goes with the request.

Your DealShield dashboard, only if you connect one

DealShield can be used entirely on its own, and then nothing above happens except payments. If you also keep a DealShield web dashboard at offervet.com, Settings › Your dashboard can connect this browser to it. Connecting is a deliberate act: Chrome asks for permission to reach the dashboard, you get a code in the extension and type it on the dashboard, and either side can disconnect.

• Proving your plan. Once connected, DealShield tells the dashboard whether Creator Pro is active, which plan, and when a free trial ends, so one purchase covers both. No email address and no payment details are sent: the dashboard already knows the address you signed in with.
• Ranked previews, only with the switch on. With “Sync ranked offers” on, DealShield sends the previews your inbox already shows for offers it ranked: the sender, the subject or conversation name, the preview line, and the score this device worked out. Message bodies, attachments and email headers stay on your device. The switch is off until you turn it on, and it needs Creator Pro.
• Redeeming a code. If you enter a DealShield code under Plans, the extension sends that code to the dashboard with this browser’s install identifier, so the dashboard can mark the code used and add the free Creator Pro months to your account. The extension then remembers when those months end. No email address is sent.
• Nothing else. Turning the switch off stops new previews reaching the dashboard; disconnecting stops everything, including the plan check.

What we never do

• Run analytics, advertising, crash reporting or any other tracking in DealShield.
• Sell, rent or share your information.
• Use your information for anything unrelated to DealShield’s features, or to decide creditworthiness or lending.
• Receive, store or read the messages you check.

DealShield’s use of information complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Chrome permissions

Chrome lists these permissions when you install DealShield or turn on a feature. Here is what each one is for.

activeTab scripting

Read the page you asked DealShield to check, highlight flagged phrases, and run automatic scanning on the sites you turned on.

sidePanel

Show the report beside the message you’re reading.

contextMenus

Add the “Check with DealShield” items to the right-click menu.

storage unlimitedStorage

Keep settings, the local ranked offer queue and saved deals in your browser. Saved contracts can outgrow Chrome’s default storage limit.

alarms

Check once an hour, on your device, for follow-up and invoice reminders you scheduled, and run the hourly inbox scan if you turned it on.

Notificationsoptional

Show those reminders. Chrome asks for this only when you turn reminders on.

Site accessoptional

Asked for only while you use DealShield: one inbox at a time when you turn on automatic scanning (www.instagram.com, www.facebook.com, www.messenger.com, www.linkedin.com, x.com, www.tiktok.com, web.whatsapp.com, web.telegram.org, discord.com, web.snapchat.com, www.twitch.tv, mail.google.com, outlook.live.com, outlook.office.com, outlook.office365.com, mail.yahoo.com, mail.proton.me, www.icloud.com and app.fastmail.com), and a site, or all sites, when a check from the side panel needs to read a tab. Remove it any time in Settings › Checking or on Chrome’s extensions page.

Keeping and deleting your data

• In your browser. DealShield keeps what it stores for the periods above. Clear ranked previews from Offers, turn off one inbox to remove its previews, delete a deal from Deals, use Clear history under Deals › Check history, or remove everything with Settings › Your data › Delete everything. Delete everything keeps your plan status, so you don’t lose a purchase. Uninstalling DealShield removes all of its data from your browser.
• Getting a copy. Settings › Your data › Export downloads your settings, deals, notes, rate card and check history as a file. Creator Pro can also export deals as a spreadsheet (CSV).
• Purchase records. ExtensionPay keeps your email address, plan, trial and payment status so you can restore purchases and manage a subscription, and Stripe keeps payment records as the law requires. To have your ExtensionPay record deleted, contact us.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, including the EU, the UK and California, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or get a copy of your personal information, and to object to or limit how it is used. Most of DealShield’s data never leaves your browser, so you can see, export and delete it yourself in Settings. For purchase information held by ExtensionPay, contact us and we’ll help. We don’t sell or share personal information, and we won’t treat you differently for using these rights.

Where the law asks for a legal basis: we use purchase details to provide what you bought, and the optional features (automatic scanning, domain age lookup and reminders) run only with your permission, which you can withdraw at any time by turning them off.

Security and where data is processed

DealShield connects to ExtensionPay and rdap.org over HTTPS. What DealShield stores in your browser is protected by your device and your Chrome profile, so anyone who can use your Chrome profile can open your saved deals. ExtensionPay and Stripe may process purchase information outside your country, including in the United States.

Children

DealShield is not meant for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect information from them.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update it online and inside DealShield, with a new date at the top. If a change affects how DealShield handles your information, we’ll also say so in DealShield’s Chrome Web Store listing.

Contact