Privacy Policy

This policy explains what PICKME does with personal information. It applies to pickme.nz and to everything we run on it — browsing the directory, creating an account, placing an advertisement, buying a paid feature, or getting in touch with us.

We follow the Privacy Act 2020 and the thirteen information privacy principles (“IPPs”) set out in it. Where this policy refers to a principle by number, that is the principle we are describing. If anything here ever appears to conflict with the Act, the Act wins.

Version in force from 14 October 2026.

1. About us

PICKME operates an advertising directory for adults in New Zealand. Under the Privacy Act 2020 we are the agency that holds the personal information described below, and we are responsible for it.

One address reaches us for everything, including privacy matters:

Email: [email protected]
Website: https://pickme.nz/

Please use that address for access and correction requests. It keeps them in one queue so we can track the statutory clock.

2. What our role is — and what it is not

This matters for privacy, so we would rather be blunt about it.

PICKME publishes advertising supplied by other people. We are not an escort agency, a brothel, a booking desk, an agent or a manager. We do not arrange, negotiate, broker or take a cut of anything advertised here. We are not a party to whatever you and an advertiser agree between yourselves.

The practical consequence: when you contact someone through a listing, that advertiser decides what to do with what you tell them. Their privacy obligations are their own. The information we hold is only what is described in this policy.

3. The information we hold

There are four broad categories.

Account details. Your username, email address, a hashed password, the language and display settings you pick, and the state of your account.

Advertising content. For advertisers: the words, photographs, categories, rates, working hours and location details you choose to publish. This material is public by design — that is the point of a directory — so please treat anything you put in a listing as something a stranger may read, copy or screenshot.

Verification material. Where you ask to be verified, we hold what you send to confirm you are 18 or over and that the person in the photographs is you. It is used for that purpose and not turned into marketing.

Records generated by using the site. IP address and the approximate location derived from it, browser and device details, pages and listings viewed, searches run, the page you arrived from, timestamps, and the security logs we keep to spot spam, scraping, fraud and attempts to get around our safeguards. Plus billing records for paid features — amounts, currency, timestamps, transaction references. Card and bank details go straight to our payment providers and never pass through our servers.

4. Where the information comes from

Mostly from you, directly. That is what IPP 2 asks of us, and it is also the sensible way to run a directory.

Sometimes we get information about you from someone else: a visitor or another advertiser reports a listing; a payment provider tells us a transaction was reversed or looks fraudulent; a service provider sends us a technical signal. Where we collect indirectly, it is because collecting directly is not practicable or because the information is needed to look into a complaint.

We collect by lawful and fair means and we do not go digging in a way that would strike you as unreasonably intrusive (IPP 4). We do not buy personal information from data brokers, and we do not run background checks on visitors.

5. What we do with it

We use personal information to:

• run the directory — hosting, publishing and displaying listings;
• create accounts, sign people in, and keep settings straight;
• keep the site adults-only, including checking age where verification is requested;
• moderate content, look into reports, and remove listings that break our rules;
• detect and stop spam, scams, fraudulent payments, scraping and unauthorised access;
• process paid features and keep the billing records we are required to keep;
• answer support requests, complaints and legal requests;
• send service and security notices — not marketing;
• understand in aggregate how the site is used, so we can fix what is broken;
• meet our legal obligations and enforce our agreements.

We do not quietly repurpose personal information for something else. If we ever want to use it for a purpose not covered here, we will tell you first.

6. Who we share it with

We do not sell personal information. We do not rent or trade it. Disclosure happens only where it is necessary for the purposes above, and consistently with IPPs 10 and 11.

The recipients fall into these groups:

• Hosting and infrastructure providers who run the servers, storage, content delivery and monitoring behind the site.
• Payment providers who take payments and help with fraud checks and chargebacks.
• Email and support providers who carry service messages and support correspondence.
• Analytics and anti-abuse providers, where in use, to measure aggregate traffic and keep automated abuse off the site.
• Professional advisers — lawyers and accountants — where we need them.
• Police, regulators and courts, where the law requires or permits it (see section 13).
• A successor organisation, if the business is sold, merged or restructured. This policy would continue to apply to the information transferred.

Where a provider handles personal information on our behalf, we engage them on terms that require protection consistent with the Privacy Act 2020. The responsibility stays with us.

7. Sending information overseas

Some of those providers sit outside New Zealand, so personal information may be stored or accessed in another country.

Before disclosing personal information overseas we take reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves the recipient is bound by protections comparable to those in the Privacy Act 2020. In practice, and consistently with IPP 12, we rely on one or more of: the destination having comparable privacy law, contractual terms imposing equivalent protections, the information being covered by an equivalent privacy scheme, or your informed consent.

Write to us if you want to know more about how information is protected once it leaves New Zealand.

8. How long we keep it

IPP 9 says do not keep it longer than you need it. We work to that:

• Accounts and listings — kept while the account is live. When an account closes, listings come down and the associated personal information is deleted or anonymised, unless we have a lawful reason to keep it.
• Verification material — kept only as long as verification needs it, plus a short tail afterwards so the same material cannot be recycled into a fresh verification attempt. Then it goes.
• Billing records — kept for the period New Zealand tax and consumer law requires, and long enough to resolve disputes.
• Security, moderation and abuse records — kept while they are needed to protect the site and the people on it, and to make suspensions and bans stick.
• Support correspondence — kept for a reasonable period so there is a record of what was decided.

When something is no longer needed we delete it securely or anonymise it so it can no longer be tied to a person.

A note on usernames. If an account is deleted we may hold the username back so nobody else can take it and impersonate you. That is the only reason we keep it.

9. Keeping it secure

IPP 5 requires reasonable safeguards, and the shape of those depends on the risk. Ours include:

• TLS/HTTPS in transit, and encryption at rest where it is warranted;
• passwords stored only as hashes;
• role-based access, so personal information is visible only to people whose job needs it;
• logging and monitoring of administrative activity;
• patching and vulnerability management on the software we run;
• backups and controlled retention, so data does not quietly accumulate forever.

No online service can promise perfect security. Please use a strong, unique password, keep your credentials to yourself, and tell us straight away at [email protected] if you think your account has been accessed by someone else.

We do not store card numbers. Payments are handled by third-party providers and card details are entered with them.

10. Your rights

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you (IPP 6). You can ask us to correct it if it is wrong, misleading, incomplete or out of date (IPP 7), and if we disagree you can ask us to attach your statement of correction.

Write to [email protected] with enough detail for us to identify you and the information you mean. We will respond within the timeframe the Privacy Act sets. We may ask you to prove who you are first — not to be difficult, but so we do not hand someone else your information.

If what you want changed is in your own listing, you can normally edit or remove it yourself from your account. If that is not working, tell us and we will do it for you.

The Privacy Act allows us to withhold information in narrow situations — for example where releasing it would prejudice the maintenance of the law, or would breach somebody else’s privacy. If we withhold something we will tell you why.

11. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and comparable technologies to keep the site working and to understand how it is used.

• Essential — sessions, signing in, security and load balancing. The site does not work properly without these.
• Preferences — remembering your language, display choices and favourites.
• Analytics — where enabled, aggregate measurement so we can improve things.

Your browser can block or delete cookies; disabling the essential ones will break parts of the site. Where the law requires it, we will ask before setting anything optional.

12. Visitors under 18

The directory is for adults. You must be 18 or over to use it, to hold an account, or to advertise. Commercial sexual services involving anyone under 18 are unlawful in New Zealand and we take a zero-tolerance line on any content that involves, depicts or sexualises a minor.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has given us personal information, or appears in a listing, contact [email protected] immediately so we can look into it and remove the content.

13. Requests from Police and other agencies

We may disclose personal information to the New Zealand Police, other law enforcement agencies, regulators, courts and tribunals where the law requires it, or where disclosure is permitted and necessary — to answer a valid subpoena, court order or statutory request; to help investigate or prevent a serious offence, including offending against minors; to protect someone from serious harm; or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

We look at each request on its merits, satisfy ourselves it has a proper legal basis, and hand over only what is actually required. Where we are allowed to, we may tell the person concerned.

14. If something goes wrong

We keep procedures for spotting, investigating and responding to privacy breaches, and we have a privacy officer responsible for compliance with the Privacy Act 2020.

A breach that has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm is notifiable. When that happens we notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as soon as practicable, as sections 112 to 117 of the Privacy Act 2020 require, providing the information section 117 sets out. We also tell the people affected as soon as practicable, unless an exception applies — what happened, and what they and we can do about it.

If you think you have found a privacy breach involving this site, contact [email protected] without delay.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our practices, our suppliers or the law change. The current version always sits on this page with its effective date. If a change is material we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention — a notice on the site, for instance. Continuing to use the site after an updated policy takes effect means you accept it.

16. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, tell us first at [email protected]. We will acknowledge the complaint and try to put it right.

If that does not resolve it, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner:

• Website: www.privacy.org.nz
• Phone: 0800 803 909 (within New Zealand)
• Post: PO Box 10 094, Wellington 6140

The Commissioner can investigate complaints about interferences with privacy and may refer a matter to the Director of Human Rights Proceedings or the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

This policy is published for transparency. It does not limit or exclude any right you have under the Privacy Act 2020 or any other New Zealand law.