Data Use Policy

This page describes how Grail Den collects, uses, and shares two categories of data: (1) publicly available market data we aggregate from auction houses, marketplaces, and dealer platforms; and (2) data you submit to Grail Den or Screen Grade (photos, item descriptions, account information). It is the operational companion to the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service; in any conflict, the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service control.

Our goal is plain language without sacrificing legal precision. If a term feels evasive, it probably is; tell us via the Grail Den contact form and we will tighten it.

1. Respect for robots.txt & Platform Rules

Grail Den's data collection systems:

• Obey robots.txt directives. If a site's robots.txt disallows crawling of certain paths or all automated access, we respect that directive without exception.
• Honor Terms of Service. Where a platform's terms of service explicitly prohibit automated data collection, we seek alternative data access methods (such as official APIs, data partnerships, or publicly provided feeds) or exclude that source entirely.
• Use official APIs when available. Many platforms offer public APIs, search endpoints, or data feeds. We prefer these authorized channels over any form of web scraping.
• Identify ourselves. Our automated systems use descriptive User-Agent strings where technically appropriate, so site operators can identify and contact us.

If a source requests that we cease data collection, we will comply promptly.

2. Rate Limiting & Server Courtesy

• Conservative request rates. We enforce delays between requests that significantly exceed the minimum needed, typically several seconds between requests to any single domain.
• Off-peak scheduling. Routine data collection runs are scheduled during off-peak hours when possible to minimize any impact on source platform performance.
• Backoff on errors. If a source returns errors (rate limits, server errors, or timeouts), our systems back off exponentially and do not retry aggressively.
• Minimal footprint. We request only the data we need. We do not crawl entire sites indiscriminately or download assets (images, media) beyond what's necessary for attribution and display.

3. No Paid or Restricted Content

• Publicly available data only. We only collect data that is freely accessible to any visitor without authentication, payment, or special access.
• No circumvention. We do not bypass paywalls, CAPTCHAs designed to block automated access, authentication systems, or any other access controls.
• No credential sharing. We do not use stolen, shared, or purchased login credentials to access restricted areas of any platform.
• Respect for premium content. If a platform offers both free and premium data tiers, we only access the free tier unless we have an explicit commercial data agreement.

4. Source Attribution

• Clear source labeling. All market data, listings, and price information displayed on Grail Den is labeled with its source platform (e.g., "via eBay," "via Heritage Auctions," "via Julien's Auctions").
• Direct links. Where possible, we link directly to the original listing or source page so users can verify data and engage with the source platform.
• No misrepresentation. We never present third-party data as our own original content. Aggregated statistics and analyses are clearly labeled as derived from external sources.
• Trademark respect. Platform names and logos are the property of their respective owners. Our use of these marks is for identification and attribution purposes only.

5. User Data Handling

• No personal data scraping. Our data collection systems do not target, collect, or store personal information of individuals from source platforms (such as usernames, profiles, contact details, or bidding histories).
• Item-focused data. We collect item-level data: titles, descriptions, categories, images, prices, and sale dates. Not bidder identities or seller personal information.
• User data on Grail Den. For data that Grail Den users voluntarily provide to us (account information, collection data, search queries), see our full Privacy Policy.
• No selling of user data. We do not sell, rent, or share our users' personal data with third parties for their marketing purposes.

6. Data & Authenticator Ethics

• Transparency about tool limitations. All automated assessments (authentication scores, price estimates, condition analysis) are clearly labeled as automated and informational only.
• No false authority. We do not present authenticator confidence scores as certifications, professional appraisals, or guarantees of authenticity or value.
• Bias awareness. We acknowledge that models can reflect biases in training data. We work to identify and mitigate systematic biases in our processing, particularly those that could affect pricing or authenticity assessments.
• Human oversight. Critical platform decisions (account suspensions, dispute resolutions, fraud detection) involve human review and are not made solely by automated systems.

7. Reporting Concerns

If you are a platform operator and believe that Grail Den's data collection practices violate your terms of service or robots.txt directives, or if you have any concerns about our data practices, please contact us:

Tier 4 Support, Inc.
Santa Monica, California

We commit to acknowledging all data ethics concerns within two (2) business days and resolving them within ten (10) business days. If you request that we cease collecting data from your platform, we will comply within 48 hours of verification.

8. User Submissions License & Training Use

8.1 Two layered licenses

Grail Den operates two distinct submission pipelines, each with its own license scope:

• Screen Grade authentication submissions. When you submit images and metadata for Screen Grade authentication (Quick, Rush, Deep tiers), the license terms in Screen Grade Terms of Service Section 5.1 (Intellectual Property Rights and Content Usage) govern. That license is broader because authentication services rely heavily on training corpora; you accept that broader scope when you choose to submit to Screen Grade.
• Grail Den marketplace and platform submissions. When you submit content to Grail Den outside the Screen Grade authentication pipeline (marketplace listings, profile data, vault entries, deal-hunter alerts, comments), the scoped license in Section 8.2 below governs. This is narrower than the Screen Grade license.

8.2 Grail Den platform license (scoped)

By submitting content to the Grail Den platform (other than Screen Grade authentication submissions, which are governed separately above), you grant Tier 4 Support, Inc. a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use that content solely for the following purposes:

• (a) Internal model training and platform development. Training and improving authentication, pricing, fraud-detection, and search models. Training derivatives are statistical aggregations that do not reproduce your individual content. This use survives account deletion because the derivatives are non-identifiable aggregates, not copies of your content.
• (b) Operating the platform. Hosting your listings, displaying them to other users, processing transactions, generating reports, syncing your vault across devices.
• (c) Aggregate, non-identifiable statistical research. Publishing aggregate market trends (for example: "Star Wars autographs averaged $X in Q2 2026") that do not identify any individual or any individual submission.

8.3 Marketing and promotional case studies are OPT-IN ONLY

Use of your content in case studies, press features, blog posts, social-media campaigns, video content, newsletters, or other identifiable marketing materials is opt-in only. The default at submission time is OFF. We may not use your content for marketing or promotion unless you affirmatively opt in via a separate consent flow at the point of submission, and you may revoke that consent at any time via the Grail Den contact form or your account settings. Revocation applies prospectively; we will not include your content in future marketing materials, but content already published in materials produced before revocation may remain in those materials until they are reissued.

8.4 De-identification standard (CCPA § 1798.140(h))

Where this policy refers to "de-identified" or "aggregate" data, we mean data that meets the technical and procedural standards of California Civil Code § 1798.140(h): the data cannot reasonably be used to infer information about, or be linked to, any particular consumer or household. We implement the technical safeguards (such as k-anonymity thresholds, suppression of rare combinations, and removal of direct and quasi-identifiers) and the contractual prohibitions (forbidding re-identification by recipients) that the statute requires. If you believe a particular publication fails this standard, tell us via the Grail Den contact form and we will investigate within five (5) business days.

8.5 Biometric data carve-out

Grail Den does not extract, store, or sell biometric templates (face geometry, fingerprints, voiceprints, or other biometric identifiers as defined under California, Illinois BIPA, or comparable laws) from user submissions. If a submitted photo incidentally contains biometric information about a private individual, we will not use that information for biometric identification and will redact or refuse the submission if asked.

8.6 No sale of personal information

Grail Den does not sell personal information to third parties as the term "sell" is defined under California Civil Code § 1798.140(t) and equivalent statutes. Aggregate statistics that do not identify any individual are not "personal information."

8.7 Notice at collection

At every submission point (sign-up form, listing form, Screen Grade submission form, contact form), we present a notice-at-collection that links back to this Section 8 and to the Privacy Policy, identifies the categories of information collected, the purposes of collection, and the right to opt out of the marketing/promotional use described in Section 8.3.

8.8 No warranty regarding training-data accuracy

Models trained on user-submitted data may produce errors. Grail Den disclaims any warranty regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any output of any model trained in part on user-submitted content. Authentication outputs in particular are professional opinions, not guarantees; see Section 6 of the Marketplace Terms.

9. California Consumer Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act and the California Privacy Rights Act:

• Right to Know. You may request the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the business or commercial purpose, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to Delete. You may request deletion of personal information we have collected from you, subject to statutory exceptions (for example, completion of an active transaction, fraud prevention, legal obligations). De-identified statistical aggregates and trained model derivatives, which by Section 8.4 cannot reasonably be linked back to you, are not subject to deletion.
• Right to Correct. You may request that we correct inaccurate personal information we hold about you.
• Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing for Cross-Context Behavioral Advertising. Per Section 8.6, we do not sell personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information. You may request that we limit our use of any sensitive personal information you submit to the purposes strictly necessary to provide the requested service.
• Right to Non-Discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

To exercise any of these rights, submit a request via the Grail Den contact form with the subject "CCPA Request." We will acknowledge within ten (10) business days and respond within forty-five (45) calendar days, with one extension permitted as the statute allows. Verification follows the two-step process required by 11 CCR § 999.323 (consumer-provided identifiers matched against account records).

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Data Use Policy. The "Effective" date at the top of the page reflects the most recent version. For material adverse changes (for example, expanding the license scope in Section 8.2 or narrowing your CCPA rights in Section 9), we will provide at least thirty (30) days advance notice via the email address on your account and via an in-app banner, and will require affirmative click-through re-acceptance before the change takes effect for your account. Continued use of the platform after the effective date of a non-material change constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.