Chrome extension privacy policy

This policy covers the CarShots Chrome extension ("the extension"), made by Pickles Technologies, the makers of CarShots. It explains what the extension reads, what it sends to CarShots and what we do with it. Your CarShots account itself is covered by our main Privacy Policy at carshots.ai/privacy.

The short version

• The extension does nothing until you click the CarShots button (or its keyboard shortcut) on a page.
• When you click, it reads that one page to find the car's photos and details, and sends them to CarShots so we can check the photos and bring the car into your account.
• It never reads other tabs, never collects your browsing history and never sells or shares your data for advertising.

What the extension reads, and when

When you click the CarShots button on a page, the extension reads that page in your browser: its address and title, the car details shown on it (year, make, model, trim, price, mileage, VIN, stock number, color and the seller's name) and the addresses of its pictures. It works out which pictures are the car's and shows them to you before anything is made.

If you turn on "Find listings automatically" in the extension's settings, Chrome asks you to let it see the pages you visit. The extension then checks each page in your browser to see whether it is a car listing, and if it is, shows the CarShots button and the photo count. That check happens on your computer: nothing is sent to CarShots unless you click. You can turn the setting off at any time, and Chrome removes the permission.

What it sends to CarShots

Only when you click the CarShots button, the extension sends CarShots:

• the address and title of that page;
• the car details it read from the page;
• the addresses of the pictures it found, and the extension's version.

CarShots then downloads those pictures from the website they are on, checks their size, spots copies of the same photo, and uses an image model (Google's Gemini, as our service provider) to tell whether each one shows the listed car. We keep the result of that check, the page details and the picture addresses together as a "scan", so the photos you pick can be brought into your account.

When you click "Make studio photos", a CarShots tab opens. If you are signed in (or sign up), the car is created in your account with the details from the listing and the photos you picked, and the shoot starts. From then on, the car and its photos are part of your CarShots account and the main Privacy Policy applies.

What it never does

• It never reads or sends pages you have not clicked the button on.
• It never reads your passwords, form entries, cookies or other tabs, and never collects your browsing history.
• It never changes the websites you visit.
• It never sells data, shares it for advertising or uses it to decide credit or lending.
• It runs no code from outside the extension: everything it runs is in the package you install from the Chrome Web Store.

What the extension keeps on your computer

Nothing. The extension stores no data on your computer and sets no cookies. Whether "Find listings automatically" is on is simply the permission Chrome gave it.

How long we keep scans

A scan you don't bring into CarShots is deleted after 30 days, and its link stops working after 7. A scan you do bring in stays with the car in your account until you delete the car or your account.

Like every website, our servers see the internet address (IP address) of each request. We use it to stop abuse, such as too many scans from one address, and don't keep it with the scan.

Who we share it with

We share scan data only with the service providers that run CarShots for us (our hosting and storage providers, and Google for the photo check), only to provide the service, and under contracts that don't let them use it for anything else. We never sell it. We may disclose information if the law requires it.

Chrome Web Store User Data Policy

The use of information received from the extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Your choices

• Use the extension only on the pages you choose; it does nothing on its own.
• Turn "Find listings automatically" off in the extension's settings, or remove the extension from Chrome at any time.
• Ask us to delete your scans or your account at [email protected].

Changes and contact

If we change what the extension reads or sends, we will update this page and its date before the change ships. Questions: [email protected].