Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and how to contact us

The Guild of Master Barbers is the trading name used for the private barber training program based in Pyrmont, Sydney. Before a student pays, the contracting provider's legal name and ABN should be supplied in the written enrolment confirmation or tax invoice.

The privacy contact is hello@theguildofmasterbarbers.com. You may also ask for this policy in another accessible format at no charge.

2. Personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you deal with us. It may include:

• Identity and contact details, including name, preferred name, date of birth, email, phone, residential address, suburb and postcode.
• Application information, including barbering experience, previous training, occupation, goals, motivation, availability, commitments, referral source, social handle and messages you choose to provide.
• Enrolment information, including residential address, an emergency contact, guardian details for a student under 18, electronic acknowledgements, accepted policy versions and signatures.
• Training records, including cohort, class schedule, attendance and make-ups, lesson checklist submissions and Staff reviews, final-practical attempts, completion review and certificate.
• Payment and transaction information, including amount, currency, status, refund status and payment-provider identifiers. Card details are entered with the payment provider and are not stored by The Guild.
• Technical and security information, including authentication details, essential session cookies, request timestamps and a one-way hash of an IP address where used for security, abuse prevention or audit logging.
• Communications with us, including emails, notices, complaint records and preferences.

3. How we collect information

• Directly from you through the website, application and enrolment forms, the student portal, email, telephone and in-person interactions.
• From a parent or guardian when a student is under 18.
• From authorised Guild Staff as they record attendance, lesson reviews, final-practical outcomes, payments and course administration.
• From service providers involved in authentication, website hosting, file storage, payment processing and email delivery.
• Automatically when you use the website or portal, to the limited extent needed for security, authentication and reliable operation.

4. Why we collect and use information

• To assess an application, arrange a Discovery Session and communicate an outcome.
• To prepare, confirm and administer enrolment and payment arrangements.
• To deliver training, release learning content, assess work, provide feedback, track attendance and progress, and support students.
• To communicate operational safety information and record only the resulting suspension or termination status where a conduct matter is decided outside the platform.
• To operate accounts, authentication, private file access, communications and the Student, Guardian and Staff portals.
• To process and reconcile payments, refunds and financial records.
• To prevent fraud, spam, unauthorised access and misuse, and to maintain audit records.
• To comply with law, resolve complaints and establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• To improve the program and website using aggregated or de-identified information where practical.

5. What happens if information is not provided

You do not have to provide optional information. However, if required identity, contact, enrolment, guardian-verification or payment information is not provided, we may be unable to assess an application, offer a place, provide portal access or deliver the program.

Do not enter medical diagnoses, disability details or accessibility profiles into free-text platform fields. Contact Guild Staff directly if a private safety or participation discussion is needed.

6. Who we disclose information to

• Authorised Guild Staff, all of whom have the same complete Staff permission set and are subject to confidentiality expectations.
• Website, authentication, database and private-file hosting providers, including infrastructure supplied through OpenAI Sites and Cloudflare services.
• Stripe or another disclosed payment provider for checkout, transaction processing, fraud prevention and refunds.
• An email delivery provider, currently configured to support Resend, where transactional emails are enabled.
• Professional advisers, insurers, auditors and technology or security specialists under appropriate confidentiality obligations.
• Emergency services, a parent or guardian, regulators, courts or law-enforcement bodies where reasonably necessary, authorised or required by law.
• A successor or purchaser in a proposed business transfer, subject to appropriate confidentiality and legal requirements.

7. Overseas processing and disclosure

Some technology, payment and email providers operate globally. Personal information may therefore be processed or stored outside Australia, including in the United States and other locations used by those providers. Exact locations can change with provider infrastructure and account settings.

Where Australian privacy law applies, we take reasonable steps appropriate to the circumstances before disclosing personal information overseas. You may contact us for the most current information about providers and likely locations.

8. Storage and security

We use a combination of technical and organisational safeguards designed to protect information. These include authenticated and role-restricted access, private object storage for student files, server-side access checks, encrypted connections, rate limiting, audit records and limited staff access.

No online system is completely secure. If we identify a data breach, we will contain and assess it and make notifications where required under applicable law.

9. How long we retain information

Inactive applicant information is anonymised after 12 months. Private Staff conversations have no automatic purge. Official financial, signed guardian, attendance, completion and certificate records follow retention periods approved by The Guild’s accountant and legal adviser.

Graduates retain full platform access for 12 months after completion. Afterwards lesson access ends and the retained archive provides certificates, payer-owned receipts and statements, and a personal-data export. When other information is no longer reasonably required, we take reasonable steps to delete or de-identify it, subject to backups, legal holds and approved recordkeeping periods.

10. Automated decisions

The Guild does not currently use personal information in a solely automated decision that determines acceptance, enrolment, disciplinary action or another decision that could significantly affect a person. Applications and material student decisions are reviewed by authorised people.

11. Access and correction

You may ask to access or correct personal information we hold about you by emailing hello@theguildofmasterbarbers.com. We may need to verify your identity. If an exception permits us to refuse all or part of a request, we will explain the reason where the law requires it and tell you about available complaint options.

12. Privacy complaints

Send a privacy complaint to hello@theguildofmasterbarbers.com with enough detail for us to investigate. We will acknowledge it, investigate it fairly and respond within a reasonable period. If you are not satisfied, you may be able to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

13. Changes to this policy

This policy is effective from 30 August 2026. We may update it when our practices, providers or legal obligations change. The current version will be published here with its effective date. Material changes will be brought to affected students' attention where reasonably appropriate.