Legal
Terms of Service
Terms governing access to and use of the GougeBusters website, application, and related services
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
1. About These Terms
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern access to and use of GougeBusters, including gougebusters.com, the GougeBusters application, receipt-processing features, pricing database, rankings, Kernels, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). GougeBusters is currently developed, owned, and operated by Pluragon IT Inc. ("Pluragon", "we", "us", or "our"). GougeBusters is not currently a separate legal entity.
By creating an account, submitting a receipt, accessing the Service, or otherwise using GougeBusters, you agree to these Terms and the policies incorporated into them. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 13 years old to create a GougeBusters account. If the laws where you live require parental or guardian consent for you to use the Service or provide personal information, you may use GougeBusters only with that consent. GougeBusters is not directed to children under 13.
3. Accounts and Authentication
GougeBusters may support username-and-password accounts and third-party sign-in methods such as Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account credentials and for activity occurring through your account.
Provide accurate account information and keep it reasonably current.
Do not share credentials or use another person’s account without authorization.
Notify GougeBusters promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.
Public usernames must comply with the GougeBusters Acceptable Use and Receipt Submission Policy.
4. Receipt Submissions
GougeBusters allows users to submit shopping receipts so that product, retailer, store, date, quantity, package-size, price, discount, promotion, tax, and related transaction information can be extracted and used by the Service. You may submit only receipts that belong to you or that you are otherwise authorized to submit, including receipts you are authorized to use within your household.
A receipt submission does not guarantee acceptance, inclusion in the pricing database, or an award of Kernels. GougeBusters may reject receipts that are unreadable, duplicated, manipulated, incomplete, unsupported, suspicious, or otherwise unsuitable for processing.
5. License to Process Submitted Receipts
You retain any rights you have in receipt images and other content you submit. By submitting a receipt, you grant Pluragon a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, process, analyze, validate, extract, normalize, transform, and use the submitted information as reasonably necessary to operate, secure, improve, and develop GougeBusters; detect duplicate or fraudulent submissions; maintain historical pricing information; and create aggregated, de-identified, normalized, or derived datasets and products.
This license continues for extracted, aggregated, de-identified, normalized, and derived data after the original receipt image or your account is deleted, provided the retained data is no longer maintained as personal information tied to your account except where limited retention is permitted by these Terms or applicable law.
6. GougeBusters Pricing Database and Derived Data
Receipt-derived factual shopping and pricing information may become part of the GougeBusters pricing database. Pluragon may combine, normalize, compare, analyze, aggregate, and de-identify this information to operate the Service and to develop analytics, reports, APIs, data feeds, market intelligence, research, commercial data products, and other services.
To the extent permitted by law, GougeBusters and Pluragon own the GougeBusters database structure, normalization work, compilations, aggregated and de-identified datasets, derived analytics, reports, interfaces, and other proprietary data products created from the Service. GougeBusters does not sell users’ personal information merely because it commercializes aggregated, de-identified, or derived market and pricing data.
7. Receipt Images, Extracted Data, and Deletion
Original receipt images are retained temporarily for receipt processing, data extraction, quality checks, duplicate detection, fraud prevention, and troubleshooting. Under the current retention model, original receipt images are deleted within 30 days after upload unless deleted earlier by the user or limited retention is reasonably required for security, fraud prevention, legal, or dispute purposes.
If you delete a receipt, GougeBusters removes the user-facing receipt and any remaining original receipt image. Extracted and de-identified pricing or product information may remain in the historical GougeBusters pricing database. GougeBusters may also retain a minimal receipt fingerprint or hash to prevent the same receipt from being submitted again for credit.
8. Sensitive Information on Receipts
Receipts may contain information that GougeBusters does not need, such as partial card numbers, loyalty or membership numbers, cashier identifiers, customer names, or payment references. GougeBusters is designed to minimize retention of such information. Where a transaction identifier is useful for duplicate detection or fraud prevention, GougeBusters may store only the minimum necessary value, including a hashed or fingerprinted representation where practical.
9. Kernels, Rankings, and Streaks
Kernels are in-app activity and ranking points. Under the current V1 model, an accepted qualifying receipt earns 10 Kernels, with a maximum of three qualifying receipt scans per day, for a maximum of 30 Kernels per day. GougeBusters may display ranks, leaderboard positions, streaks, or other gamification features according to the rules shown in the Service or in the GougeBusters Kernels and Ranking Rules.
Kernels have no cash value and are not currency, property, or a stored-value balance.
Kernels are not transferable between users and are not currently redeemable for cash, gift cards, discounts, prizes, or other benefits.
Future rewards or promotions may be introduced under separate or updated rules.
GougeBusters may withhold, reverse, or correct Kernels awarded because of duplicate, invalid, fraudulent, manipulated, automated, or technically erroneous submissions.
Deleting a receipt does not automatically remove legitimately earned Kernels, but deletion does not make the same receipt eligible to earn Kernels again.
10. Changes to Kernel and Ranking Rules
GougeBusters may change Kernel earning rules, daily limits, rank thresholds, streak rules, ranking mechanics, or related features as the Service evolves. Changes will generally apply prospectively, except where adjustments are reasonably necessary to address fraud, abuse, technical errors, duplicate submissions, or incorrectly awarded Kernels. A current Kernel balance or rank does not guarantee that the same thresholds, status, features, or benefits will remain unchanged indefinitely.
11. Public Profiles and Leaderboards
GougeBusters may display a user’s public username or display name, current rank, Kernel total, and leaderboard position. Email addresses, receipt images, precise location, and shopping history tied to an individual user are not public by default. A real name may become public if the user chooses to use it as a public username or display name.
12. Location Features
GougeBusters may request permission to access device location information to provide nearby-store, local-price, or other location-relevant features. Device location access is permission-based. You may deny or revoke location access through your device settings. Store location derived from a submitted receipt is separate from device location data.
13. Price, Product, and Store Information
Pricing information displayed through GougeBusters is primarily derived from receipts submitted by users. GougeBusters does not set, determine, control, or influence the prices charged by retailers, manufacturers, or other sellers.
GougeBusters processes submitted receipt information to extract and organize product, store, price, promotional, and related information. We may normalize or standardize information such as product names, package sizes, retailer names, and store locations to improve consistency and comparison. We do not independently alter retailer prices in order to create a different price; however, errors may occur during image processing, OCR, AI interpretation, normalization, or matching, and submitted receipts may themselves be incorrect, manipulated, incomplete, or misleading.
Prices may vary by province, state, city, store location, date, time, taxes, promotions, loyalty or membership status, regional pricing, inventory, or other retailer conditions. Historical receipt-derived pricing is reference information only and is not an offer, advertisement, price guarantee, or commitment by the applicable retailer.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, GougeBusters and Pluragon do not guarantee that pricing, product, promotion, retailer, or availability information is accurate, complete, current, or error-free. Users should confirm important information directly with the applicable retailer before making a purchasing decision.
14. Retailers, Manufacturers, and Corrections
The display of a retailer, manufacturer, brand, or product does not imply endorsement, sponsorship, partnership, authorization, or affiliation unless expressly stated. Retailers, manufacturers, users, or other parties may report potentially inaccurate information to info@gougebusters.com. GougeBusters may investigate and may correct, flag, merge, exclude, or remove information that appears inaccurate, duplicated, manipulated, misleading, or unreliable. Legitimate receipt-derived pricing information is not automatically removed merely because a retailer, manufacturer, or other party objects to its display.
15. Sponsored Content and Advertising
GougeBusters may display sponsored products, sponsored retailers, paid placements, promotions, offers, or other advertising. Paid or sponsored content will be identified as such where required and is separate from the underlying receipt-derived pricing data. The presence or absence of sponsored content does not change the source of receipt-derived historical pricing information.
16. Acceptable Use and Fraud Prevention
You must comply with the GougeBusters Acceptable Use and Receipt Submission Policy. GougeBusters may use automated and manual methods to detect duplicate or substantially identical receipts, suspicious account activity, ranking manipulation, bot activity, altered receipts, or other abuse. Relevant signals may include receipt fingerprints, transaction details, dates, totals, store information, account activity, and other technical or service information.
17. Third-Party Services
GougeBusters relies on third-party providers for functions such as cloud hosting, artificial intelligence and OCR processing, authentication, analytics, advertising measurement, and operational monitoring. Current key providers are identified in the GougeBusters Subprocessor and Service Provider List. Providers may be added, replaced, or removed as the Service evolves.
Your use of third-party sign-in or other third-party services may also be subject to the terms and privacy practices of those providers.
18. Privacy
Pluragon handles personal information in accordance with the GougeBusters Privacy Policy. Marketing consent, device location permission, and non-essential analytics or advertising consent are handled separately from acceptance of these Terms where required.
19. Intellectual Property
GougeBusters, including its software, source code, interfaces, design, database structure, documentation, graphics, branding, normalization logic, ranking systems, compilations, and other proprietary materials, is owned by Pluragon IT Inc. or its licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. No ownership rights are transferred to you except for the limited right to use the Service in accordance with these Terms.
Except where applicable law does not permit the restriction, you may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, sublicense, white-label, reverse engineer, decompile, scrape through unauthorized means, circumvent technical controls, or use non-public GougeBusters information to build, benchmark, or improve a competing product without Pluragon’s prior written permission.
20. Availability, Maintenance, and Changes
GougeBusters does not currently provide a formal uptime guarantee or service-level agreement. The Service may be unavailable because of maintenance, upgrades, security measures, third-party failures, Internet or cloud-service issues, or circumstances outside Pluragon’s reasonable control.
Pluragon may add, change, replace, limit, or discontinue features; modify receipt-processing logic; change supported stores, regions, or product categories; and make security or fraud-prevention changes. Material changes affecting users will be communicated where reasonably appropriate or required by law.
21. Suspension and Termination
Pluragon may restrict, suspend, or terminate an account where reasonably necessary because of suspected fraud, repeated duplicate submissions, manipulated receipts, Kernel or ranking abuse, automated or bot submissions, harassment or abusive conduct, attempts to bypass technical controls, security threats, unlawful use, or serious or repeated violations of these Terms or related policies. Where appropriate, GougeBusters may suspend access before termination; serious circumstances may justify immediate action.
22. Account Deletion and Retention
A user may delete their GougeBusters account through available account controls or support channels. Personal account information may remain recoverable for up to 30 days after deletion. After that period, active personal account data is deleted or anonymized, subject to limited retention reasonably necessary for fraud prevention, security, legal, tax, compliance, or dispute-resolution purposes and to normal backup lifecycles.
Deleting an account does not require deletion of extracted pricing or product information that has been de-identified and is no longer tied to the user.
23. Support and Review Requests
Account, receipt, Kernel, suspension, and technical support questions may be sent to support@gougebusters.com. GougeBusters does not provide a formal appeal process for every rejected receipt or Kernel decision. Pluragon may review issues at its discretion and does not guarantee manual review of every rejected receipt.
24. Feedback
If you voluntarily provide product ideas, suggestions, corrections, or other feedback, you permit Pluragon to use that feedback to improve or develop GougeBusters and other products or services without payment or restriction. This does not transfer ownership of your personal information to Pluragon.
25. Disclaimers
To the maximum extent permitted by law, GougeBusters is provided on an "as available" basis. Pluragon does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure against every threat, or suitable for every purpose. Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties, remedies, or consumer rights that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
26. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Pluragon will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost savings, loss of business opportunity, loss of goodwill, or decisions made in reliance on pricing or product information displayed through GougeBusters.
Except for liability that cannot legally be limited, Pluragon’s aggregate liability arising from or relating to GougeBusters or these Terms will not exceed the amounts, if any, paid directly to Pluragon for GougeBusters during the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
27. Indemnification
To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold Pluragon harmless from third-party claims arising from content or receipts you submit in violation of third-party rights, fraudulent or unlawful use of GougeBusters, or a material breach of these Terms by you. This section does not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable consumer law.
28. Future GougeBusters Entity and Assignment
Pluragon may assign or transfer these Terms, and its rights and obligations relating to GougeBusters, to an affiliate, successor, or other entity as part of a corporate reorganization, restructuring, sale, financing, or transfer of the GougeBusters business or product. Where required by applicable law, users will be notified of a material change to the entity responsible for the Service or personal information.
29. Geographic Availability
GougeBusters is initially intended for use in Canada. Availability, supported stores, features, and legal terms may vary by country or region as the Service expands. Availability in a location does not mean GougeBusters is appropriate for every local legal, regulatory, or commercial use case.
30. Changes to These Terms
Pluragon may update these Terms from time to time as GougeBusters, its business model, features, providers, or legal requirements change. Material changes will be communicated through the Service, by email, or by another reasonable method where required. The current version will show its effective date.
31. Governing Law and Courts
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Nova Scotia and the applicable federal laws of Canada, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Subject to mandatory rights that apply in your jurisdiction, disputes relating to these Terms or GougeBusters will be submitted to the courts of Nova Scotia, Canada.
32. Entire Agreement and Severability
These Terms, together with the GougeBusters Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use and Receipt Submission Policy, Cookie Policy, Kernels and Ranking Rules, and any additional terms presented for a specific feature or promotion, form the agreement governing use of GougeBusters. If any provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect.
PRIVACY POLICY
GougeBusters Privacy Policy
How Pluragon IT Inc. handles personal information in connection with GougeBusters
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
1. Scope
This Privacy Policy explains how Pluragon IT Inc. ("Pluragon", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, discloses, stores, and protects personal information in connection with the GougeBusters website, application, accounts, receipt submissions, pricing features, rankings, support, marketing, and related services. It applies to website visitors, account holders, and people who communicate with us about GougeBusters.
2. Who Operates GougeBusters
GougeBusters is currently developed, owned, and operated by Pluragon IT Inc., a Nova Scotia company. GougeBusters is not currently a separate legal entity. If responsibility for GougeBusters is transferred to a successor, affiliate, or new GougeBusters entity, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction or reorganization subject to applicable law, and this Policy will be updated where required.
3. Information We Collect
Account and profile information: Username or display name, account identifier, email address where used or provided, authentication method, rank, Kernel balance, and account settings.
Authentication information: Information needed to support username/password authentication or third-party sign-in through Google or Apple. Google and Apple may provide account identifiers and limited profile information according to the permissions and settings you choose.
Receipt images: Images of shopping receipts submitted to GougeBusters. Original images are retained temporarily under the receipt-retention model described below.
Extracted receipt and pricing data: Retailer, store/location, purchase date and time, product name, brand, package size, quantity, regular or promotional price, discounts, taxes where useful, and receipt/transaction identifiers needed for validation or duplicate detection.
Location information: Device location information when you grant permission, plus store location information derived from receipts or selected in the Service.
Public profile information: Public username/display name, rank, Kernel total, and leaderboard position where those features are enabled.
Support and communications: Support requests, correspondence, security reports, retailer/manufacturer inquiries, and related service communications.
Marketing preferences: Opt-in status, subscription preferences, and engagement information related to newsletters, product updates, promotions, offers, or price alerts.
Analytics and advertising information: Website or app interaction information collected through Google Analytics and Meta Pixel when required consent has been provided.
Operational diagnostics: Limited service, error, performance, security, network, and diagnostic information processed through Microsoft Azure monitoring tools as necessary to operate and troubleshoot the Service.
Fraud and duplicate-prevention information: Receipt fingerprints or hashes, suspicious activity indicators, account activity, and other limited information reasonably necessary to prevent duplicate submissions, manipulation, or abuse.
4. Information We Intentionally Minimize
Receipts may contain information that GougeBusters does not need, such as partial payment-card numbers, loyalty/member numbers, cashier identifiers, customer names, or other payment references. GougeBusters is designed to avoid retaining unrelated sensitive receipt information as normal profile or pricing data. Where a transaction identifier is useful for duplicate detection, we may retain only the minimum necessary value, including a hashed or fingerprinted representation where practical.
5. How We Use Information
Create, authenticate, secure, and manage GougeBusters accounts.
Receive, process, analyze, and validate submitted receipts.
Extract, normalize, compare, and display product, retailer, location, and pricing information.
Build and maintain the GougeBusters historical pricing database.
Award, display, correct, or reverse Kernels and operate ranks, leaderboards, and related gamification features.
Provide nearby-store, local-price, and other location-relevant features when location permission has been granted.
Detect duplicate receipts, suspicious activity, manipulation, fraud, automated submissions, and other abuse.
Provide customer support, investigate reports, and troubleshoot technical issues.
Operate, secure, monitor, and improve the Service.
Measure usage and marketing performance through consent-based analytics and advertising tools.
Send marketing communications where the user has separately opted in, subject to applicable law.
Develop aggregated, de-identified, normalized, and derived datasets, analytics, market intelligence, reports, APIs, and other commercial data products.
Comply with legal, tax, fraud-prevention, security, compliance, and dispute-resolution obligations.
6. Receipt Processing, AI, and OCR
GougeBusters uses artificial-intelligence, OCR, document-processing, and related technologies to read and interpret submitted receipts. Current providers include Microsoft Azure AI and OpenAI. These providers may receive receipt images or extracted receipt information as necessary to perform processing on behalf of GougeBusters.
The specific technology providers used for receipt processing may change as the Service evolves. Current key providers are identified in the GougeBusters Subprocessor and Service Provider List. If a provider change materially affects how personal information is handled, applicable disclosures will be updated.
7. Location Information
GougeBusters may request permission to access your device location to provide nearby-store, local-price, or other location-relevant features. Device location access is optional and permission-based. You may deny or revoke access through your device settings. Store location information may also be derived from a receipt or from a location you manually select or search.
8. Public Profiles and Rankings
Where leaderboard or public profile features are enabled, GougeBusters may display your public username or display name, current rank, Kernel total, and leaderboard position. GougeBusters does not make your email address, original receipt images, precise device location, or shopping history publicly visible by default.
9. Aggregated, De-identified, and Commercial Data
GougeBusters may use receipt-derived pricing and shopping information to create aggregated, de-identified, normalized, and derived datasets. These datasets may be used for product development, analytics, research, market intelligence, reporting, APIs, data feeds, licensing, commercial data products, and other business purposes.
GougeBusters may provide or sell access to aggregated, de-identified, or derived market and pricing data. We do not sell users’ personal information merely because we commercialize datasets that are no longer maintained as information tied to an identifiable GougeBusters user.
10. Analytics, Advertising, and Cookies
GougeBusters currently plans to use Google Analytics for website or product analytics and Meta Pixel for advertising and campaign measurement. Where required, these non-essential technologies operate only after appropriate consent has been provided. Microsoft Azure monitoring and Application Insights may process operational diagnostics necessary to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the Service. Additional details are provided in the GougeBusters Cookie Policy.
11. Marketing Communications
Marketing consent is separate from account creation. Where you opt in, GougeBusters may send newsletters, product updates, promotions, feature announcements, local offers, price alerts, or similar communications. You may unsubscribe from marketing communications using the mechanism provided in the message or other available preference controls. Essential account, security, legal, and service communications may still be sent where necessary to operate the Service.
12. Service Providers and Disclosure
Pluragon may disclose or make information available to service providers only as reasonably necessary to operate, secure, authenticate, analyze, advertise, support, maintain, or improve GougeBusters. Current key providers include Microsoft for Azure hosting, database, backups, Azure AI, monitoring, and related cloud services; OpenAI for receipt and AI processing; Google for Google Sign-In and Google Analytics; Apple for Sign in with Apple; and Meta for Meta Pixel and advertising measurement.
Pluragon may also disclose information where required by law, to protect legal rights or security, to investigate fraud or abuse, in connection with a corporate transaction or transfer of GougeBusters, or with the individual’s authorization.
13. Data Location and International Processing
The primary GougeBusters production environment, production database, and backups are hosted in Microsoft Azure in Canada, using the Canada Central and Canada East regions. Some service providers may process limited information outside Canada. When information is processed in another country, it may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction.
14. Receipt Image Retention
Original receipt images are retained temporarily for receipt processing, extraction, validation, duplicate detection, fraud prevention, and troubleshooting. Under the current model, original receipt images are deleted within 30 days after upload unless the user deletes the receipt earlier or limited retention is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal, or dispute purposes. Extracted, normalized, aggregated, or de-identified pricing information may be retained after the original image is deleted.
15. Account and Receipt Deletion
If you delete a receipt, the user-facing receipt and any remaining original receipt image are removed. Extracted and de-identified pricing or product information may remain in the historical GougeBusters pricing database. A minimal receipt fingerprint or hash may be retained to prevent a deleted receipt from being uploaded again to earn additional Kernels.
If you delete your account, personal account information may remain recoverable for up to 30 days. After that period, active personal account data is deleted or anonymized, subject to limited retention for fraud prevention, security, legal, tax, compliance, dispute-resolution, and normal backup-lifecycle purposes. De-identified historical pricing data may remain.
16. Security
Pluragon uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the nature of GougeBusters and the information processed. Production services, the production database, and backups are hosted in Microsoft Azure in Canada. GougeBusters uses operational monitoring and fraud/duplicate-detection controls as part of service operations. No online service can guarantee absolute security.
17. Security Incidents
Pluragon investigates confirmed security incidents and provides notifications to affected individuals, customers, regulators, or other parties where required by applicable law. GougeBusters does not promise a fixed notification period beyond obligations imposed by applicable law or a separately agreed written commitment.
18. Your Privacy Choices and Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to request access to personal information about you, request correction, request deletion in certain circumstances, withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, object to or restrict certain processing, or make a complaint to an applicable privacy regulator. Requests may be made by contacting info@gougebusters.com. We may need to verify your identity or authority before responding.
You can also manage device location permission through your device settings, marketing preferences through available unsubscribe or preference controls, and non-essential cookies or tracking through the cookie-consent controls provided on the website or application.
19. Children and Teen Users
GougeBusters is not directed to children under 13. You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If the laws where you live require parental or guardian consent for a person of your age to use the Service or provide personal information, you may use GougeBusters only with that consent.
20. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as GougeBusters, its business model, service providers, or legal requirements change. The current version will show its effective date. Material changes will be communicated where required by applicable law.
Acceptable Use and receipt Policy
GougeBusters Acceptable Use and Receipt Submission Policy
Rules for accounts, receipt submissions, public usernames, and fair use of GougeBusters
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
This Acceptable Use and Receipt Submission Policy ("AUP") forms part of the GougeBusters Terms of Service. It applies to all users of the GougeBusters website, application, receipt-processing features, rankings, and related services.
1. General Requirement
You must use GougeBusters lawfully, honestly, and in a manner that does not compromise the integrity of the pricing database, rankings, security, availability, or rights of Pluragon, other users, retailers, manufacturers, service providers, or third parties.
2. Receipt Submission Rules
Submit only genuine receipts from real transactions.
Submit only receipts that belong to you or that you are otherwise authorized to submit, including authorized household receipts.
Do not submit fabricated, altered, edited, forged, or intentionally misleading receipts.
Do not repeatedly submit the same receipt, substantially identical copies, screenshots, or reprocessed versions of a receipt in an attempt to earn additional Kernels.
Do not scrape, purchase, harvest, or collect receipts from the Internet or other sources for the purpose of farming Kernels, manipulating rankings, or distorting pricing data.
Do not intentionally obscure, modify, or falsify retailer, product, date, transaction, quantity, price, or other receipt information.
Do not submit receipts containing unlawful content or content you are not authorized to provide.
3. Kernel and Ranking Integrity
You must not manipulate or attempt to manipulate Kernels, ranks, streaks, leaderboards, receipt limits, duplicate-detection controls, or any other GougeBusters scoring or gamification feature.
Do not create or coordinate multiple accounts to obtain duplicate credit for the same receipt.
Do not use automation, bots, scripts, emulators, or other techniques to generate artificial receipt activity.
Do not exploit bugs, timing issues, account deletion, or technical limitations to obtain Kernels you would not otherwise earn.
Do not trade, sell, transfer, or represent Kernels as having cash or monetary value.
4. Account and Security Restrictions
Do not attempt to gain unauthorized access to GougeBusters accounts, systems, networks, data, administrative functions, or security controls.
Do not introduce malware, ransomware, malicious code, destructive content, or harmful payloads.
Do not conduct vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, or other security testing of GougeBusters without Pluragon’s prior written authorization.
Do not circumvent authentication, authorization, rate limits, receipt limits, technical controls, or fraud-prevention safeguards.
Do not interfere with service operation through denial-of-service activity, abusive automation, excessive requests, or unreasonable resource consumption.
Do not scrape, harvest, or extract non-public information through unauthorized automated means.
5. Public Usernames and Conduct
Public usernames or display names must not be offensive, abusive, misleading, unlawfully impersonate another person or organization, infringe third-party rights, or be used primarily for spam or unauthorized advertising. GougeBusters may reject, change, or require a username change without terminating the entire account.
Do not use GougeBusters to harass, threaten, abuse, defraud, impersonate, or unlawfully target other users, retailers, manufacturers, Pluragon personnel, or third parties.
6. Restricted Uses
Using GougeBusters for unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, or abusive activity.
Infringing intellectual-property, privacy, confidentiality, publicity, contractual, or other rights.
Reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or attempting to derive GougeBusters source code except where applicable law does not permit the restriction.
Using GougeBusters, its non-public outputs, interfaces, datasets, or internal information to build, benchmark, or improve a competing product without Pluragon’s prior written permission.
Reselling, sublicensing, or white-labeling GougeBusters as your own service without Pluragon’s prior written permission.
Sending spam or unsolicited commercial messages through or in connection with the Service in violation of applicable law.
7. Duplicate and Fraud Detection
GougeBusters may use automated and manual methods to detect duplicate or substantially identical receipts, manipulated submissions, artificial activity, or other abuse. Relevant signals may include receipt fingerprints or hashes, transaction details, dates, totals, store information, account history, device or service signals, and other information reasonably necessary to protect the Service.
GougeBusters may reject a receipt, withhold or reverse Kernels, limit receipt processing, flag an account, or take other protective action where a submission appears invalid, duplicated, manipulated, automated, or abusive.
8. Sensitive Information
Do not intentionally add highly sensitive personal information to a receipt image or submission when it is not already part of the genuine transaction record. GougeBusters is designed to minimize retention of unrelated sensitive receipt information, but users remain responsible for avoiding unnecessary additions or annotations before upload.
9. Enforcement
Pluragon may investigate suspected violations and may reject submissions, reverse Kernels, restrict features, suspend accounts, or terminate accounts where reasonably necessary to protect GougeBusters, its users, the pricing database, third parties, or legal interests. Serious violations may result in immediate action. Where appropriate, Pluragon may first use a warning or temporary suspension.
10. Review Requests
GougeBusters does not provide a formal appeal process for every rejected receipt or Kernel decision. Users may contact support@gougebusters.com. Pluragon may review issues at its discretion and does not guarantee manual review of every submission.
11. Changes
Pluragon may update this AUP as GougeBusters, fraud patterns, ranking mechanics, technical controls, or applicable requirements change. The current version will show its effective date.
COOKIE POLICY
GougeBusters Cookie Policy
Cookies, analytics, advertising measurement, and similar technologies used by GougeBusters
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
1. What Cookies Are
Cookies are small text files placed on a device when a website or application is used. Similar browser-storage, SDK, tracking, or measurement technologies may perform comparable functions. In this Policy, "cookies" includes similar technologies where appropriate.
2. How GougeBusters Uses Cookies and Similar Technologies
GougeBusters may use cookies and related technologies to operate the website and application, support authentication and security, remember necessary preferences, protect the Service, measure website or app usage, and evaluate advertising or campaign performance.
3. Cookie Categories
Strictly necessary
Core website/application operation, authentication, security, session management, fraud prevention, and requested functionality.
Active where required for the Service to work.
Analytics
Understand website or application usage and performance, including through Google Analytics.
Used only where required non-essential analytics consent has been provided.
Advertising / measurement
Measure advertising, campaign performance, conversions, or audiences, including through Meta Pixel.
Used only where required advertising/tracking consent has been provided.
4. Google Analytics
GougeBusters currently plans to use Google Analytics for website or product analytics. Google Analytics may process page or app interactions, technical information, and network information according to Google’s applicable terms and privacy practices. Processing may occur outside Canada.
5. Meta Pixel
GougeBusters currently plans to use Meta Pixel for advertising and campaign measurement. Where enabled with required consent, Meta may receive information about interactions with GougeBusters for measurement, attribution, or advertising purposes according to Meta’s applicable terms and privacy practices. Processing may occur outside Canada.
6. Operational Monitoring
Microsoft Azure monitoring and Application Insights may process limited operational, performance, error, security, and diagnostic information necessary to operate, secure, and troubleshoot GougeBusters. These technologies are treated separately from optional analytics or advertising tracking where they are necessary for service operation.
7. Your Choices
GougeBusters provides or plans to provide consent controls that allow visitors to reject non-essential analytics and advertising technologies while necessary technologies continue to function. You may also use browser or device settings to block or delete cookies, although blocking strictly necessary technologies may prevent parts of the Service from functioning correctly.
8. Changes to Cookie Use
The exact cookies, SDKs, analytics tools, and advertising technologies used may change as GougeBusters evolves. We will update this Policy or the cookie-preference information where a material change requires additional disclosure or consent.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time. The current version will show its effective date. Questions about this Policy may be sent to info@gougebusters.com.
SUBPROCESSOR AND SERVICE PROVIDER LIST
GougeBusters Subprocessor and Service Provider List
Current key third parties used to host, process, authenticate, measure, and support GougeBusters
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
This list identifies current key third parties that may process personal information or other service information in connection with GougeBusters. A provider’s legal role may vary by service and jurisdiction; some providers may act as processors/service providers, while others may act independently for certain functions.
Provider
Microsoft
OpenAI
AI-assisted receipt interpretation, extraction, validation, or related product processing.
Receipt images or extracted receipt information as necessary for configured GougeBusters processing functions.
Processing location depends on the applicable OpenAI service and configuration and may occur outside Canada.
OpenAI
Google Sign-In and Google Analytics.
Authentication identifiers and limited profile information for Google Sign-In; website/app interaction and technical information for consent-based analytics.
Processing may occur outside Canada under Google’s applicable service terms.
Apple
Sign in with Apple.
Authentication identifiers and limited account information made available through Apple sign-in according to the user’s choices and Apple configuration.
Processing location depends on Apple’s service infrastructure and account settings.
Meta
Purpose
Microsoft Azure hosting, production database, backups, Azure AI receipt/document processing, operational monitoring, and Application Insights.
Meta Pixel and advertising/campaign measurement.
Information/Scope
Account and service data; receipt images and extracted information as necessary for Azure AI processing; operational diagnostics.
Website/app interaction, conversion, campaign, and technical information when required consent has been provided.
Location/Notes
Primary GougeBusters production, database, and backups are planned for Azure Canada Central and Canada East. Microsoft services may process limited information elsewhere depending on the service.
Processing may occur outside Canada under Meta’s applicable service terms.
1. Changes to Providers
Pluragon may add, replace, or remove service providers as GougeBusters evolves. The Privacy Policy and this list will be updated where a provider change materially affects published privacy or data-handling disclosures or where applicable law requires notice.
2. No Fixed Technology Commitment
The identification of a current provider does not mean GougeBusters is permanently tied to that provider or technology. GougeBusters may change hosting components, AI/OCR providers, analytics tools, authentication providers, or advertising technologies while maintaining the privacy and contractual commitments described in the applicable legal documentation.
SECURITY AND DATA HANDLING OVERVIEW
GougeBusters Security and Data Handling Overview
Public-facing summary of the current GougeBusters security, receipt-processing, and data-handling approach
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
This overview summarizes the current GougeBusters architecture and operational approach at a high level. It is informational and does not create a separate service-level commitment, certification, audit representation, or warranty.
1. Hosting and Data Residency
GougeBusters production services, the production database, and backups are hosted in Microsoft Azure in Canada using the Canada Central and Canada East regions. Some third-party providers may process limited information outside Canada as described in the GougeBusters Privacy Policy and Subprocessor and Service Provider List.
2. Receipt Processing
Submitted receipt images are processed to extract retailer, store, date/time, product, quantity, package-size, price, promotion, discount, tax, and related information. GougeBusters currently uses Microsoft Azure AI and OpenAI for AI/OCR-assisted receipt processing. Providers may change as the product evolves.
3. Receipt Image Retention
Original receipt images are retained temporarily for processing, extraction, quality checks, duplicate detection, fraud prevention, and troubleshooting. Under the current V1 model, original receipt images are deleted within 30 days after upload unless deleted earlier by the user or limited retention is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal, or dispute purposes.
4. Data Minimization
GougeBusters is designed to retain pricing and product information needed for the Service rather than unrelated sensitive receipt information.
Partial card numbers, loyalty/member numbers, cashier IDs, customer names, and unrelated payment references are not intended to become normal profile or pricing data.
Where a transaction identifier is useful for duplicate detection, GougeBusters may retain a minimal hashed or fingerprinted representation rather than the raw identifier where practical.
Deleted receipts may leave behind a minimal fingerprint or hash to prevent the same receipt from being used again to earn Kernels.
5. Authentication and Access
GougeBusters may support username-and-password authentication together with Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple. Access controls and authentication mechanisms are used to protect account functionality. Users are responsible for safeguarding their account credentials and reporting suspected compromise.
6. Monitoring and Diagnostics
GougeBusters uses Microsoft Azure monitoring and Application Insights for operational diagnostics, application performance, error monitoring, troubleshooting, and security-related visibility. These tools may process limited technical and network information necessary to operate the Service.
7. Duplicate Detection and Abuse Prevention
GougeBusters uses fraud and duplicate-detection controls to protect the integrity of Kernels, rankings, and pricing data. Controls may compare receipt fingerprints, transaction details, dates, totals, store information, account activity, and other relevant signals. Automated detection may be supplemented with manual review where appropriate.
8. Location Data
Device location is used only where the user grants permission. Users may deny or revoke device location access. Store locations extracted from receipts are treated separately from device location data.
9. Analytics and Advertising Technologies
Google Analytics and Meta Pixel are treated as non-essential analytics or advertising technologies and are subject to applicable consent controls. Azure operational monitoring is used as necessary to run, secure, and troubleshoot the Service.
10. Backups and Deletion
Backups are hosted in Microsoft Azure in Canada. Account data may remain recoverable for up to 30 days after account deletion before active personal account data is deleted or anonymized. Original receipt images follow the separate 30-day receipt-image retention model. Residual copies may remain in backups until they expire through the normal backup lifecycle and are not used for ordinary product operation.
11. Security Incidents
Pluragon investigates confirmed security incidents and provides notifications where required by applicable law. GougeBusters does not publish a fixed breach-notification time commitment beyond applicable legal obligations or a separately agreed written commitment.
12. Availability and Maintenance
GougeBusters does not currently provide a formal uptime guarantee or service-level agreement. Maintenance, security work, product changes, cloud-provider issues, or other operational events may temporarily affect availability.
13. Security Reporting
Security concerns or suspected vulnerabilities may be reported to info@gougebusters.com. Please do not include unnecessary sensitive information in the initial report.
14. Security Changes
Pluragon may update security controls, architecture, monitoring, AI/OCR providers, authentication methods, and fraud-prevention mechanisms as GougeBusters evolves. Material changes affecting published privacy or contractual commitments will be reflected in the applicable legal documentation.
KERNELS AND RANKING OVERVIEW
GougeBusters Kernels and Ranking Rules
V1 rules for earning Kernels, rankings, receipt limits, and fair participation
GougeBusters | A product of Pluragon IT Inc.
Effective date September 17, 2026 Version 1.0
These Rules explain the current GougeBusters V1 Kernel and ranking system. They form part of the GougeBusters Terms of Service and may be updated as the product evolves.
1. What Kernels Are
Kernels are GougeBusters activity and ranking points used to recognize qualifying participation in the Service. Kernels are not money, currency, property, stored value, or a financial account.
2. Current V1 Earning Rule
Each accepted qualifying receipt earns 10 Kernels.
A user may earn Kernels from a maximum of three qualifying receipt scans per day.
The current maximum earning rate is therefore 30 Kernels per day.
Uploading a receipt does not guarantee acceptance or an award of Kernels.
3. Qualifying Receipts
A receipt must satisfy GougeBusters receipt-submission requirements to qualify. GougeBusters may reject receipts that are duplicated, unreadable, manipulated, fabricated, unauthorized, unsupported, suspicious, or otherwise unsuitable for the Service.
4. Duplicate Receipts
A receipt may earn qualifying credit only once. Re-uploading the same receipt, a substantially identical copy, a screenshot, an edited version, or a receipt submitted through another account does not make the receipt eligible for additional Kernels. GougeBusters may retain a minimal receipt fingerprint or hash after deletion to enforce this rule.
5. Receipt Deletion
Deleting a receipt does not automatically remove Kernels that were legitimately earned from the receipt. Deletion also does not make the receipt eligible to earn Kernels again. GougeBusters may reverse Kernels later if the receipt is determined to be duplicate, fraudulent, manipulated, automated, or otherwise invalid.
6. Ranks, Leaderboards, and Streaks
GougeBusters may use Kernel totals, qualifying activity, streaks, or other disclosed criteria to determine ranks and leaderboard positions. Current rank thresholds and streak mechanics may be displayed in the Service and may change as GougeBusters evaluates participation patterns and product balance.
7. Public Display
GougeBusters may display a user’s public username or display name, current rank, Kernel total, and leaderboard position. Email addresses, original receipt images, precise device location, and shopping history tied to a user are not public by default.
8. No Cash Value or Transfer
Kernels have no cash value.
Kernels are not transferable between users.
Kernels are not currently redeemable for cash, gift cards, discounts, prizes, or other benefits.
Kernels may not be sold, traded, pledged, or represented as having monetary value.
9. Future Rewards
GougeBusters may introduce future rewards, giveaways, discounts, prizes, gift cards, promotional programs, or other benefits associated with activity, Kernels, or ranks. Any such program may be governed by separate or updated rules. The existence of Kernels today does not create an entitlement to a future reward.
10. Adjustments and Reversals
GougeBusters may withhold, reverse, correct, or recalculate Kernels where reasonably necessary because of duplicate submissions, fraud, abuse, manipulation, bot activity, technical errors, system defects, or incorrectly awarded Kernels. GougeBusters may also adjust leaderboard positions or ranks affected by such corrections.
11. Changes to the Program
GougeBusters may change Kernel earning rules, daily limits, rank thresholds, streak rules, ranking mechanics, or related features. Changes will generally apply prospectively, except where adjustments are needed to address fraud, abuse, duplicate activity, technical errors, or incorrect awards. A user’s current rank or Kernel balance does not guarantee that the same thresholds, status, features, or benefits will remain unchanged indefinitely.
12. Abuse and Enforcement
Attempting to farm Kernels, coordinate duplicate submissions, create multiple accounts for improper credit, use automation, manipulate receipts, exploit bugs, or bypass receipt limits may result in rejected receipts, reversed Kernels, rank adjustments, account suspension, or termination under the GougeBusters Terms of Service and Acceptable Use and Receipt Submission Policy.
13. Support
Questions about receipt acceptance, Kernels, ranks, or account restrictions may be sent to support@gougebusters.com. GougeBusters does not guarantee manual review of every rejected receipt or scoring decision.