BulkBackPrivacy Policy
This policy covers the BulkBack iPhone app and the website bulkback.com, operated by SAMCOM LLC of Wildwood, Missouri ("we", "us").
What stays on your phone
- Receipt photos and the text read from them
- Your claims, what you marked as claimed, and your reminders
- Your settings
We do not upload your receipts to our servers and we cannot see them. If you turn on iCloud backup, a copy is kept in your own iCloud Drive under your Apple Account. Apple manages that copy and we cannot access it. Deleting BulkBack deletes its data from your phone.
Camera, photos, location and notifications
The camera and photo library are used only to read receipts, shelf tags and shopping lists you choose to add. Text is read on your phone, except for the optional AI features described below. If you tap the button that finds your warehouse's ZIP code, the app asks for your approximate location once, turns it into a ZIP code on your phone, and does not send your location or the ZIP code to us. Reminders are scheduled on your phone, and no notification data is sent to us.
What BulkBack shares if you turn on Share for Community alerts
For each item on a receipt you add after turning it on, the app sends only:
- the item number
- the price you paid for one unit, and any instant discount on it
- the purchase date
- the warehouse number and its state (for example MO), as printed in the warehouse name on your receipt
It never sends your name, membership number, payment details, receipt photos or the full receipt text. Along with this, the app sends a random code made on your phone and replaced about every 30 days. The server keeps it only as a one-way scrambled value, to spot duplicates and block abuse. It is not tied to you, your Apple ID or your device.
We use these price records to learn when prices at warehouses change, so BulkBack can spot price drops sooner for everyone. We do not sell them, use them for advertising or combine them with other data to identify anyone. Because the records are not linked to you, we cannot find or delete one person's records later. You can turn sharing off at any time in Settings, and it stops immediately.
Sale items you add (a separate choice)
The first time you save a receipt or add a sale item, BulkBack asks once whether it may share that price and sale information with other members. One choice covers both. It is off until you agree, and you can change your choice any time in Settings (Share for Community alerts). Community price alerts are only for members who share this information. If you agree, for each sale item you add afterwards the app sends only:
- the item number
- the savings amount and the sale start and end dates
- whether the sale is online only
- the warehouse number and state from your most recent receipt
It never sends the name you typed, your ZIP code, a product link, your name, membership number, payment details, receipt photos or receipt text. (Smart sorting, described in the next section, is a separate feature.) As with prices, the app sends a random code that is replaced about every 30 days, kept only as a one-way scrambled value to spot duplicates and block abuse. These reports are not linked to you. We use them to learn about sales at warehouses so BulkBack can alert members sooner. We do not sell them or use them for advertising. Because they are not linked to you, we cannot find or delete one person's reports later. Turning the choice off in Settings stops sharing immediately.
If you give feedback on a community alert (for example, report that it is not valid), the app sends the warehouse number, the item number, your feedback and the sale dates, with the same random code.
AI features (Smart sorting)
Some features use an AI service to understand text: sorting list items into store sections, showing readable names for receipt lines, turning a long list you say out loud into separate items, filling in details from a shelf-tag, meal ideas, Ask your receipts, Help, price per unit and Spending by section. They run on our server, which uses Cloudflare Workers AI, a third-party AI service. They are off until you turn on Smart sorting on a one-time screen. You can change that at any time in Settings, under Smart sorting.
- What can be sent (only for the features you use): the names of list items BulkBack does not recognize (up to 25 in one request); the item number and printed description of a receipt line; the words recognized when you add a long list by voice (never the audio); up to 40 lines of text read from a shelf-tag photo (never the photo); for Ask your receipts, only the question you type and today's date; for Help and Meal ideas, the question or request you type with today's date and a few item names; and item names and numbers for price per unit and Spending by section.
- What is never sent: your receipts, prices, purchase dates, the warehouse, your name, your membership number or payment details.
- How it is used: only to answer the request. Our server keeps shared lists of earlier answers (an item number's readable name, an item name's section and icon, an item's size) so the same item does not need to be looked up again. These lists are shared by all users and are not linked to you. We do not save your questions, voice text or shelf-tag text.
- The random code described above goes with these requests and is used only to limit how many requests one phone can make, for example a monthly limit on meal ideas and questions. We do not use any of it for advertising, we do not sell it and we do not link it to you. Cloudflare may keep short-term technical logs, as described under "Our server".
- If you leave Smart sorting off, none of this is sent and everything stays on your phone. Items BulkBack does not recognize go to "Home & other" until you move them yourself.
Reading handwritten lists with AI
This is a separate switch, under Smart sorting in Settings. When it is on and you add a handwritten shopping list from a picture, BulkBack sends a shrunk copy of the picture (up to 3 pictures) to our server, which has the AI service read the items. The picture is not saved. When it is off, your iPhone reads the list itself, which is less accurate on handwriting.
Please do not type personal information into item names or questions.
Email alerts (optional)
If you turn on “Email me too” in Settings > Reminders, BulkBack asks for your email address and confirms it with a 6-digit code. To send the emails, our server keeps your email address, which reminder types you chose, the date of the last receipt you added, and a short list of upcoming reminders (a send date, how many items, and a dollar total). If you have BulkBack Plus, the list also includes item numbers and short item names so the email can show them. We do not send or store your receipts, receipt text or photos for this. We use your address only to send these alerts and the confirmation code, never for advertising, and we do not sell or share it. Alerts are sent from [email protected] through Cloudflare’s email service. Every email has an unsubscribe link. Turning the switch off in the app, or unsubscribing, deletes your address and your reminder list from our server.
Our server
The app downloads Costco's current savings book from our server. That request does not contain your receipts or personal information. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, handles the requests and may keep technical logs such as IP addresses for a short time for security and reliability. We do not store IP addresses with the price records. To limit abuse (for example one person pretending to be many phones), the server also keeps a one-way scrambled value made from your network address next to the random code. It cannot be turned back into your address, and it is used only to cap how many codes one address can create and to count several codes from one address as one member.
Other requests the app makes
- Check-ins and community alerts. If you turned on Share for Community alerts, the app occasionally tells our server that sharing is on (the random code only) and asks which community sale alerts exist for your warehouse. That request contains the random code and up to three warehouse numbers from your recent receipts. It contains no receipt text.
- Product photos. When photos are turned on, the app loads product pictures from Costco's image servers, so Costco can see your network address and which pictures were requested. We can turn this off for everyone from our server.
Subscriptions
BulkBack Plus is sold through Apple. Apple handles your payment and we never see your card details. Apple tells the app whether your subscription is active. Manage or cancel it in your Apple ID settings.
Website
bulkback.com uses no advertising cookies. It uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits to the site. It does not use cookies or follow you across other websites. If you email us, we use your address only to reply.
Launch email list. If you enter your email address in the “Coming soon” box on bulkback.com, we store that address and whether you chose iPhone, Android or both. We use it only to send you one email when BulkBack is available for each app you chose (so, one for iPhone and one for Android if you chose both), never for advertising, and we do not sell or share it. Every email has an unsubscribe link that deletes your address, or you can email [email protected].
Your choices
- Delete the app to remove its data from your phone.
- Turn off iCloud backup, or delete the BulkBack folder in iCloud Drive, to remove the iCloud copy.
- Turn off Share for Community alerts in Settings to stop sharing prices and sales.
- Turn off “Email me too” in Settings > Reminders, or use the unsubscribe link in any email, to delete your email address from our server.
- Turn off Smart sorting, and the handwritten list switch, in Settings to stop any text or list pictures from being sent to the AI service.
Children
BulkBack is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update the date above and, for changes to what is shared, ask for your choice again in the app.
Contact
SAMCOM LLC, Wildwood, Missouri
Privacy questions and requests: [email protected]
General help: [email protected]
Not affiliated with Costco
BulkBack is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Costco Wholesale Corporation.