Last updated: 5 November 2026

Local Business Near Me (localbusinessnearme.com.au) is a directory of local businesses in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. It is run by Visual Development Pty Ltd, trading as VisualWeb (“we”, “us” or “our”). This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information when you use the website. We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Information we collect

Information you give us. This can include:

  • your name, email address and password when you create an account or sign in
  • business details when you add, claim or update a listing, such as business name, address, phone number, email, website, opening hours, photos, logo and social media links
  • messages you send through contact forms, enquiry forms or the “Contact with business owner” form on a listing
  • reviews, ratings, photos and comments you post
  • billing details when you buy a paid listing (card details are handled by our payment provider, not stored by us)

Information collected automatically. When you visit the site we and our service providers may collect your IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referring site and approximate location (for example, when you use “Near me” or map features). Some of this is collected through cookies.

Information from public sources. To build the directory, we publish business information that is already publicly available, such as from public business directories and businesses’ own websites. We only use business facts like the business name, category, suburb, address, phone number and website. These listings are shown as unclaimed until the business owner claims them.

How we use your information

We use personal information to:

  • run the directory and show business listings, reviews and maps
  • create and manage your account and listings
  • verify that someone claiming a listing is authorised to manage that business
  • pass your enquiry on to the business you contacted
  • process payments and send invoices and receipts
  • respond to questions, complaints and support requests
  • moderate content and prevent spam, fraud and misuse
  • improve the website and understand how it’s used
  • send you updates about your account or listing and, if you agree, news and offers (you can unsubscribe at any time)
  • meet our legal obligations

Information shown publicly

Business listing details, reviews, ratings and your public display name are visible to anyone who visits the site and may be indexed by search engines. Please don’t include personal information in a listing or review that you don’t want published.

Who we share information with

We don’t sell personal information. We share it only where needed to run the site, including with:

  • the business you send an enquiry to
  • our website hosting provider
  • payment providers (such as Stripe or PayPal) that process paid listings
  • Google, for maps and directions (Google Maps) and spam protection (Google reCAPTCHA)
  • social login providers, if you choose to sign in with an account such as Google or Facebook
  • email service providers we use to send account emails and newsletters
  • professional advisers, or government and law enforcement bodies where the law requires or allows it

Some of these providers store or process data overseas, including in the United States. Where we use overseas providers, we take reasonable steps to make sure they protect your information.

Cookies

Cookies are small files stored in your browser. We use them to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, protect forms from spam and understand how the site is used. Third-party services such as Google Maps, reCAPTCHA and payment providers may set their own cookies. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but some parts of the site (such as signing in or submitting a listing) may not work without them.

Security and how long we keep it

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, including secure (HTTPS) connections and restricted admin access. No website can be completely secure, so please use a strong, unique password for your account. We keep information only for as long as we need it for the purposes above or as required by law (for example, tax records), then delete or de-identify it.

Accessing, correcting or removing your information

You can update most account and listing details yourself from your dashboard. You can also ask us to access or correct the personal information we hold about you, or to remove your account, a review or a listing. Business owners can ask us to update or remove an unclaimed listing for their business at any time. We’ll respond within a reasonable time, usually 30 days, and may need to confirm your identity first.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we’ve handled your personal information, please contact us first and we’ll do our best to resolve it. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.

Contact us

Visual Development Pty Ltd (VisualWeb)
12 Bidwell Street, Mernda VIC 3754
Email: info@localbusinessnearme.com.au
Or use our contact page.