> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/running-your-site/member-data-and-privacy.md).

# Member data and privacy

What Cashback Tracker stores about your members, and how to remove it.

{% hint style="warning" %}
This page describes what the plugin holds and how to deal with it by hand. **It is not legal advice**, and what your jurisdiction requires of you is yours to establish.
{% endhint %}

### What is stored

Members are ordinary WordPress users. Their name, email and password are WordPress's, not the plugin's.

What the plugin adds, keyed to that user:

| Data                                                                         | Where              |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| **Cashback entries** — every credit, bonus, payout and adjustment            | The ledger         |
| **Orders** — what they bought, from which shop, for how much, and when       | Orders             |
| **Payout requests** — amount, method, and **the payment details they typed** | Payouts            |
| **Referrals** — who invited whom                                             | The ledger         |
| **Reviews** — ratings and review text                                        | WordPress comments |

### The part that deserves attention

**Payout details.** When a member requests a payout, they type where to send the money — a PayPal address, a bank account, an IBAN. That is stored with the request so you can act on it.

It is the most sensitive thing the plugin holds, and it is worth being deliberate about:

* **Only administrators can see it.** Do not hand out admin accounts casually.
* **It stays on old requests**, because a paid request is a record of what you paid and where.
* **It is in your database**, so it is in every database backup you take. Store those the way you would store anything containing bank details.

{% hint style="info" %}
If you do not need the history, deleting the payout details from very old paid requests is a reasonable habit. The record of the payment stays either way.
{% endhint %}

### What is not stored

**No clicks.** Nothing is recorded when a member presses **Go to shop** — no browsing history, no click log, nothing about which shops someone looked at. The plugin first learns of a member's activity when a network reports a purchase.

**No card or payment credentials.** The plugin never takes a payment, so there is nothing of that kind to hold. See [What the plugin never does](/how-cashback-works/what-the-plugin-never-does.md).

**No tracking of visitors** who are not signed in.

### What the member can see themselves

Their account page shows their balances, their full cashback history, their payout requests and their referrals — everything the plugin holds about them, in the same detail you see.

For most requests to see their data, pointing them at their own account page is a complete answer.

### Removing a member

{% hint style="warning" %}
**The plugin does not connect to WordPress's privacy export and erasure tools.** Deleting a user through `Tools` → `Erase Personal Data` removes what WordPress holds and leaves the plugin's records behind, still keyed to a user ID that no longer exists.

Removal is a manual job. Read this section before you start.
{% endhint %}

Before deleting anything, decide what has to survive.

**Records you may be required to keep.** A payout is a record of money you sent. Depending on where you operate, your accounting obligations may outlive the member's account. Check before deleting payout history — it is easier than reconstructing it.

**The safer route is usually anonymising rather than deleting**: clear the payment details, keep the amount and the date. You keep a usable financial record and hold nothing personal.

To remove a member completely:

1. **Settle up first.** If they have an available balance and are owed it, pay them and mark it paid. Deleting an unpaid member is deleting a debt, not resolving it.
2. **Clear the payout details** on their requests — that is the sensitive part.
3. **Delete or reassign their reviews** in `Comments`, like any WordPress comment.
4. **Delete the WordPress user.**
5. **Remove their ledger and order rows**, if you have decided nothing needs to be kept.

Steps 2 and 5 have no button. Ask support rather than editing the database yourself if you are not comfortable doing it.

### Your privacy policy

Whatever your policy says, it should probably cover:

* that purchases made through your links are reported back to you by the affiliate network, including what was bought and for how much
* that payment details given for a payout are stored until the payout is complete
* how long you keep records of paid cashback
* that affiliate networks are separate companies with their own policies

### Related

* [What the plugin never does](/how-cashback-works/what-the-plugin-never-does.md)
* [Handling a payout request](/members-and-payouts/handling-a-payout-request.md)
* [The cashback ledger](/how-cashback-works/the-cashback-ledger.md)