G-313Legal
Communications Policy
In plain words. We send two kinds of email. Service emails are about your account, your license, your payments and security; they keep coming while you have an account, because you need them. Marketing emails (today, a couple of tips during your trial, news for people who joined the beta, and our weekly newsletter for people who subscribed to it) always have a one-click Unsubscribe link and our postal address, and stop as soon as you unsubscribe. We don’t send text messages, we don’t make sales calls, we don’t sell or rent email addresses, and we will never ask for your password or card number by email.
1. Who we are and what this covers
1.1 “Planbase”, “we” and “us” mean Planbase Estimating LLC, a Missouri limited liability company based in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
1.2 This policy explains the messages we send to customers, trial users, beta sign-ups and others: emails, messages inside DimSum Takeoff, and text messages and calls (which we don’t use). It also sets the rules for people who send messages about our products on our behalf, such as authorized resellers and partners. How we handle personal data generally is in the Privacy Policy.
2. Where our emails come from
2.1 From us. Our own emails come from Planbase Estimating hello@planbaseestimating.com, and replies go to support@planbaseestimating.com. They are sent through our email provider (Resend) and are authenticated for our domain planbaseestimating.com (SPF and DKIM, with a DMARC policy).
2.2 From our providers, for us.
- Sign-in emails (sign-in codes, email-address verification, password resets, if you use a password) are sent by our sign-in provider, Clerk, on our behalf.
- Receipts, invoices and payment emails are sent by Paddle, our merchant of record, under Paddle’s own terms and privacy policy.
2.3 We will never ask you by email, text or phone for your password, a sign-in code, your full card number or bank details, or ask you to install software from anywhere other than our own domains. If you get a message like that claiming to be from us, don’t respond; forward it to security@planbaseestimating.com.
3. Service emails (transactional and relationship messages)
3.1 What they are. Emails whose main purpose is to run the account, license or service you have with us, or to give you information you need about it. Under the US CAN-SPAM Act these are “transactional or relationship messages”. They contain no advertising beyond, at most, a short mention that is clearly secondary to their purpose.
3.2 The service emails we send today, or plan to:
| Who gets it | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in codes and address verification (via Clerk) | The person signing in | When you sign up or sign in |
| Workspace invitation | The invited person | When a Workspace admin invites them |
| Seat assigned | The new member | When they accept an invitation and take a seat |
| Trial welcome | The person who started the Workspace | When the 14-day trial starts |
| Trial ending soon | Workspace admins | 2 days before the trial ends |
| Trial ended | Workspace admins | When the trial ends (once) |
| Free launch offer welcome (“DimSum is free until {date}”) | The person who started the Workspace | When a Workspace with the Free Launch Offer is created |
| Free period ending soon | Workspace admins | 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before the Free Period ends |
| Free period ended | Workspace admins | When the Free Period ends (once) |
| License key | The Workspace’s first admin | On request from support |
| License active / active again | Workspace admins | When a subscription starts, or restarts after a lapse |
| Payment problem | Workspace admins | When a payment fails |
| License ending / license ended | Workspace admins | When a subscription is cancelled, and when it ends |
| Receipts and invoices (via Paddle) | The buyer | With each payment |
| DimSum Cloud notices (coming) | Cloud users and admins | At the storage limit; when uploads pause; when Cloud is cancelled (with a download link); and 7 days before stored copies are deleted |
| Remote Workstation security notices (coming), for example “a new device was paired” | The user | When pairing or security settings change |
| Release emails: “A new Beta version is ready” and “DimSum x.y.z is here” (product-update emails; see 3.5) | People on that update channel (Beta or Stable) who haven’t turned release emails off | When a new version reaches their channel: Beta about an hour after it is released, unless we stop it; Stable after we review and send it by hand |
| Support replies, diagnostic-bundle receipts | The person who wrote to us | When you contact us |
| Legal and policy notices | Account holders, or Workspace admins | For example, material changes to our terms (with the notice period in the Terms of Service), copyright notices, or notices under the Acceptable Use Policy |
| Security and incident notices | Affected account holders | If something affects your account or data, as the law requires |
3.3 No unsubscribe. Because you need them to use the service, service emails can’t be turned off while you have an account, though we keep them to what’s necessary. They stop when your account is closed, apart from the last notices about closing it and getting your data back.
3.4 Trial and renewal emails are informational. The trial and license emails mention how to buy or renew, because that is what they are about, but their main purpose is to tell you the state of your trial or license.
3.5 Release emails are product-update emails. “A new Beta version is ready” and “DimSum x.y.z is here” tell people who use DimSum what changed in the software they already have, with a link to that version’s notes. We treat them as transactional or relationship messages (CAN-SPAM’s category for product updates and upgrades a customer is entitled to under their account). They carry no advertising. Unlike the other service emails, you can turn them off: each one has a footer link that sets your personal Release emails preference to off, and from then on no release emails go to you (other service emails still do). Each release email starts as a draft. A Beta release email then goes out on its own about an hour later, unless someone at Planbase stops it first; a Stable release email goes out only when someone at Planbase has reviewed it and pressed Send.
4. Marketing emails (commercial messages)
4.1 What they are. Emails whose main purpose is to promote DimSum or our other products and services.
4.2 The marketing emails we send:
| Who gets it | How you joined | How to stop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trial tips: day 3 (a tip) and day 7 (a walkthrough video) | Workspace admins during a trial or a Free Period | Starting a trial or a Free Period (see 4.3) | One-click Unsubscribe in every tip email |
| Beta news: news about the beta, and invitations when a test build has room | People who joined the beta on our website | The beta form, which says: “We’ll email you when there’s news, and when a test build has room for you. Nothing else.” | Unsubscribe link in each email, or reply “stop” |
| Outreach: one-to-one emails introducing DimSum, from hello@, with at most one follow-up and one last note | Contractors and estimators we’d like to work with (prospective customers) | You didn’t ask: we write because your business is the kind DimSum is for (see 4.4) | One-click Unsubscribe in every email, or reply “no thanks” |
| Newsletter (weekly) | People who subscribe | The sign-up form on our website, then a confirmation email (double opt-in); nobody is added without confirming | One-click Unsubscribe in every issue |
4.3 Consent.
- Trial tips are sent only to Workspace admins, only during the trial, and only twice. In the US, they go to every trial admin, with an unsubscribe link in each one (opt-out), as CAN-SPAM allows. For sign-ups from Canada, the EU and the UK, we send trial tips only to admins who ask for them by ticking an unticked “Send me tips during my trial” box at sign-up (opt-in).
- Beta news goes only to people who asked for it on the beta form.
- The newsletter uses double opt-in: you sign up on our website, and you’re added only after you press Confirm in the email we send you. It comes out once a week, with that week’s new DimSum versions and the news from our website’s What’s new. A week with nothing new has no issue: we never send an empty newsletter.
- Outreach goes only to business addresses of contractors and estimators, and stops for good at the first opt-out (4.4).
- We don’t buy, rent or borrow email lists, and we don’t add anyone to a marketing list without one of the bases above.
4.4 Personal emails from us. Zac, or someone at Planbase, may write to you personally, for example to reply to an enquiry, follow up on a trial, or introduce DimSum to a contractor or estimating department. If we write to a business that hasn’t contacted us (outreach), it goes from hello@planbaseestimating.com to a business address, personally addressed and written or edited by Zac, either one at a time or as a small batch at a capped rate. A contact gets at most one follow-up and one last note, and none after replying. Each email includes a line such as “Not interested? Reply ‘no thanks’ and I won’t write again”, a one-click unsubscribe link and our postal address, and has no open or click tracking. Replies come to a reply address (r+…@replies.planbaseestimating.com) that logs their text with the contact’s record and forwards them to hello@. When Zac writes to someone by hand, he may copy our logging address (log@replies.planbaseestimating.com), so a copy is kept with their record. Every outreach email has a one-click Unsubscribe link and asks you to reply “no thanks” if you’re not interested; either one puts your address on our do-not-email list, honoured straight away and always within 10 business days. What we keep about prospects, and why, is in the Privacy Policy §8.6. We don’t send these emails to anyone in Canada without their consent.
4.5 Product news for customers. We publish release notes in What’s new (on our website and in DimSum) and in its RSS feed. People who use DimSum also get the release emails for their update channel (3.5), and newsletter subscribers get each week’s new versions and What’s new entries in the newsletter (4.2).
Release emails, one short email per new version on each update channel, are covered in 3.5 as product-update (service) emails, not marketing.
5. How our marketing emails follow the law
Every marketing email we send:
- (a) has accurate “From”, “To”, “Reply-To” and routing information that identifies Planbase;
- (b) has a subject line that reflects the content;
- (c) is identified as an advertisement, where the law requires it (it does not, when you have given us your affirmative consent to receive it);
- (d) includes our valid physical postal address: 3418 East 104th Street, Kansas City, MO 64137. CAN-SPAM allows a street address, a PO box registered with the US Postal Service, or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency under Postal Service rules. Our systems refuse to send trial tips, the newsletter or outreach without a real postal address;
- (e) includes a clear Unsubscribe link, and one-click unsubscribe headers (List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post, per RFC 8058) that mail apps show as an unsubscribe button;
- (f) keeps its unsubscribe link working for at least 30 days after we send it (ours don’t expire); and
- (g) is sent only after checking our do-not-email list: everyone who unsubscribed or asked us to stop, and every address that bounced or reported our email as spam. Our systems check it before every email and skip anyone on it.
We also follow the large mailbox providers’ requirements for senders (authentication, one-click unsubscribe, and low complaint rates), even where our volumes are below their thresholds.
6. Unsubscribing and your choices
6.1 One click. Use the Unsubscribe link in any marketing email. There’s no sign-in, and we don’t ask for anything except, sometimes, a confirming click.
6.2 When it takes effect. Straight away in our systems. The law allows up to 10 business days; if another email was already on its way, you may get one more.
6.3 What it covers. Unsubscribing from any marketing email (trial tips, the newsletter, or a personal email from us) puts your address on our do-not-email list, which stops all our marketing email at once. It does not stop service emails (section 3).
6.4 Other ways. Reply to the email (“no thanks” is enough), or write to privacy@planbaseestimating.com, and we’ll add you to the do-not-email list.
6.5 We keep your opt-out. We keep a record that you unsubscribed (your address, which list, and when) so that we don’t email you again, and so we can show we respected it. We never sell, rent or give away your address, including after you unsubscribe. See Data Retention and Deletion.
7. Messages inside DimSum
DimSum shows messages in the app, for example the trial days left, update notices (including critical updates you must install, as the EULA explains), sync status, and What’s new. DimSum doesn’t show ads. In-app messages are about your license, updates, and what’s new in DimSum.
8. Text messages, phone calls and push notifications
8.1 We don’t send text messages (SMS or MMS), and we don’t collect phone numbers to send them. Our sign-in doesn’t use SMS codes. A text message that claims to come from Planbase or DimSum isn’t from us; please report it to security@planbaseestimating.com.
8.2 We don’t make marketing calls or use automated or pre-recorded calls. We may phone you if you ask us to, for example for support.
8.3 No push notifications to phones or browsers.
8.4 If this changes, for example SMS sign-in codes or text alerts for DimSum Cloud, we will update this policy first and get the consent the law requires.
9. Messages people send through our service
Some emails are triggered by other users: Workspace invitations and, when sharing arrives, notices that a file was shared with you. We write the content of those emails, and they say who triggered them. Users must send invitations and shares only to people they work with or who expect them (the Acceptable Use Policy). If you get one you didn’t expect, ignore it or tell misuse@planbaseestimating.com.
10. Resellers and referral partners
10.1 Authorized resellers and referral partners send their own marketing. They are responsible for it, and must:
- (a) follow CAN-SPAM and every other anti-spam and privacy law that applies to them;
- (b) send under their own name, never as Planbase, and never from our domain;
- (c) follow our Trademark Guidelines; and
- (d) not add people to their lists using data they got from us, unless the person agreed. For any campaign that promotes DimSum, they must also first check our list of people who have unsubscribed, which we share with them securely.
11. Records
We keep records of how and when people agreed to marketing email (for example, the beta form submission, or the newsletter confirmation), and of every unsubscribe, as described in Data Retention and Deletion: consent records for 3 years after the last marketing email we send you, and unsubscribe records indefinitely, so we never email that address again. We keep a prospect’s record while it’s useful for telling them about DimSum, and delete it when they ask. If they opted out, we keep only the do-not-email entry (address, reason, date), so we never email them again.
For every email we send, we also keep the delivery events our email provider (Resend) reports: sent, delivered, delayed, bounced or complained. A bounce or a spam complaint puts the address on the do-not-email list. Replies to our emails, and copies of emails we send by hand, are kept with the contact’s record, as described in the Privacy Policy sections 4.1 and 11.
12. Changes
We’ll update this policy before we start a new kind of message, such as SMS. The current version, with its “Last updated” date, is at https://planbaseestimating.com/legal/communications/.
13. Contact
Questions about our emails, or to stop them: privacy@planbaseestimating.com · Suspicious messages: security@planbaseestimating.com · Spam or misuse sent through our service: misuse@planbaseestimating.com · Postal address: Planbase Estimating LLC, 3418 East 104th Street, Kansas City, MO 64137
Change log
| Date | Version | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-07 | 1.0 | Published. Same day: section 5(g), 6.3 and 6.4 describe the do-not-email list: any unsubscribe (or a “no thanks” reply) now stops all our marketing email at once, and every email is checked against the list (bounces and spam reports included). |
| 2026-10-07 | 1.0 | Same day, added after attorney review (show at the next review): outreach emails to prospective customers (4.2 table, 4.3, 4.4, 5(d)) and what we keep about prospects (section 11). |
| 2026-10-07 | 1.0 | Same day, added after attorney review (show at the next review): outreach replies go to a logging reply address and on to hello@, and copies of hand-written emails may be kept (4.4); delivery events and correspondence records (section 11). |
Planbase Estimating LLC, 3418 East 104th Street, Kansas City, MO 64137, USA. Questions: legal@planbaseestimating.com.All legal documents.