Identity Verification

Last Updated: May 3, 2026

We take the privacy of our members very seriously, especially when sensitive documents like government-issued IDs are involved. This page explains exactly how our identity verification works, who runs it, what we keep, and (just as importantly) who has no access to it.

1. Why We Offer Identity Verification

Pet sitting often means staying in someone's home and caring for their family pet. That requires real trust. To make sure every member is who they say they are, identity verification is a required step before you can fully participate on the Platform. Members who complete it receive a Verified badge on their profile.

2. Who Runs the Verification: Didit

We do not perform the identity check ourselves. We have partnered with Didit, a specialised identity verification provider, to handle this process for us.

2.1 Why We Chose a European Provider

Didit is headquartered in the European Union and operates under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We deliberately chose a European provider so your most sensitive personal documents stay protected by strong European privacy law and, where possible, remain inside the European Economic Area.

2.2 Didit as a Separate Data Controller

Because Didit handles your ID document directly, they act as a separate data controller for that document and the related biometric data, governed by their own privacy terms and retention rules.

3. How the Flow Works, Step by Step

  1. You click "Verify Identity" in your profile settings. Nothing happens until you take this action.
  2. We create a verification session with Didit and redirect you to their hosted verification page.
  3. On Didit's page (not ours), you photograph your government-issued ID and complete a liveness check (typically a short selfie video). This data flows directly from your device to Didit. It does not pass through our servers.
  4. Didit performs the verification on their own infrastructure.
  5. Didit sends us a webhook with the result. The webhook contains only the outcome (approved or declined) and the first and last name read from your ID. It does not contain the document itself, your selfie, or any biometric data.
  6. We compare the name returned by Didit to the name on your profile. If they match, you receive the Verified badge. If they do not match, we ask you to update your profile name and try again.

4. What Global Pet Sitter Stores

When verification completes, we store the following on your user record, and only this:

  • Verification status (one of: pending, verified, failed)
  • An opaque Didit session reference ID (used for support follow-up only)
  • The first and last name as read from your ID, stored so we can re-check the name match if you update your profile name later
  • The timestamp of when verification completed
  • The last error message if verification failed (so we can guide you through a retry)

4.1 What We Never Receive or Store

We have no access to, and we never store, any of the following:

  • The image or scan of your ID document
  • Your ID number or document number
  • Your address as printed on the ID
  • Your nationality
  • Your selfie or any video recorded during the check
  • Any biometric data (face geometry, liveness signals)

All of that stays with Didit, governed by their privacy policy.

5. Who Can See What

5.1 You

On your own profile settings page you can see your full verification status, the name we hold from your ID, and any error message. You can also reset or retry the verification at any time.

5.2 Other Members

Other members see only a Verified badge on your profile, if you have completed verification. They never see your verification status detail, the name we hold from your ID, your document, or any image. If you have not verified, no information at all is shown to other members about your verification.

5.3 Global Pet Sitter Staff

On our own systems, only authorised administrators (in practice, the platform owner) can see your verification status and the verified name we hold, so they can help with support requests (for example, a member asking why their name match did not succeed).

Separately, the platform owner has access to the Didit dashboard, which is the operational console Didit provides to its customers. From there, the document and selfie you submitted to Didit can be reviewed (for example, to help unblock a verification that got stuck mid-flow), and actions such as resuming or retrying a session can be triggered. This access is used only when necessary to operate the verification service or assist a member, and is governed by Didit's own retention rules: the document images and biometric data themselves remain on Didit's infrastructure and are not copied into our systems.

5.4 Didit

Didit holds the document, the selfie, and the biometric verification data on their European infrastructure under their own privacy policy and retention rules. We do not have a back-door to that data and we cannot retrieve it.

5.5 Nobody Else

We do not share any verification data with advertisers, marketing partners, data brokers, analytics providers, or any other third party. The only exception is when we are legally required to disclose information by a competent authority, court order, or law enforcement request, as already described in section 5.3 of our Privacy Policy.

6. Legal Basis Under GDPR

We process your verification data on the basis of our legitimate interest in maintaining a safe and trustworthy Platform for all members, and on the basis of contract performance, since verification is a condition of participating fully on the Platform. Nothing is sent to Didit until you actively start the verification flow. For the document and biometric data themselves, Didit is a separate data controller and processes that data under their own legal basis, which is typically your explicit consent given on their verification screen.

7. Your Rights and How to Exercise Them

All the GDPR rights described in section 8 of our Privacy Policy apply to your verification data, including the right to access, rectify, and erase it.

  • To remove your verification record from our systems, contact us at [email protected].
  • Deleting your Global Pet Sitter account removes our verification record. The document and biometric data Didit holds are governed by Didit's own retention rules and are not automatically deleted when you close your account with us. If you also want that data removed from Didit, contact us at [email protected] and we will submit a deletion request on your behalf.
  • To exercise rights against Didit directly (for example if you want to access the document they hold about you), contact us at [email protected] and we will help you reach Didit's data protection contact.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about how identity verification works, what we store, or how to exercise your rights, please contact us.

Because identity verification is required to participate fully on the Platform, it is also important that you reach out if you get stuck partway through the flow, cannot complete a step, encounter an error, or run into any other issue during verification. We will help you unblock the process so you can finish it and continue using the Platform.

[email protected]

Verification exists to help every member build trust in the community. We collect only what we need, and you remain in control of your data throughout.