Thanks for the suggestion, and for taking the time to explain the use cases. We can absolutely see the value that customer email addresses provide for things like cross-platform analysis, crowdfunding attribution, customer support, and understanding repeat purchasers.
After considering this, however, we’ve decided that RPG Trader will not provide buyer email addresses to sellers.
The main reason is privacy. When someone purchases a product on RPG Trader, they’re sharing their information with RPG Trader in order to complete that transaction. We don’t believe buyers should have to share their personal contact details with every seller they purchase from in order to use the marketplace.
We also want buyers to feel comfortable making purchases without worrying that doing so may result in unsolicited marketing emails or their details being added to mailing lists they didn’t explicitly join. A policy that forbids abuse of contact details still exposes buyers to the same privacy concerns.
That doesn’t mean creators can’t communicate with their customers, however.
RPG Trader includes tools that allow sellers to contact buyers through the platform when needed, including order notes and buyer email tools. This provides a way to offer support, share updates, and communicate with customers without exposing personal email addresses.
More information about contacting your buyers is available here: Contacting your buyers
If buyers need support for a purchase on RPG Trader, you can always ask them for their order ID, allowing you to look that up in your RPG Trader dashboard to verify their purchase.
We understand that this means some types of cross-platform customer analysis won’t be possible, and that’s a trade-off we’re comfortable making in favour of buyer privacy.
That said, we’re always interested in hearing about the underlying problems creators are trying to solve. If there are ways RPG Trader can provide useful analytics, customer insights, or additional support tools without exposing personal contact information, we’d be happy to explore those ideas.