Purchase Categorizer Helper (browser extension) · last updated 7 November 2026
Purchase Categorizer Helper is a private household tool. It has no accounts, no analytics, and no server operated by the developer. The extension sends data only to a backend that you run and that you explicitly pair it with, and to your own Monarch Money account.
When you press Retrieve orders on a retailer's order-history page, the extension reads the order information that is already visible to you in that signed-in session:
| Purchase history | Order dates, order identifiers, item names, quantities, unit and line prices, taxes, fees, tips and order totals. |
|---|---|
| How an order was paid | The tender type (for example “card”, a gift card, or store credit), the amount on each tender, and the last four digits of a card. A full card number, gift-card number or security code is never read or stored. |
| Your account email | The email address of the account you paired with is stored locally in the browser and shown in the extension's popup, so you can see which backend and identity the browser is paired as. |
| Amazon gift-card balance | The balance and its recent activity (date, description and amount), from Amazon's own gift-card balance page. Never a gift-card number or claim code. |
| Monarch transactions | When a receipt is filed in your Monarch Money account, the bank transaction it is filed against (date, amount, merchant, account name, category, notes and tags) is read first and kept by your backend, so the change can be undone. |
| Jewel-Osco digital coupons | On Jewel-Osco's own coupon page, the coupons offered to you (name, description, offer, dates and whether it is clipped). The extension clips them for you there, using the session that page already holds; that session is used only inside the page and is never stored or sent anywhere. |
| Target Circle offers | On Target's own deals page, the Circle offers shown to you (title, description, value, expiry and whether it is added). The extension adds them to your account there, through the page's own signed-in requests; nothing from that session is stored or sent anywhere. |
| Mariano's and Food 4 Less digital coupons | On each store's own coupon page, the coupons offered to you (name, description, offer, dates and whether it is clipped). The extension clips them by pressing the page's own Clip buttons, so the page uses its own signed-in session; that session is never read, stored or sent anywhere. |
| Sam's Club Instant Savings | On Sam's Club's own savings page, the Instant Savings shown to you (item, savings, price and dates). These apply at checkout by themselves, so nothing is clipped. |
| Whole Foods sales | On Whole Foods Market's public sales flyer, the store's weekly sales and Prime member deals (item, dates and regular, sale and Prime prices). This page needs no sign-in, and nothing is clipped. |
| Valli Produce digital coupons | On Valli Produce's own coupon page, the coupons offered to you (name, offer, dates and whether it is clipped). The extension clips them by pressing the page's own Clip buttons; the session is never read, stored or sent anywhere. |
| Walmart Cash offers | On Walmart's own offers pages, the Walmart Cash offers shown to you (brand, description, value, dates and whether it is taken). The extension takes them by ticking the page's own "Get this offer" boxes; the session is never read, stored or sent anywhere. |
| ALDI weekly ad | On ALDI's own weekly-ad page, the items on sale for your store (name, size, price, regular price and the ad's dates). Nothing is clipped. |
| Shelf prices at Valli Produce and ALDI | For items on your own shopping list or tracked in your inventory, the extension searches that store's site and reads the top results (name, size, price and any regular price). Only the item's search words are sent to the store, as an ordinary site search. |
| Page content | Order details are read from the text of the retailer's own pages. No other browsing activity, history or page is read. |
To the backend URL you paired the extension with, over HTTPS, protected by Cloudflare Access. That backend is operated by you, on hardware you control.
Where an order can be matched to a transaction, the extension also uploads an itemised receipt to your own Monarch Money account, using the session already signed in to in your browser. No Monarch credential is read, stored or transmitted by the extension.
To read shelf prices, the extension searches Valli Produce's and ALDI's own sites for items on your list, as you would by typing them in. Nothing else is sent to them.
Nothing is sent to the developer or to any third party. There is no telemetry, no analytics and no advertising identifier.
Solely for the extension's single purpose: collecting your own retail order history and store savings and delivering it to your own personal finance backend, so that purchases can be itemised and categorised. Specifically, the data is:
The browser stores only what it needs to work: the paired backend URL, a pairing token, your paired email address, and per-browser scan state. Order contents are not retained in browser storage.
Order data lives in your own backend, for as long as you keep it. Because you run that backend, you can delete any or all of it at any time. Removing the extension removes everything it stored in the browser; to revoke its access, revoke the pairing token on your backend.
The extension is not directed at children and collects nothing from them.
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. The extension is distributed privately, so material changes are communicated directly to the people using it.
Questions about this policy or about data the extension handles: cvanaver@gmail.com.