About PauseBuy

PauseBuy turns a price into the hours of work it costs. This page says who makes it, where the numbers come from and what happens to your data.

What PauseBuy is and who makes it

PauseBuy is a free web app. Type a price, and it shows how long you work to pay for it. You can put an item on a list, wait, and decide later.

PauseBuy is a small independent project, published under the name PauseBuy. It has no ads, no affiliate links and no sign-up. It has no ties to the shops, brands or banks named on its pages.

The numbers are a rough guide to help you think before you buy. They are not financial advice.

How the numbers are made

PauseBuy divides the price by an hourly wage: price ÷ hourly pay = hours of work. A work day is 8 hours and a work month is 22 days. You can change the pay, the hours and the days in the app.

Each region starts with an official hourly pay figure, before tax. Some figures are worked out from monthly or yearly pay and the hours in the same release. Your own pay is probably different: type it in to get your own answer. The figures and their sources:

Each quick-add item has one reference price per region, set by PauseBuy. Pay figures were last checked on . Shops change their prices, so check the seller for today's price.

A price in another currency is converted with fixed, approximate rates kept in the app: 1 USD ≈ 32.52 TWD, 0.88005 EUR, 0.7512 GBP, 85.39 INR, 7.8 HKD, 150 JPY, 1400 KRW, 1.3 SGD, 1.37 CAD, 1.5 AUD. They do not follow the live market.

How these pages were made

PauseBuy's pages and app text were written with help from AI tools. If you find a mistake, please tell us through the survey (see below).

The research page lists each study behind the app's tips, how strong its evidence is and what is still unknown.

Each page shows the date its data was checked. When the data changes, the page and its date change too.

Privacy: what is stored, and where

On your device only: your pay and work hours, your list (item names and prices) and the extra details for a more accurate result (tax, commute, monthly work costs, age, sex, sleep). They are saved in your browser's localStorage and are never sent to PauseBuy. Clear this site's data in your browser to delete them.

Your region choice and a few small flags (for example, the last tip you saw and whether the survey was offered) are saved there too.

Usage counts: when you open a page or use the app (for example, tap a quick-add item or choose to wait), the page sends one small count to PauseBuy's server. A count holds the event name, a short detail such as a wait length in days or an item type, the app region, light or dark theme, web or installed app, and the country Cloudflare sees for the request. It holds no price, pay, item name, IP address, cookie or ID, so two counts cannot be linked to one person. Counts are kept for 3 months.

Survey: if you send the feedback survey, your answers are stored in PauseBuy's database (Cloudflare D1). This includes the time you sent it, your scores, your note, your email if you typed one, where you opened the survey, the app region, app version, web or installed app, the country, and rough groups for how long you have used PauseBuy and how many decisions you have made. Your list and prices are not sent.

To stop spam, the server limits survey answers by IP address. Cloudflare's rate limiting service uses the IP address to count answers over a short time. The limit of 5 answers an hour uses a one-way hash of the address and the hour, which Cloudflare keeps in its cache for up to an hour. The IP address is never written to the database.

PauseBuy runs on Cloudflare. Cloudflare adds its Web Analytics script to each page to count visits and measure load speed. Cloudflare says this script uses no cookies and no localStorage.

The browser extension sends no usage counts and has no survey. It saves its settings in the browser's sync storage. If sync is on, the browser may copy them to the account you are signed in with.

PauseBuy has no accounts and sets no cookies of its own. It does not collect your name, your exact location or your contacts.

Corrections and contact

Found a wrong number, an old price or a broken link? Tell us through the survey in the app: open Settings, tap Send feedback and write it in the note. Add your email if you want a reply.

For now, the survey is the only way to reach PauseBuy. We read every answer and fix the mistakes we can confirm.