Privacy Policy

Last updated: [to be confirmed]

This policy explains what information NC Website Engine ([to be confirmed], [to be confirmed]) collects, why we collect it, and what you can do about it. We're a small business that builds and looks after websites for North Carolina businesses. We don't sell your information, and we don't use advertising or tracking cookies.

1. What we collect

Public business details, used to make private previews

• Business name, address, phone number, type of work and current website.
• The owner's or manager's name, job title and work email.
• We get these from business directories and lead databases we pay to use, and from what the business has published online.

When you send a request through our website

• Your name, business name, email, town, and your answers about your website.
• Your phone number, current website and notes, if you add them.
• Which link or campaign brought you to the form.

When you correct or withdraw a preview

• The corrected business details.
• The reason you gave, such as “we already have a website”.

When you become a customer

• Your contact name, business email, phone and address.
• Your hours, services, service area and the text and photos you give us for your website.
• Your monthly update requests and approvals.
• Your acceptance of our terms, with the date.
• Payment details are collected and stored by Stripe. We see only the payment status and the last digits of the card, never the full card number.
• If you ask us to register or connect a domain: the registrant name, organisation, email, phone and address that domain registrars require.

When you email us or reply to our emails

• Your message, and whether you asked us to stop emailing you.

Technical information

• Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, such as IP address, browser type and the pages requested. They're used for security and to fix problems.

2. Cookies

• Our website and your website use no advertising or tracking cookies.
• The only cookies we set are sign-in cookies for our own staff tools.
• While you fill in a form in the customer portal, your browser may keep an unsent draft so you don't lose your work. It stays on your device and is cleared when you submit.

3. How we use it

• To build private previews and contact the business about them.
• To review requests sent through our website.
• To provide Website Care: build, publish, host and update your site.
• To take payments and send service emails, such as your welcome email, “your site is ready” and monthly update reminders (you can turn the reminders off in your portal).
• To keep the service secure, prevent abuse and fix problems.
• To meet legal requirements, such as tax records and honouring opt-outs.

4. Emails to businesses

• We may send a small number of emails to a business's work email about its private preview.
• Every email says who we are, gives our postal address, and includes an unsubscribe link.
• You can stop them at any time: reply “no”, use the unsubscribe link, or choose “Not for me” on the preview page.
• Any of these takes the business off our list straight away, for email and for post.

5. Who we share it with

We share information only with the services that help us run NC Website Engine, and only as much as they need:

• Cloudflare: hosts our website and your website, and stores data and photos.
• Stripe: handles payments and the billing portal.
• Resend: sends service emails, and tells us when someone sends a request through our website.
• Instantly: sends our emails to businesses about previews and handles unsubscribes.
• Google Workspace: runs our email inboxes.
• A domain registrar: registers a domain, but only if you ask us to.

We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or someone's safety, or as part of selling or transferring the business. We never sell your information or share it for advertising.

6. How long we keep it

• Private previews stay available until the business withdraws them or we remove them.
• If you ask us to stop contacting you, we keep a short record (the business name, email and your choice) so we never contact you again.
• Customer information is kept while you're a customer. After you cancel, we keep it for [to be confirmed] so we can restore your site if you come back. Billing records are kept for as long as tax law requires.
• Website requests are kept for [to be confirmed], unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
• Server logs are kept for a short time by our hosting provider.

7. Your choices

• See, correct or delete your information: email [to be confirmed]. We'll reply within 30 days. We may need to keep some records, such as billing records or your opt-out, where the law requires it or to honour your request not to be contacted.
• Correct a preview: use the correction form on the preview page.
• Stop all contact: use any of the options in section 4.
• Turn off monthly reminders: in your customer portal.

8. Security

• Your information is stored with our hosting provider and protected with encryption in transit (https).
• Staff tools require a sign-in. Customer portal links are private to you.
• No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects you, we'll tell you as the law requires.

9. Children

Our service is for businesses. It isn't meant for anyone under 18, and we don't knowingly collect children's information.

10. Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. For important changes, we'll email current customers.

11. Contact

[to be confirmed] · [to be confirmed]