Privacy policy

This policy explains how GoldStarred uses personal data. The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 govern it. For privacy questions write to hello@goldstarred.com.

1. Who is responsible

The company named at the foot of this page is the controller of the data described here, with one exception. When a business gives us its customers' names and email addresses to send review invitations, the business is the controller and we are its processor. Our data processing agreement sets this out.

2. What we collect

• Business account holders: name, email address, business and domain details, billing details if you take a paid plan, and what you do in the dashboard.
• Reviewers: your name or chosen display name, the review you write, the order reference where a business supplied one, and the time of posting. We also keep your email address, apart from the review, so we can send you notices about it: a flag, a request for evidence, or a decision. Confirming a review with an emailed code makes a sign-in account for your address, where Your reviews lists them.
• Invited customers: the name, email and order details a business gives us, and whether you clicked the link in the invitation or answered it. We do not track whether an email was read.
• People who report a review: your email address, the reason and details you give, and the name of anyone you act for.
• Technical data: to spot fake reviews we keep a one-way, keyed hash of the network part of your IP address, not the address itself. Cloudflare Turnstile checks, without a cookie, that a person asks for each sign-in code. Our hosting provider also logs requests. When a business's badge loads on its site we record which website it appeared on, not who saw it. The cookies we set are listed in our cookie policy.
• Analytics data: only if you accept analytics cookies (section 6).
• People who write to us: whatever you tell us.

We do not collect special category data on purpose. Please do not put it in a review.

3. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

Purpose	Lawful basis
Run accounts, send sign-in codes, send invitations and notices	Contract, or steps before a contract
Publish reviews and show them on profiles and in widgets	Legitimate interests: giving the public trustworthy reviews
Detect fake reviews, duplicates and abuse, and keep the service secure	Legitimate interests; and legal duties under consumer law
Handle complaints and takedown requests	Legitimate interests; legal obligation
Keep accounting and tax records	Legal obligation
Remember your cookie choice	Strictly necessary, so no consent needed
Analytics	Consent, which you can withdraw

We balance our interests against yours, and you can object (section 9).

4. Who we share it with

• Publicly: a review, your display name and its label are visible to everyone, and a business's badge totals refresh within 5 minutes. A business sees who reviewed it where it invited them. We never give a business or a reviewer the email address of someone who reported a review, unless that person said we may.
• Service providers: Supabase (database and sign-in), Vercel (hosting), Resend (email), Cloudflare (Turnstile) and, only if you accept analytics cookies, Google (Analytics and Tag Manager) and Ahrefs (Web Analytics). They process data for us under contract.
• Others: advisers, and authorities where the law requires.

We do not sell personal data or use it for advertising.

5. Reviewer email addresses and suppression

To stop unwanted or repeat invitations, and to spot abuse, we keep a suppression record of addresses that must not be contacted. Where we only need to recognise an address, we store a keyed one-way hash that cannot be turned back into it. A business cannot invite the same address again for 6 months. Every invitation carries an unsubscribe link, and one click stops that business's invitations at once. We keep the record to honour the request.

6. Analytics

If you accept analytics cookies, we use Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to see how the public site is used: pages visited, how visitors arrived, approximate location from the IP address, device and browser type, and when. We also use Ahrefs Web Analytics, which counts similar visit data without cookies. We send neither your name nor email, and analytics never runs on the dashboard, sign-in pages, the review form, or any page reached from a link in our emails.

The legal basis is your consent. Google may process data outside the UK under the safeguards in section 8. To withdraw consent, use "Cookie settings" in the footer: we delete the analytics cookies and the tag stops. Our cookie policy lists every cookie we set.

7. How long we keep it

A daily job applies these periods, then deletes or anonymises:

• accounts: while used. One whose emailed code was never entered goes after 7 days; one with no business and no published or pending review goes after 12 months without a sign-in;
• published reviews: while published. A deleted review leaves public view at once and its record is purged 90 days later; backup copies expire with the backup;
• removed reviews, with their text and name: 12 months after removal, unless a case on them is open;
• the network hash on a review, report or invitation: 30 days;
• an invitee's name and email: 30 days after the invitation is answered or closes; the record, holding only the address's hash, a month after the 6-month repeat window;
• a reviewer's contact address after we remove a review: 180 days, so you can appeal;
• cases: an unconfirmed report goes after 7 days. 12 months after a decision we clear the reporter's details, the details given and anything the reviewer wrote in answer, keeping the decision and its reasons;
• the audit log of moderation decisions: 24 months;
• counters that limit repeated attempts: 48 hours;
• accounting records: as long as the law requires;
• suppression records: as long as needed to honour your request.

8. Transfers abroad

Some providers process data outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or the UK addendum to standard contractual clauses.

9. Your rights

You can ask us to access, correct, delete or restrict your data, stop using it, or give you a portable copy (export). You can object to processing based on legitimate interests. To use any of these, email hello@goldstarred.com. We answer within one month. An email is enough for export and deletion; we may ask you to prove who you are. If we erase your data, your reviews leave public view, your details leave closed reports (one still being decided stays until it is), and your hashed address is suppressed so no business can invite you again. Where we hold data as a business's processor, we may pass your request to that business. Business owners can also download or delete their invitation data from the Invites page.

10. Complaints

You can complain to us first, or to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority, at ico.org.uk.

11. Changes

When we change this policy we change the date above, and tell account holders if the change matters.

GoldStarred is operated by Harber Glaves Trading Ltd, company number 16605946, registered in England and Wales.

Registered office: Unit A, 82 James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmunds, England, IP28 7DE.

Contact: hello@goldstarred.com