Privacy Policy — Gold Standard Web

This policy explains what information Gold Standard Web collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what we will never do with it. We've written it to be read rather than to be technically unassailable — a policy nobody can understand protects nobody.

The short version. If you enquire about a website, join the Ryzor waitlist, apply to be a representative, or apply to be an affiliate, we collect what you type so we can respond and do the work. We use a small number of outside services — hosting, email, payments, e-signature — and they see only what they need. We do not sell your personal information and never have. You can ask what we hold, ask us to fix or delete it, and tell us to stop contacting you.

1 Who we are

Gold Standard Web is a software company in the United States. We build Ryzor, we build and host websites for local businesses, and we operate The Prospectors, our network of independent sales representatives. For anything in this policy, email hello@goldstandardweb.com.

2 What this policy covers

Personal information collected through goldstandardweb.com, getryzor.com, prospectorstart.com, and through email, text messages, and phone calls between you and us, plus our own business records about enquirers, clients, representatives, and affiliates.

It does not cover the websites we build for our clients. Those belong to our clients, who decide what is collected there and what happens to it. See Section 11.

3 What we collect

If you enquire about a website, or become a client

Your business name, your name, address, phone, and email;
The content you give us for the site — text, photographs, logos, hours, prices;
Your domain details, and records of our conversations and your agreement.

Payment details: you enter your card or bank information directly with our payment processor. We never see or store your full card number. Our representatives are expressly forbidden from handling your payment details or accepting cash.

If you join the Ryzor waitlist

Your name, email, company, role, and roughly how many websites you build a year. We use it to tell you when Ryzor is available and to understand who wants it.

If you apply to be a representative

What you enter on the application, and if we engage you, what we need to pay you and meet our tax obligations — including the taxpayer identification number on your IRS Form W-9, which for most people is a Social Security number.

How we handle tax identification numbers. A Social Security number is the most sensitive thing we will ever hold about you and we treat it that way. We collect Form W-9 through a service built for handling tax documents securely — not by ordinary email — and we do not store it in spreadsheets, shared drives, or our general business systems. Access is limited to the people who need it to pay you and file the required forms.

If you apply to be a Ryzor affiliate

Your name, email, where you'd promote Ryzor, your audience, and the payment details needed to send you commission.

If you ask us to verify a representative

What you tell us on the verification form — the name you were given, your business, your city, your contact details, and what happened. We use it to check the person, to reply to you, and to act on any conduct that breaks our rules.

Automatically, when you visit

Standard server information: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, and where you came from. We use it to keep the sites working and to understand roughly how they're used — not to build a profile of you.

What we don't ask for

We don't ask for your date of birth, your government ID number (other than a W-9 from contractors we pay), your health information, your race, religion, political views, or your precise location. If a form appears to ask for any of that, don't complete it — tell us, because it isn't ours.

4 How we use it

To reply to you, and to send information you asked for;
To quote, build, publish, host, and maintain websites, and to provide support;
To assess applications from representatives and affiliates, and to run certification;
To calculate and pay commissions, produce statements, and file required tax forms;
To investigate conduct complaints and verification requests;
To keep a record of anyone who has asked not to be contacted, so no representative contacts them again;
For security, fraud prevention, fixing faults, and improving how things work; and
To meet our legal, tax, and accounting obligations.

5 What we never do

We do not sell your personal information. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone.
We do not share your information for anyone else's advertising.
We do not buy contact lists, and our representatives are forbidden from using purchased or scraped lists.
We do not use automatic diallers, mass-texting tools, prerecorded messages, or ringless voicemail.
We do not ignore a request to stop.

6 Cookies and tracking

Our sites use very little. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs. Where you have an account or a training session, your own browser stores your progress on your device. We do not run advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not follow you around the internet. If that ever changes we will update this policy first and say plainly what changed.

Some browsers send a "Do Not Track" signal. There is no agreed standard for how sites should respond. Since we don't track you across other sites, there is nothing for us to switch off.

7 Who we share it with

Only organisations that help us run the business, and only with what they need: website hosting and form handling, email, electronic signature and document storage, payment processing, contractor and affiliate payments and tax filing, and accounting.

We also share where we genuinely must — to comply with the law or a valid legal request, to enforce our agreements, to protect anyone's rights or safety, or in connection with a sale or merger of our business, in which case we will tell you.

Worth stating plainly: our representatives receive the business contact details of the businesses assigned to them. They do not receive information about other applicants, other representatives, or clients they did not sell.

8 Email and text messages

If you give us your phone number and agree we may contact you, we may call or text you about your enquiry or application. Standard carrier rates may apply.

You can stop it at any time. Reply STOP to any text, use the unsubscribe link in any email, or just tell us — in any words, by any method. We stop on every channel and record it so it stays stopped. We will never require you to telephone us to opt out. We never text a number the person didn't give us themselves.

9 How long we keep it

Enquiries and applications we don't take forward — a limited period in case you come back, then deleted.
Contractor and affiliate records, tax forms, payment history — as long as tax and accounting rules require after the relationship ends.
Client agreements and project records — for the relationship and a period afterwards, for accounting and legal reasons.
Do-not-contact records — indefinitely, because the whole point is never contacting you again and we can only guarantee that if we remember.
Server logs — a short period, then discarded.

10 Your choices and rights

Whoever you are and wherever you live, you can ask us to tell you what we hold and where we got it; correct it; delete it, subject to records we're legally required to keep; give you a portable copy; stop contacting you permanently on every channel; or stop processing it for a purpose you object to, where we can.

We are not going to make you prove which state you live in. Email hello@goldstandardweb.com and tell us what you want. We'll confirm receipt and aim to complete it within 30 days. We may need to verify who you are first so we don't hand your information to someone else. Exercising any of these costs nothing and we will never treat you worse for asking.

11 Websites we build for clients

When we build and host a website for a business, that business decides what the site collects and what happens to it. They are responsible for it; we handle it on their behalf under our agreement with them, only to provide the service.

So if you completed a contact form on a local business's website that we host: your enquiry belongs to that business and was delivered to them; we do not use it for our own purposes and do not add you to anything of ours; and if you want it deleted, ask that business — or ask us and we'll pass it along.

12 Security

We use encrypted connections, limit internal access, choose reputable providers for anything sensitive, and keep tax documents in a system built for them rather than general storage.

We'll be straight with you: no company can promise perfect security and anyone who does isn't being honest. If a breach ever affects your personal information we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires, and tell you what happened.

13 Children

Our services are for adults running or working with businesses. You must be at least 18 to apply as a representative or an affiliate. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us information, tell us and we'll delete it.

14 Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date above. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold about you, we'll tell you directly rather than quietly editing the page.

15 Contact

Gold Standard Web
hello@goldstandardweb.com

A real person reads these. If you don't hear back within a few business days, send it again — we'd rather hear from you twice than miss you once.

Worried someone contacting you isn't legitimate? If someone claims to represent Gold Standard Web and you're unsure, check with us before giving them anything. And if anyone ever tells you your listing or website will be removed or penalised unless you buy something — that is not us. Please report it.