Privacy policy

The short version

• You do not need an account, and we do not create one for you.
• Your saved gifts are stored only in your own browser.
• We count visits and clicks without cookies and without identifying you.
• If you join our email list, we use your address only to send those emails.
• We do not sell or share your information with advertisers.

Who we are

HelpFindGifts operates helpfindgifts.com from Ottawa, Canada. Contact us about privacy at hello@helpfindgifts.com or through the contact form.

What we collect and why

Visit statistics. We measure which pages are used, which searches return nothing, and which shop links are clicked, so we can improve the site. We use PostHog in a cookieless mode and Google Analytics with storage consent set to denied, which means neither stores a cookie or identifier on your device for this purpose. Cloudflare, which delivers the site, also counts requests.

Shop link clicks. When you click through to a shop, our server records which gift and shop, the page you came from, and a one-way scrambled form of your internet address that changes daily. We use this to count clicks and prevent abuse. We cannot use it to identify you.

Your region. To show the shop for your country, our server reads the country your connection comes from as reported by our hosting providers. It is not stored. If you choose a region yourself, that choice is kept in your browser.

Saved gifts. Stored in your browser's local storage only. A shared list link contains the gift identifiers in the address itself; we do not store the list.

Lists others can claim from. Only if you choose to make one: we store the list's name, your note and the gifts on it, and for each gift whether someone has said they are getting it, with a first name if they typed one. No email, account or IP address is stored with a list. Lists are deleted 120 days after their last change; to delete one sooner, email us its link.

Gift concierge. What you type is sent to Anthropic's Claude API to choose gifts from our catalogue and write the reply. We do not store the conversation. We keep only a daily count of how much the concierge cost us.

Personal shortlist orders. If you order one, we store your brief and email address to do the work and answer you, and Stripe processes the payment (we never see card details). Orders are kept for tax records as the law requires; email us to have the brief itself deleted once your shortlist is sent.

Secret Santa draws. We store nothing. The names travel only inside each person's private link.

Email list. If you sign up, we store your email address and whether you are subscribed with our email provider, Resend. We send a confirmation first and add you only after you click it. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe that takes effect immediately.

Messages. If you contact us, we receive your name, email address and message, and keep them only as long as needed to reply and follow up.

When you visit a shop

Shop links take you to other companies' websites. Once you are there, that shop's privacy policy applies. Shops and affiliate networks may set their own cookies to record that you arrived from HelpFindGifts, so that they can pay us a commission if you buy. We do not control those cookies. See how we make money.

Service providers

We use Vercel and Cloudflare to host and deliver the site, PostHog and Google Analytics for statistics, Resend for email, and a hosted database for click counts. Some of these process data in the United States.

Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live, including under Canada's PIPEDA, the UK and EU GDPR, Australia's Privacy Act and US state laws, you may have the right to ask what we hold about you, to correct it, or to have it deleted. Because we hold very little that identifies anyone, most requests concern the email list or a message you sent us. Write to hello@helpfindgifts.com and we will respond within 30 days. You can also clear your saved list and region choice by clearing this site's data in your browser.

Children

The site is intended for adults buying gifts. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page.