Privacy Policy

Last Updated: November 6, 2025

At Bay Area Web Design, your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding that data.

1. Who We Are

Our website address is: http://bayareawebdesigns.net.

We provide professional website design, management, SEO services, and related tools. Our platform includes e-commerce through SureCart, appointment scheduling via Wappointment, and newsletter communications.

2. Comments

When visitors leave comments on our site, we collect the information shown in the comment form, along with the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent to help detect spam. An anonymized hash of your email may be provided to Gravatar to see if you are using their service (Gravatar Privacy Policy).

Once your comment is approved, your profile picture may be visible publicly in context with your comment.

3. Media

If you upload images, avoid including location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors may download images and extract embedded location data.

4. Cookies

  • Comments: You may opt-in to save your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience. These cookies last one year.
  • Login Page: We set a temporary cookie to check if your browser accepts cookies; it is discarded when the browser closes.
  • Logged-In Users: Cookies save login information and screen display preferences. Login cookies last two days, “Remember Me” lasts two weeks, and screen options cookies last one year.
  • Editing/Publishing: A cookie storing the post ID is set when editing or publishing content; it expires after one day.

5. Embedded Content

Articles may include embedded content (videos, images, articles) from other websites. These behave as if you visited the other website and may collect data, use cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor interactions with that content.

6. Who We Share Your Data With

Password reset requests include your IP address. SureCart may collect data for purchases and affiliate tracking. Wappointment stores appointment details for scheduling. Newsletter services store email addresses for campaign delivery. Affiliate program participants’ data is stored securely for payouts and program management.

7. How Long We Retain Your Data

Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely to allow recognition and approval of follow-up comments. Registered users’ personal information is stored in their profiles. Users can view, edit, or delete personal data (except usernames). Administrators can also access and edit user information.

8. Your Rights

You can request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you or request its deletion. This does not include data we must keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

9. Where Your Data Is Sent

Visitor comments may be checked through automated spam detection. Data may be processed by SureCart (payments & affiliate tracking), Wappointment (appointments), and newsletter service providers.

10. Newsletter Opt-In

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email securely. You can unsubscribe anytime via the provided link or by contacting us directly.

11. Affiliate Program

If you join our SureCart affiliate program, we collect your name, email, PayPal address for payouts, and referral tracking data. Data is used solely to process commissions and maintain program integrity.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this policy occasionally. Updates will be posted on this page with the revision date.

Effective Date: November 6, 2025