PRIVACY

Privacy policy

Last updated 30 August 2026

This policy covers websiteswithceasmith.co.nz, run by C.E.A Smith, a web design and marketing business based in Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand. It explains what the site collects, why, who else can see it, and what you can ask us to do about it. We handle personal information under the Privacy Act 2020.

What we collect

When you fill in a form

Our enquiry forms ask for your name, your business name, your email address and your phone number. Depending on which form you use, they also ask about your business: whether you have a website and its address, what kind of work you do, roughly where you are, what you want the website to achieve, what marketing you are doing now, the main problem you are trying to solve, your rough budget range, your timeline, and anything you write in a free text box. You choose what to put in those fields, and only your contact details are needed for us to reply.

Forms also carry a hidden field that real people never see or fill in. If it comes back filled, the submission was made by a bot and we discard it. It collects nothing about you.

When you simply browse

The site records which pages were viewed and which links were followed, so we can tell which parts of the site are useful. If you arrived from an advertisement, the campaign tags in the link are stored with any enquiry you go on to make, so we know which ad brought you here.

Your IP address is used to limit how many times the same visitor can submit a form in a short window, which is how we keep automated spam out. It is held briefly as part of that counter and then expires. We do not build a profile from it.

If you sign in to a project portal

Clients working with us get access to a portal. Signing in creates a session on your device and records your browser and device type against that session, so we can show you your active sign-ins and end one you do not recognise. Anything you upload for your own project — a logo, photographs, documents, brand material — is stored so we can build with it.

The Meta Pixel, and what it means

This site uses the Meta Pixel (ID 1423471456299854), a piece of Meta's code that runs in your browser on every page of this site. It is the only tracking tool on this site. There is no Google Analytics, no Google Tag Manager and no other third-party analytics here.

The pixel tells Meta three things:

• That a page was viewed, and which one.
• That an enquiry form was submitted. It reports that a form was sent, not what you typed into it.
• That someone tapped our phone number or email address to get in touch.

Meta receives this along with the usual information a browser sends any website — your IP address, your browser and device, and the page address — and can connect it to a Facebook or Instagram account if you have one. Meta uses it to measure whether our advertising works and to show our ads to people who behave like our existing enquirers. We use it for the same reason: without it, our advertising can only count clicks, and we would be spending money without knowing which ads bring real enquiries.

The pixel loads as soon as a page does. If you would rather it did not run, you can block it: use your browser's tracking protection or an ad blocker, or change your ad settings inside Facebook and Instagram. Blocking it does not affect any part of this site — every page, form and link works exactly the same.

What Meta does with the data once it has it is governed by Meta's own privacy policy, not by this one.

Cookies and similar storage

The Meta Pixel sets cookies in your browser so Meta can recognise a returning visitor. If you sign in to a client portal, we set a cookie that keeps you signed in; it is required for the portal to work at all and it does nothing else. We do not use cookies for advertising of our own, and we do not sell or share cookie data with anyone other than Meta as described above.

Why we collect it

• To reply to your enquiry and quote for work.
• To design, build and support a website or marketing for you, if you become a client.
• To send you documents you have asked for, and invoices for work we have done.
• To measure whether our own advertising is working, and to keep spam out of our inbox.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not pass it to anyone for their own marketing.

Who else sees it

Only the services we need to run the business:

• Cloudflare hosts this site and stores the database and uploaded files. Data is held on Cloudflare's global network.
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram) receives the pixel events described above.
• Zoho Mail carries email between us. Our mail is sent and received as info@ceasmith.com and is held in Zoho's Australian data centre.
• Stripe processes any payment. Card payments happen on Stripe's own hosted checkout page: your card number never passes through this site and we never see or store it. We see that a payment succeeded, and for how much.

These providers operate outside New Zealand, so your information is stored and processed overseas. Each is bound by its own agreement with us to protect it and to use it only to provide the service.

How long we keep it

Enquiries are kept while there is a realistic chance of working together, and client records are kept for as long as we work with you and afterwards for as long as New Zealand tax and company records require. Spam-prevention counters expire within minutes. Sign-in sessions end when they expire or when you end them. If you ask us to delete your information and we are not required to keep it, we will.

Keeping it safe

The site is served only over an encrypted connection. Access to client records is restricted to C.E.A Smith and protected by sign-in. Uploaded files are stored in private storage that is not publicly listable. No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim this one is; if something went wrong in a way that could seriously harm you, we would tell you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, as the Privacy Act requires.

Your rights

Under the Privacy Act 2020 you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is wrong. Ask by email and we will respond within 20 working days. There is no charge. If you are not happy with how we have handled your information you can complain to us first, and then to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Children

This site sells services to businesses and is not aimed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.

Changes to this policy

If we add a tool that collects something new, this page is updated at the same time and the date at the top changes. We do not keep quiet about a new tracker and describe it later.

Contact us

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