GearVetted
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Privacy

Privacy policy

Effective July 1, 2026. This policy explains what data GearVetted handles, why, and how to limit it. No account is required. GearVetted keeps the tools usable without an account, and does not build an advertising profile of you.

Who operates this site

The GearVetted privacy policy applies to the GearVetted website and is published by GearVetted, the site operator. GearVetted is an independent product-research site that scores products from published specifications. Questions about this policy can be sent to corrections@gearvetted.com.

What information does the site handle?

GearVetted does not require a name, email address, or account to use the finders or comparison tables, and stores no name, email address, or other directly identifying information on its own servers in connection with your tool use. No login is needed. The data the site handles is limited to:

  • Tool state in the URL. Your selections can appear in the page URL so you can bookmark or share a comparison in a specific state. It is not tied to your identity.
  • Aggregate usage and click events. Which tools and recommendations are used, and which product links are clicked. We collect this to improve ranking quality, not to profile you.
  • Tool inputs and shown recommendations. With your consent where required, the preferences you set in a finder (budget, size, feature choices) and the product identifiers it recommended may be stored under a pseudonymous session identifier so the ranking models can improve. Nothing in that record names or identifies you.
  • Standard server logs. Like any website, the hosting provider may process technical request data (such as IP address, browser type, and timestamp) to deliver pages and guard against abuse. GearVetted does not use that log data to build a personal profile.

How are clicks and visits measured?

GearVetted uses PostHog for analytics, served through a server-side proxy, to understand which tools and recommendations are useful. When you click a product link, a click event may be recorded through that server proxy. The event can include the tool name, the product position, and the link placement. The goal is to improve ranking quality, not to build a personal profile. Analytics data is used for internal quality review only, never for retargeting or audience building on ad networks. We do not sell or share your personal information. No ad retargeting.

When you click an affiliate link to Amazon, we log the product identifier of the item you clicked, along with a timestamp and a coarse region band (such as “US”), to measure which products our recommendation tools suggest and which are clicked. We do NOT log your Amazon purchase history, the price you paid, product images, reviews, ratings, or any Amazon product content. Individual click records are retained for up to 540 days, after which they are aggregated into anonymized cohort counts (reported only when a cohort holds at least 25 records) and the individual row is deleted. Amazon may separately monitor purchases made through affiliate links per the Amazon Associates Operating Agreement.

Inputs you provide to our tools, such as search terms and calculator values, may be stored and used to improve recommendation models for non-Amazon merchants. Those inputs are product preferences (budgets, sizes, feature choices), never your name or contact details.

How does the Amazon Associates program work here?

GearVetted participates in the Amazon Associates affiliate program. When you click an Amazon product link and make a qualifying purchase, Amazon may pay GearVetted a commission at no extra cost to you. Amazon monitors qualifying purchases and related activity under its own privacy policy, which applies independently of this one once you leave the site.

What cookies or storage does the site use?

We use a first-party cookie named cap_vid to assign a pseudonymous short-lived identifier to your browser session. This identifier is used solely for aggregate analytics and content quality measurement. It is not used to build a personal profile or to identify you. cap_vid is pseudonymous first-party analytics data with no intentional identity collection. It expires after 24 hours and is never shared with Amazon or any third party. If you have Global Privacy Control (GPC) enabled, cap_vid is not set. We honor the Global Privacy Control signal.

Visitors in the EU, EEA, and UK see a consent notice before any measurement cookie is placed: cap_vid is set in those regions only after you choose Accept, and a companion cap_consent cookie (also called the consent tier) stores your cookie consent preference so the site remembers your choice. The consent choice is written through your browser’s document.cookie storage. Rejecting keeps every tool fully usable. Lightweight preferences, such as a reader’s last-used tool state, may also be stored using localStorage. No tracking cookie is placed for advertising purposes. You may clear stored preferences at any time by clearing your browser’s site data for this domain. You can clear it.

Which third-party services are involved?

GearVetted keeps its service providers (“subprocessors”) to a minimum, and limits what each one receives:

  • Analytics: PostHog processes the aggregate usage and click events described above on GearVetted’s behalf.
  • Hosting and content delivery: a hosting/CDN provider serves the pages and processes standard server logs to do so.
  • Affiliate program: the Amazon Associates program handles attribution after you click an outbound Amazon link.
  • Affiliate networks: if GearVetted adds product links from merchants beyond Amazon, those links may run through CJ (Commission Junction). CJ’s tracking technology sets its own cookies to attribute a purchase to the referring click, under CJ’s own privacy policy, and offers its own opt-out. Simply reading this site sets no CJ cookie; one is set only when you click a CJ-served merchant link.

The site does not embed third-party advertising scripts or social-media tracking pixels. Product links go directly to retailer pages, where the retailer’s own privacy policy governs data collected after the click.

How long is data kept?

Aggregate analytics and click events are retained only as long as they are useful for quality review and are not linked to a personal profile. URL tool-state is never stored server-side; it lives in your browser’s address bar and history. Locally stored preferences remain in your browser until you clear them.

What choices do you have?

You can avoid product-link measurement by not clicking outbound product links. You can use browser privacy controls, a content blocker, or the GPC signal to limit referral and storage behavior. The tools remain fully functional without consenting to any optional measurement. The tools still work.

Your regional rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete personal data a site holds about you, including rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR (EU/EEA/UK residents) and under state laws such as the CCPA/CPRA (California residents). GearVetted does not sell personal information as those laws define it. Because GearVetted does not require an account and holds no personal profile tied to your tool use, there is generally little personal data to act on. Still, if you believe the site holds information about you, email corrections@gearvetted.com and we will respond in line with the applicable law, with a target response window of 30 days. Email is enough.

Children’s privacy

GearVetted is a general-audience product-research site directed to adults. It is not intended for children under the age of 13, and it does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the site, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

GearVetted may update this policy as the site’s tools or service providers change. Material changes will be reflected in the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

For any privacy question or request, email corrections@gearvetted.com, or use the contact page.