Privacy policy.

Scope of this policy

This policy explains how SleekDrops ("we," "us," "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you visit sleekdrops.com or any subdomain we operate, or contact us by email. It does not cover third-party websites we link to — once you click an outbound link, the destination's privacy policy governs your interaction with them.

Data controller: SleekDrops, an independently operated Australian digital publication. Contact privacy@sleekdrops.com for privacy rights, complaints or data requests.

What we collect

SleekDrops is a static publication. The site itself stores no personal data about you directly. The following limited information is collected by services we rely on:

• Server logs. Our host (Cloudflare) automatically logs IP addresses, user-agent strings, and request paths for security, abuse prevention, and performance — standard for any website. We do not access or analyse these logs.
• Analytics. On sleekdrops.com, analytics stays off until you enable it under Privacy preferences. We record aggregate events such as page views, outbound clicks, reading completion and use of page controls, together with limited context such as the page path, category, content slug and placement. We strip personal data in your browser before an event is sent, so names, email addresses, full query strings and typed text are not included. A Global Privacy Control or Do-Not-Track signal keeps analytics off, and you can switch it off at any time under Privacy preferences.
• Outbound affiliate clicks. When you follow one of our /go/ product links, our server chooses the appropriate retailer destination for your country. It does not store your IP address, browser or a cookie. The redirect carries a freshly generated random reference to the retailer's affiliate network so a later commission can be matched to that click; it is new for every click and is not used to recognise you on this site or another visit.
• Email. If you write to one of the addresses shown on the site, we receive your email address and whatever information you include in the message.

We do not collect special-category personal data (health, biometric, political opinions, etc.), and we never knowingly collect data from children — see Children's privacy.

How we use it

We use the limited information described above to:

• Operate the site, fix bugs, and keep things working;
• Understand which posts are useful (aggregate analytics only);
• Respond to messages sent to our published email addresses;
• Comply with legal obligations and prevent fraud or abuse.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making, sell it to data brokers or train AI models on it. Google may personalise ads only when the advertising consent choices managed through its certified platform permit that use; see Advertising partners.

Cookies & tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies, including local and session storage on your device. With analytics switched off we store only two first-party items besides your privacy choice (below), and neither of them is a cookie:

• sd-theme — browser local storage. Remembers your dark-mode preference (kept until you clear your browser).
• sd-bookmarks — browser local storage. Stores the article slugs you've saved (kept in your browser only; never sent to us).

We store your analytics choice (sd-consent) in your browser's local storage as an essential setting that never leaves your browser, once you have made one. If you enable analytics, three more items may be written:

• sd_sid — browser session storage (not a cookie). Groups page views from a single visit so analytics counts sessions correctly. It is randomly generated, is never derived from you or your device, and is used for nothing else. Cleared when the browser tab is closed, and replaced after 30 minutes of inactivity.
• Google Analytics' own first-party measurement cookies (such as _ga), used to count visits.
• sd-exp in browser local storage, which records only which version of a page layout or wording you were shown so we can compare them in aggregate.

These items exist only to make the optional analytics countable and are not used for advertising or cross-site tracking. Switching analytics off under Privacy preferences deletes sd_sid, sd-exp and Google Analytics' _ga cookies immediately, sends an updated denied signal through Google Consent Mode v2 and stops further measurement.

Amazon may set its own cookies on the destination retailer's domain after you follow an affiliate link. Google AdSense uses its own certified consent platform to collect and honour advertising choices where required. Its message provides controls for personalised advertising, non-personalised advertising and consent withdrawal.

Affiliate disclosure

In accordance with the United States Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR Part 255 ("Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising"), we disclose the following:

SleekDrops is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which provides a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click a product link on SleekDrops and complete a qualifying purchase within the retailer's cookie window, the retailer attributes the sale to us and pays us a small commission. The price you pay is the same whether you click our link or not — the retailer absorbs the commission out of their margin. We never see who you are, what you purchased, or your payment details. We only see that an order was attributed to SleekDrops.

For full details on how we choose what to link to, how we research, and how affiliate links are labelled, see the Affiliate disclaimer.

Advertising partners

SleekDrops uses Google AdSense as its advertising partner. The Google-certified consent message controls advertising choices in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, and we will update this policy before adding another network:

• Google AdSense (USA / global) — uses cookies and similar technologies to serve, measure and protect advertising. Depending on your consent choices, ads may be personalised or non-personalised. You can review Google's practices in its privacy policy and manage personalisation in My Ad Center.

The publisher tag is present so Google's consent platform can display before an ad request. Google then applies the consent choices to storage and ad serving. The privacy-policy page itself contains no AdSense publisher tag or consent-message tag.

Third-party services

The following services may process limited data on our behalf:

• Cloudflare (USA / global) — hosting, CDN, security. Privacy policy: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.
• Google Analytics 4 (USA / global) — optional aggregate traffic measurement, loaded only after you enable analytics. We send page paths rather than full URLs so query strings never reach Google. Privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy.
• Amazon Associates — an affiliate network and independent controller that may receive limited information, such as a referring URL and cookie ID, after you follow an affiliate link to Amazon.

Data retention

• Email messages: up to 24 months, then deleted.
• Server logs: retained by Cloudflare per their default retention (typically 7–30 days).
• Analytics: aggregate-only data; retained up to 36 months.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the limited personal data we hold — HTTPS in transit, encrypted storage at rest with our providers, and access controls on administrative tools. No method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure; while we strive to use commercially acceptable means, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's privacy

SleekDrops is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU/UK). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact privacy@sleekdrops.com and we will delete it. This commitment is in line with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the UK's Age-Appropriate Design Code.

EU/UK rights (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

• Access — request a copy of any personal data we hold about you, such as an email you sent us.
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure — ask us to delete your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Restriction — ask us to limit processing in certain circumstances.
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent, including optional analytics or advertising.
• Lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

Our legal bases for processing are: consent (optional analytics and advertising), legitimate interests (operating the site, fraud prevention and responding to email), and legal obligation (responding to lawful requests).

California rights (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") and California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA") give you specific rights:

• The right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and (if applicable) sell or share.
• The right to delete personal information we have collected from you.
• The right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information.
• The right to limit use and disclosure of sensitive personal information.
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising any of these rights.

We do not sell personal information in the traditional sense. See Do Not Sell or Share below for details on what constitutes a "sale" under the CPRA and how to opt out.

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

SleekDrops does not sell your personal information for monetary consideration. Some laws may treat personalised-advertising data as a “share.” You can decline personalised advertising in Google's consent message or My Ad Center, and you can disable our separate analytics category under Privacy preferences.

To opt out of any such sharing, or to exercise any other privacy right, email privacy@sleekdrops.com with the subject line "Privacy Request." We honour the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal where technically feasible.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes will be announced on the homepage for at least 14 days.

Contact us

Questions about this policy, or want your data removed? Email privacy@sleekdrops.com; the contact page lists our other addresses. We aim to respond within five working days, and within 30 days for any formal access or deletion request under GDPR or CCPA.