Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 12, 2026

The Upgrade Folks ("we," "us") is a small web design studio operated by The Upgrade Folks from Vietnam. This policy explains what information we collect through upgradefolks.com, our emails, and our services, and how we use it. We keep it short because we collect very little.

1. Information we collect

• Business information you publish. To prepare a free concept preview, we use content your business has published on its own website — such as your business name, logo, photos, page text, services, service area, phone number, address, hours, and the customer testimonials shown on your site. This can include names and photos of your staff and the names your customers signed their testimonials with. We do not buy personal data or collect it from social networks or review sites.
• Business contact details. A business email address published on your website, which we may use to send you a short, one-to-one message about a preview.
• Requests through our website form. If you ask for free concepts using the form on upgradefolks.com, we receive what you enter: your name, business name, website, email, phone number (if you give one), and any note. We use it only to answer your request and to prepare the concepts you asked for. When you submit the form, your browser sends it to Google, which stores it for us in a Google Sheets spreadsheet in our Google account.
• Information you send us. Your name, email, phone, business details, and messages when you reply to us, email us, or order a service.
• Payment information. Payments are processed by PayPal. We receive confirmation of payment, your name, and email, but never your full card or bank details.
• Basic website analytics. We use privacy-friendly, cookie-free analytics that show aggregate page views. We do not use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking.

2. How we use it

• To prepare and show you a concept preview, reply to you, and deliver services you ordered.
• To send invoices, receipts, and service messages.
• To send a limited number of follow-up messages about a preview. Every such message tells you how to opt out, and we honor opt-outs promptly.
• To keep business, tax, and accounting records as required by law.

We do not use the details you enter in our website form to send you other marketing, and we don't add them to any mailing list.

We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

3. Concept previews

A preview shows your own website content (logo, photos, text, and testimonials) in up to three new designs. Your content stays yours: we use it only to show you the preview. Previews are hidden from search engines, are not linked publicly, carry a clear "concept preview — not affiliated" notice, and are deleted — together with every copy of your content — within 30 days if you do not order, or within 24 hours of a request from you or anyone who owns rights in the content. Contact forms on previews are disabled, so no visitor data is collected through them.

4. Service providers

We share information only with providers that help us run the business, under their own privacy terms: website hosting, analytics, and forwarding of email sent to our upgradefolks.com address (Cloudflare, including Cloudflare Email Routing), our email inbox and storage of website form requests (Google, through Gmail and Google Sheets), the AI provider that helps us prepare previews and draft replies (Anthropic), and payment processing (PayPal). These providers may process data in the United States and other countries.

5. How long we keep it

• Preview data: deleted within 30 days if you don't order.
• Website form requests: deleted 12 months after you send them if you don't become a client, or sooner if you ask us.
• Opt-out requests: we keep your email address on a do-not-contact list so we never email you again.
• Client and payment records: as long as needed for the service and for legal and tax purposes (generally up to 5 years).

6. Your choices and rights

• Opt out of our emails at any time by replying "unsubscribe" or using the opt-out line in any message.
• Ask us to show you, correct, or delete the information we hold about you or your business, or to remove a preview immediately. Email contact@upgradefolks.com; we respond within 10 business days (preview removals within 24 hours).

7. Security

We use reputable providers, HTTPS, and two-factor authentication on our accounts. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

8. Children

Our services are for businesses and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

9. Changes

We may update this policy and will post the new version here with a new effective date.

10. Contact

The Upgrade Folks · contact@upgradefolks.com · Hanoi, Vietnam

11. If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area

This section gives the information required by Articles 13 and 14 of the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR when we contact a business we found online, or when you send us a request through our website form.

• Who we are: The Upgrade Folks, operated by The Upgrade Folks, Hanoi, Vietnam, Vietnam. Contact: contact@upgradefolks.com.
• What we use and where it came from: your business email address, your name and job title if your website shows them, and the content of your business's public website described in section 1. We collect it ourselves from your business's own website. We do not buy lists or use social networks or review sites.
• Why, and our legal basis: to offer your business a website redesign and show you a private preview. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in offering our services to businesses (Article 6(1)(f)). We send at most one first email and two follow-ups.
• If you sent us a request through our website form: we use what you entered (see section 1) to answer you and prepare the concepts you asked for. Our legal basis is taking steps at your request before a possible contract (Article 6(1)(b)). You don't have to give us this information, but without it we can't reply.
• Who receives it: Google (Gmail, our email inbox, and Google Sheets, where website form requests are stored), Cloudflare (our website host, and Cloudflare Email Routing, which forwards email sent to contact@upgradefolks.com to our Gmail inbox), the AI provider that helps us prepare previews and draft replies (Anthropic), and, if you order, our payment processor (PayPal). These providers may process data in the United States and other countries. We do not sell or share it with anyone else.
• How long we keep it: if you don't reply, we delete your details within 60 days of our last email. Website form requests are deleted 12 months after you send them if you don't become a client, or sooner if you ask. Previews are deleted within 30 days. If you opt out, we keep only your email address on a do-not-contact list so we never contact you again.
• Your rights: you can ask us for access to your data, or to correct, erase, or restrict it. You have an absolute right to object to direct marketing: reply "no thanks" or "unsubscribe" to any email and we will stop for good. We do not make automated decisions about you.
• Complaints: you can complain to us first, or to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), Ireland's Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.ie), or the data protection authority where you live or work.

12. If you are in Singapore or Malaysia

We send only one-to-one business emails to addresses your business publishes, never bulk messages, and every email tells you how to opt out. We honor opt-out requests within 24 hours, and in any case within 10 business days. You can ask us to stop using your information for marketing at any time by emailing contact@upgradefolks.com.