Privacy statement
Last updated 4 November 2026
hosty.co.nz is run by Callum Sutherland ("we", "us"). This statement explains what personal information we collect when you use hosty.co.nz, why we collect it, and what you can do about it. We follow the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.
What we collect
- Your account: your email address and a scrambled (hashed) version of your password. We never see or store your actual password.
- Your business details: the business name, web address, category, region, and everything you put on your site, such as your logo, photos, headline, services, prices, testimonials, phone number, email and hours.
- Community activity: the posts you write and which posts you mark as useful.
- Messages to businesses: if you use the form on a business's site, your name, email, phone number (if you give it) and message. We pass these to that business by email and keep a copy in their account.
- Site visits: a daily count of how many times each business site is viewed. We don't record who visited.
- Weekly roundup: whether you've asked for the weekly email of community posts.
- Reports: if you report a site or post, the reason, anything you write, and your email if you give it.
- Security records: your internet (IP) address, kept for up to a day, to stop people guessing passwords or creating spam accounts.
We use one cookie, to keep you logged in. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, and we don't sell your information.
Why we collect it
- To create your account, keep it secure, and let you reset your password.
- To publish your website and show your business in the community, if you choose to be listed.
- To deal with reports and keep scams, spam and illegal content off hosty.co.nz.
- To deliver messages customers send through your site, and to show you how many people visit it.
- To send the weekly roundup, only if you've asked for it. Every roundup has a link to stop it, and you can turn it off in your site editor.
- To contact you about your account or important changes to the service.
What's public
Anything you publish on your site and anything you post in the community can be seen by anyone on the internet. Only put contact details on your site that you're happy for the public to see. Your account email stays private unless you add it to your site yourself.
Where it's stored and who handles it
hosty.co.nz runs on Cloudflare, which stores and serves our data from data centres in New Zealand and overseas. We use Resend to send emails such as password resets. Both are overseas companies. We choose providers that protect information to standards comparable to New Zealand's, as the Privacy Act requires. We may also share information if the law requires it, for example with the Police under a court order.
How long we keep it
We keep your account and site for as long as your account is open. If you ask us to close your account, we delete your site, photos, posts, messages and account details within 30 days. Photos you remove from your site are deleted from storage soon after you publish. A business can delete messages sent to it at any time. Security records are deleted after a day, and password reset links expire after an hour.
Your rights
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct it. You can change most of it yourself in your site editor. To make a request, or to close your account, email hello@hosty.co.nz. We'll reply within 20 working days.
If you're not happy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.
Contact
Privacy officer, Callum Sutherland: hello@hosty.co.nz
We may update this statement. If we make a significant change, we'll email account holders.