Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

BasicGear ("we", "us", or "our") operates the website at basicgeartackle.com. We sell professional-grade fishing gear through Amazon. This policy explains what information we collect when you visit our site or contact us, and how we use it.

2. Information we collect

We only collect information you voluntarily provide:

• Contact form submissions — your name, email address, and message when you use our contact form. This data is transmitted securely through Formspree to our email inbox at info@basicgeartackle.com.
• Usage data — we use Google Analytics / Vercel Analytics to collect anonymous data about how visitors use our site (pages viewed, time on site, general location by country). This data does not identify you personally.

We do not sell products directly through this website. All purchases are made through Amazon, which has its own privacy policy governing your transaction data.

3. Ask BasicGear (AI assistant)

Our site has an AI chat assistant. Answers are generated by an AI model and may be wrong or incomplete — always check the product page, the relevant guide, or your state's regulations before relying on an answer.

We keep a record of the questions people ask. We read them to find gaps in our guides and to improve the site. For each conversation we store:

• The question you typed and the answer you were given
• The page you asked from, the time, and your country
• A one-way scrambled version of your IP address — enough to tell one visitor's questions apart from another's, but not to identify you or recover the address

We do not store your name, email, or IP address against your questions, and you do not need an account to use the assistant. Records are deleted automatically after 90 days.

Please don't type personal details— your address, order number, phone number, or payment information — into the chat. It isn't the right place for them, and the assistant cannot look up your order anyway. For anything order-specific, email info@basicgeartackle.com.

Your question is sent to DeepSeek, who run the AI model, in order to generate the answer. See section 5 for details.

4. How we use your information

• To respond to your customer support or business inquiry
• To understand how our website is used and improve it
• To improve our guides and product information based on what people ask the assistant
• We do not sell your personal data to any third party
• We do not send unsolicited marketing emails

5. Third-party services

Our site uses the following third-party services:

• Amazon— all purchases happen on Amazon.com. When you click "Buy on Amazon," you leave our site and Amazon's privacy policy applies.
• Formspree — processes contact form submissions on our behalf. See formspree.io/legal/privacy-policy.
• Google Analytics — anonymous site analytics. You can opt out via the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
• Vercel — our website is hosted on Vercel, which may log IP addresses for security purposes.
• DeepSeek— generates the AI assistant's answers. Questions you type into the chat are sent to DeepSeek to be answered. See DeepSeek's privacy policy.
• Upstash— stores the assistant's question log and the limits that stop it being abused. See Upstash's privacy policy.

6. Cookies

Our site uses minimal cookies — only what's required for analytics and site functionality. No advertising or cross-site tracking cookies are used. You can disable cookies in your browser settings; the site will still function.

7. Your rights

You may request to access, correct, or delete any personal information you've submitted to us. Email info@basicgeartackle.com and we will respond within 30 days.

8. Contact

Questions about this policy? Email us at info@basicgeartackle.com.