1. Introduction

Salaries.co.nz ("the Site", "we", "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your data.

This policy applies to all features and services on the Site, including tax calculators, the Salary Database, the AI Career Advisor, PDF reports, subscriptions, and related services.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address
• Password (stored in encrypted form)
• Name (if provided)
• Social login profile data (name, email, profile image) if you sign up via Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple, or GitHub

2.2 Tax Calculator Usage

Tax calculator inputs are processed in real time to generate results. For anonymous (non-logged-in) users, calculator inputs are not stored. For logged-in users, calculation history may be retained based on your subscription tier to provide the calculation history feature.

2.3 Salary Submissions

When you submit salary data to the Salary Database, we collect the information you provide, which may include job title, salary, location, experience level, and employment type. Submissions are linked to your account for moderation purposes but are anonymised in all public-facing displays.

2.4 AI Career Advisor

When you use the AI Career Advisor, we collect:

• Conversation messages you send and AI responses
• CV/resume documents you upload
• Career preferences and goals you share during sessions

This information is processed by third-party AI services (Anthropic) to generate responses. We store conversation history on our servers so you can access past sessions.

2.5 Subscription and Payment Data

Payment processing is handled by Stripe. We do not store your full credit card number or bank details. Stripe provides us with limited payment information (e.g., last four digits of your card, billing address) for record-keeping purposes. Please refer to Stripe's privacy policy for details on how they handle your payment data.

2.6 Automatically Collected Information

When you visit the Site, we automatically collect:

• IP address (used for security, rate limiting, and approximate geolocation)
• Browser type and version
• Pages visited and time spent
• Referring website

We use Google Analytics (GA4) to understand Site usage patterns. Google Analytics may set cookies on your browser. You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

2.7 Cookies

We use cookies for:

• Session management (keeping you logged in)
• Security (CSRF protection)
• Analytics (understanding how the Site is used)
• Rate limiting (preventing abuse)

You can control cookie settings through your browser. Disabling cookies may affect your ability to use certain features.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use collected information to:

• Provide and improve our services
• Process salary submissions and generate aggregated statistics
• Deliver AI career advice based on your inputs
• Generate PDF reports from your calculator results
• Process subscription payments
• Send salary alerts and notifications you have configured
• Communicate important updates (e.g., changes to terms, service announcements)
• Prevent abuse and maintain security
• Analyse usage patterns to improve the Site

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data with:

• Anthropic — AI provider for the Career Advisor. Conversation content is sent to their API for processing. Anthropic's data handling is governed by their privacy policy.
• Stripe — Payment processor for subscriptions.
• Google — Analytics data via Google Analytics.
• Social login providers — Only the authentication data exchanged during login.
• Email delivery services — For sending transactional emails (account confirmations, password resets, salary alerts).

We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect our rights, safety, or property.

5. Salary Data and Anonymisation

Individual salary submissions are never displayed publicly. All salary data shown on the Site is aggregated (e.g., median, percentiles) and requires a minimum number of data points before being displayed. We take reasonable steps to ensure that aggregated data cannot be used to identify individual submitters.

6. Data Retention

• Account data: Retained for the life of your account. You may request deletion at any time.
• Salary submissions: Retained indefinitely in anonymised, aggregated form even after account deletion.
• AI conversation history: Retained while your account is active. Deleted upon account deletion.
• CV uploads: Retained while your account is active. Deleted upon account deletion.
• Calculator history: Subject to tier-based retention limits (30 days to 1 year depending on subscription).
• PDF reports: Stored temporarily and automatically deleted after 30 days.
• Server logs: Retained for up to 90 days for security and debugging purposes.

7. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
• Encrypted password storage (bcrypt)
• Rate limiting and bot protection
• Regular security updates

However, no method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

8. Your Rights

Under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Correct any inaccurate personal information
• Request deletion of your account and associated personal data
• Export your data (available to eligible subscription tiers)

To exercise these rights, please contact us through the contact form on the Site. We will respond within 20 working days as required by the Privacy Act.

9. Children's Privacy

The Site is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can delete it.

10. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries outside New Zealand, including the United States (where our AI and payment providers are based) and Australia (where our servers are hosted). These transfers are necessary to provide our services. We require our service providers to maintain appropriate data protection safeguards.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email to registered users. The effective date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last updated.

12. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us through the contact form on the Site.

You may also contact the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz if you have concerns about how we handle your information.