Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 16, 2026

This policy covers the website at handsonverdict.com, operated by Omega Software Solutions LLC, a Virginia limited liability company ("we", "us", "Hands-On Verdict").

It describes what the site actually does, not what a generic template says a website might do. If you find a gap between this page and the site's behaviour, that's a defect — tell us.

The short version

  • We don't sell your personal information, and we never have.
  • We don't ask you for any personal information to read the site. There is no account, no login, no newsletter signup, no paywall.
  • We use Google Analytics 4 to see which pages get read.
  • We set one cookie of our own, named hov_click_ctx. It stores the click identifier Google attaches to an ad click, so we can tell which ads lead to real purchases. It lasts 90 days.
  • When you click a link to a seller, you leave our site and that seller and ClickBank set their own cookies under their own policies.
  • We do not run display advertising, retargeting pixels, social media trackers, session recording, heatmaps, or chat widgets on this site.

What we collect, specifically

1. Information you give us

Only if you contact us. If you send us an email or use the form on the contact page, we receive whatever you put in it — typically your email address, your name if you include it, and your message.

We use that to reply to you and, if it's a correction, to fix the page. We keep correspondence for 24 months, then delete it. We don't add you to a mailing list; we don't have one.

There is no contact form on this site. Messages reach us by plain email, so the only parties involved are your email provider and ours (Google, as the provider of the mailbox we use).

2. Information collected automatically

Server logs. Our web server records standard request data: IP address, date and time, the page requested, the referring page, and your browser's user-agent string. This is how any web server works. We use it for security, diagnosing errors and abuse prevention, and it is retained for 30 days.

Google Analytics 4. We use GA4 (measurement ID configured in the site's settings) to understand how the site is used in aggregate. GA4 is loaded from googletagmanager.com and collects:

  • pages viewed, and the order and timing of them;
  • approximate location derived from IP address — country, region, city level, not a precise location. GA4 does not log or store full IP addresses;
  • device type, operating system, browser, screen size and language;
  • how you arrived (search, direct, a referring site, or a Google ad);
  • a randomly generated identifier stored in GA's own cookies (_ga and _ga_<stream id>) so repeat visits in the same browser can be counted as one person rather than several;
  • one custom event of ours, affiliate_click, described below.

GA4 is configured to use Google's default IP handling, which does not store full IP addresses. We do not enable Google Signals, we do not upload any User-ID, and we do not send GA4 any email address, name, or other information that identifies you.

The affiliate_click event. When you click a link to a seller, the site sends one event to GA4 named affiliate_click carrying: which offer you clicked (offer_slug), the link address (link_url), the page you were on (page_path), and a yes/no flag saying whether an ad click identifier was present in your browser (has_click_id). That flag records only "yes" or "no" — the identifier itself is not sent to GA4. The event is sent using the browser's beacon transport so it survives you navigating away.

3. Google Ads and conversion tracking

We run search ads on Google. If you arrive here by clicking one, Google appends a click identifier to the address you land on — a gclid, or on some devices a gbraid or wbraid parameter. That value identifies the ad click, not you.

We store that identifier in our own cookie (below) and pass it to ClickBank when you click through to a seller, so that if a purchase happens we can match it back to the ad that produced it. This is how we find out which ads work. It is also, in plain terms, sharing a click identifier with an advertising and payment partner — which is why it is described in detail here and why the opt-out section below matters.

Conversion measurement for our ads is done by importing the aggregate affiliate_click event from Google Analytics into Google Ads, and by uploading sale records back to Google matched on the click identifier.

As deployed, this site loads the GA4 gtag.js tag only. There is no Google Ads conversion tag, so Google's _gcl_au and _gcl_aw advertising cookies are not set by us. If that changes, this section will be updated before the tag goes live.

4. What we do not collect

No account data, because there are no accounts. No payment information — we never handle a payment; purchases happen entirely on the seller's site. No precise geolocation. No biometric data. No data from children. We run no retargeting pixels, no social network trackers, no A/B testing tools, no session recording, no heatmaps, and no fingerprinting.

Cookies

Cookie Set by What it holds How long Purpose
hov_click_ctx Us, first-party A small JSON value containing the Google ad click identifier (click_id), the time it was captured, and the path of the page you landed on 90 days Lets us attach the ad click identifier to your outbound link so a later purchase can be matched to the ad click that brought you here
_ga Google Analytics A randomly generated visitor identifier 13 months Distinguishes one browser from another for visit counting
_ga_<stream id> Google Analytics Session state for this site's GA4 property 13 months Keeps session continuity within GA4

About hov_click_ctx specifically, since it's ours and we owe you the detail:

  • It is set by JavaScript running on this site, in your browser, and is a first-party cookie on handsonverdict.com only. It is host-only — it is not shared with any subdomain, and no other site can read it.
  • Attributes: Path=/; SameSite=Lax, and Secure when the page is served over HTTPS.
  • It is only written if you actually arrive with a gclid, gbraid or wbraid parameter — i.e. from a Google ad. If you arrive from a search result, a link, or by typing the address, it is never set.
  • It contains no name, no email address, no IP address, and nothing we could use to identify you personally. It is an opaque token Google generated for the ad click.
  • It is not used to build a profile of you, is not read by any third party on our site, and is not combined with any other data we hold.
  • Its value is attached to your outbound link only when you deliberately click through to a seller.

The site has no cookie banner. That is deliberate: we run no advertising or profiling cookies of our own, and a blocking overlay on a page you came to read is a cost to you with no benefit. Everything we set is listed above, and the controls below let you refuse any of it.

What happens when you leave for a seller

Clicking a product link takes you to handsonverdict.com/go/<slug>, which immediately sends your browser onward (a 302 redirect) to ClickBank, and from there to the seller. Attached to that link are:

  • traffic_source — where the visit came from, e.g. google;
  • traffic_type — paid or organic;
  • extclid — the Google ad click identifier from hov_click_ctx, only if one was stored;
  • the ClickBank affiliate and vendor identifiers that tell ClickBank the referral is ours.

From that moment you are on ClickBank's and the seller's sites, governed by their privacy policies, not this one. They will set their own cookies — ClickBank's affiliate cookie typically lasts up to 60–90 days depending on the seller — and they collect whatever they collect, including payment information if you buy. We have no access to their data, we never see your card details, and the sales data reported back to us is aggregate: which offer sold, when, and for how much.

Read their policies before you buy: ClickBank's privacy policy and Google's privacy policy.

How we use what we collect

  • To see which pages people read and which reviews are useful.
  • To find out whether our ads produce purchases, so we don't keep paying for ads that don't.
  • To be paid the affiliate commission we're owed.
  • To keep the site working and secure, and to diagnose errors.
  • To reply to you if you write to us.

We do not use it to build profiles of individuals, to make automated decisions about anyone, or to advertise to you after you leave.

We do not sell your personal information

We do not sell personal information, and we have not in the preceding 12 months. We do not accept payment for access to data about our readers.

Under California law, the term "share" has a specific meaning: disclosing personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioural advertising. Passing a Google ad click identifier to ClickBank and to Google is arguably such a "share". We would rather over-disclose than argue the point, so: you can opt out of it, and the next section says how.

Your choices and how to opt out

Refuse our cookie. Block or delete cookies for handsonverdict.com in your browser settings. If hov_click_ctx isn't present, no click identifier is attached to your outbound link. Everything on the site continues to work exactly the same — nothing here is gated on a cookie.

Opt out of Google Analytics. Install Google's Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which stops GA4 from measuring you on every site, not just this one.

Control Google's ad personalisation. Use Google's My Ad Center to turn off personalised ads and see what Google holds about you.

Block trackers generally. Any mainstream content blocker, or a browser with tracking protection on (Firefox, Safari, Brave), will stop GA4 from loading here. We don't detect or work around blockers.

Industry opt-out tools. YourAdChoices (DAA) and the NAI opt-out.

Global Privacy Control. This site does not currently detect the GPC browser signal. We are not claiming support we have not built. If you are in California and want to opt out, email us at the address below and we will treat it as a valid opt-out request.

Just email us. Send a request via the contact page and we will act on it. Since we hold almost nothing that identifies you, most requests are quick to honour.

California residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you live in California, you have the right to:

  • Know what categories of personal information we collect, why, and who we disclose it to. That's this page.
  • Access the specific information we hold about you.
  • Delete it.
  • Correct inaccurate information.
  • Opt out of sale or sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising.
  • Limit the use of sensitive personal information. We don't collect any, so there is nothing to limit.
  • Not be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights. The site works identically either way.

Categories we collect, in CPRA's terms: identifiers (IP address, cookie identifiers, the ad click identifier); internet or network activity (pages viewed, referring page, clicks on outbound links); coarse geolocation inferred from IP (city level); and, if you write to us, your email address and whatever you put in your message.

Sources: you, and your browser. Business purposes: analytics, advertising measurement, affiliate attribution, security, and replying to you. Disclosed to: Google (analytics and advertising measurement), ClickBank (affiliate attribution), our hosting provider, and our email provider.

Sale: none. Sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising: we pass an ad click identifier to Google and ClickBank as described above, which we treat as a share; opt out using any method in the section above.

To exercise any right, contact us via the contact page. We will verify your request as far as we're able — which is limited, because we don't hold identifying information about readers — and respond within 45 days. You may use an authorised agent; we'll ask for proof of authorisation.

Residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana and other states with comparable laws have substantially similar rights, and we apply the same process to all of them.

Readers in the UK, EU and EEA (UK GDPR / GDPR)

The site is aimed at readers in the United States and our advertising is targeted there, but the site is reachable worldwide and we may process a limited amount of data about readers elsewhere.

Controller: Omega Software Solutions LLC, United States. We are an online-only business with no establishment in the UK, EU or EEA, and we have not appointed an Article 27 representative. If your EU or UK traffic stops being incidental, that position should be reviewed.

Legal bases:

  • Analytics and advertising measurement cookies: your consent, where consent is required. As deployed, the site loads GA4 for all visitors without a consent banner and without Google Consent Mode. Our advertising is targeted only at the United States.
  • Server logs and security: our legitimate interest in operating a secure, working website.
  • Replying to your email: our legitimate interest in answering correspondence, or performance of your request.

Your rights: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, and withdrawal of consent at any time (withdrawal doesn't affect processing before you withdrew). You may complain to your national supervisory authority — in the UK, the ICO.

International transfers: Google and ClickBank are US-based and process data in the United States and elsewhere. Where personal data is transferred from the UK/EEA, those transfers rely on the transfer mechanisms those providers put in place, including the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses as applicable.

Retention: server logs 30 days; GA4 data for 14 months (the maximum GA4 offers); hov_click_ctx for 90 days from the ad click; correspondence for 24 months.

Children's privacy

This site is intended for adults. It is not directed at children, has no content aimed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets that threshold).

If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it promptly. Note that the products reviewed here involve purchases, and purchases should be made by an adult.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS. We deliberately hold very little: no accounts, no passwords, no payment details, and no reader database. The main practical consequence is that there isn't much here to lose.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security. If we ever suffer a breach affecting personal information, we'll notify affected people and any regulator as required by law.

Third parties we rely on

Provider What for Their policy
Google (Analytics 4, Google Ads) Site analytics and advertising measurement policies.google.com/privacy
ClickBank Affiliate network, checkout and commission payment for the products we review clickbank.com/legal/privacy-policy
DigitalOcean Web hosting and server logs digitalocean.com/legal/privacy-policy
Google (Gmail) Receiving and replying to your messages Google Privacy Policy

Links to other sites

Once you follow a link away from here — to a seller, to ClickBank, or to anything else we cite — you're on someone else's site under their policy. We don't control them and aren't responsible for their practices. This is worth reading their terms for, particularly on a page where you're about to enter card details.

Changes to this policy

We'll update this page when the site's behaviour changes, and change the date at the top. If a change materially affects what we collect or who we share it with, we'll say what changed rather than quietly reissuing the page.

Contact us about your data

Privacy requests, questions, and complaints:

Email: OmegaSolutionsBusiness@gmail.com

Or use the contact page.

Last updated: September 16, 2026.