Privacy Policy

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use our website and services, how we use it, your rights, and how we keep your information safe. It applies to all users who access our site or create an account with us.

Information We Collect

We collect information that helps us operate the site, manage accounts, comply with legal obligations, and improve your experience. This includes:

Account information: information you provide when registering, such as name, email address, username, and date of birth where required for age verification.
Profile and preferences: information you add to your profile, communication preferences, and settings.
Communications: records of correspondence between you and us, including support requests and responses.
Device and usage data: technical information about your device, browser, IP address, pages visited, and actions on the site collected through server logs and analytics tools.
Location data: approximate location derived from IP address or device settings where relevant and permitted.
Verification data: identity information provided for security, age verification, or compliance purposes where required by law.

How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for clear and specific purposes, including:

Creating and managing your account and providing access to our services.
Verifying identity and age when necessary to protect users and comply with legal requirements.
Responding to your questions and customer service requests.
Improving and personalising the site and our services, including analysing usage patterns and preferences.
Preventing, detecting, and investigating fraud, abuse, or security incidents.
Meeting legal and regulatory obligations.
Sending marketing communications where you have given consent; you may withdraw consent at any time.

Legal Bases for Processing

Where applicable under data protection law (including the GDPR), we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

Contract: processing necessary to perform our agreement with you and provide our services.
Consent: where you have explicitly agreed to specific processing activities, such as marketing communications.
Legal obligation: processing required to comply with laws and regulatory obligations.
Legitimate interests: processing necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as keeping our services secure, preventing fraud, and improving our offerings, balanced against your rights and interests.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, remember your preferences, and help us understand how the site is used. Cookies may be:

Essential: necessary for the site to function.
Performance and analytics: used to improve the site by understanding usage patterns.
Functional: used to remember your preferences and settings.
Advertising: used to deliver relevant promotional content where consent is given.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the site.

Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your personal information in limited circumstances and only for legitimate purposes:

Service providers: third parties who perform services on our behalf, such as hosting, analytics, or customer support. They act under our instructions and are contractually required to protect your data.
Legal and regulatory requests: where required by law or to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.
Business transfers: in the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction with appropriate safeguards in place.
Aggregated or anonymised data: we may share information that has been de-identified so it cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, including to meet legal, tax, or accounting requirements. When we no longer need your information, we will securely delete or anonymise it.

Retention periods vary depending on the type of information and the purpose for processing. We consider factors such as statutory obligations and the need to resolve disputes or enforce agreements when determining retention periods.

Your Rights

If you are located in the European Economic Area or the UK, you have certain rights under data protection law. These typically include the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you.
Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Request deletion of your personal data where there is no lawful reason for us to continue processing it.
Restrict or object to certain processing activities, including where we rely on legitimate interests.
Request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format (data portability) where applicable.
Withdraw consent at any time for processing based on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe your rights have been violated.

To exercise your rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We may ask for proof of identity before responding to requests to protect your privacy.

Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures include access controls, encryption where appropriate, and regular security assessments.

While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no system can be completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

International Transfers

Your personal data may be transferred to, and processed in, countries outside your jurisdiction. Where such transfers occur, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information, such as standard contractual clauses, privacy frameworks, or other lawful mechanisms to provide an adequate level of protection.

Children

Our services are not directed to children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child without appropriate verification of parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or for operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will provide notice as required by law, for example by posting a notice on the site or contacting you directly if appropriate.

Contact Us

If you have questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us.