Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how SOCKSHOP.co.uk collects, processes, uses and protects any information that you provide when you use this website or its services.

For any questions regarding this privacy policy please contact our data protection lead at Drew Brady & Co Limited T/A SOCKSHOP, Dove Mill, Dove Road, Off Deane Church Lane, Deane, Bolton, BL3 4ET, contact us here.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller. Our ICO registration number is Z3397948.

All information collected by SOCKSHOP.co.uk is stored and handled in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act 2018. Personal and financial information collected on this site is used for the sole purposes of processing and delivering your order, to occasionally send you information about our products and services, to operate our company and to protect our interests.

SOCKSHOP.co.uk is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website and our services, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

This policy change is effective from 25^th May 2018. SOCKSHOP.co.uk may regularly review and update this policy to ensure we comply with all the necessary regulations. All changes and updates are reflected in the updating of this page. Should you wish to remain up to date with any changes, please check this page regularly. 

What we collect

In order to provide you with our services, we may collect the following information:

• name, gender and date of birth
• contact telephone number
• email address
• demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
• if you place an order, we will also collect your credit card or payment details
• history of your preferences
• a record of any correspondence you send us including e-mail messages, as this helps us to track any problems or concerns you may have
• a record of your purchases with us so that we can quickly deal with any issues you may have about your order
• other information you may provide to us.

If you access our website from a mobile or any other device, we may collect certain information from your device which includes your IP address, browser type, device type, general geographic location and any other technical details.

What we do with the information we gather

Our legal basis for collecting and processing your data is to fulfil a contractual obligation. In order to process orders, SOCKSHOP.co.uk will require your name, address, delivery address (if different), credit or debit card number and expiry date. We also ask for a telephone number with which to contact you if there are any difficulties with your order. Your credit card details are taken through a secure server for processing by your card provider and our bank. We will pass your name and delivery address on to the carrier responsible for delivering your order.

We may also ask you for your consent to send you marketing information, updates and other content that we think you may be interested in.

In some cases, we may use your information for a legal obligation, or in our legitimate interest to complete credit checks before we can provide you with services and confirm you as a new customer. If you choose not to provide us with required data, we may not be able to provide you with certain services or fulfil our contractual obligations to you.

We may also use the lawful basis of contract to send emails containing marketing offers, promotions and other relevant communications to customers that have previously purchased from SOCKSHOP, and consent to send updates to individuals that have signed up to receive SOCKSHOP’s email newsletter.

We also require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• internal record keeping
• to set you up as a new customer
• to improve our products and services
• to enable us to tell you about any special offers, promotions or company news that may be tailored to your legitimate interest (eg. based on previous purchases). You may unsubscribe from receiving such correspondence at any time by contacting us here and stating that you no longer wish to receive emails from SOCKSHOP. Or you can click on the “unsubscribe” link in the marketing emails we send you.
• to enable us to contact you (and to ask for your permission to be included if we are planning any market research) so that we may establish what you like or do not like about our products and services
• to plan our future product purchases to try and meet your requirements going forward
• to help us understand the shopping patterns of our customers so we can send you the most relevant information, to avoid wasting your time and our money
• when necessary, to share your information with credit reference or fraud detection agencies - at all times the information will be secure
• to operate and develop our business.

From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.


How long do we keep your data

We retain all information collected for only as long as is necessary for the afore mentioned purposes, and in line with our retention schedule. For more details on our retention schedule, please contact us here.

What if you think we have incorrect information or you would like a copy of the information we hold about you

Under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, you may request details of any of your personal information which we hold through a subject access request. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to us at the below address or contact us here.

Data Protection Compliance, Drew Brady & Co Limited T/A SOCKSHOP, Dove Mill, Dove Road, Off Deane Church Lane, Deane, Bolton, BL3 4ET

In responding to your subject access request, we will firstly ask you to confirm your identity by providing copies of EITHER your passport OR your driving licence. If we do hold information about you, we will provide you with a description of the data, tell you why we are processing your data, inform you who your data has been shared with, and provide you with a copy of your personal data in a legible form or a commonly used electronic form.

If you believe that any information we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to us at the above address or contact us here as soon as possible. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

If you would like us to erase or restrict the processing of your personal data, please write to us at the above address or contact us here as soon as possible.

If you wish to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office on how we process and collect your data, you can do so by contacting their Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745.

Controlling your personal information 

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you want to opt in to receiving communication from SockShop, including newsletters and promotional emails
• if you no longer wish to receive any marketing emails from us, you can stop this by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in the marketing emails we send you, or by contacting us here.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

We store your information on a secure data system that is not accessed by anyone other than Sockshop.co.uk. All staff use login and password controls on our systems.

Where we store your data

Your account data will be collected, stored and processed primarily in the UK. Where we transfer data outside the UK we will ensure we take all reasonable administrative and technical precautions to protect that data including technical, contractual and operational measures such as DPA/SCCs/ TRIAs as appropriate.

We use a number of third parties to operate our service, where these companies are used to process your data we will ensure we have taken appropriate steps to protect your data including DPAs, Risk Assessments and technical measures.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over the website to which you have navigated. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites, and such sites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and study the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

We use Feefo for customer reviews and feedback. For more information please see Feefo’s privacy policy.

E-Newsletters

We use a third party provider, SendGrid, to deliver our e-newsletters. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies, including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information please see SendGrid's privacy policy.

Sharing your data

We will not routinely sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so or where the company assets are acquired by a third party or otherwise transferred to a third party.

When necessary, we may share your name, address and telephone number with a credit reference or fraud detection agency.

We may share your data with other companies in order to provide our services to you and to operate our business, for example.

• Hosting company
• IT suppliers
• Our accountants
• Lawyers and other advisors
• GDPR consultants
• Partners, suppliers, other third parties
• Logistics companies
• HMRC and other authorities
• Other companies and organisations are required to run our business. 

How we use cookies

We use cookies to track your order through the shopping process. Cookies are commonly used on websites, do not contain personally identifiable information about you, do not pose a security threat and do not harm your computer. They simplify your shopping experience and mean that you do not have to input your contact details every time you visit the site. Your credit or debit card details are not stored on the site and are always secure.

You can decide if and how your computer will accept a cookie by configuring your preferences or options in your browser. However, if you choose to reject cookies, you cannot shop with us and may not be able to use certain features within our website.

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes, before removing the data from the system.

Two types of cookies may be used on this website:

• Session cookies - temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you leave the site
• Persistent cookies - remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer (though how long will depend on the lifetime of the specific cookie).

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Credit Card Security

We protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software – the industry standard technology for securing credit card data - which encrypts information transmitted from our website. Each credit card transaction is authorised and charged separately, so you will be required to input the entire number for all transactions. We are confident that no unauthorised person or organisation will be able to access the credit card information we record.

Google Services

SOCKSHOP uses Google remarketing and other Google advertising and analytics services. Remarketing is a type of online advertising which allows us to show ads to users who have previously visited our website as they browse the Web. Therefore, as a visitor to the SOCKSHOP website, please be aware of the following:

• third party vendors, including Google, show SOCKSHOP website ads on sites on the internet
• third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to the SOCKSHOP website
• users may opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page.
• to find out more information on how Google uses information please visit: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites