SECURITY & PRIVACY

Security & Privacy Policy

Your credit card information is encrypted which means that ONLY the receiver of the information (i.e. Chocolate Trading Co.) can read this information. To do this we use the industry standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 128 bit encryption technology (when in use you will see the padlock at the bottom of the browser) which is the recognised standard for secure transactions.

We have the BT Trustwise Secure Server certificate which ensures the strongest encryption currently available used by all reputable e-commerce stores.

Please note that general email correspondence is not encrypted and is, therefore, not considered a secure means of sending credit card details.

Should you have any queries relating to either privacy or security you can email enquiries@chocolatetradingco.com or telephone 01625 508224

Customer Privacy

Chocolate Trading Company is committed to preserving the privacy of all of our customers and the visitors to our website at

www.chocolatetradingco.com Please read the following privacy policy to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us and how we comply with our obligations under the General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”).

By registering or placing an order on this website, you are confirming that you have read this policy and that you understand how we use and transfer the information that we hold about you.

INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT FROM YOU

When you visit, register or order products or services on www.chocolatetradingco.com you may be asked to provide certain information about yourself including your name, contact details and credit or debit card information.  The data that Chocolate Trading Company captures and processes is:

Name

Address (when an order is placed)

Phone number (when an order is placed)

Email

Order details

We do not have access to or retain credit or debit card details as these are entered into a system provided by a third party.

We may also collect information about your usage of our website as well as information about you from messages you post to the website and e-mails or letters you send to us.

To maintain customer service standards and to assist staff training, we may record and monitor incoming calls.

USE OF YOUR INFORMATION

Your information will enable us to provide you with access to all parts of our website and to supply the goods or services you have requested. It will also enable us to bill you and to contact you where necessary concerning your orders. We will also use and analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our business. In particular, we may use your information to contact you for your views on our services and to notify you occasionally about important changes or developments to the website or our services.  When you make purchases from us or create an account with us, you have the opportunity to consent to receive our marketing materials.  This is a two-stage process whereby ticking the consent box will lead to you receiving an email with a link that you need to click.  This two-stage process is our way of insuring that you really are happy for us to contact you as we don’t want to contact anyone in error.  Where you have consented, we might also use your information to let you know by email about other products and services which we offer which may be of interest to you. If you change your mind about being contacted in the future, please let us know either by phoning us or emailing us at

enquiries@chocolatetradingco.com.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We will never sell your data or share it with other companies.  

The information you provide to us may be accessed by or given to third parties where those parties process information, fulfill and deliver orders, process credit card payments and provide support services on our behalf.  Some of these third parties are located outside of the European Economic Area.  These parties handle data in a way which is aligned to the GDPR requirements.  

Finally, if our business enters into a joint venture with or is sold to or merged with another business entity, your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners.

Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent. 

COOKIES


Cookies are small amounts of information which we may store on your computer and are only used on this shopping site to keep track of the contents of your shopping basket once you have selected a product.

SECURITY AND DATA RETENTION

We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. 

Under GDPR you have the right to request that we delete all traces of you from our system.  This is referred to as the right to erasure.  If you would like to exercise this right then please email enquiries@chocolatetradingco.com and we will action your request within 28 days.  Please note however that we are legally required to keep sales records for a period of 6 years so, when you make a purchase from us, the information that relates to that purchase will be retained for this 6 year period.

Other than in the above circumstances, the information that you provide us with will remain on our systems indefinitely to enable you to continue to use your account and receive information from us. 

ACCESSING AND UPDATING


You are entitled to see the information held about you and you may ask us to make any necessary changes to ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date. If you wish to do this, please contact us at enquiries@chocolatetradingco.comor send a message through our  Contact us page.  We will respond to any requests within 28 days.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

Any changes to our privacy policy in the future will be posted to the website and, where appropriate, through e-mail notification.

CONTACT

We take data protection very seriously and do all that we can to behave both ethically and in a manner which is aligned to the requirements set out by the General Data Protection Regulations.  However, if you have any questions at all in relation to the data we hold on you, how it is used or how we are complying with the regulations then you should contact us on enquiries@chocolatetradingco.comor send a message through our Contact us page and we will look into your questions and respond within 28 days.

Cookies

Chocolate Trading Co will use ‘cookies’ (this is a small file stored on your computer) to track a user’s visit to our site and will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you. This is used solely for statistical analysis.

However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website or any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how or alternatively go to visit www.aboutcookies.org  which contains information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies.

However restricting cookies may impact the functionality of our site.

Our website uses some cookies which are essential in tracking your order and enabling to buy from us:

Google Analytics

Chocolate Trading Co uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets cookies in order to evaluate your use of our website and compile reports for us on activity on it.

Google stores the information collected by the cookie on servers in the United States. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.  By using the  website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

You can reject this cookie and information on how to do this can be found at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html

Details of these cookies are set out below: