This policy explains what personal information Buckle My Belt collects when you visit bucklemybelt.com, shop with us or talk to us, why we use it, who helps us, and the rights you have. It follows UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025) and, for customers in the EU, the EU GDPR.
Who we are
Buckle My Belt is the trading name of Jason Clowrey, a sole trader. We are the "controller" of your personal information, which means we decide how it is used and are responsible for it.
For anything about your personal information, including the rights below, email info@bucklemybelt.com. We don't have a Data Protection Officer because the law doesn't require one for a business of our size; your email reaches the owners directly.
What we collect
We collect only what we need to make, sell and send your order and to look after you afterwards.
| What | Examples | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Contact details | Name, email address, phone number | You, when you order, sign in, email us or chat |
| Order details | Products, sizes, leather colours, personalisation, order notes, delivery and billing address | You, at checkout |
| Payment details | Card or PayPal payment confirmation | Our payment providers; we never see or keep your full card number |
| Your account | Sign-in email and order history | You, if you use a customer account |
| Messages | Emails, chat conversations, reviews you write | You |
| Delivery details | Tracking numbers and delivery updates | Our shipping partners |
| Website use | Pages viewed, device and browser type, approximate location from your IP address, how you arrived | Your device, through cookies and similar technologies |
| Marketing choices | Whether you've signed up for emails, and which emails you open or click | You and our email system |
We don't ask for sensitive information (such as health, religion or ethnicity). Please don't include it in messages, order notes or reviews.
How we use it, and our legal reasons
The law lets us use personal information only for a stated reason (a "lawful basis"). Ours are:
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Taking payment, making your belt to your size and colour, sending it and keeping you updated | Contract: we need it to fulfil your order |
| Answering your emails and chats, handling returns, faults and our lifetime guarantee | Contract, and our legitimate interest in looking after customers |
| Keeping order and accounting records | Legal obligation (tax and accounting law) |
| Preventing fraud and keeping the website secure | Legitimate interests |
| Understanding how the website is used so we can improve it | Legitimate interests (you can object, see Cookies) |
| Asking you to review your purchase | Legitimate interests (you can opt out) |
| Sending marketing emails | Your consent (you can unsubscribe at any time) |
| Advertising cookies and measuring our adverts | Your consent through our cookie banner |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights and expectations, and you can object at any time (see Your rights).
Our AI Shopping Assistant (website chat)
The chat on our website is an AI assistant, not a person. It helps you find products, choose sizes and colours, and check on orders. It runs on Claude, an AI service provided by Anthropic, which processes your messages only to write the assistant's replies.
When you use the chat we save:
- the messages you and the assistant exchange;
- the page you were on and the items in your basket at the time;
- your email address, only if you choose to give it;
- a small identifier stored in your browser so the chat can remember your conversation if you come back. It holds no personal details, and clearing your browser's site data removes it.
If you ask for a person, or the assistant can't help, it passes your conversation to the Buckle My Belt team, who reply in the same chat. To check on an order, the assistant first asks for your email address and order number, and it never shows payment details or addresses in the chat.
Chats are deleted after 12 months. If you give your email address, the conversation is also added to your customer record (see How long we keep it).
Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small files a website stores on your device. We also use browser storage that works the same way. We use three kinds:
| Kind | What it does | Your choice |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Keeps your basket, checkout and sign-in working, remembers your country and currency, keeps the site secure, and lets the chat remember your conversation | Always on, because the site can't work without them |
| Analytics | Google Analytics, and Microsoft Clarity if we use it, show us in total how people use the site so we can improve it | Off until you accept them in our cookie banner |
| Advertising | Google Ads, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Microsoft Advertising, TikTok and Pinterest measure whether our adverts work and show our adverts on other sites | Off until you accept them in our cookie banner |
You can change your choice at any time with the privacy choices link at the bottom of every page, or by clearing cookies in your browser. Turning cookies off won't stop you buying from us.
Marketing emails
We send emails such as our Belt of the Month offer through Shopify Email. You receive them only if you signed up, for example by ticking the box at checkout or using a sign-up form on the website.
Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us at info@bucklemybelt.com. Our emails record whether they were opened and which links were clicked, so we can send things people find useful. Unsubscribing never affects emails about an order you've placed.
Who we share it with
We never sell your personal information. We share it only with companies that help us run the business, each using it on our instructions and for the purpose below.
| Who | What for |
|---|---|
| Shopify | Runs our shop, checkout, customer accounts, marketing emails and fraud checks |
| Shopify Payments and PayPal | Take and protect your payment |
| Transglobal Express and the couriers it books | Deliver your order and provide tracking |
| Zoho | Hosts our email |
| Anthropic | Powers our AI Shopping Assistant, and helps us draft replies to your emails, which a person always checks before they're sent |
| Google Cloud | Hosts the systems that run the chat and our customer records |
| Google (Analytics, Ads, Merchant Center) | Website statistics and advertising, only with your cookie consent |
| Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | Measuring and showing our adverts, only with your cookie consent |
| Microsoft (Microsoft Advertising, Clarity) | Advertising and website statistics, only with your cookie consent |
| TikTok and Pinterest | Measuring and showing our adverts, if we advertise there, only with your cookie consent |
| Stamped | Collects and shows product reviews, and emails you to ask for one |
| Upsell.com | Shows offers on the page after checkout |
| Etsy | Processes orders you place with us on Etsy, under Etsy's own policy as well as ours |
We may also share information when the law requires it, for example with HMRC, the police or a court, or to protect our rights in a dispute (such as a payment chargeback). If our business were ever sold, your information would pass to the new owner under the same protections.
Transfers outside the UK
Some of the companies above store or handle information outside the UK, for example in the United States, Canada or the EU. When that happens we make sure it stays protected, either because the UK has approved that country's data protection standards, or through the legal contract terms approved by the UK Information Commissioner (the International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU's standard clauses). For customers in the EU, the European Commission recognises UK data protection as adequate (the decision renewed in December 2025 runs to 27 December 2031). You can ask us for details of the safeguard used for any transfer.
How long we keep it
We keep information only as long as we need it for the reasons above.
| Record | How long |
|---|---|
| Orders, your customer record and our emails with you | For as long as you're our customer, and for the life of our lifetime guarantee, so we can help with a belt years after you bought it |
| Accounting records of sales | At least 6 years, as tax law requires |
| Website chats | 12 months, then deleted |
| Marketing email sign-up | Until you unsubscribe; we then keep just your email address on a do-not-send list so you aren't emailed again |
| Website statistics | As set in Google Analytics, no longer than 14 months |
| Reviews | For as long as the review is published |
You can ask us to delete your information sooner (see Your rights). We'll do so unless the law requires us to keep it, for example for tax.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- see the personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
- correct anything that's wrong or incomplete;
- delete it, where we no longer need it or you withdraw consent;
- limit how we use it while a concern is looked into;
- take it with you in a common digital format;
- object to us using it for our legitimate interests, and to stop marketing at any time;
- withdraw consent you've given, such as for cookies or marketing, without affecting anything done before.
To use any of these, email info@bucklemybelt.com. It's free. We reply within one month, or within three months for a complex request, in which case we'll tell you why within the first month. We may need to confirm who you are first, and the time limit is paused until we can. We'll search our records in a reasonable and proportionate way.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal information, please tell us first at info@bucklemybelt.com, with "Data complaint" in the subject. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it, and tell you the outcome without undue delay.
If you're still unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. If you live in the EU, you can also complain to the data protection authority in your country.
Security, children and other points
Security. Our shop runs on Shopify, and payments are handled by our payment providers to card-industry security standards. Access to customer records is limited to the people who need it, using secure sign-in.
Automated decisions. We don't make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects by automated means alone. Shopify's fraud checks may flag an order as risky, but a person always reviews it before anything is cancelled.
Children. Our shop isn't aimed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information.
Changes to this policy. We'll update this page when the way we use information changes, and change the date below. Significant changes will also be shown on the website.
Last updated: 13 October 2026.